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June 12, 2025

Page 1

June 12, 2025

Volume 55 - No. 24

First Time Buyers of Real Estate

Can One Still Buy a Starter Home? by R.L. “Pete” Peterson

Introduction

According to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, home buyers in Southern California must have an annual income of $258,000 to buy a home, making it the fourth most expensive housing market in the United States. That means with 20% down, or $160,000, the new homeowner will have to cough up a monthly mortgage payment ranging from $4,000 to $7,000! Welcome to the Golden State.

Southern California’s housing market has long been a beacon of opportunity and aspiration for those seeking a solid long-term investment. It has made many investors rich. However, for first-time homebuyers, the dream of homeownership has become increasingly elusive. A confluence of limited housing inventory and stringent banking regulations has formed a daunting challenge new buyers must fight

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through in order to secure a foothold in the market place. While my article doesn’t promise a solution to the myriad of problems that have caused the rise of this multifaceted challenge, I do promise to give an unbiased examination of the issues facing first-time homebuyers in Southern California. Who knows, we might just put our finger on the underlying causes and potential solutions of this situation. Let’s make one point quite clear.

The most pressing issue confronting first-time buyers is the chronic shortage of available houses that come on the market. That problem cannot be solved without politicians, developers, lending institutions and government agencies coming to an agreement to solve this issue, since they all had hand in creating the problem. Good luck with that one. Every individual with skin in the game that I spoke with agrees that the supply of starter homes must be

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June 12, 2025 by The Paper - Issuu