For decades, the single-family home has been Southern California's ultimate lure — a chance to live a life of sun and sand from the comfort of your very own property.
Most buyers' ticket into that life is the starter home. Something modest but not minuscule. Two bedrooms, maybe three. A picket fence in front and a yard out back for the kids and dog to play.
But the starter home has changed. As home prices have soared and higher mortgage interest rates have made everything less affordable, wish lists have become more and more wishful, and buyers have been forced to find something smaller and less practical.
