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Old 02-11-2011, 09:48 AM
 
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Would like to live downtown close to restaurants,shopping and have relatively low cost for condos. What is the best section Gaslamp, East Village ETC.
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Old 02-11-2011, 10:04 AM
 
Location: 92037
4,630 posts, read 10,246,279 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by East Side View Post
Would like to live downtown close to restaurants,shopping and have relatively low cost for condos. What is the best section Gaslamp, East Village ETC.
What is "low cost" to you?

Renting a 1 bed condo can an average of $1500ish but you can go + or - a couple hundred depending on building location and how many floors up.

Go to craigslist and do a search for 1bd/1ba and price them out. If it seems really cheap or too good to be true, then I would pass as its probably a scammer. I have seen too many people claiming to own the property when in fact they do, but havent paid the mortgage in over a year. sucks when you get a notice on your door that you have 30 days to leave and you have been paying your money to a ghost.
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Old 02-11-2011, 10:16 AM
 
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Originally Posted by shmoov_groovzsd View Post
What is "low cost" to you?

Renting a 1 bed condo can an average of $1500ish but you can go + or - a couple hundred depending on building location and how many floors up.

Go to craigslist and do a search for 1bd/1ba and price them out. If it seems really cheap or too good to be true, then I would pass as its probably a scammer. I have seen too many people claiming to own the property when in fact they do, but havent paid the mortgage in over a year. sucks when you get a notice on your door that you have 30 days to leave and you have been paying your money to a ghost.
I would like to buy a condo downtown and was looking in 200,000-300,000 range. I know there are HOA fees as well. Just looking for a great location to everything while staying in that price range. I see several condos up for around 200-250 at the El Cortez and on Beech st. Just not sure how these areas are.
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Old 02-11-2011, 10:21 AM
 
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El Cortez and Beech Street (Aqua Vista) are buildings with serious and well-documented issues - from plumbing to parking - in both cases the HOA is suing the developer, which has killed property values and makes financing extremely difficult. Those buildings are mostly rentals.
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Old 02-11-2011, 10:25 AM
 
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Originally Posted by Sassberto View Post
El Cortez and Beech Street (Aqua Vista) are buildings with serious and well-documented issues - from plumbing to parking - in both cases the HOA is suing the developer, which has killed property values and makes financing extremely difficult. Those buildings are mostly rentals.

Thanks. Do you have any recommendations for condos? Maybe a newer building I see the El Cortez is a very old building.
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Old 02-11-2011, 10:27 AM
 
Location: San Diego, California Republic
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Sass, what are those fairly new ones called just across from the airport and the USS Midway? Sort of between them I guess on Harbor Dr. I think I remember seeing some of those in the 300K range although I think the mid 300's.
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Old 02-11-2011, 10:40 AM
 
Location: 92037
4,630 posts, read 10,246,279 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by East Side View Post
I would like to buy a condo downtown and was looking in 200,000-300,000 range. I know there are HOA fees as well. Just looking for a great location to everything while staying in that price range. I see several condos up for around 200-250 at the El Cortez and on Beech st. Just not sure how these areas are.
Bad and a very poor investment for the next 5 years at least.

The areas around Cortez Hill just havent seen the change they have been projecting and with the CCDC possibly going bye bye, you can kiss off any planned redev. I think redev will still happen down there, but it will be a bit different than what was planned if all goes through with Jerry Browns proposal to cut redev agencies.

Look at this list and learn about the areas and buildings in your price range (there is a map view).
SDLookup.com | Downtown Condos

Map
SDLookup.com | Downtown Map of Homes For Sale

Personally, I lived on 4th and J for 6+ years throughout out the boom and bust and have seen just about every sales model in all the newer buildings. Downtown has cleared through most of the decent inventory in 2010. Anything leftover in the range you are looking at will be a bit outside the main Gaslamp/Core area. THe reason being as these areas are bit older and not on the "fringe".

If you see a building that has 3 condos for 500k+ and 1 for 300k, its either a short sale or its next to something undesirable like the train crossing. The Little Italy area is the worst for this noise, not only from the trolley, but the Coaster and Surfliner as well.
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Old 02-11-2011, 10:49 AM
 
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I just want a nice condo in a nice area. As long as it is within walking distance or jogging distance to gaslamp etc.
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Old 02-11-2011, 11:04 AM
 
Location: 92037
4,630 posts, read 10,246,279 times
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Originally Posted by East Side View Post
I just want a nice condo in a nice area. As long as it is within walking distance or jogging distance to gaslamp etc.
Cortez Hill is nowhere near the Gaslamp etc and its an island up there.

Try getting closer to the Marina district. I think the East Village is overhyped and a waste only due to its proximity to Meth clinics, homeless shelters and 12th and Imperial trolley station which is a hub for both the Blue and Orange lines.

Generally speaking, I would trying to stay west of 5th Ave if you can but it gets more expensive. East Village is hit or miss. Closer to the embarcadero is nice, but currently has a nice wall of high rises blocking the views. The only bonus is that the County is building a sweet park right on the Embarcadero which should help clear up N Harbor Dr a bit. I just worry about traffic in that area.

Some buildings I would recommend:

Pacific Terrace: not much opens up in there though and this was were I lived. Great building with low HOAs and long term tennants

Columbia Place
Gaslamp City SQ- Can be hit or miss though. Lots of foreclosures in here but decent
Treo- technically Little Italy but not a bad location and prices


Stay AWAY from Smart Corner. Bad news and cheap for a reason.

Last edited by shmoov_groovzsd; 02-11-2011 at 11:53 AM..
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Old 02-11-2011, 11:07 AM
 
Location: 92037
4,630 posts, read 10,246,279 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gentoo View Post
Sass, what are those fairly new ones called just across from the airport and the USS Midway? Sort of between them I guess on Harbor Dr. I think I remember seeing some of those in the 300K range although I think the mid 300's.
Breeza is a mid rise and has some starting in the 3's. Check their HOAs. I spoke to their sales people and then my agent regarding the building and this is what came out of that:

Newer buildings that have not sold out their units yet have the ability to offset the HOA dues to make the bottom line look more attractive to potential buyers. As soon as the building is sold out, you can almost guarantee the HOAs will go up considerably because the builder no longer has the teaser rates to offset anymore.

Last edited by shmoov_groovzsd; 02-11-2011 at 11:33 AM..
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