The $96,000 question

A friend's recent discussion with an area real estate broker went something like this:

Buyer: "I want to buy my own home, but I don't have a big down payment saved up."

Agent: "We can help find you a 1,400-square-foot two-bedroom condo for between $450,000 and $500,000, with a nothingdown loan, and have you set up with monthly payments of $4,000."

So much for owning a home.

To live in Ventura County and be a homeowner-even a condoowner-it takes almost half a million dollars.

Based on the standard loose formula of spending no more than one-half of one's monthly take-home pay on housing expenses, including mortgage payments, you must pull a monthly income of $8,000 to meet the demands outlined above. This equates to an annual salary of at least $96,000.

Are you making more than $96,000 a year?

Many low to moderate income workers have become so house poor that they can't afford to put three square meals on the table every day.

Thousands of residents in the lower economic stratum want to live in this community because this is where they work. This is where their children go to school and this is their home, such as it is. Yet home ownership and the American dream are being denied.

True, some financial assistance programs are in place in the East County and some lip service is being paid to affordable housing.

Still, a line in the sand has been drawn at $96,000. And that's a shame.