Rare waterfront home under $700k USD in California

[JeffKeryk]

CA is big.
This would be hard pass.
On other hand, I have property in San DIego, and hardly anything returns money like that location. Besides having probably best weather in the country.

CA, in my experience, is a gold mine. Where else can you squander the 1st 33 years of your life, then get a great state education for a low cost and end up being, well you get the idea.

I have 3.5 properties in the greater Silicon Valley; over time you almost cannot go wrong. San Diego is great, but Silicon Valley is where the opportunity is. We are generally considered the 4th or 5th largest economy in the world. That's Capitalism at its finest!
In total, 78 of the Fortune 100 companies and 337 of the Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in California. I rest my case.

Economy of California

 

[Nessism1]

CA, in my experience, is a gold mine. Where else can you squander the 1st 33 years of your life, then get a great state education for a low cost and end up being, well you get the idea.

I have 3.5 properties in the greater Silicon Valley; over time you almost cannot go wrong. San Diego is great, but Silicon Valley is where the opportunity is. We are generally considered the 4th or 5th largest economy in the world. That's Capitalism at its finest!
In total, 78 of the Fortune 100 companies and 337 of the Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in California. I rest my case.

Economy of California

Yup, lots of rich folk in CA. Something like 50% of the tax income comes from the uber rich.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Yup, lots of rich folk in CA. Something like 50% of the tax income comes from the uber rich.

And you get that way because of the opportunity here. I ain't going nowhere...
What's funny, at least to me, is people who decide to sell around here to get a bigger place elsewhere. I ask them, "Who's gonna clean it?"

 

[RhondaHonda]

Naw. They renew like clockwork.

That’s not what I’m seeing with regard to the CRIT. I think they do 30 year terms but the speculation is that they are going to significantly up the rent if they opt to renew them. Either way, it’s totally outside your control which is why it is a major risk and why the house is cheap.

 

[Sumboodie]

Too each their own but really only Jan-Feb are kinda sucky but not THAT cold

Trade that with place where you really can’t do anything outside during the day April-October

Agree. I can deal with -20* much easier than 100*

 

[Nessism1]

And you get that way because of the opportunity here. I ain't going nowhere...
What's funny, at least to me, is people who decide to sell around here to get a bigger place elsewhere. I ask them, "Who's gonna clean it?"

With the money they save, they can hire a maid!

Related question, and a head scratcher to me, is that yards in California tend to be very small. In So Calif, where I live, 5000 sqft is about the norm, yet very few people do their own yard work. You can cut the grass in literally 15 minutes. I see yard crews come through, two people, and they are literally gone in 20 minutes. These services are not cheap either.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

That’s not what I’m seeing with regard to the CRIT. I think they do 30 year terms but the speculation is that they are going to significantly up the rent if they opt to renew them. Either way, it’s totally outside your control which is why it is a major risk and why the house is cheap.

I suppose there's some risk for cash buyers but lenders won't lend if the lease term is shorter than the mortgage.

Ground rents are very common in MD and Eastern PA (Philly). I've seen them out west but not as common.

 

[UncleDave]

CA, in my experience, is a gold mine. Where else can you squander the 1st 33 years of your life, then get a great state education for a low cost and end up being, well you get the idea.

I have 3.5 properties in the greater Silicon Valley; over time you almost cannot go wrong. San Diego is great, but Silicon Valley is where the opportunity is. We are generally considered the 4th or 5th largest economy in the world. That's Capitalism at its finest!
In total, 78 of the Fortune 100 companies and 337 of the Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in California. I rest my case.

Economy of California

Calif is a gold mine figuratively and literally.

 

[UncleDave]

I had a place 10 miles upstream for 15 years and my parent had a place for 20 in Parker.

Big river is where people go that cant afford waterfront property further up in Parker or Havasu.
You have to pay much more property tax in Big River where on the AZ side there is "almost" no property tax.

The river below the parker dam is quite a bit less usable.

You do get a little chunk of space and can get a 99 year lease.

Crit never messed with me but the Crit police fiercely protect the native americans that get into trouble for stuff like DUI crashes
" the files got lost" .

It gets so hot in Parker I saw trees chasing dogs once. We basically didnt go in the summer.

 

[Pablo]

Odd, everyone I know, self included, who has left California has struck a veritable gold mine of success.

