Monday Morning: The 225K Affordability Argument, A New Heatmap

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Good morning. The weekend discussion here at LA Land is worth revisiting: people in LA who make a lot of money and can’t find a house they both want and can afford. ‘225K Couple’ was joined by some other high-income folks who don’t see the point of buying here. One response: Get over yourselves and buy a house in Torrance. Another reponse: Get over LA and move to Athens, Ga.

Elsewhere: Bazillionaire investor Warren Buffett, at his annual steak-and-minor-league-baseball orgy, said the subprime lending mess is unlikely to pose a major threat to the overall economy.

At SFGate.com, columnist Carol Lloyd (nice column title: Surreal Estate) explains how short sales work, and then asks why lenders allow them in the first place: ‘Whatever happened to personal responsibility? It’s a weird facet of American society, which better rewards those who try to live the American dream and fail miserably than those who live within their means.’

We love heatmaps at LA Land, and the OC Register has a fun interactive heatmap showing where the subprime mortgages are in California. The way I read the map, in LA County, they’re in the SF Valley, the Antelope Valley, and South Los Angeles.