Family of 4 Moving to San Diego; Neighborhood Questions (Riverside, Fortuna: loan, houses)

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Originally Posted by SusanMMC

Hmmm, well Pedro, let me assure you that we will NOT have a 3500/month mortgage. You all are throwing out all these numbers! Bottom line is whatever house we rent or buy will be within our budget.

So, any feedback on the homes I linked? They are all possibilities, but I figure something must be terribly wrong with them for them not to sell.

8 weeks seemed like an ok time to find a house. When we moved here we found our current house in 3 days. Sometimes, having a tight timeline can make decisions easier!

I saw them Susan and at first I was wondering myself why they were over 30 days.

From a quick glance at comparable sales, that first house on Wanesta is WAY over the mark. It also looks like they dropped the price recently too which is not good.
Another tidbit to look at is last sales price of the house. It looks like it sold for 545k in 2008 and they might not be willing to move on price. So its either the listing agent or the seller that is being stubborn. There is a good chance that people might have passed on it that would have otherwise bid up if they listed it at a price that was more in line with the comps.

There is a blog I read from Jim Klinge called bubbleinfo. He is one of the sharpest and honest Real Estate agents in the county IMHO, that does a blog about the markets in North County Costal, but really we are all in this together, so much if it will apply to other areas like Poway or areas you are looking in.

I cant find it, but he has a GREAT list of why a house isnt selling within the first 30 days in a hot market.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Susan, this is the info I was referring to from above. This is taken from the blog. Even though you are not selling, its important to see how sellers are selling to buyers. Could give you some answers about those houses, because quite frankly that is about the only I could tell from them
List-Price-Accuracy Gauge | bubbleinfo.com

You can put any price you want on your home, and I’ll take the listing – so long as we utilize the List-Price-Accuracy Gauges:
Original List-Price-Accuracy Gauge:
Once on the open market, if you are……

• Getting visitors and offers, you are within 5% of being right on price.
• Getting visitors but no offers, you are 5% to 10% wrong on price.
• Not getting visitors, you are more than 10% wrong on price.

Today’s Improved List-Price-Accuracy Gauge:

Once on the open market, if you are……

• Not getting offers the first week, you are at least 10% wrong on price.

It’s nothing personal, just a simple guide to know how close you are to selling. The buyers rush out the first week, but after that the showings drop like a rock, and it is tough for sellers to cope, or know what to do.

[SusanMMC]

Schmooz that is very interesting. Our house is about to hit the market. The market we're selling our home in appears to be similar to San Diego in regard to low inventory and many buyers. I'm taking his advice to heart

I guess we'll know soon if we got our home market ready and priced it right. A lot of our down payment for a San Diego house is tied up in our current house.

So, how do you find a rental? The Craigslist listings seem mostly meh.

[docmcstuffin]

Originally Posted by SusanMMC

Schmooz that is very interesting. Our house is about to hit the market. The market we're selling our home in appears to be similar to San Diego in regard to low inventory and many buyers. I'm taking his advice to heart

I guess we'll know soon if we got our home market ready and priced it right. A lot of our down payment for a San Diego house is tied up in our current house.

So, how do you find a rental? The Craigslist listings seem mostly meh.

Craigslist is the best place IMHO. If you don't like what you see with Craigslist, then you're really SOL. That's the down side of renting (you don't always get exactly what you want and you can't change it). But you just have to keep your eye on the prize, which is, renting allow you experience the area you'd like to buy it (especially since you're not from around here) and it allow you flexibility to wait for the right house to come on.

[tonyinsd]

You can also try apartments.com or if you want to go with a place which has a realtor managing it, you can go to Sandicor, type in the zip codes, your rental price, and so on and see what pops up.

Originally Posted by docmcstuffin

Craigslist is the best place IMHO. If you don't like what you see with Craigslist, then you're really SOL. That's the down side of renting (you don't always get exactly what you want and you can't change it). But you just have to keep your eye on the prize, which is, renting allow you experience the area you'd like to buy it (especially since you're not from around here) and it allow you flexibility to wait for the right house to come on.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Susan, try renthomes.com

They are one of the only companies of its size that I am aware of in the San Diego area that manages SFH rentals.
San Diego Homes For Rent at American Heritage Properties Inc.

[docmcstuffin]

Originally Posted by shmoov_groovzsd

Susan, try renthomes.com

They are one of the only companies of its size that I am aware of in the San Diego area that manages SFH rentals.
San Diego Homes For Rent at American Heritage Properties Inc.

