It seems this is happening everywhere. People are basically being bought out of their market. And those numbers you gave, scary. The old rule of thumb is 3 x your annual salary. If you make 50,000, you can buy a home for 150,000. Have you taken a lot at what the consumer, whatever it is; bureau gives for a family budget? What's scarier than housing is transportation. They give this allowable percentage for "transportation" which includes the car loan, insurance, gasoline and repairs. Well, maybe they should look at the gas prices, and allow 50% of your take home pay for gas. LOL. Then the other 50% for housing. Just can't eat, or get sick. Seriously though...our transportation expense, with a modest car loan, is almost equal to our mortgage. Our gasoline costs are higher than groceries. My goal every week is to beat last week's groceries bill, by lowering it, to allow more money for the gas prices as they continue to go up, up, up. Anyway, how are the people in California doing it? How is anyone doing it?

Then I think, aren't we sometimes the fools that just keep paying these ridiculous prices? I would not overpay when we bought our home, it took 3 years though, waiting for the right situation. My other little game is figuring out how many hours I would have to work to buy or pay for something...believe me, when you do this, you learn to just live without it.

There are things we can't live without, safe neighborhoods for our kids, health insurance, etc.
Will it ever get better?

Why shouldn't they have to invest in their own retirement, pay their own health care if they decide to retire early, then go on medicare and pay their own supplemental insurance like everyone else? What about a freeze on their raises?

Now here's another question. We have a decent medical coverage, but no dental. Lots of people don't have medical coverage. So then why do our taxes go toward programs to help other people get medical and dental coverage, when we lack coverage ourselves?

Not only do the people on top live off us, we are the ones who come to the aid of the people who are impoverished.