Rough Price Range? (San Diego: real estate, HOA, car registration)

[Danola]

My wife and I will be relocating to San Diego County in the next few months. Having never lived in California, I am not sure what to expect in regards to income tax and property taxes. Our household income will be approximately $155,000-170,000 depending on my wife's job. Taking our personal expenses out of the mix and taking a mortgage, PMI and property taxes into the equation, what do locals feel might be a good range to look into for a home?

I'm sure the picture will become far more clear once I have my first paycheck in hand and my wife secures a job, but it would be a great help to have a rough estimate. I've currently been looking at around $500,000, but I want to make sure our expectations are in line with reality.

TIA!

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by Danola

My wife and I will be relocating to San Diego County in the next few months. Having never lived in California, I am not sure what to expect in regards to income tax and property taxes. Our household income will be approximately $155,000-170,000 depending on my wife's job. Taking our personal expenses out of the mix and taking a mortgage, PMI and property taxes into the equation, what do locals feel might be a good range to look into for a home?

I'm sure the picture will become far more clear once I have my first paycheck in hand and my wife secures a job, but it would be a great help to have a rough estimate. I've currently been looking at around $500,000, but I want to make sure our expectations are in line with reality.

TIA!

A decent home in a decent neighborhood will cost more than that.

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by Danola

I've currently been looking at around $500,000, but I want to make sure our expectations are in line with reality.

TIA!

It's hard to say whether your budget is realistic without more information.

Where in the county will you be working? How long of a commute are you OK with? Are schools a factor in your home search? Safety/crime? Would you be OK with a condo/townhome or smaller single family home? Or a fixer upper? What size of a home do you need/want? Do you want to be close to the coast, or is inland OK? Do you want a "walkable" neighborhood, or something more suburban? Are there specific areas in the county you've already targeted as possibilities?

Inventory in the $500,000 and below range in decent areas is really tight right now, and homes in good shape in that price range tend to get snapped up immediately, and often get bid up. So, one piece of advice: don't just look at list prices in assessing the market. Go to a site like Zillow.com, Trulia.com, or Redfin.com and look at recent SALES prices to get a better sense of the current market.

Also, have your financing all set up, and find a real estate agent familiar with the area(s) you've targeted who seems hungry to help you get into a place in your price range. Be ready to put in an offer immediately if you find a home you like.

[RosieSD]

In terms of property taxes, this excellent brochure from the San Diego Tax Collector Office explains how things work at the state level:

http://www.sdttc.com/content/dam/ttc...-tax-guide.pdf

In addition to the statewide property tax, some local cities and newer developments also have additional bonds, mello roos taxes, and home owner association fees that can add up. The brochure above explains some of those as well.

A good realtor who is familiar with specific areas can usually help you sort the tax situation out, but this will give you an overview.

[Jhox99]

Moderator cut: see note I will be honest, this range in decent areas is TOUGH right now. As Rosie said, you do need to be able to move quickly. A decent house will get 10 offers in 3 days. The listing agent will typically leave it on the market for just a couple days while the offers pour in. And unfortunately for traditional buyers, so many of these offers are cash right now. You can help move your offer to the top by getting pre-qualified and submitting the pre-qual letter with the offer, writing a personal letter to the sellers talking about why you want their particular house, and committing to a larger down-payment.

If you can up your range a bit, it might help remove some competition from your target properties. But at the end of the day, at every price range, it is just a seller's market right now.

I know when I first moved to San Diego from the Midwest, I struggled with how much house someone in my range was "supposed" to purchase. The old adage back home was three times annual income. Out here, that notion is laughable! Our income level was approximately $100,000 when we purchased a home. Very little other debt to speak of, and no kids. So we were living perfectly comfortably. We ended up purchasing a home for $430,000. However, that was 2 years ago, and that home is now worth 100k more. So not sure how helpful my personal example is, but hopefully every data point will help you.

As for property taxes, expect to pay at least 1% of your home's assessed value annually. Any additional special bonds or assessments might be in addition to this.

It's intimidating. Moving from Kansas City to San Diego was definitely a huge financial shock. But if we did it, so can you. Our income was nowhere close to yours when we relocated.

Moderator cut: see note

[4SR]

I think it all comes down to expectations. There are still SFHs out in east county that meet your needs. However, the closer to the coast you get, the more expensive it obviously gets. You can find 3 bedroom town homes in that price range if you prefer to be in North County or central san diego.

