Who's buying?

[Irvine Dream]

What about accountants?

Oh wait... they buy in Tustin.

But they have only 8% DTI ratio, so they have the last laugh  >

 

[scubasteve]

Us: Mid 30's, 2nd gen (born here as well). Both went to UCs for undergrad.  I also got my MBA there as well.  I've rented in Irvine, Costa Mesa and Ladera Ranch for about 7 years before buying our first house in 2010.

I work in tech, wife works in education.  Company paid for half of my tuition, so that helped in terms of not having any student loans.  Never was into cars so saved a lot in terms of not having a car payment.

I honestly was super lucky to have worked for a company whose stock appreciated 3600% since I've been there. No way in hell I would be able to afford a 1M home with our current salaries if I didn't put 50% down and have the low interest rates.  I correctly predicted that a correction was going to happen soon and decided to take chips off the table to buy our 2nd home at the time (sold 1st home shortly after we moved).

How about a correction to housing?

What correction? Irvine is magical.  =)

All kidding aside, it's definitely possible with the $hit that is going on in China.  For me, I feel like Irvine housing was the safer bet of the two and plus, I get to enjoy the house for now.  It feels much different now compared to what was going on in 2006 with all the liar loans (incredibly hard to qualify these days).

Obviously, other factors came into play when buying a house as well, such as my son starting kinder soon and I really wanted to have a school in the neighborhood, etc.

 

[scubasteve]

I sympathize with the thread starter that you are 2nd generation Asian and you don't have deep pocketed parents. You are in the minority. The majorities of younger buyers in their late 20's-mid 30's comes with a large sum of cash to reduced their loan. Some buyers just turned 18 and just started college.

I dunno.. all my friends are 2nd gen and none of our parents have deep pockets.  Maybe because we don't hang out with fobs.

The truth is, a lot of parents from 2nd gens sacrifice a lot by coming over here for their kids and save enough just for their kid's education.  I don't think OP is in minority.  Although this article focuses primarily on Indians, it is applicable to many other Asians:
http://www.india.com/whatever/an-en...-make-indian-sundar-pichai-google-ceo-504449/

 

[Irvinecommuter]

I sympathize with the thread starter that you are 2nd generation Asian and you don't have deep pocketed parents. You are in the minority. The majorities of younger buyers in their late 20's-mid 30's comes with a large sum of cash to reduced their loan. Some buyers just turned 18 and just started college.

I dunno.. all my friends are 2nd gen and none of our parents have deep pockets.  Maybe because we don't hang out with fobs.

The truth is, a lot of parents from 2nd gens sacrifice a lot by coming over here for their kids and save enough just for their kid's education.  I don't think OP is in minority.

Agreed.  My parents came with very little and worked for everything.  They helped me a little with education but otherwise could not help much. 

 

[bones]

There's so many scenarios for a couple to buy a $1m house in irvine.

 

[Irvinecommuter]

There's so many scenarios for a couple to buy a $1m house in irvine.

Yup...the hard part is keeping the house.  Job and economic stability are not what it was 10-20 years ago...relatively stable jobs/careers can be gone in a flash.

 

[Perspective]

I was lucky to graduate college, even luckier to finish grad school, and extremely lucky to find my wife in grad school.

 

[AW]

$1m doesn't have the same wow or shock factor like back in the old days.  There are too many $1m+ houses in Irvine, both new and resale.
Now $2m+ is the bar, like hidden or shady canyon.

 

[OC troll]

I'm 2nd generation. Late 30's. My parents still don't have much money. As the oldest son, I have to carry the burden of taking care of them. I pay for their cell bill, their mortgage, since my wife refuses to take them in. I got lucky with the last real estate boom. Bought cheap, sold at crazy prices 2 years later. Bank rolled the tax free earnings into the equities market and to my surprise, did pretty good. Just invested in household names. Probably can't do that now, just got lucky. Now I'm sitting on some cash and deciding on OH Capella, Strada, or maybe, just maybe BP Larkspur plan 3.

 

[JBean72]

There's so many scenarios for a couple to buy a $1m house in irvine.

Yup...the hard part is keeping the house.  Job and economic stability are not what it was 10-20 years ago...relatively stable jobs/careers can be gone in a flash.

This is SO true. I wonder what percentage of home buyers that take out loans for homes over 1 mil are able to keep them in the long-term? There are never any guarantees for employment.

 

[Happiness]

My parents still don't have much money. As the oldest son, I have to carry the burden of taking care of them. I pay for their cell bill, their mortgage,

You are my new hero.  Young people these days don't think like this anymore.  Nowadays, young people work (or not) for their spiritual well being, not to survive economically.  This is because they expect their parents to take care of them (and their loser spouse) forever. 

