Since we’ve been growing our family at a faster rate than our house will support (having twins can do that), we’ve been looking for a new place to call home. I don’t know if you’ve done this lately, or if it was a frustrating experience for you, but here’s the general problem:

The houses that we love; we can’t afford.
The houses that we can afford are either too small, need too much work, or are in neighborhoods that are questionable.

So this has been going on for some time, and let me tell you, it’s been very frustrating. Until this morning.

This morning, I heard a story on the radio about home prices in California. Now, I’ll readily admit that living in California has certain benefits not found here in Indiana. The ocean comes to mind. The weather, hills, and redwoods, too. But factoring in all of the good stuff with all of the bad (like O.J., earthquakes. mudslides), I can’t imagine living there.

It’s recently been reported that only 18% of the population in California can afford a median-priced home, and the average home price has now topped $500,000. Lest you think otherwise, the amount of house that half a million buys isn’t much.

So, all in all, while the plight of Californians isn’t really making this process any less frustrating for me, it does help to put things into some perspective.