House for 300-400k range in Orange County?

[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