This is why 5P built the senior affordable housing in PP.  The young people expect their parents to use all of the parents resources to buy them a new PP house and then the now economically exhausted parents can stay close in the senior affordable housing to provide free daycare for the grandkids.

 

[Irvinecommuter]

There's so many scenarios for a couple to buy a $1m house in irvine.

Yup...the hard part is keeping the house.  Job and economic stability are not what it was 10-20 years ago...relatively stable jobs/careers can be gone in a flash.

This is SO true. I wonder what percentage of home buyers that take out loans for homes over 1 mil are able to keep them in the long-term? There are never any guarantees for employment.

You can only do the best you can at planning...losing a job is almost never a predictable event.  One of the reasons for buying in a place like Irvine is that if you have to sell, you can still get a good price.

 

[eyephone]

My parents still don't have much money. As the oldest son, I have to carry the burden of taking care of them. I pay for their cell bill, their mortgage,

You are my new hero.  Young people these days don't think like this anymore.  Nowadays, young people work (or not) for their spiritual well being, not to survive economically.  This is because they expect their parents to take care of them (and their loser spouse) forever. 

"New hero"?

 

[Bullsback]

There's so many scenarios for a couple to buy a $1m house in irvine.

Yup...the hard part is keeping the house.  Job and economic stability are not what it was 10-20 years ago...relatively stable jobs/careers can be gone in a flash.

This is SO true. I wonder what percentage of home buyers that take out loans for homes over 1 mil are able to keep them in the long-term? There are never any guarantees for employment.

You can only do the best you can at planning...losing a job is almost never a predictable event.  One of the reasons for buying in a place like Irvine is that if you have to sell, you can still get a good price.

Yes & No. Losing a job isn't predictable, but you should be in a position that if you lose your job, you aren't immediately negative on your housing payments, etc. You should have emergency funds to help you get through while finding a job and ideally you have some built in cushion so that if you had to take a job that paid less (within a reasonable projection), you'd still be able to get by (cut backs needed...absolutely, but could you get by, I'd hope).  Especially if you are looking for a more high-end house (if you are going high-end...you are buying for wants and not needs and should have other protections in place in advance). 

 

[Irvinecommuter]

There's so many scenarios for a couple to buy a $1m house in irvine.

Yup...the hard part is keeping the house.  Job and economic stability are not what it was 10-20 years ago...relatively stable jobs/careers can be gone in a flash.

This is SO true. I wonder what percentage of home buyers that take out loans for homes over 1 mil are able to keep them in the long-term? There are never any guarantees for employment.

You can only do the best you can at planning...losing a job is almost never a predictable event.  One of the reasons for buying in a place like Irvine is that if you have to sell, you can still get a good price.

Yes & No. Losing a job isn't predictable, but you should be in a position that if you lose your job, you aren't immediately negative on your housing payments, etc. You should have emergency funds to help you get through while finding a job and ideally you have some built in cushion so that if you had to take a job that paid less (within a reasonable projection), you'd still be able to get by (cut backs needed...absolutely, but could you get by, I'd hope).  Especially if you are looking for a more high-end house (if you are going high-end...you are buying for wants and not needs and should have other protections in place in advance).

For sure...one of the lesser discussed part of the 2008 economic blowup is how people used their houses like ATMs and bought ridiculous things at ridiculous prices.  Living within your means is definitely a thing but buying a house puts a huge dent in preparation.

 

[nyc to oc]

There's so many scenarios for a couple to buy a $1m house in irvine.

Yup...the hard part is keeping the house.  Job and economic stability are not what it was 10-20 years ago...relatively stable jobs/careers can be gone in a flash.

This is SO true. I wonder what percentage of home buyers that take out loans for homes over 1 mil are able to keep them in the long-term? There are never any guarantees for employment.

You can only do the best you can at planning...losing a job is almost never a predictable event.  One of the reasons for buying in a place like Irvine is that if you have to sell, you can still get a good price.

Yes & No. Losing a job isn't predictable, but you should be in a position that if you lose your job, you aren't immediately negative on your housing payments, etc. You should have emergency funds to help you get through while finding a job and ideally you have some built in cushion so that if you had to take a job that paid less (within a reasonable projection), you'd still be able to get by (cut backs needed...absolutely, but could you get by, I'd hope).  Especially if you are looking for a more high-end house (if you are going high-end...you are buying for wants and not needs and should have other protections in place in advance).

so true about instability. hedge your bets.
if both spouses work, then buy a house that is affordable on one income. If you want the 1M+ house, save up enough downpayment to get the monthly mortgage to where its OK on one income.
for single earner families, get enough life insurance  to at least pay off the mortgage if the breadwinner passes away or enough disability insurance so that if the breadwinner can't work, to give you enough time to sell the house if you have to without going into foreclosure.
some may say this is too conservative, but I feel like I can sleep better at night this way.

