silicon valley boom ended, high paying careers dropped, housing cost keeps going up. Loan offices right now do 0% down interest only loan just so people can buy houses here. Not a good idea
Long story short: if you want to own a house here you either get loan sharked or you have to live practically free to save up all your money. Most wind up buying houses 60-100 miles from their work places out in the boonies like modesto, stockton, tracy, etc. Then they endure spending 3 hours in traffic a day, but the housing is much cheaper. Now all the "boonie" towns are becoming developed and less problematic
Downside is that the housing there also goes up in price. Good investment though'
wheelman: sorry, but computer geek jobs are out...there's too many of us and not enough positions. I'm actually thinking of going to school for something else, like metal/welding/machine fab, etc.