Opinion: Why California’s housing market should be left to regulate itself

To the editor: What Steve Lopez is concerned about is market-based pricing for housing. It is thought to be self-regulating, and it is. (“Hear about the tract house that went for $800,000 above asking? Welcome to California 2017,” Sept. 16)

The example cited of a modest Sunnyvale house selling for nearly $2.4 million and other homes going for twice as much as they did a few years ago is precisely this self-regulation in process.

Most people understand that we cannot have everything we want. A $400 ticket to see “Hamilton” regulated me, as most, to settle for TV. Coastal living is great, but we who don’t have a few million dollars to spend on a home will settle for elsewhere.

One of the things California is not short of is open space. Residents of this state demonstrated their preference for detached homes long ago, and it hasn’t changed.

Yes, the land is further away in places that are hotter than the cost, but it’s better than in much of the U.S. The jobs are distant now, but the same market forces that determine housing costs will bring them inland eventually.

Richard Rigney, Long Beach

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To the editor: Lopez puts some of the blame for high housing prices on Proposition 13, which is believed to keep people in their large houses as they age.

However, Propositions 60 and 90 provide a mechanism for people age 55 and older to move to smaller houses and retain their Proposition 13 tax basis if they purchase a replacement home within any of the 11 participating counties, including Los Angeles. The replacement home must be of equal or lower value, thus it is more likely to be a smaller home.

This enables retirees on a fixed income to relinquish larger homes they may no longer need and move to smaller residences within their own county or to other participating counties, while retaining their Proposition 13 tax advantages.

If more counties would participate in these programs and more retirees were made aware of their housing options, a substantial amount of living space could be made available to ease the housing shortage.

Tony Joseph, Thousand Oaks

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