 

[fishfinder333]

With the continued slow down in Chinese economy, drop in Chinese stock market and crack down on corruption do you guys think more Chinese investors will put their money in US real estate? Or do you think Chinese are leveraged at home and money will flow back to china,  sparking a sell off in housing in the US (Wishful thinking haha)

 

[nyc to oc]

I'm 2nd generation. Late 30's. My parents still don't have much money. As the oldest son, I have to carry the burden of taking care of them. I pay for their cell bill, their mortgage, since my wife refuses to take them in. I got lucky with the last real estate boom. Bought cheap, sold at crazy prices 2 years later. Bank rolled the tax free earnings into the equities market and to my surprise, did pretty good. Just invested in household names. Probably can't do that now, just got lucky. Now I'm sitting on some cash and deciding on OH Capella, Strada, or maybe, just maybe BP Larkspur plan 3.

I wonder how common it is for 2nd gens to buy the condo for their parents, rather than the other way around, parents buying the house for the adult kids, or gifting significant amount of downpayment help. 

 

[Irvinecommuter]

There's so many scenarios for a couple to buy a $1m house in irvine.

Yup...the hard part is keeping the house.  Job and economic stability are not what it was 10-20 years ago...relatively stable jobs/careers can be gone in a flash.

This is SO true. I wonder what percentage of home buyers that take out loans for homes over 1 mil are able to keep them in the long-term? There are never any guarantees for employment.

You can only do the best you can at planning...losing a job is almost never a predictable event.  One of the reasons for buying in a place like Irvine is that if you have to sell, you can still get a good price.

Yes & No. Losing a job isn't predictable, but you should be in a position that if you lose your job, you aren't immediately negative on your housing payments, etc. You should have emergency funds to help you get through while finding a job and ideally you have some built in cushion so that if you had to take a job that paid less (within a reasonable projection), you'd still be able to get by (cut backs needed...absolutely, but could you get by, I'd hope).  Especially if you are looking for a more high-end house (if you are going high-end...you are buying for wants and not needs and should have other protections in place in advance).

so true about instability. hedge your bets.
if both spouses work, then buy a house that is affordable on one income. If you want the 1M+ house, save up enough downpayment to get the monthly mortgage to where its OK on one income.
for single earner families, get enough life insurance  to at least pay off the mortgage if the breadwinner passes away or enough disability insurance so that if the breadwinner can't work, to give you enough time to sell the house if you have to without going into foreclosure.
some may say this is too conservative, but I feel like I can sleep better at night this way.

It's not to conservative but just not "realistic"...you either have to "settle" for a house in such a price range or wait like twenty years before you can afford a house.  For most people, buying a house is really for their children and thus there is a time frame in which one can buy a house.

 

[Bullsback]

There's so many scenarios for a couple to buy a $1m house in irvine.

Yup...the hard part is keeping the house.  Job and economic stability are not what it was 10-20 years ago...relatively stable jobs/careers can be gone in a flash.

This is SO true. I wonder what percentage of home buyers that take out loans for homes over 1 mil are able to keep them in the long-term? There are never any guarantees for employment.

You can only do the best you can at planning...losing a job is almost never a predictable event.  One of the reasons for buying in a place like Irvine is that if you have to sell, you can still get a good price.

Yes & No. Losing a job isn't predictable, but you should be in a position that if you lose your job, you aren't immediately negative on your housing payments, etc. You should have emergency funds to help you get through while finding a job and ideally you have some built in cushion so that if you had to take a job that paid less (within a reasonable projection), you'd still be able to get by (cut backs needed...absolutely, but could you get by, I'd hope).  Especially if you are looking for a more high-end house (if you are going high-end...you are buying for wants and not needs and should have other protections in place in advance).

so true about instability. hedge your bets.
if both spouses work, then buy a house that is affordable on one income. If you want the 1M+ house, save up enough downpayment to get the monthly mortgage to where its OK on one income.
for single earner families, get enough life insurance  to at least pay off the mortgage if the breadwinner passes away or enough disability insurance so that if the breadwinner can't work, to give you enough time to sell the house if you have to without going into foreclosure.
some may say this is too conservative, but I feel like I can sleep better at night this way.

Agreed. And I for one can sleep better at night, knowing those protections exist (and maybe in a slightly smaller house), then the flip side where you are staying up late wondering if that bonus is going to come because you need it to pay the mortgage. And look...I understand the first one if you are doing all that just to get a suitable house for your kids....it is another story when you are doing all that so you can have a 3K sq ft brand new house vs. an older 3K sq ft house or a 2000 sq ft detached condo or something.