Housing market in PG (Salinas, Monterey: sales, real estate market, rental) - Monterey County - California (CA) - City-Data Forum

oldeap · 09-10-2015, 12:20 PM

My husband was recently offered a job in Salinas. After some preliminary research, I think we'd like to try and live in PG. We have three elementary aged children and the public schools there seem strong, not to mention the landscape seems spectacular. If he accepts job, the company will pay for house hunting trips, but I'm anxious to know what's out there before we accept. I've looked on Zillow, Realtor.com, etc, as well as craigslist, and I'm just not finding much inventory for rent or purchase. What other resources are there? Thanks in advance for the help.

Barovelli · 09-10-2015, 06:42 PM

I sometimes browse the real estate section of the Carmel Pine Cone to see what insane prices we have, but it also lists the recent sales by city and the open houses by city. Latest issue lists open houses in P.G. going from an affordable 630K up to some multi-million dollar charmers that are near the ocean.

carmelpinecone.com

Oh-Happy-Day · 09-10-2015, 08:55 PM

Where in Salinas is your husband's job going to be located? I went to visit this past weekend and Salinas in most parts is very sketchy. The South part seemed ok but I would not want to be anywhere near the East. I saw a homeless camp??? I think that is what it was that was very depressing. The town is run down for the most part. You are right about PG being the better part of the area. Good luck. The whole area is just way over priced in my opinion. If the salary doesn't match the area you might be in trouble. I see why there is such a disperity in class...either poor or rich...middle class is squeezed out.

oldeap · 09-11-2015, 01:17 PM

I'm not exactly sure where in Salinas the job will be. I've read enough on this forum, and my husband agrees after visiting, to feel pretty confident that we do not want to live there. Though, I'm sure, like everywhere, there are good parts to the city.We've moved around a bit. We've done big cities (Atlanta, Seattle), as well as smaller quaint towns and more rural remote areas. We've found happiness in all of them. I just think - if we can swing PG - that we'd really like it there. We'd love to be on the coast and the strong school district is imperative (both for our own children and for resale if we end up buying). I will check out carmelpinecone. Thanks for that. Thinking that around $1m will be max for purchase and $5000 would be max for rent. Is that doable? We'd love a 4 bdroom (with three kids), but could make a 3 bedroom work as long as there was a little extra living space as a trade off. Really don't want to go much smaller than 2,000 sq ft. Is this an impossible list for PG real estate? And do houses for purchase usually go for over list? Want to make sure we factor that in when we are doing all this preliminary looking. I need to feel good about our chances of finding housing before I "let" my husband accept job.

MtnSurfer · 09-11-2015, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldeap

I'm not exactly sure where in Salinas the job will be. I've read enough on this forum, and my husband agrees after visiting, to feel pretty confident that we do not want to live there. Though, I'm sure, like everywhere, there are good parts to the city.We've moved around a bit. We've done big cities (Atlanta, Seattle), as well as smaller quaint towns and more rural remote areas. We've found happiness in all of them. I just think - if we can swing PG - that we'd really like it there. We'd love to be on the coast and the strong school district is imperative (both for our own children and for resale if we end up buying). I will check out carmelpinecone. Thanks for that. Thinking that around $1m will be max for purchase and $5000 would be max for rent. Is that doable? We'd love a 4 bdroom (with three kids), but could make a 3 bedroom work as long as there was a little extra living space as a trade off. Really don't want to go much smaller than 2,000 sq ft. Is this an impossible list for PG real estate? And do houses for purchase usually go for over list? Want to make sure we factor that in when we are doing all this preliminary looking. I need to feel good about our chances of finding housing before I "let" my husband accept job.

Hi oldeap,

We lived in PG when we first moved to the area in a nice neighborhood and liked it overall. The town is like Mayberry on the coast. We were near Asilomar Beach which is one of the most beautiful beaches in the area right next to Spanish Bay and Pebble Beach. PG and Carmel have the best school districts. Pebble Beach actually shares both with some given the option to choose.

I think you have a chance of finding a nice place in your price range if you look. Most of the homes are really old due to the rich history of the area. However, some have been remodeled and are very nice. Those will be more competitive in terms of bidding. Here is one of the nicest one's I've seen recently, for example:

1319 Lawton Ave, Pacific Grove, CA 93950 | Zillow

I also have a friend of the family who is a realtor in the area. So, if you want a reference, send me a PM and I'll forward you her website. I know its sometimes hard to trust realtors in a new area. So, its always nice to get a local referral when possible. Another option is to lease first if you don't find something right away. Sometimes this is the more prudent choice as it gives you time to get a better feel for the area and lay of the land. Though prices seem to be on the upswing. So they may go up over the next year. No ones knows the answer to that one. Things have been rising pretty steadily since the recovery.

