Since income is such a big factor in housing purchase, here is an incredibly detailed site related to income. You can search by county and job type. The privacy aspect is somewhat troubling (the link was forwarded via a list serve dedicated to privacy issues).
Wow......based on some rough estimates, federal employees in California, it seems almost 20% of these folks make over $100,000. I didn't realize government work paid so well. And this doesn't include many of the folks who make big bucks. Excluded from the database are employees of the FBI, CIA, Defense Department, State Department and other positions deemed sensitive by federal law. Congress, the White House, and independent commissions, such as the Postal Service, are excluded from the data complied by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
With incomes like these, I can see why so many can afford to live so well in the local region.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
24 comments:
The categories were waaaaaay confusing, though. I eventually found the one that I think reflects my own career, which agreed with the industry wage trackers that I use as well. I make about 50% more than the average, because I have several years experience.
Still, even if you're looking at higher-income buyers, Sacto area is overpriced. I'm just now seeing homes come on the market in areas that I might consider (and I'm not talking high-end communities like EDH, but older places like Carmichael) that have asking prices from 3 to 4 times my yearly income.
The homes I am tracking are in the 350 to 450K range and frankly -- for the neighborhoods, and I've done drive by's on all of them, they are still overpriced.
AB - pull the data on UCD and you would understand the prices in Davis...
Davis isn't really an option for me, but I was curious after some of Gwynster's posts. Plus, there are a lot of Strengs there.
I can only say that the UC folks must be pulling down over 250K per year to make the prices believable. The same models in Sacramento, in every area except Land Park and Wilhaggin, are priced about half as high. And the thing is, the neighborhoods, lots, etc. in Davis were not nearly as nice as Wilhaggin and Land Park.
Cmyst - 2 things about Davis...
1. the closer you get to SF, the higher the prices (Dixon is unbelievable)
2. Davis has only so many homes, so the top wage earners and equity holders get the homes, the rest move elsewhere. Its a bidding process.
Don't go buying Sippin's evil brew. He's been on a roll lately and I've been too lazy to smack him around >; )
Davis incomes are either very good or very bad without much middle ground. Assoc Professors start at 63K yr. Tenured faculy do better but those in the high ranges (117k+) are retiring and relocating out of the area. I'm on the ground here and I see it at the end of every academic year. I work for one of the larger and better paying dept and I know what are recruitment plan looks like.
Not that it's only the old timers leaving. I'll go into that later if anyone is curious.
Homes here are going on the market with steady reductions. Hell I even see rents going down. A 3/1 for $1400 was unheard of 2 yrs ago and now I can find them if I ask around.
Cmyst,
What normally happens in that they'll hire one new faculty person and then "find" a job for the spouse. People entering into Davis are not pulling $250K off the top.
I have scads of examples here a new tier 1 prof is hired and the spouse is found a admin spot because they never worked before but they need the extra income to enter the market so UCD finds them anything they can.
I spoke with the realtor at the house down the street. She says that people from the Med center are coming here because of the schools.
The thing is, Davis schools are loosing enrollment numbers. They built a new elementry and then found out they didn't have the student body to make it work. They closed a high school too and now talking about not reopening it.
The whole schools thing doesn't fly frankly. Davis is in the middle of a nasty transition.
Can someone offer some perspective here....100k is a lot of money where I come from. I make considerably more than my mother and father ever did....
I can see 117k for a prof...they typically have a PhD. So that makes sense. But these days, it seems 100k is fairly common among folks my age. Is it just the circles I run in? Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find much data to help me put this in perspective.
Here it is the salary data among my circle of friends and family.
Family, all in OC still and either in RE, financials or law. Average income, about 108k. 2 Cousins just coasting of interest income. I'm the slaker in the family with 2 BA and a MFA.
I have a handful of friends that make 100k but they are in the Alt A bay area or in 4 cases, they've relocated to Europe or NY. My local friends make less, much less.
The one person I know here bringing in big bucks was a broker. The rest of us (most have a least BA, at least 60% with a MS), make about 35k to 57k. This includes a lot of research staff at UCD. Not many top Admin people and the large % of people at UCD making less then 30K almost cancels those gains out.
Friends at Intel, capped out at 65k, some less.
I'd give a wag at average income at UCD are 35k to 40K excluding faculty. Faculty are a smaller number then you'd think. We have 30 and that's huge compared to most. I'd peg our average faculty income at 84K.
Now, add in the retirements coming and the wages drop considerably because only the old timers (20 to 25 yrs) have maxxed out salary caps. Everyone else is still pretty much at entry wages. This is because merits are now almost unheard of at UC anymore. We're lucky if we see a cost of living increase.
