[quote author="irvine_home_owner" date=1232529629]How does a single guy who spends all his time eating out afford to own multiple properties in Irvine?
momopi must be an FCB.</blockquote>
I started with $12,000 in savings and bought condos/townhomes in 1999-2002, then sold them in 2004-2006.
...and then I was dumb enough to park the $$ in mutual funds, which is doing very poorly right now.
<img src="http://chart.finance.yahoo.com/c/1y/v/vhgex" alt="" />
My friends maxed out their credit to buy the biggest and most expensive homes they could afford (or even not afford) in 1998-2000. I couldn't bring myself to do that, so I only bought cheaper condos. After housing expenses, my buddy was basically living on Maruchan ramen. I'd drive to Irvine and go grocery shopping with him, finding a pack of marked-down chicken wings was a real treasure. We'd marinade & grill it in the oven, then eat it with seasoned instant noodle -- <em>pancit canton</em> style, on a plate.
If you ever watch <em>Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares</em>, one of the running themes was making the most out of inexpensive ingredients. A good chef can turn fresh, inexpensive ingredients into tasty food, and waste little to nothing. Years ago, ox tail, chicken wing, lamb shanks, beef tendon, flank steak, etc. were all inexpensive poor man's food. My mother was a manager for Panda Express inside a Pavilions, where the fish department sold large bags of salmon heads (with lots of collar meat) for $1 to her. That's $1 for the whole bag, not $1/lb.
Today, with the popularity of ethnic cuisine and many TV chefs turning to these previously inexpensive ingredients, they've gotten a lot more expensive. Many markets sell ox tail for $5/lb and you have to shop carefully to find it for less. As most of you are aware, I'm a foodie, and my food budget probably takes a larger % chunk of my paycheque. So I have to budget carefully and shop around, buying groceries on sale and figuring out how to best use them.
