A premium for housing

Regarding “$500,000 Question,” Nov. 13: I had to laugh out loud at the front-page photo of the $485,000 cracker box for sale. And I have to wonder why California doesn’t have free healthcare and education for its residents.

When property taxes can jump from what? About $500 a year to $5,000 and multiplied by a million? This state must simply be awash in cash.

KURT SIPOLSKI

Palm Desert

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In the Nov. 13 section, you featured a two-bedroom house in Inglewood that had all the appeal of a jail for around $500,000. One could buy my house -- four bedrooms, 1 3/4 baths -- here in Whittier for just under $600,000. And Whittier has shady streets, good schools and safe neighborhoods. What does Inglewood have that we don’t?

ROBERT W. KING

Whittier