Real Estate

The belief that reaching the American dream starts with owning a home is at the heart of an idea that emerged with post-World War II prosperity and has remained a standard ever since. But the reality is that millions of Americans in cities and states around the country struggle to afford housing, either to own or to rent.

When looking at the numbers, there’s no question Texas is doing a better job of mitigating homelessness than California. For one thing, Texas’ homeless population shrunk by nearly a third over the past decade, while California’s grew by 43%, according to the federally mandated point-in-time count.

For the last few decades, many people have been moving from the more expensive cities in Southern California, particularly Los Angeles, into the less expensive cities of San Bernardino and Riverside in the Inland Empire.

Living in California has its perks when it comes to environmental sustainability. As the national leader of green technology, the Golden State is going green with a new set of building standards with CALGreen. A rigorous green building standards code, CALGreen aims to reduce the water use, land use, and carbon footprint of California homes.

State Farm will no longer provide home insurance to new California customers, the company announced on Friday, citing “historic increases in construction costs outpacing inflation, rapidly growing catastrophe exposure, and a challenging reinsurance market.”