Derek

oldeap · 09-12-2015, 10:12 AM

Thanks, MtnSurfer, for the reassurance. I keep looking at the 1319 Lawton house, but given the "too good to be true" status (ie: under $1million, 2,500 sq ft, and updated so nicely), I felt sure that there was "something wrong" with the house. It's also been on the market for two months with a significant price drop already, so I'm skeptical. Are there bad neighborhoods in PG, or just some that are better situated (ie: closer to ocean or to town)? Also, what are the good schools in Carmel? I haven't seen any that ranked high on the great schools website. I thought the good schools were in Carmel Valley, not Carmel. Should I be looking there too? Thanks too for the realtor reference. If we take the job, we'll have to go through a relo company and they have pre-approved realtors. I might send you a PM if we get that far along to see if your friend is on the list.

MtnSurfer · 09-12-2015, 11:57 AM

PG has no bad areas. Of course, closer to the beach will always be more expensive. But, the town is so small that you can get to the coast within a 5 minute drive from anywhere. I actually prefer the parts with a bit bigger lots than 'old' PG closer in to the little town. Many of those super small coastal cottages and lots were built for fisherman way back in the day. They are just not my thing as in money pits to maintain/upgrade (super old plumbing, electrical, asbestos, lead paint, etc...).

You should definitely be looking be looking at Carmel, Carmel Valley and Pebble Beach as well as PG. Carmel High, Carmel Middle and Carmel River Elementary are all good schools right in Carmel. Our favorite location perhaps is right near the old Mission and Carmel River. The old missionaries chose wisely. That beach is gorgeous! Prices are high for obvious reasons.

You can use this map, in addition, to see school performance from a visual perspective: California School Performance Maps

Also, using the map scroll down Hwy 68 to places like Corral De Tierra and San Benancio Canyon. There are some exclusive communities in there with beautiful homes. The schools are good through middle school. Then, high school goes to Salinas *if* you pick public. Most families I know who live there go private or homeschool at that stage.

Derek

LAEscapee · 09-12-2015, 12:15 PM

My husband and I relocated to Carmel last year. First of all, there are no bad neighborhoods in PG or Carmel. We don't have kids but generally speaking, Carmel is considered the top school district on the Monterey Peninsula followed by Pacific Grove and then Monterey. This is reflected in the price of real estate. Carmel Unified has two elementary schools. Tularcitos in Carmel Valley is rated 9 and Carmel River in Carmel is rated 10 according to great schools.

I think your rental budget is fine. My next door neighbor's house is 4 bed/2 bath 1700 sq ft and rents for $3300 though it's not in great condition. The problem is tight inventory. Same is true if you choose to buy. We were also looking for a sub-$1 million property and spent a year house hunting. We didn't have any deadline to move so had the luxury of waiting for the right house. We ended up with a 1600 sq ft 3 bed/2 bath fixer in Carmel on the west side of Hwy 1 for close to the price of the Lawton house. If you want something larger and in better condition and decide to look at Carmel, I think you'll need to look mostly on the east side of Hwy 1. I'm less familiar with the real estate market in PG but prices are lower than Carmel. I don't know the particular neighborhood the Lawton house is located in either. Perhaps the price has to do with its distance from both downtown and the ocean. I believe that's also near where Pebble Beach Company plans to build inclusionary housing for its employees RMA - Planning Department I often hike in Del Monte Forest and was just there this morning. If Derek's friend isn't on the list of pre-approved realtors, you can PM me too. I really liked the realtor we worked with and we were out of town buyers as well.

Good luck with your search!

Patty

JGWoochie · 09-13-2015, 04:01 PM

We just moved to pg from Wisconsin. The house on Lawton is in del monte park neighborhood which is significantly cheaper than rest of pg as not in the Victorian , beach walkable area. There are also more families there. We bought a house on Austin and I think the only issue with the neighborhood is it won't appreciate as fast as rest of PG. commuting wise probably best beach location with good schools in proximity to Salinas.

So far ( 1 week in) we are happy with the choice. We also have 3 small kids. We were planning on renting too, but rental market is tight on inventory and I panicked, so we bought.

oldeap · 09-15-2015, 04:29 PM

Thanks, JGWoochie. Good to know that you are happy with your choice in PG. Do you mind me asking the ages of your children and if they are finding the schools (if applicable) an easy adjustment? In all likelihood, we'll be moving mid-year with the kids, and, though mine are on the young side (8, 6 and 4) and pretty open to new situations since we've moved before, I still worry about their adjustment and the other kids' acceptance of them mid-year. Are you finding PG a welcoming community? Or a bit hard to crack?
Looking at the sales history in PG, it looks like there was quite a bit (relative to now) on the market in the spring. We are going to put our house in PA up as soon as we can, but with relo, it could be end of October before it actually gets listed. The timing really couldn't be worse, especially in our market. Although a spring move makes sense for so many reasons, having the family separated for that long is really not desirable. I suppose we'll see what happens with the sale here and keep our fingers crossed.