That phrase only refers to the distance from you to a grocery store. So, no you don’t need to enter food desert territory when you buy a house in one of the many smaller CA cities/towns.
Anyway, buying a house can be an investment but living in a larger one than you need is wasting a productive asset. If you have a 4 bedroom house you can rent out for 4k/month then living in it is costing you 4k/month the same way renting a place for 4k would be. There’s nothing inherently wrong with buying an investment house, but you shouldn’t be out anywhere close to the full monthly cost.
>you don’t need to enter food desert territory when you buy a house in one of the many smaller CA cities/towns.
You don't, but I'm talking about a very specific area of a very specific state (one larger than some countries) in a very specific location. One where I was in fact raised. You are free to instead go directly North to Bakersfield where prices rise slightly, or west to Thousand Oaks where prices go back to LA prices. I simply don't recommend East/NE of the high desert unless you are a huge fan of tumbleweeds and dust storms.
>buying a house can be an investment but living in a larger one than you need is wasting a productive asset
I don't really consider an extra room a waste. Even if I end up alone I can use that room as a gym or an office or just as storage (storage costs are also way out of whack these days. Owning an extra room is legitimately cheaper).
There's also the fact that half the rooms isn't equal to half the cost. It's more cost effective to add an extra room if you anticipate a family.
By waste I simply mean it’s consumptive. It’s obvious when you’re spending well above the norm on rent, but it doesn’t slap you in the face in the same way when buying a larger house.
Anyway, buying a house can be an investment but living in a larger one than you need is wasting a productive asset. If you have a 4 bedroom house you can rent out for 4k/month then living in it is costing you 4k/month the same way renting a place for 4k would be. There’s nothing inherently wrong with buying an investment house, but you shouldn’t be out anywhere close to the full monthly cost.