Crazy real estate market... prices are up over 200% in the last 5 years in many parts of LA. People either have a ton of equity in their homes & are adding on, or are looking to invest in all kinds of property. Strong economy in general as well...

of the last 20 jobs posted to the jobs section, only 3 are in california.

archinect from LA?

everyone's loadin up the truck n goin to beverly

I don't know if California is that hot. For every person that moves out there I'm guessing two are leaving, not counting the nightly inflow of immigrants from Mexico, of course.

Just go to places like Portland, Seattle, Denver, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, and Vegas. All of those cities are taking on refugees from California quite heavily.

Which reminds me. If you ever ask a native Oregonian what's wrong with their state, 99% of them will say it's the Californians moving there.

...and yet those very same Oregonians will take those evil Californians' money for real estate in a flash! Just say "no"!

california has always and will always be a stopping point for most professionals in the design community. its a place where you can make alot of money in a short period of time (if done correctly).

most of the people i talk to have a five to ten year plan to live in CA, then take the money and move to somewhere a bit less pricy where they can settle with a house that doesnt cost a mil and a half...

In Southern California it only gets hot in the late summer / early fall. And it's a dry heat.





...

i work for a firm that designs mostly schools in CA and in the summer is when the schools want projects designed and completed fast. so we are always slammed in the summer. in fact, everyone i know is looking for people right now. it's always been that way for every firm i've worked for in CA...

I agree with meversusyou as far as California being a stopover point for designers migrating elsewhere. And having grown up in Eastern Washington State, consensus there is that what's messed up with Oregon has a lot to do with the lack of a state sales tax.

But in any case, the architecture market in SoCal IS booming - this is great for job hoppers, owners, and new hires... asfor the rest of us, it just means more overtime. And I'm thinking about what I am going to do with myself when this bad boy bursts. I'm no economist, but the commercial market still isn't strong enough to carry us if the residential sectors takes a nap.

two weeks ago i visited san francisco, and was impressed by how contemporary even the most average buildings are (relative to chicago).
last year when i visited san diego, i had much the same experience.
is there something different about the construction industry out there?
for starters, chicago seems to take every chance it can get to tell you how to design your elevation (lakefront protection, aldermen and zoning variances). Is it not that way in CA?
are clients out there more interested in progressive architecture? or is it just that everyone out there has more money, and there's not as much value engineering?

i live in san francisco.

people have insanely more money than most of the US. it is all tech money, and there's lots of it.

what can i say, life is good here.

but can you buy a home there?

yeah, if you don't mind living somewhere incredibly tiny. if you're lucky, the land alone will cost 500 grand.