I have a neighbor down the road who bought her house for over 1M during the bubble, weeks before it burst. It’s an ordinary, ho-hum 2 bdrm 2 bath one story, really worth more like about $350K, except that it has a little view of the ocean. She’s on a less-than quarter acre with very little landscape.
My property is 33 acres. Because I’m under prop. 13, my property taxes taxes are miniscule compared to hers. She pays over $100K a year. Incredible. Good thing she’s a nasty lesbian lawyer, or I’d feel sorry for her.
Even though my brother and I tried to warn her, my youngest sister bought a nearly-half million dollar tiny shack in LA. I’d put the value at perhaps $150K, it does include some hilly land but... And right before the bubble burst.
She’s the token family lib (though lately turning more conservative), but the worst is that she brought my parents down with her. None of them has any money, my parents are retired and used to always be smart with their money. The whole thing makes me ill. They’re still justifying how they took out a second mortgage on their home (here in AZ) to help her out. All the rest of us can hope is that she eventually can pay them back (she’s just in her early 30s).