In the past, Rancho Cucamonga felt like an inland neighborhood that required a one-hour drive east from LA.

If you take the 10 or 210 freeways and keep heading east, the mountains get closer, and the houses are larger than those in LA.

With the price of a small house in LA, you could buy a single-family home with a yard here, so there were people willing to move even if it was a bit far.

However, as we reach 2026, the story has changed significantly.

Even Rancho Cucamonga now has high home prices. If you look for a decent four-bedroom single-family home in a good neighborhood, it easily costs between $800,000 and $900,000.

If the location is good and the house is in decent condition, it's common to see homes priced over $1 million.

The problem is that it's not just the high home prices.

When you factor in mortgage interest, it's at a level that an average working couple finds hard to manage.

Even with a 20% down payment on an $800,000 house, the loan amount is $640,000.

Adding property taxes, insurance, and HOA fees makes the monthly payments quite substantial.

Buyers come to see homes, crunch the numbers, and say, "I'll check back if interest rates go down a bit." This is one of the most common phrases real estate agents hear these days.

However, homeowners are not easily lowering their prices either. Sellers remember the days when home prices were soaring a few years ago.

They still talk about how much the house next door sold for and how many offers the house across the street received.

But buyers are keen to check how much prices have dropped while searching for listings on Zillow.

The seller wants $900,000, while the buyer says they would consider $800,000.

In between, agents are left holding the phone, explaining all day long.

Korean agents have it a bit more complicated.

Korean clients are not just looking at homes. They ask about school districts, how far it is to the Korean market, how close the church is, and whether many Koreans live nearby.

They need explanations about the differences between Etiwanda and Alta Loma, and they often request comparisons with Ontario Ranch or Eastvale.

Even after showing five houses in a day, there's no guarantee it will lead to a contract.

After spending the weekend with clients, a phone call comes on Monday.

"We've decided to wait a bit longer."

Then it's back to square one.

Real estate agents have no income without transactions.

However, that doesn't mean there are no expenses. MLS fees, broker costs, gas for the car, advertising expenses, and various insurance premiums keep piling up.

These days, commission issues are not as straightforward as they used to be.

Agents must enter into written agreements with buyers and explain the terms of compensation.

Clients directly ask how much commission the agent receives and why they deserve that amount.

In the past, agents played a crucial role just by finding listing information due to the internet.

Now, clients often come having already seen most homes on Zillow and Redfin.

Some clients start analyzing the prices before even seeing the house, claiming they are too high.

For agents, it's a moment where they are unsure whether to laugh or not.

Still, there is information that isn't available online. Rancho Cucamonga is no longer just a place people are forced to move to from LA. Some choose it intentionally based on the living environment, school districts, and house sizes.

However, as home prices have risen so much, even this neighborhood is now considered burdensome.

Sometimes, while driving on the 10 freeway, I think about this.

In the past, the further east you went from LA, the cheaper the homes became, but now, even after a long drive, there aren't many affordable homes in the inland area or even further east.

The challenges faced by Korean real estate agents in 2026 ultimately lie here.

There are people who want to buy homes, but the number of those who can afford them has decreased, and there are sellers who want to sell but can't let go of their desired prices.

In between, agents continue to show homes, make calls, adjust prices, and wait.

While real estate work has always been about dealing with people, these days, moving people's hearts is much more challenging than selling homes.

The silver lining is that Rancho Cucamonga is still a decent place to live.

The problem is that buying a home in that decent neighborhood is becoming increasingly difficult.

These days, I find myself craving the cigarettes I quit ten years ago.