For a long time, I have resisted buying a house in Los Angeles - the pricing was simply insane. But lately, thanks to the subprime mortgage disaster, things are actually moving into an affordable direction. As a result, I am now considering acquiring some property - any advice is appreciated.
In the meantime, I’ll keep a log of this journey. And the first step of any journey is getting to know the terrain. Although I’ve been here for almost four years, most of L.A.’s neighborhoods are still fairly unknown to me. Thankfully, there’s plenty of information online - I started with a neighborhood map of L.A. and a pricing heatmap of L.A.
This gives me at least a good starting point - anything that’s too far away from my work and too pricey will not get checked regularly. From there, it is easy to use a site like Zillow or Redfin to get a more detailed view of what’s available at what cost.
Of course, there are plenty of open questions left:
- What are those neighborhoods like?
- How much house can I afford? What are the hidden costs?
- What about foreclosures?
- Condo or House?
And many more - so expect to see more on this topic in the near future.
Hey Robert! Glad to hear that Redfin is part of your real estate search. We’re working on web pages that characterize each neighborhood, and wondered what someone like you would most want to see, especially if it isn’t available somewhere else. If you have any thoughts, please let us know (glenn at redfin dot com and john dot kim at redfin dot com). Regards, Glenn CEO, Redfin
Hey Rob- I don’t remember if you subscribe to My Money Blog, but this week its author compiled all of his home buying articles onto one page:
http://www.mymoneyblog.com/archives/2008/04/got-house-buying-questions.html