Investors are turning away from Southern California and looking to other "hot" areas for the next boom.
One "former technology worker [Jay McKee] from Manhattan Beach, Calif., was among thousands who caught the real estate investment bug during the housing boom. He bought an ocean-view condominium in Hermosa Beach two years ago, spent $30,000 to spruce it up and swiftly resold it for a $250,000 profit.
But instead of pouring his profits back into local properties, McKee took his spoils to Phoenix. He invested in 10 properties there and started a real estate development and home-building business.
'To do it in Southern California would be much more costly,' said McKee, who has already sold some of his Arizona investments. 'You definitely get more for your money in Phoenix.'"
"Proportionately fewer homes in Southern California are bought by investors than in Phoenix, Las Vegas, coastal Florida and parts of Central and Northern California. In Los Angeles and Orange counties, investor activity peaked during the first half of 2004, when the absentee-ownership rate reached 14 percent of sales."
FULL STORY: To speculators, Los Angeles is so yesterday
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