>Houses here are much more expensive than Southern California as is gasoline. >As of last week when I checked our gasoline was about 50 cents more a gallon >than L.A.'s. We pay nearly $2.00 a gallon for regular. In the San Francisco >Bay Area a 1200 square foot 40 year old fixer upper will start at $550,000 and >someone will come along and offer $900,000. This is not a joke

Ouch!

You need to pack up and move to Ga! Even in the metro area you can get gas for $1.49. There are parts of Downtown Atlanta that are undergoing a revival where older houses are kind of pricey but nothing like that. Even in the closer burbs 500,000 would buy a very exclusive large new home. We are about 90 miles south of Atlanta in a small town and our house is about 1200 square feet, built in 1973, on 2 acres and would go for about $75,000.

What a difference a few thousand miles makes. < g >