Things looking up for San Diego County real estate (El Cajon: low income, sales) - California (CA) - City-Data Forum

ShelbyGirl1 · 03-08-2013, 02:45 PM

Increase in San Diego housing prices spurs more listings by home - San Diego, California News Station - KFMB Channel 8 - cbs8.com

earlyretirement · 03-08-2013, 03:01 PM

Yep. The inventory is next to nothing in many areas. The problem is that there are still a ton of people in SD that have negative equity on their home and are underwater. These people won't sell right now and probably not anytime in the near future.

In my area, it's so bad that I've gotten 3 letters now in the mail from people that are looking to buy and offered to buy my house without realtors involved saving the commission. No way, I'm interested in selling but one guy I emailed back telling him that I wasn't interested in selling told me he could pay with all cash and close quickly.

In another thread we joked about corny and mushy letters from buyers and those types of letters are like that. Some pretty comical including photos of the family that wants to buy.

Some people are really desperate out there, especially those with kids and want to be in a good school district.

Personally, I'd rather see a slower more sustained rise in properties with more inventory on the market. Seems like a lot of people are trying to 'fit a round peg in a square hole right' now. That typically is never a good thing.

ShelbyGirl1 · 03-08-2013, 03:13 PM

Our Realtor dropped by the other day just to say "hi" and was saying the medium price selling homes are selling quickly. The inventory, which was nil, is beginning to fatten up and sales are brisk! Of course, not so much for the higher tier homes YET, is what she said. ( I'm guessing that may not happen for another yr or two, but who knows)
We too have gotten notes in our mailbox and taped to our gate with inquires to sell. Thankfully, these people can't come knocking on our front door.

Course, DH says, everything has a "sell price". They just have to meet it!

earlyretirement · 03-08-2013, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShelbyGirl1

Thankfully, these people can't come knocking on our front door
)

Yep. Here too. I LOVE living in a guard gated community. So much privacy and we never have to worry about that stuff. Security around here is super good with the likes of Philip Rivers and a few others that live here in the development (Of course with the way he is playing...probably people trying to throw tomatoes at his house... LOL).

Funny about "everything has a price". In this place they will have to take us away kicking and screaming. Although I've said that before on another house I owned (just a beach house) and the tenant made an offer too good to pass up and I ended up selling. But I can't see it here.

ShelbyGirl1 · 03-08-2013, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by earlyretirement

Yep. Here too. I LOVE living in a guard gated community. So much privacy and we never have to worry about that stuff. Security around here is super good with the likes of Philip Rivers and a few others that live here in the development.

Funny about "everything has a price". In this place they will have to take us away kicking and screaming. Although I've said that before on another house I owned (just a beach house) and the tenant made an offer too good to pass up and I ended up selling. But I can't see it here.

We don't live in a gated community, but have a gate at the front of the property. We were actually, surprised on how many of the surrounding homes are gated. I know it may be a bit of a false sense of security, but I no longer have to worry about all the door to door salesmen, etc

tonyinsd · 03-09-2013, 12:36 AM

It is insane. Know how many properties are available in the 92101 zip code for under $300K now?

There are five.

Last year around this time, which is when I first started looking, there were something like 20.

If you want to buy a place, you better have your loan pre-approved, you better be able to show proof that you've got a 20 percent down payment, and you better be ready to pull the trigger at the listing price as soon as you see the place.

Sellers are even starting to get arrogant. It took the seller of the place my dad bought three weeks to get a termite inspection done, and they fussed and dragged their feet on fixing things. Seriously, a heat pump repair and dishwasher repair is something you don't think you need to do before you sell the place?

sdlife619 · 03-09-2013, 04:36 AM

Who are these people that are able to afford such high priced homes?? I am just curious, are a lot of the people offering to buy your homes existing California residents, or out of country, out of stater's with super high incomes? If anything many people that wish to sell their homes here in SD, if they were smart, they would sell it for the maximum market price, if not above market value, since it is a sellers market out here at this time, cash out, and move out of state and put the rest in the bank.

This is going to be a serious issue for first time home buyers in the near future as inventories dry up, especially younger people with families that are looking for affordable places to live in SD. Affordable shouldn't be in the same sentence with "California" to be honest.

This is the exact reason why I am leaving this state, it's become unlivable for low income to middle class Americans. No way in hell would I spend $400,000 for a crap home in El Cajon surrounded by a bunch low lives and druggies, but what surprises me, is that they're are many people that will buy a home like that at a crazy ridiculous price in such a crummy part of town, all because they are wanting to either live in CA badly, or are investors looking to do a flipper.

