Location (場所)

The mantra in real estate is: Location, location, location, or "basho" in Japanese. Having become obsessed with Zillow over the last few weeks in an effort to find an affordable home in Los Angeles to buy in LA, I've realized that that is indeed the case. No other factor (how new the house is, whether there is an attached garage, the school district the house belongs to (although, I guess this is part of the "location" criteria) matters as much as location. In San Francisco and LA, houses/ condos are murderously expensive and have been on the rise consistently for as long as I can remember (save for a short blip during the Great Recession/ mortgage crisis). Back in surburban Chicago where my family used to live, housing prices really haven't gone up that much. It's really pretty unfair, actually. 

Beyond just the general country-scale differences, though, LA definitely has different neighborhoods that are pricier than others. Don't even dream about living in Malibu or Beverly Hills, there's a reason visitors pick up "Star Maps" and take tours around those areas looking for celebrities' homes: they're owned by rich people. Also for one's own safety don't live in Compton, Southeast of downtown, etc. And then everything in between is kind of a free-for-all, from how close one wants to live to the beach (the ocean breeze keeps it cool as opposed to inland!) to if you want a mountain view from one's window (I don't care) to how far one wants to drive as part of one's commute (a HUGE deciding factor for me and should be for most people given rush hour conditions in LA). Downtown housing sales are nearly non-existent, they pop up and disappear very quickly, or are overpriced ($550,000 for a 1-bedroom, 1-bath, 900 sq. ft. cubicle?) That's more than half a million dollars! That's sort of what hits me about the real estate process in LA: we start talking about "million dollars", or at least the word comes into the conversation. There ARE certainly houses listed at more than a million dollars on the market, and they don't buy as much as one would think. 

For me, it's a real balancing act: I'm in my late-20s with a semi-consistent job but like anyone else, not guaranteed to last for a few years much less for a lifetime, but I should be able to get work in LA. Am I sure I'd be working in downtown LA? No. Am I sure I want to get committed to a 30-year mortgage where I'm shackled into paying utnil I'm 59 years old theoretically? No. Doesn't sound great, but housing is an investment of a lifetime, plus I'm in need of a home (kind of a "double utility" in buying a home, living in it and investing in it at the same time.) My long term goals also come into play in terms of location: do I go more for the family-oriented area with good school districts and lots of parks, playgrounds, open areas (basically suburbs) or do I go for the short-term view of buying in downtown (the scarce properties that are available) and save myself the commute time (a 5-minute walk commute! Woo-hoo!) It's really a tough decision, and one that's gonna require a thorough pro-con evaluation and assessment of all the factors. But none more important than.......location, location, location. 

Much like in real estate, location is HUGE in dodgeball and baseball, my 2 favorite sports right now (It is summer, prime time for baseball season). More than velocity although most people think it's velocity, more than deception, more than movement of the ball, the number one factor for both those sports is location, location, location. Where the ball ends up when it hits an opposing dodgeball player (anywhere where the hands can't touch it and catch the ball! preferably down, down, down) and where it passes the strike zone (down, down, down!) in baseball is so very important. It's why pitchers like Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine were so effective, they could literally throw to a spot 60 feet away in the exact spot that they intended to throw it to, to pin-needle accuracy. I don't have the fastest ball or the most movement when I throw a dodgeball, but those aren't what I'm trying to perfect: it's accuracy. I'm trying to find ways to throw harder or to get more movement on my throws, but neither of those as much as I'm trying to get the perfect location. 

Fantasze on, 

Robert Yan