California families have left the Bay Area for low-cost areas – trading their duplexes and rented apartments for bigger, quieter homes.
The average cost for houses in the Bay Area is around $2.2millon – 2.9 percent higher compared to two years ago, according to Zillow.
High housing costs and the changing culture of the city prompted four wealthy families to find homes elsewhere, some out of the state entirely.
Ken, 69, and Michele, 68, Freeze have left their $751,000 home in Martinez, Contra Costa County, that was originally bought for $167,000 in 1987.
They had originally settled there as members of the U.S. Coast Guard and loved California – but when retirement rolled around, they didn’t like how the area had transformed.
Ken, 69, and Michele, 68, Freeze left the Bay Area when they planned to retire because they didn’t like how the area had changed
Instead of going to Placerville, California like they originally planned, they fell in love with Meridian, Idaho, while watching the August 2017 solar eclipse
Now the couple spends their weekends sifting for gold deposits in the nearby riverbeds, hunting for artifacts with metal detectors and spending time in their woodturning studio built in the garage
The couple told The Mercury News: ‘The homeless situation in downtown Martinez was just getting out of hand. Beautiful Marina Park was just littered with needles. People didn’t want to take their families down there.’
Instead of going to Placerville, California like they originally planned, they fell in love with Meridian, Idaho, while watching the August 2017 solar eclipse.
They made their move official in 2020 and sold their home – moving into a 2,880 square-foot home with a five-car garage for $496,000.
Now the couple spends their weekends sifting for gold deposits in the nearby riverbeds, hunting for artifacts with metal detectors and spending time in their woodturning studio built in the garage.
Jared Troutman, 45, and Grace Xu, 37, are two other former Californians who have recently decided to ditch the state, reports Mercury News.
The pair left their one-bedroom rental in San Bruno that cost them $2,600 every month for a stunning 2,223 square-foot three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in Phoenix, Arizona which they bought for $660,000.
Jared Troutman, 45, and Grace Xu, 37, were originally thinking about buying a one-bedroom house in Half Moon Bay, but couldn’t justify the $1million price tag
This move was prompted by the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic
This move was prompted by the 2020 Covid pandemic. The couple told The Mercury News that they were originally thinking about buying a one-bedroom cottage in Half Moon Bay, but couldn’t justify the $1million price tag.
Since Troutman worked remotely and Xu’s office had a location in Phoenix, the situation worked out perfectly.
Their house, which they bought in 2021, has a pool, view of the mountains and is surrounded by palm trees – which Troutman joked you couldn’t get in California unless you were billionaires like Elon Musk.
The couple told the outlet they pay less for their mortgage than their apartment in San Bruno.
Another couple, Susan, 47, and Dan Hyland, 47, moved for better schooling for their two children and a change of pace in 2019, but elected to stay in California.
The family originally rented a 1,200 square-foot home in San Jose’s Willow Glen neighborhood, but traded it in for a $1.13million, 4,200 square-foot home in Granite Bay, California.
Susan, 47, and Dan Hyland, 47, moved for a calm town and better schooling for their two children, but elected to stay in state, in 2019
The family decided to move elsewhere in the state
Susan told The Mercury News: ‘I was rooted in Willow Glen. For us to leave felt very scary, but once we found a community and environment like where we’re at, we have never looked back.’
They sold a duplex rental property they owned in North San Jose which allowed them to put down a substantial down payment for their home.
Mary Ezell-Wallace, 73, and Samuel Wallace Jr., 83, moved to Arkansas to get back in touch with Mary’s southern roots after quitting California.
Oakland was where the couple originally settled down for around four decades. Mary owned a beauty parlor during the 90s near a bustling downtown.
But Mary described to The Mercury News how she felt a shift in the 2000s – saying the area began to feel more like a ‘third-world country’.
‘I didn’t want to wait until everything got worse than it already was.’
Their solution was a move to El Dorado, Arkansas where Mary had grown up. The couple left their four-bed, three-bathroom house, they originally bought for $106,000 in 2006, and bought a stunning 5,500 square-foot home for $400,000 – that they lovingly refer to on Facebook posts as the ‘Wallace Estate’.
Mary Ezell-Wallace, 73, and Samuel Wallace Jr., 83, moved to Arkansas to get back in touch with their southern roots
After four decades in Oakland, California, Mary said to The Mercury News how she felt a shift in the 2000s – saying the area began to feel more like a ‘third-world country’
Their solution was a move to El Dorado, Arkansas where Mary had grown up. The couple left their four-bed, three-bathroom house they originally bought for $106,000 in 2006 and bought a stunning 5,5000 square-foot home for $400,000 that they lovingly refer to on Facebook posts as the ‘Wallace Estate’
Nearly one in five homes sold in San Francisco have sold at a loss this past year – way above the national rate.
Murders, robberies, burglaries and widespread public drug use are forcing residents to flee the city – and putting off people from moving to what was once the hottest US property market.
The 17.8 percent of San Franciscans losing money on their home sale in the three months to the end of February is close to the highest level in a decade. And it is four times the national average of 4.3 percent.
The rate of migration into San Francisco has had a net-negative since 2014 – meaning there are more people leaving the city instead of settling. The worst rate was in 2021, when more than 55,000 left, according to San Francisco’s government website.
But the rate of international migration has been increasing – meaning people moving to or from another country – with 6,201 people settling.
The city attributes this rate to people losing their jobs when businesses laid off employees during and after the pandemic, personal decisions and to retire or leave the labor force.
