Posted by jasonste_AL on 5/11/05 4:37pm
Msg #37182

Different Area's -- Different Pay!

Im in Alabama, cost of living is really not that high - Compared to CA. I only made 13,000 last year working 40 hours a week, for a Doctor's Office. Since I became a signing agent, I'm making about the same as I did working full time for the Dr. Which is fantastic, cause I dont have to work 40 hours a week. Rest assured, this is not my only income, 13,000 is nothing. Im just enjoying doing 2 -5 signings a week, and making the same money.

Reply by CaliNotary on 5/11/05 7:16pm
Msg #37206

I shudder to think of what rents are like in Alabama compared to California. I had a friend who was considering a move to Houston TX and was looking at apartments online. The rents for a 1 bedroom apartment in a fairly luxurious building were literally 1/3 of what a comparable apartment would go for in LA.

Reply by MaryH/AL on 5/11/05 10:52pm
Msg #37248

Just to give you an idea-- my daughter is leasing, with the option to buy, a very nice 3 bedroom house for $750 per month. Sale price is $90,000. This is an older brick home that has been completely remodeled. Typically a new 3 bedroom 2 bath home is around $159,000 up in the new subdivisions.

Reply by Sam I am on 5/12/05 10:02am
Msg #37293

***Typically a new 3 bedroom 2 bath home is around $159,000 up in the new subdivisions.***

Please don't take this the wrong way - but I hate you! Maybe my husband is right...time to cash out of San Diego. I wouldn't go near a neighborhood here that had houses for $159,000. Even a crack house would cost more than that.

Reply by Charm_AL on 5/12/05 10:31am
Msg #37299

Sam...

Pack it up and move inland!

You should see some of the 'big homes' here on the mountains with views of the valley and outside the city limits...3-500,000. They would knock your socks off!!

Of course I'm not suggesting you move to Huntsville lol

Reply by MaryH/AL on 5/12/05 10:56am
Msg #37305

LOL! I live in Central Alabama, 50 miles south of Birmingham, population approximately 40,000 and I love it! We have a house and 40 acres that my husband bought in 1977 and paid $39k for, market value is now about $175K. Come on down, there's lots of beautiful lake property too!

Reply by CaliNotary on 5/12/05 10:58am
Msg #37306

Ain't that amazing? Those types of prices are just completely incomprehensable to me anymore.

Reply by CaliNotary on 5/12/05 10:55am
Msg #37303

$750/month could maybe get me a 1 bedroom apartment in a very questionable area or a studio apt in a slightly less questionable area. $90,000 might buy me an older mobile home.

Reply by missy_socal on 5/11/05 11:19pm
Msg #37251

If you really want to torture yourself, just take a stroll through realtor.com.

Not only do you get the most amazing houses for next to nothing, everyone out there has LAND. My husband and I were in the midwest and the south for a part of the summer, and the first thing we would do in a new city/town was pick up a real estate brochure. There were so many gorgeous homes that had streams and little ponds on their own land. I can't even imagine!

It's always in the back of our minds to grab the equity and GO!

I'm not sure that we could give up our weather, though. I can't imagine bundling up to go shopping, or trying to drive on snowy roads....for months on end.

Reply by Mysti_FL on 5/11/05 9:44pm
Msg #37237

The complaint down here in South Florida is that due to the high cost of buying/renting, we are going to get as bad as CA (typical home prices are currently between $280,000 to $400,000 on new homes in "regular" neighborhoods), and it is still rising. But, unfortunately, salaries are not rising at the same rate, which makes it difficult.

In my day job, I work 40 hrs and earn a little over $3000 per month. After you take out taxes, benefits, etc., I struggle to pay my $1000 per month home and my $425 car and everything else that goes with it.

So, I have a roommate right now and the income from my signing jobs. I hope to one day replace my day job with signing full time, as well as inspections and other sidelines that will together, earn me a decent living!

Mysti

Reply by LAg-fl on 5/12/05 7:35am
Msg #37270

You are so right about the home prices going up in Florida. I bought my house 2 years ago and it has gone up over $100,000 in that short of time. I have lived here for 27 years and we haven't seen that kind of increase ever.

Reply by Charm_AL on 5/12/05 9:27am
Msg #37280

True! I was amazed at the cost of living here when I was looking for an apt 2 years ago. I paid 450. a month for a huge 1 bedroom with a fireplace in a complex with a pool/jacuzzi, club house, and laundromat. There was a closed off space in the kitchen for a washer and dryer!
We bought a lovely 3 bedroom home with a fireplace and family room on a mountainside with a big deck for under 121,000. Move in condition.
In the area I lived outside Chicago I would have paid at least $250,000. for the same house.

Reply by Lee/AR on 5/12/05 9:47am
Msg #37287

Food for thought from ol' R.E. broker...

When interest rates are down, housing prices are up. The reverse is also very true. It's a cycle.

Reply by ERNA_CA on 5/12/05 11:32am
Msg #37318

Re: Food for thought from ol' R.E. broker...

I bought my house 3 years ago, it has gone up $100,000. Prices here in Ca are skyrocketing, but they will come down again when the interest rate goes up.Its a sellers market , but everyone is buying and scary to see folks cash out, they'll end up with owing more than the house is worth ones the prices go down.

Reply by SarahBeth_CA on 5/12/05 11:56am
Msg #37327

Re: Food for thought from ol' R.E. broker...

It's been a year since we bought and our has has doubled. My inlaws bought a house in Rancho Cucamonga 3 years ago, brand new home, huge, beautiful, $230,000. The phase in thier tract that is being built now are going for $700,000 plus.

Reply by ERNA_CA on 5/12/05 12:07pm
Msg #37331

Re: Food for thought from ol' R.E. broker...

Yes its amazing. My last house in Riverside up in the orange grows witch i bought for 140,00 in the early 90's when the market was a buyers market.Sellers had originally bought it new for 169.00. Is now worth a whopping 450,000. When i sold it 3 years ago it was appraised at 240,00.