 

[UncleDave]

Odd, everyone I know, self included, who has left California has struck a veritable gold mine of success.

Cali certainly has no exclusive on success.

 

[Pablo]

Cali certainly has no exclusive on success.

It is the person not the state - the idea that California alone drives success is evident in the homeless people stacked in dry rivers. Santa Ana River in OC got so nasty adult men could not ride the bike trail. A magnet for illegal criminals and defecation on the street almost equaled Seattle. People come for the free stuff and stay because they don’t want to work elsewhere

Yeah I was born in California. Glad I left. Sorry for my rant

You guys who did well I acknowledge and salute you. But YOU did this. Not the state.

 

[UncleDave]

It is the person not the state - the idea that California alone drives success is evident in the homeless people stacked in dry rivers. Santa Ana River in OC got so nasty adult men could not ride the bike trail. A magnet for illegal criminals and defecation on the street almost equaled Seattle. People come for the free stuff and stay because they don’t want to work elsewhere

Yeah I was born in California. Glad I left. Sorry for my rant

You guys who did well I acknowledge and salute you. But YOU did this. Not the state.

Thats kind of what I mean by Cali has no exclusive on success.

I grew up in the Midwest and was told many times my farm work ethic helped me stand out from the local hoi polloi.

Some guys cant find gold in a jewelry store, others thrive regardless of where they may be.

 

[JHZR2]

Riverfront, not really waterfront. To me those two are different.

Nice all the same if you want to be in that side of CA. It’s not exactly beach or bay.

I have to wonder if they have a practical amount of water… and just how obscene the power bills would be…

 

[demarpaint]

There is a whole lot to like about that home with the exception of California taxes and regulations.

Bingo, a deal breaker for sure imo.

 

[UncleDave]

Riverfront, not really waterfront. To me those two are different.

Nice all the same if you want to be in that side of CA. It’s not exactly beach or bay.

I have to wonder if they have a practical amount of water… and just how obscene the power bills would be…

Depends on which kind of water you mean .

They have nearly unlimited potable water as they sit quite far upstream directly on the water source for the entire southern tip of california. This colorado river water is so hard you have to hit your head on it to go under water unless you want everything in your house corroded you have to treat every drop.

Recreationally speaking - Big River sits below head gate rock dam and gets quite a bit of flow variation compared to the river above it and the draft is much shallower than the well dredged and groomed parker strip that has floating bars and riverside restaurants and service.

At Big river its just you and a shallow band of water heading down to Mexico...

Friends always wanted to go there in the summer for spring breaks and such and it was always 800-1K a month in services.

What works really well out there are swamp coolers regularly achieving a 30 degree drop for some water and the price to run a big fan.

If you can take the heat it's a great place to spend some quality time.

Some picts from my garage at the "river" and memories with friend no longer here. The River is where we all went to play and have fun on our weekends out of LA.

 

[JeffKeryk]

With the money they save, they can hire a maid!

Related question, and a head scratcher to me, is that yards in California tend to be very small. In So Calif, where I live, 5000 sqft is about the norm, yet very few people do their own yard work. You can cut the grass in literally 15 minutes. I see yard crews come through, two people, and they are literally gone in 20 minutes. These services are not cheap either.

Yeah, the property footprint is small especially in the high tech areas. The value is in the land, not the dwelling. Our primary house is older, 1962 I think, and is in a bit more rural part of the Valley, if you can call it that. So my property is bigger than average suburban properties.

I've been cutting lawns since I was young. Used to get $2 from the neighbors, front and back. I hate mowing lawns so I put in chips and Japanese Maples.

Oh yeah, I have a house cleaner come in every 2 weeks. She's great!

 

[PandaBear]

They usually have terms upwards of 100 yrs and renew automatically.

So do they have a rent cap or it is up to the landlord's mercy?

 

[Patman]

Quite often up here we will see real estate listings where it’s considerably lower than market value but it’s done that way on purpose to gather multiple offers. When I saw the listing for my condo it was $299,999 but in the end there were 14 offers (including mine) and I had to pay $375,000 to get it (which was the actual market value)
In my previous neighborhood a number of houses were listed around $899k but ended up selling for 1.1 million.

 

[UncleDave]

So do they have a rent cap or it is up to the landlord's mercy?

You agree upon a renewal price at the initial term.