G - let me stir my soup...
Old 2005 list of over 300 staffers @ UCD with total comp $200K- over $850K. Probably much higher now.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/news/casalary/uc?ord=ASC&agency=UC&term=davis&Submit=Search&Submit=Sort&agency=UC&sort=%2Fcgi-bin%2Fnews%2Fcasalary%2Fuc%3FSubmit%3DPage%26agency%3DUC%26otmax%3D%26o%3D350%26term%3D%26sort%3Dworkplace%26ord%3DASC
But don't worry, their not here for the pay, its the bene's and retirement...
Then I started recognizing some Dr.s names and felt bad... until I got to the English professors making over $200K... very nice.
Thanks Gwynster...I think it must be a somewhat self selecting crowd that talks about their 100K plus salary as if was very common. Sister-in-law's boyfriend is looking for career advise cause he's not happy in his current field that makes big $$$!
My little bro also lives in OC and seems everyone there makes 100k plus, even a couple years out of college! I was starting to lose perspective....
Sippin,
I went over that list (you knew I would) and checked titles and scales.
Off the 272 listed, 35 of the those positions are located in Davis. The rest are all UCDMC.
Of the ones located in Davis, they are all Chairs/ Dean. Vice Chancellors etc with the exception of some professors from the Bus school and Chem Engineering.
Now, looking a little deeper, a great majority of those "bonuses" for the UCDMC hires were one time deals connected with relocation packages. They include purchsing their old house and helping them with seed money loans here. The sales prices are figured in the totals shown which is why it looks so huge.
opps, the sale prices are _not_ figured in - typo
Oh well, dump that career move.
There were lots of perks being handed out to lure people to UCD while the Med Center ramped up. Actually we're considering jumps to UCDMC to get out of Davis.
Specific question about Davis real estate (based on gwynster's experience)
What do you think the final sale price will be on this home?
http://homes.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?mlslid=70023351
I've been watching for a while and wondering...
In general, I'm amazed at the Davis market. I've been watching seriously for 3 months and I've noticed small drops (<$20K) and few sales. It seems that nobody wants to accept the fact that Davis is a part of the larger Central valley housing market.
No clue on that one because I don't follow that end of the market.
Now considering I can find a hell of a Streng in central Davis with the same sqft, bigger lot, no HOAs, and almost 100K less, I say it has a long way to go down.
But then I never understood the attraction to golf course properties. I do know that the more centrally located the house is, the more it sells for.
Remember, east of the railroad tracks, even Mace Ranch, isn't as desireable by Davis standards.
Tell that to the people selling the houses.
BTW, there are three Streng's on the market that I've seen. One is completely untouched and another is completely renovated - if you are really interested (from an architecture point), get a look. It's an interesting contrast.
I tried the link but it wouldn't work.
I have seen some really wacky things done to Strengs, that defy logic. People take out the planters in the atrium models, they extend the home onto the rear outside area completely enclosing the floor to ceiling windows, they build rails around the atrium so that it looks like you're standing in line at the bank. Just gawdawful stuff that makes you want to cry.
Gwyn, thanks for clarifying the UC salary info. Sippn, if living in Davis is for the privileged few -- more power to 'em. If I had to work there, personally, I'd be looking at Woodland.
And on incomes: there are a lot of factors at play here. As my kids point out, my profession is highly valued in Cali and as a result I earn much more here than I would expect to earn in my birth state of Illinois. I earn at my age a whole lot more than my dad earned at the same age, but I can tell you that we lived a much better life. Even without cheap crap from China.
I'm always shocked to find out that people who display the symbols of wealth in this area often earn about half what I do. I'm shocked because there is no way that I could afford that stuff, even if I wanted it. I don't know how they can sleep at night, or for that matter how they can feed their kids and pay their power bills.
Sorry, you asked.
I used to love Streng homes until I lived in one that wasn't kept up.
My idea of heaven is either an old craftsman kit house that needs work, an old warehouse, or a new very modern, very energy efficient prefab. I like big rooms and clean lines and zero clutter.
I have no love at all for the stucco homes. French prov. is my version of hell on earth.
I really like those Dwell homes you linked once.
My partner has privacy and security issues with lots of windows/no window coverings. He'd love the warehouse, though. Strengs appeal to me for quite a few reasons. One is that they have very private and secure front approaches and with a secure fence around the back yard they would pass muster. Another is that they are fairly easy to locate by filtering for age and square footage, and looking in areas that they are clustered in.
Post a Comment