I just don't get it. With high land cost, even if we built 20,000 new homes, like right now! Prices for those homes would still be over priced and expensive for many average San Diegan's. This is why I don't believe what developers or real estate agents say that if we built more homes for people, the prices for existing homes will come down. No because as long as the new homes are extremely over priced, the older homes will be just as expensive, if not more expensive since a lot of old suburban homes in SD are fairly big compared to what you get today in a Urban condo or a new house, older homes give you a better value in certain cases, they can be somewhat bigger in square footage, are in quieter, usually safer neighborhoods, and are surrounded by less "junk" vs an urban area. Plus many are in neighborhoods that are less homogeneous and boring looking which many younger people look for compared to master planned communities that lack soul and character. Certain area's in Clairemont comes to mind that have nice older homes that are in safe neighborhoods.

Picture perfect, Pleasantville family neighborhoods was great in the 1950's, but not everybody likes overly stuffed, overly nice neighborhoods where everyone's grass is bright green, every car is a new BMW, Audi, Mercedes, or Lexus where every home looks the same, and every home is stucco white or pink, since some of us like to feel a little less perfect and people that have actual faults since that makes us human after all. I don't want to live in a neighborhood where my neighbors are going to scream and holler at me if my front yard is a little brown here and there, ya know whatta mean?

That can get tiring and very annoying after awhile.

mongozx · 03-09-2013, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sdlife619

This is the exact reason why I am leaving this state:--- That can get tiring and very annoying after awhile.

Instead of whining all day long about it can't you just leave? Leave quickly please. What you describe is pretty much anywhere else, USA but with less than desirable location and 2X OR maybe 3X the price.

Obviously demand is high as I see homes getting snapped up fast and I mean FAST while prices are creeping up. My dad is a real estate agent and I regularly use his realtors website (sandicor) to checkup on new listings before it most people know about it. It's brutal out there as I've even seen some homes get snatched before they're even listed for a day.

This isn't a knock on you. But seriously, there are millions of people in this metro area who can afford to live here. So instead of complaining and writing these epic paragraphs that don't solve anything just get out and shut up. Apologies for being blunt about it.

sdhkshdcny09 · 03-09-2013, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mongozx

Instead of whining all day long about it can't you just leave? Leave quickly please. What you describe is pretty much anywhere else, USA but with less than desirable location and 2X OR maybe 3X the price.

Obviously demand is high as I see homes getting snapped up fast and I mean FAST while prices are creeping up. My dad is a real estate agent and I regularly use his realtors website (sandicor) to checkup on new listings before it most people know about it. It's brutal out there as I've even seen some homes get snatched before they're even listed for a day.

This isn't a knock on you. But seriously, there are millions of people in this metro area who can afford to live here. So instead of complaining and writing these epic paragraphs that don't solve anything just get out and shut up. Apologies for being blunt about it.

I doubt that "millions" can afford to live here considering that SD metro only has 3.1 million.....If we are going by the government's definition of affordability (30% or less of monthly household income spent on housing), then I can guarantee you that San Diego is nowhere near affordable for millions of locals.

earlyretirement · 03-09-2013, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhanifin

I doubt that "millions" can afford to live here considering that SD metro only has 3.1 million.....If we are going by the government's definition of affordability (30% or less of monthly household income spent on housing), then I can guarantee you that San Diego is nowhere near affordable for millions of locals.

I agree with rhanifin. "millions can NOT afford to live here". That isn't the case at all. People need to put things in perspective. Yes, there are is very low inventory but that isn't something caused by positive factors. It's simply caused by the fact that a whopping 28% of SD homeowners are still UNDERWATER on their homes (down from something like 32% last year). That isn't exactly anything to celebrate about.

As far as "who are these people". Most of them are just ordinary professionals in dual income households. One of the guys that emailed me was a doctor and his wife worked as well. One thing I was surprised at when I moved here to San Diego was just how many households have to BOTH work to be able to survive living in San Diego.

In other affluent parts of cities I've lived in before, many housewives didn't need to work. Ironic in my neighborhood several of the wives are the "breadwinner" in the family. The husbands also work but the woman is the lawyer, doctor, professional, etc. I thought that was interesting.

For example, go to a type of neighborhood like Highland Park in Dallas and you will see it's a very affluent area as well and almost all of the people I know there only the husband works.