I assume be stupid amounts you mean stupid high?
Yes. We seen some sales of older homes at significant premiums over what it would take to build a brand new home that would be a fair bit nicer. There has been a lot of Chinese money pouring in. Some of it is flat out stupid. One Chinese investor bought the lot next to a friend. The problem is that the friend's driveway is in the public roadway and has a 30 year-old easement so his driveway is legally fixed and makes access to the other lot extremely costly (like the driveway will probably be $200,000). The investor bought the land in the winter. In the spring, our friend saw two people standing on his driveway and went out to see what was up.
The realtor said "When did this driveway go in?"
"Uh, 32 years ago."
I don't know if the realtor got sued, but a for sale sign went up within a couple of days. You might think that's one stupid investor... but that lot has been sold to two different Chinese investors in the last 18 months.
If you sell, where are you thinking about moving to?
We probably won't. I'm emotionally invested in my community and, basically, willing to lose some money if we get wiped out. If we go 10 more years before being destroyed, that would be great. If we get destroyed next year, I'll wish we had sold.
Don't you love California?