They post on Craigslist too. My last property I rented were from them and I found it on Craigslist.

Tony, I was assuming Susan wanted a house and not apartment, that's why I didn't suggest apartments.com, etc.

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by docmcstuffin

They post on Craigslist too. My last property I rented were from them and I found it on Craigslist.

Tony, I was assuming Susan wanted a house and not apartment, that's why I didn't suggest apartments.com, etc.

Doc is exactly right. Most of these property managers and property management companies still list on Craigslist. So you can probably save a lot of time and post there.

Also Susan, you might even want to try some of the vacation rental websites. Granted they are more expensive but you might be able to find something. Check out VRBO® is Vacation Rentals By Owner

HomeAway Vacation Rentals: Beach Houses, Condos, Cabins, Villas & Vacation Rental Homes

www.airbnb.com

Vacation Rentals ? Beach Houses, Cabins, Condos, Cottages, Vacation Homes & Villas | FlipKey

and just send out blanket emails asking if someone is interested in a long-term rental. I did that when we moved out here as I wanted to rent 6 months before we bought.

Rentals WILL be more expensive this route for the most part but they tend to be nicer and the owners more professional. In my case, I even found a house very early on in the process and I negotiated for the previous owners to do a leaseback of the house. So I further reduced my cost base of the house. And my landlord even allowed me to leave the lease early and refunded me the time I didn't use (I pre-paid my entire balance at the check-in).

Some people that might be in a cash crunch might find a 6 month lease very appealing. I tried to think of creative ways that would ensure that my family (I also have 2 kids your kids ages) wouldn't be too inconvenienced. I offered to pay the landlord 25% deposit and then the remaining 75% when I got the keys. She needed the cash so it worked out beautifully.

But definitely with 2 young kids, I'd highly recommend to have a longer term lease lined up and not rush the buying process. It will be horribly stressful that way. That way even if you find something to buy, you will have time to do any repairs, renovations and have a roof over your head so you're not trying to do it all while you are living there. Plus you can try to negotiate with any seller to do a leaseback a few months.

[tonyinsd]

Originally Posted by docmcstuffin

They post on Craigslist too. My last property I rented were from them and I found it on Craigslist.

Tony, I was assuming Susan wanted a house and not apartment, that's why I didn't suggest apartments.com, etc.

Whoops, got confused. There was someone else looking at apartments, and I got the two threads mixed up. You're right.

The Sandicor site will still return single family homes if that's what she's looking for.

[docmcstuffin]

Originally Posted by docmcstuffin

The house I linked is the highest house listed right now, but it's not the highest priced recently. Here are a few in Mira Mesa that are pending that's >$550k: 7665 Jade Coast Rd, San Diego, CA 92126 | MLS# 130016353 | Redfin, 10740 Calston Way, San Diego, CA 92126 | MLS# 130009969 | Redfin, 7123 Blakstad Ct, San Diego, CA 92126 | MLS# 130018730 | Redfin. These are closed ones: 11820 Gehring Ct, San Diego, CA 92126 | MLS# 130008757 | Redfin, 7708 Prairie Shadow Rd, San Diego, CA 92126 | MLS# 130013807 | Redfin, 11428 Corley Ct, San Diego, CA 92126 | MLS# 130021710 | Redfin. If you noticed, they all are on the West side of Mira Mesa (West of Camino Ruiz).

The only reason I suggest Mira Mesa is because of your budget. If you say your budget is $650k, I would definitely say PQ. I wouldn't suggest stretching to $650k if you have to stop saving for retirement.

If you think MM is spotty, then you're pretty much stuck between a rock and a hard place if you want a house under $550k. Now, if you're comfortable with a townhouse/condo, then I would highly suggest Carmel Valley.

Well, it looks like even Mira Mesa is starting to fall out of your price range. A few of the properties listed just closed. Jade Coast just closed at $672k, 7123 Blakstad just closed at $570k. The 7133 Blakstad house that you and ER linked to that keep going in and out of escrow also just closed at $523k. There must be something wrong with it for it to keep on falling out of escrow and end up closing $47k below the 7123 Blakstad house when it's 2 houses apart and is the same model. Also, today, this is your only option for larger home on the West side of Mira Mesa: 7444 Mason Heights Ln, San Diego, CA 92126 | MLS# 130028042 | Redfin, price is $590k.