U.S. Federal agents raid California business in green card probe

[IcezMan_IcezLady 582]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/federal-agents-raid-california-business-green-card-probe-181445685.html

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

Sadly this is pretty well known in my neck of the woods in the San Gabriel Valley which has turned in to a huge Chinatown. The Chinese come in by the plane load on either tourist visas, investment visas, student visas and don't leave. If they do leave it is after they used their savings to buy a house here at inflated prices which decreases inventory, raises housing prices, and usually leave the house vacant for X amount of months a year. All the while not maintaining the house or the property. It is really sad because it leaves people like myself out of the market unless we want to commute an hour each way to work or be stuck paying  at least $700k for a decent house.

 

All of this is because they don't see any future in China so they either want to live here , have a child here, or have all of their assets tied up into a house here. 

Edited April 6, 2017 by cyberfx1024

[Dakine10 5,452]

8 hours ago, cyberfx1024 said:

Sadly this is pretty well known in my neck of the woods in the San Gabriel Valley which has turned in to a huge Chinatown. The Chinese come in by the plane load on either tourist visas, investment visas, student visas and don't leave. If they do leave it is after they used their savings to buy a house here at inflated prices which decreases inventory, raises housing prices, and usually leave the house vacant for X amount of months a year. All the while not maintaining the house or the property. It is really sad because it leaves people like myself out of the market unless we want to commute an hour each way to work or be stuck paying  at least $700k for a decent house.

 

All of this is because they don't see any future in China so they either want to live here , have a child here, or have all of their assets tied up into a house here. 

   They don't have to come here to do that. Foreign buyers can (and do) purchase property all the time without ever setting foot in the US. Last time I was in Vancouver, the provincial government had just passed a 15% foreign buyer surtax for the Vancouver area. Cooled things off a little. I'm not sure if anywhere in the US has done that though. It sounds kind of socialisty and the libertarians here prefer to stay with the free market shtick, I'm told.

Edited April 7, 2017 by Dakine10

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

12 hours ago, cyberfx1024 said:

Sadly this is pretty well known in my neck of the woods in the San Gabriel Valley which has turned in to a huge Chinatown. The Chinese come in by the plane load on either tourist visas, investment visas, student visas and don't leave. If they do leave it is after they used their savings to buy a house here at inflated prices which decreases inventory, raises housing prices, and usually leave the house vacant for X amount of months a year. All the while not maintaining the house or the property. It is really sad because it leaves people like myself out of the market unless we want to commute an hour each way to work or be stuck paying  at least $700k for a decent house.

 

All of this is because they don't see any future in China so they either want to live here , have a child here, or have all of their assets tied up into a house here. 

You don't think the Bay area jobs market isn't a large factor on housing costs?

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

2 hours ago, ccneat said:

You don't think the Bay area jobs market isn't a large factor on housing costs?

It is and I ain't talking about the Bay area. I am talking about the LA area especially the San Gabriel Valley which is east of LA. 

 

Since the article and the people involved are in the San Gabriel Valley my information was deemed pertinent. 

Edited April 7, 2017 by cyberfx1024

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

6 hours ago, cyberfx1024 said:

It is and I ain't talking about the Bay area. I am talking about the LA area especially the San Gabriel Valley which is east of LA. 

 

Since the article and the people involved are in the San Gabriel Valley my information was deemed pertinent. 

You're completely right about this. The only people I know here in LA who have been able to buy in this market have used significant sums of family money to do so, either through an inheritance or a leg up from parents. And we are not spring chickens! Between us, Mr U and I make enough to buy a palace pretty much anywhere else but even our modest goal -- 700-1000 sq ft house or condo -- is unrealistic here without a significant commute. We both flat out refuse to move elsewhere since we both have great jobs and aren't looking to leave SoCal any time soon. The new builds that are going up everywhere are snapped up by foreign investors, who usually have their kids who attend UCLA/USC live in them, or leave them just... sitting there with no tenant. It artificially makes the rental AND the homebuying markets super tight. Pretty much anyone who lives here will tell a similar story. 

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

23 minutes ago, elmcitymaven said:

You're completely right about this. The only people I know here in LA who have been able to buy in this market have used significant sums of family money to do so, either through an inheritance or a leg up from parents. And we are not spring chickens! Between us, Mr U and I make enough to buy a palace pretty much anywhere else but even our modest goal -- 700-1000 sq ft house or condo -- is unrealistic here without a significant commute. We both flat out refuse to move elsewhere since we both have great jobs and aren't looking to leave SoCal any time soon. The new builds that are going up everywhere are snapped up by foreign investors, who usually have their kids who attend UCLA/USC live in them, or leave them just... sitting there with no tenant. It artificially makes the rental AND the homebuying markets super tight. Pretty much anyone who lives here will tell a similar story. 

Your comment is right on the money as well. I gross well over $100k a year here in Pasadena, but even for me it is not enough to buy a house here at all. I love SoCal but I have to leave for greener pastures back on the East Coast. I am just lucky enough to have found a cheap 2/1 when I first got here and lived here since. The owners don't want to raise the rates to much every year because we are good tenants, but it is still $1600 a month. 

[IAMX 3,055]

9 hours ago, cyberfx1024 said:

Your comment is right on the money as well. I gross well over $100k a year here in Pasadena, but even for me it is not enough to buy a house here at all. I love SoCal but I have to leave for greener pastures back on the East Coast. I am just lucky enough to have found a cheap 2/1 when I first got here and lived here since. The owners don't want to raise the rates to much every year because we are good tenants, but it is still $1600 a month. 

Your rent is less than 19% of your income in an urban area of California (far less in all likelihood if counting household income if you have a working spouse).. am I really reading a complaint about this?

 

The penalty of living in urban areas is pretty obvious. Living in a highrise condo in downtown Calgary we pay $2000 a month, and that's on the cheap side. While SF got cheaper in the areas I wanted to live in, it still was overpriced, and living in a condo in the Rivermark Village (Montague) in Santa Clara, it was only a few hundred less than that. I am still trying to convince the wife to move on the outskirts of the city where one can get a ton of property for a fraction of the price in the city, and where you have far more control over the property you own.

 

Also keep in mind that California is very notorious for terrible disposable income, not only in the urban regions but even in the vast majority of the state that's less populated, because of the desire to make them compete with the metros. My buddy makes around the same as you working in Sacramento, with top notch credit (20 years history plus 800 score), and because he's not married even FHA is telling him to pound sand. Another lives in Seattle working in management for Amazon going 150k per annum and again, same problem, but even with condos.

 

As I get older I'm seeing less and less justification to bother with that.

 

Anyways, more to the topic, I don't care how wealthy these people are, the laws are the laws, follow them or go back.

Edited April 8, 2017 by SRVT