House for 300-400k range in Orange County? (Santa Ana, Newport Beach: sale, for rent)

[Humanoid]

It is a no brainer actually.

Nah, it depends on your life-style. In a normal housing market home ownership usually does not yield any benefit until you live in the house over 5 years. In many careers you can't count on being in the same location for 5+ years.

[Soccersupporter]

Originally Posted by Humanoid

Nah, it depends on your life-style. In a normal housing market home ownership usually does not yield any benefit until you live in the house over 5 years. In many careers you can't count on being in the same location for 5+ years.

You may be right for many people but I lived in the same house for 27 years having 5 different employers and I can definitely say having a house gave me financial freedom that I would have never had renting for all those years. It just depends on how you look at life and how you plan you financial future I guess.

[EvergreenElle]

I see this is an older thread, but I am stuck on this issue currently. Would it be a good time to buy a house, and sell our condo, simply for a lifestyle upgrade and not necessarily any substantial investment? We have inherited some $$ and could use it as a downpayment on a home to make our payments affordable. Or is there another way we could spend the money more wisely in the current market? Our 5 year ARM on our condo is up this December and we're trying to decide what to do. We are looking to move to Tustin and spend around $450k. I don't really think renting sounds appealing because I hate to deal with landlords and being at their whim/mercy. Also, we have 2 small children and we're a dual income family. Honestly, we've always agreed we don't want to raise our children in CA, specifically OC, but I can't foresee any opportunity in the near future for us to relocate (we have our sights on Bellevue/Redmond/Kirkland, WA). Any advice?

[Broadmoor]

My neighborhood is in your price range. We currently have five homes for sale and one for rent. General info on the community, plus photos of houses for sale are on our neighborhood website:MySpace.com - Broadmoor Tustin - 40 - Female - Orange County, California - www.myspace.com/broadmoortustin

[OC Advisor]

There are definitely properties in that price range in Irvine, which was once again voted the safest city in America. The best values are those that have been taken back by the bank after a foreclosure. I just put a client into a 1400 square foot townhome for $400,000 in West Irvine that was bank-owned.

You can also find values in foreclosures and short sales in that price range in Irvine if you are patient and willing to look at a lot of properties. A lot of short sales and foreclosures do not actually sell before the bank takes them back, however, some do and they can be really good buys as well.

~Amanda Wheeland
O.C. Real Estate Advisor
O.C. Real Estate Advisors – Orange County Real Estate

[brianguy]

Originally Posted by Soccersupporter

I would have to agree that with declining prices it would be smarter to rent right own right now. However in a healthy housing market it is much more beneficial to own versus rent. It is a no brainer actually.

I wouldn't exactly call it a "no brainer", especially while prices are dropping. once you're digging yourself out of a hole because you bought on the way down, you're setting yourself up to merely break even over the medium term, at best.

I mean if housing appreciated at a constant 2% clip or better that would be a different story. but right now it is negative-to-zero appreciation, while there continues to be downward pressure on rents in the area.

use this calculator and with my similar numbers (which I am looking into for the future) it became clear after 9-10 years of owning, it becomes cheaper than renting. and at the end you have something to show for it. but for now, there is no great hurry:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/10/bu...T_GRAPHIC.html

[killer2021]

Nice and safe?

Those areas start in the mid 600's

[sueprnova]

My niece is a cop in irvine....it's not as nice and safe as people think

[flo2900]

Originally Posted by Unkllars

It's not the 300-400K range that is getting affected by the market downturn, nor is it the 3 million+ range that is either. Its the 600-1.5 million range that is getting hit the hardest. You are more likely to see a home that was 829,000 now go for the low 7s to even under in the 6s. That is the portion of the market that's hurting!! People can afford the low range, and wealthy people could care less about the 'market' since they pay cash and other more liquid assets for their estates. That 6- 1.5 was filled with speculators who were looking at the immediate upward trend instead of the cyclical trend and got into loans they shouldn't have, and are creating headline news next to Britney Spears.

Buying a 300K home is the equivalent of renting for about $1800/mo from an annual after-taxes perspective, and that's what rent is on those places, so someone explain to me how it is better to rent a place for the same cost as a mortgage (and being within conforming limits, you can put 3% down on an FHA loan with a rate hovering around 6.0%, qualifying off of tax records instead of stated income) because it's not making sense?

well...simple...buying that 300k now means that it`ll probably be 250k at the end of price drop, then it will stay there for a while and that means that going back to 300k will take 7-8 years. In the mean time you`re stuck if you need to move. Nothing worse that knowing that the house youre living in is depreciating. Normal appreciation in real estate is 3-5% and after normality will resume that is what is going to happen.
In conclusion the prices you see today in OC will mach prices 7-8 years from now. Lots of time to buy folks. Rent and enjoy freedom ppl!

[Soccersupporter]

Originally Posted by brianguy

I wouldn't exactly call it a "no brainer", especially while prices are dropping. once you're digging yourself out of a hole because you bought on the way down, you're setting yourself up to merely break even over the medium term, at best.

I mean if housing appreciated at a constant 2% clip or better that would be a different story. but right now it is negative-to-zero appreciation, while there continues to be downward pressure on rents in the area.

use this calculator and with my similar numbers (which I am looking into for the future) it became clear after 9-10 years of owning, it becomes cheaper than renting. and at the end you have something to show for it. but for now, there is no great hurry:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/10/bu...T_GRAPHIC.html

I said however in an healthy housing market. I would not touch anything in CA for many years. The couple that bought my house in Irvine will be upside down for 10 years easily. That is a tough pill to swallow. The days of looking at you house as an investment in CA are a very long way off.