CRAZY! We're going Texas TO SoCal... Five member family (San Diego: rent, assessor)

[spoonman1]

From what I know, TriCity area doesn't have great schools. Perhaps someone else can confirm.

If you are looking to be near the beach, anywhere along the coast will satisfy. However, if you are interested in doing things in SD proper, I would suggest living farther south than Oceanside. IMO, Oceanside (and Carlsbad somewhat) are far enough that you'll rarely want to drive into SD proper for fun on the weekend. Something to consider.

[moved]

If it sounds too good to be true, then it's more than likely a scam. If there's an address on the listing, copy and paste it into Google, and that will tell you if it's real or not.

[Slytrix]

I couldn't get that link to work but I'm glad you brought Craigslist back up because it is filled with scams daily.

If it is a single family I know it's a scam and likely is anyway. 3 bedroom apartments are more than $1,500/ month.

[capoeira]

Originally Posted by jav1107ecu

is a place I just found in (Tri City?) neighborhood. No idea what that area is like - it's 2 minutes from a Costco, 10 minutes from a Walmart, and 15 minutes from Carlsbad Village (or the beach). It's a 3br 2ba for $1500, looks relatively decent for only having one picture.

Is this legit? Is this the type of place that we could squeeze into for a year while we pad that down payment account?

Doubtful since an average 1br apartment rents for $1638 in Oceanside according to the Rentjungle site.

Originally Posted by jav1107ecu

I know a 4br west of I-5 will cost me $4k+. I'm really trying to figure out if I can bring that figure down far enough to save $50-75k in 12 months and not live in an undesirable area.

I would go a little inland and get more space. I suggest looking in Tierrasanta. This is inland but it is an easy drive on Highway 52 to La Jolla, Del Mar or Pacific Beach. Also Tierrasanta is close to the Asian food area on Convoy St.

Its also a short drive to the San Diego airport.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Airp...32.8250787!3e0

There are not a lot of houses for rent or for sale in Tierrasanta but here are some examples.

https://sandiego.craigslist.org/sear...date=all+dates

example houses for sale:

I would buy this one if I was looking in the area.

[socketz]

I'm not sure what your budget is, but I am watching home sales in the 1M+ range (North County Inland) are they are softening and nicer homes are taking longer to sell, typically for a little less than their asking price. In addition, you get a whole lot more home in this range as compared to say the 700-800K range (still competitive in this range as this is part of the move-up market). If you try to get close to 500-650K (first time buyers) and you will be met with fierce competition and have to deal with multiple offers and offers over the asking price. Move this scale by 100K for north county Coastal.

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by jav1107ecu;51500211
So let's get down to brass tacks. Someone mentioned Craigslist, which I had not looked at - I was running filters up and down the coast. Here:

[url

https://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/apa/d/beautiful-3br-25-bath-corner/6550161517.html[/url]

is a place I just found in (Tri City?) neighborhood. No idea what that area is like - it's 2 minutes from a Costco, 10 minutes from a Walmart, and 15 minutes from Carlsbad Village (or the beach). It's a 3br 2ba for $1500, looks relatively decent for only having one picture.

Is this legit? Is this the type of place that we could squeeze into for a year while we pad that down payment account?

I ran that address on Zillow.

It shows that the home is currently listedfor sale for $519,000. Here is the link to the listing:
https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...omePageTab=buy

Zillow also estimates that the rent would be $2900 a month if it were available for rent.

So something is off about that Craigslist ad. Scammers are known to copy photos from legit listings like Zillow and then put them on Craigslist at a too good to be true rental price aimed at out of towners. You contact the "landlord" and they say the house will go fast, send a money order for the deposit and first months rent right away to hold it. This may or may not be the case here, but the fact that the house is listed for sale and the Craigslist "rental" is WAY below market, sets up alarm bells in my mind.

Separate from that, Zillow shows that the address is actually in the Vista School District, even though the address is Oceanside. Vista High School is not horrible but would not be my first recommendation for a family looking for "good schools."

Capoeria gave you some good advice. Tierrasanta would be a good option, as would Rancho Penasquitos, Poway, Rancho Bernardo, Scripps Ranch, maybe University City. Good schools (especially in the Poway School district) They'd actually put you closer to where you need to go for your "handshakes" as Oceanside/Vista, and also closer to the airport. And, you should be able to find at least some rentals in the $3000-$3500 range in these areas, although they are popular for families so nicer homes at lower prices will go fast.

Good luck with your move!

[RosieSD]

I just checked SDLookup, which, like Zillow.com, shows current MLS listings.

The house is listed for sale there too. It looks like it just went into the MLS, so perhaps they are hoping to rent it temporarily until it sells?

Don't know. But it is still priced way below market so there is something up. Even if it is a legit rental ad, inventory of homes in that price range is limited, so it likely will sell fast, unless there is something wrong with it. They're having an open house this weekend.

Here is the listing on SDLookup:

SDLookup.com | 1758*Corte*Ventana - MLS# 180016576

[cruitr]

If Rosie is right and they are trying to rent it while it's on the market for sale, don't rent it. No matter how cheap the rent is. Realtors and buyers will turn your life upside down.

Many years ago, I rented a house with a 1 year lease. A month after I signed the lease, the owner put the house up for sale without telling us. When I asked him about it, he said he forgot to tell us.

I hired a lawyer. He hired a lawyer. And the only winners were the lawyers.

[someguy10]

Congrats on the lateral (promotion?) with relo to SD!

I'll mostly address from the dollars and cents standpoint; obviously, other aspects are personal and subjective.

First, I highly recommend the NY Times rent vs. buy calculator at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...alculator.html! One of the things it allows is specifying how long you'll stay. I would recommend a 3-4% appreciation value -- you can certainly get higher if you buy smart in a popular area and hold for a while and are flexible, but a five-year timeframe probably calls for a little bit more conservative of a number. This tool also takes into account realtor fees and closing costs. Property taxes are roughly 1-1.2%. Be aware of HOA and Mellos Roos. In some areas, these can tack on hundreds of dollars a month and may not be tax deductible (esp. MR).

Make sure you don't just acknowledge but factor in CA state income taxes -- it's 9.3% above $105K.

I would also consider how solid is the ~$100K in bonus? I've seen a lot of sales rock stars transition to a new unit or a new company and take several years or more to get back to previous bonus levels.

Since you have kids, one "risk" is that once you pick somewhere this June (rent or buy), you'll probably be loathe to move outside the district and even outside that area within the district. Otherwise I would definitely say do your best guess and rent the first year.

[jav1107ecu]

Wow - more information in 12 hours than I've picked up since we started poking around almost six weeks ago. Thanks for all the great information. Thanks for the Craigslist warnings and thanks even more for those of you that took the time to look at it and give me Craigslist links. I really don't work with Craigslist much because it's so full of scammers and bs. Unbelievable support here, really.

The NYT calculator basically screams 'buy' with my metrics, even at five years.

The bonus is up to $45k. $30k is an easily achievable target, which puts me a bit over $200k gross. This is a management bonus, not a sales bonus - sales is one of many metrics that make it up. The role is regional ops director for an engineering services company in the biopharma space. The competition is eating our lunch in SoCal and we don't have a manager there, so they're sending me. The upside potential is huge - big, big market.

One thing I just can't get a straight answer on is the down payment percentage lenders are comfortable with out there - in general. I read somewhere that up north in San Jose averages over 20%. Here in DFW metro, I can do 10-15% conventional all day on a $400k home with an 800 FICO. If I'm looking at an $800-900k home in SoCal, the difference between 10 and 20 percent is $80-90k. Any thoughts on that?

Also, what is Mellos Roos?