Westside- townhome under 400k? (Torrance, Inglewood: real estate, foreclosures, rentals)

[dactylo]

My company is moving to El Segundo in a couple months and I'm trying to find a place to buy right now on the westside. Preferably west of the 405. Ideally between MDR and Torrance. And excluding Palms/Mar Vista/Culver City/Inglewood/Hawthorne/Lawndale. Doesn't leave much I know. Is there any hope for a townhome (or sfr??) under $400k? I will be fha and need the $8k tax credit that expires Dec 1. So in theory I should have made an offer last week to be assured of that (assuming 60 days for fha). Maybe I have another week or two.

So far the only thing that pops up are townhomes in the Harbor Gateway South area of Torrance. Specifically south of the Harbor Hospital and just west of the 110. Doesn't seem like a great area.

Am I missing anything? I thought there was supposed to be a ton of foreclosures now. The moratorium ended a couple weeks ago. And there are rumors the tax credit will be extended but lately it seems like the consensus is swinging the other way- that it won't. Even if it is extended the fed has said they're going to start scaling back purchases of mortgage-backed securities to make the money last until March. If interest rates increase to 6% that cuts my buying power by $40k.

My realtor says I should be looking in Downey.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Harbor Gateway = gangland. Don't live there.

[JohnG72]

You must really love catching knifes.

Rent on equivalent is quite a bit less than your mortgage will be.

Interest rates don't mean nearly as much if you actually save and put 20% + down combined with a further decline in real estate prices.

I for one would HATE to be stuck with a mortgage that is higher than equivalent rentals AND stagnant/declining prices for oh lets say a decade or more.

For instance, right now with 5% loan, I come up with a 30 year loan of $400K at $2147. Factor in $300 a month HOA, $300mo property tax and insurance and you are at $2800+ a month.

Currently there are 2 bedroom houses renting in West LA for $2000 month.

Anyway, its all irrelevant as your 350K townhome will be sellign for $250K in a couple more years.

[LABornandRaised]

When you really think about it, purchasing a home is really a gamble. There are millions of people just like you wanting to get into a house. Do you think people like renting? It's all money down the drain. The gamble is purchasing a home at the right time, the problem is ....when is the right time? You have people from both sides saying, don't purchase and purchase NOW. The problem is that when it becomes very obvious that it's time to purchase, then everyone who's wanted a house will jump into the market and then it's too late.

My recommendation is when you decide to buy a house, do you think that price is the right price for you? Remember, the positive side to purchasing a house and having a mortgage is that your mortgage will never go up, whereas rents will go up. In addition, your property taxes go towards a write-off during tax time, so you will get a higher tax return.

One last thing to consider is condo living versus SFR living. When you have a condo, 9 times out of 10, there are HOA fees and those fees tend to go up. Those fees cannot be avoided and can be compared similarly to your rent going up since they are due monthly. If you don't want HOA fees, then I recommend finding the rare CO-OP or being active in your HOA and voting against rate hikes.

[dactylo]

@EscapeCalifornia- Thanks for the tip. The neighborhood seemed pretty rundown but I wasn't sure about gangs. Doing a little reading, you seem to be correct...

@JohnG72- I'd only need to put 3.5% down for an fha loan. Of course that would still suck if I was underwater for more than a year or so. My numbers match with yours- it would be about $2800/month. Currently I'm paying $1400/month for a tiny single in Westwood and my rent has increased 6%/year for the last 3 years. So yes, I'd be paying a lot more but my living space would also be bigger (and I'd start paying less versus rent in 13 years).

@LABornandRaised- yeah exactly, I'm worried I'll be priced out of the market again if I wait too long. On the other hand I don't want to buy a dump at the limit of my price range and have prices decline for several years. Re HOA fees- that's true. I'm avoiding all places that have pools and such and trying to find those where the HOA fee mainly covers property insurance.

[BRinSM]

i'm confused as to why you eliminated Palms/Mar Vista/Culver City/Inglewood/Hawthorne/Lawndale, but considered harbor gateway. sure inglewood is pretty rough, but the others you mentioned have decent, if not really nice areas that will be cheaper than more coastal neighborhoods. i'm also confused as to why anyone would recommend downey when it is pretty obvious that you want to be close to work.

[dactylo]

Originally Posted by BRinSM

i'm confused as to why you eliminated Palms/Mar Vista/Culver City/Inglewood/Hawthorne/Lawndale, but considered harbor gateway. sure inglewood is pretty rough, but the others you mentioned have decent, if not really nice areas that will be cheaper than more coastal neighborhoods. i'm also confused as to why anyone would recommend downey when it is pretty obvious that you want to be close to work.

Palms and Mar Vista just seem really rundown. I guess Culver City might be okay. The downtown area seemed nice from what I remember. I used to live on Green Valley Circle and it was a nightmare. Hawthorne/Lawndale- are the western parts better than eastern?

To be honest I'm not very familiar with South Bay- before a month ago I'd never been south of MDR. I thought the schools in Torrance were supposed to be good compared to the cities I was excluding? But maybe not on the east side.

My realtor said Downey would be about 20 mins on the 105. My main concern is that I know absolutely zero about that area.

[BRinSM]

downey is very working class and more rundown than palms and mar vista. not only that, the drive might be 20 minutes at 2am, but the 105 is a terrible freeway during rush hour, so unless you're taking the green line, that drive will probably be more like 45 minutes to an hour.

it sounds like you're in a rush to buy a place, but it really sounds like you need to do a lot more homework before making such a big decision. $8k is not chump change, but is it really worth your happiness if you end up in a crummy area. at least if you ended up on the westside (say palms, mar vista, culver city) you would be familiar with area and closer to the places that you used to hang out at. just a thought.

[dactylo]

Originally Posted by BRinSM

downey is very working class and more rundown than palms and mar vista. not only that, the drive might be 20 minutes at 2am, but the 105 is a terrible freeway during rush hour, so unless you're taking the green line, that drive will probably be more like 45 minutes to an hour.

it sounds like you're in a rush to buy a place, but it really sounds like you need to do a lot more homework before making such a big decision. $8k is not chump change, but is it really worth your happiness if you end up in a crummy area. at least if you ended up on the westside (say palms, mar vista, culver city) you would be familiar with area and closer to the places that you used to hang out at. just a thought.

There's a Green Line stop a half mile from my work. But I'd need to find a house near the stop in Downey. And Downey sounds bad regardless.

Yeah I'd definitely like more time to get acquainted with the South Bay. If a couple weeks go by and I don't find anything acceptable and it becomes clear I've missed the deadline, that might not be so bad. They could still extend the credit. Although I think all 5 of the bills are proposing to expand it to all home buyers and one is proposing to increase to $15k. It seems either one of those could cause a spike in prices, at least in the short term.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by dactylo

There's a Green Line stop a half mile from my work. But I'd need to find a house near the stop in Downey. And Downey sounds bad regardless.

Don't write it off completely as being run down. I know someone who lives there, right off Firestone Blvd., and when you turn into the tract it's like another world. I was really surprised how nicely kept the houses were. Of course these are single family homes and not townhouses which tend to have more problems. The big problem I see with Downey is that it's surrounded by crap and of course you wouldn't want to drive to your job from there. I wonder if you realtor has some listings there he/she is trying to unload on you.