Still, paying $450 for a tiny house still seems like a stretch. The saying in California is: If you don't like the real estate here because it's too expensive, move to the midwest, where you can get a lot of house for half a million. Of course, then you have to live in Kansas or Nebraska or someplace like that. (Apologies to all of you that are from there. In my defense, I will say that I know a lot of people from the Midwest and they all moved house here for a reason). People are willing to pay a lot for homes here because it's a fun place to live with a great climate.
That said, we're not sure we want to live down here forever. The weather is nice (actually it's a bit cool right now: 60 degrees) but the traffic is horrible and the smog is depressing. Plus, the housing market is outrageous. A friend of mine at work just paid $400k for a one bedroom apartment with a small yard in Huntington Beach. Yikes! Huntington Beach is near the ocean and she's a surfer, so essentially she's paying to be within a couple miles of the water.
Ok, here are a couple of my favorite from our searches. These include houses up and down the west coast:
This house is actually probably one of my very favorites. It's in Washington. 
I think both Chris and I would like to try our hand at a remodel. I love looking at pictures of houses that have been completely redone but I'd like to have a go at it myself. Of course, I think the house would have to have a basic "Style" that you liked; it would be difficult to do a remodel that required a drastic reconfigurement. I think these two (below) would be good candidates, especially the first one.
