Reply #45: A decade ago the last "affordable"

[LibDemAlways]

homes were built in my So. Cal. neighborhood. Now the place is built out and the most recent homes built three years ago were all originally priced at 600K and up. There is nothing for sale in this community now for less than 300K and that is for a one-bedroom 700 sq. foot condo. Single family homes now start at 600K and the McMansions built within the last few years are reselling for over a million.

Heating the big monsters is problematic, but getting into them in the first place requires a king's ransom, or so you'd think. Turns out mortgage lenders have been doling out money like penny candy and many people are in debt up to their eyeballs. I personally know several new "homeowners" who are in hock to the tune of over a million dollars
with first and second mortgages totalling the cost of the home -- no down financing.

Seems to me this is a very shaky house of cards and will inevitably lead to foreclosures and bankruptcies down the line when interest rates rise, prices fall, and these McMansion owners are left holding the bag.