[NYSD1995]

Price isn't what you should be focused on, it's what you get for the money and whether or not the price is worth it.

Case in point - this is a 600k+ house: SDLookup.com | 5673*Marne - MLS# 170017946

[jkozlow3]

Originally Posted by Danola

My wife and I will be relocating to San Diego County in the next few months. Having never lived in California, I am not sure what to expect in regards to income tax and property taxes. Our household income will be approximately $155,000-170,000 depending on my wife's job. Taking our personal expenses out of the mix and taking a mortgage, PMI and property taxes into the equation, what do locals feel might be a good range to look into for a home?

I'm sure the picture will become far more clear once I have my first paycheck in hand and my wife secures a job, but it would be a great help to have a rough estimate. I've currently been looking at around $500,000, but I want to make sure our expectations are in line with reality.

TIA!

Don't take this the wrong way, but (in my opinion) you seem to be looking at this all wrong if you want to "take personal expenses out of the mix".

No two families have identical expenses. Hopefully you have a pretty good idea of what you spend each month. It never fails to surprise me how many people have no idea what they REALLY spend each month on things like food, cars, insurance (life & car), entertainment, clothing, medical expenses, haircuts/beauty products, fitness memberships, TV/internet, cell phones, etc., etc. Most people seem to underestimate and often fail to take into account expenses that they only pay 1-2 times per year like car registration, car insurance, etc. (these expenses should be averaged into your "monthly" expenses).

Once you add all that up, figure out how much you want to save. At your income level, hopefully you're putting aside $1.5k-2k/month or more for retirement & savings between you and your wife. If not, what do you plan on living off of when you retire?

Once you know all of this, the math is simple. The remainder is how much of a house payment you can afford, including taxes, PMI, HOA dues, homeowner's insurance, etc. Subtract the estimated property taxes, PMI, HOA, homeowner's insurance etc. and you're left with the mortgage payment. Now you know exactly how much house you can afford after your personal expenses and savings.

Not to burst your bubble, but most of the stuff in SD in the $500k price range will probably be MUCH lower quality than what you're expecting. Prices have skyrocketed in the past few years.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by jkozlow3

Don't take this the wrong way, but (in my opinion) you seem to be looking at this all wrong if you want to "take personal expenses out of the mix".

No two families have identical expenses. Hopefully you have a pretty good idea of what you spend each month. It never fails to surprise me how many people have no idea what they REALLY spend each month on things like food, cars, insurance (life & car), entertainment, clothing, medical expenses, haircuts/beauty products, fitness memberships, TV/internet, cell phones, etc., etc. Most people seem to underestimate and often fail to take into account expenses that they only pay 1-2 times per year like car registration, car insurance, etc. (these expenses should be averaged into your "monthly" expenses).

Once you add all that up, figure out how much you want to save. At your income level, hopefully you're putting aside $1.5k-2k/month or more for retirement & savings between you and your wife. If not, what do you plan on living off of when you retire?

Once you know all of this, the math is simple. The remainder is how much of a house payment you can afford, including taxes, PMI, HOA dues, homeowner's insurance, etc. Subtract the estimated property taxes, PMI, HOA, homeowner's insurance etc. and you're left with the mortgage payment. Now you know exactly how much house you can afford after your personal expenses and savings.

Not to burst your bubble, but most of the stuff in SD in the $500k price range will probably be MUCH lower quality than what you're expecting. Prices have skyrocketed in the past few years.

Yep I sat down and figured out all the basic costs including property taxes, utilities, insurance, car registration, gas, eating out, etc and the total came to about $60,000.00 and that would be the after income taxes were paid. That is with a home paid for in cash, so no mortgage. It ain't easy to do it for less.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

Price isn't what you should be focused on, it's what you get for the money and whether or not the price is worth it.

Case in point - this is a 600k+ house: SDLookup.com | 5673*Marne - MLS# 170017946

Yeah look at how good it is from the above link:

"Major deferred maintenance, termite issues, potential foundation settling with indication of active movement, home handyman installed windows (improperly), potential mold in many areas, bathroom added without permits and with poor plumbing and major leaks, all original bathrooms, kitchen, electrical. Unknown condition of heating system."

Buy it now or the price for this jewel will rise.