85k -- can i make it in SD?? (San Diego, Encinitas: for sale, real estate market)

[sarahkate_m]

Originally Posted by Buburuza 1313

i saw cheaper houses too..on craigslist...like this one in poway:
A MUST SEE! STUNNING 4 BEDROOM 2 BATH 2006 MANUFACTURED HOME!!

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/reb/1358928921.html


what is wrong with this houses?
i heart from somebody who lives in san diego there are many,many foreclosures..so if you really want a cheaper house,you can find it...

here around napa for example...in our community houses used to be around one million or more...they are rented now for around 2,2500 and they are sold for around 750000,4 brdm...and the same happened around napa different locations...prices fall incredible and they continue to fall,you can find houses in all prices hier,the seller are desperate to sell..many ,many foreclosures...

is that they are often NOTon their own land.

that means you're buying a "house" so to speak but you will likely be on LEASED land or land where you pay rent for being in a park.

in the sense of "real property" you're usually only buying a manufactured house that is basically going to go down in value. the "market" may assign a high value for it, however in my logic it's usually not worth very much.

the value is in the location. you know they say the 3 most important things in real estate, Buburuzza : location, location, location.

i still stand by my remark that it's scraping by to earn $85k in that area. there's so much pressure to "keep up with the Joneses" there. $60 k is pushing it & that's what i had as a combined household income in 2004. when my other half passeda away, taking his more than half of my income, i had to move out of state. i only earned around $32k a year, gross.

now if you NETTED $85k, maybe it wouldn't be so hard to get by...

nice to see you around, Buburuzza!

Kate

[AddieJane]

I got to agree w/ sarah kate. It's tough enough to get by making $130,000 as a family of 4 in SD...

[GettingOutOfCA]

Originally Posted by smu7070

Please, do yourself a favor and do not move to El Cajon/La Mesa/Spring Valley. They aren't very nice places to live (generally) and the schools districts leave much to be desired. I would advise moving anywhere in coastal north county, except Oceanside. Carmel Valley, Scripps Ranch, Poway, etc. are nice too. They are more expensive, but consider the money spent on better schools and a nicer environment. I usually recommend south Orange County (Mission Viejo, Aliso Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, etc.) as well, but they would be quite far for you to commute.

This guy's dead on with the community suggestions. EC/LM/SV are pretty much poo for the most part. I have a friend who lives in a really nice part of La Mesa, but it's an island in the middle of a dumpy surrounding. There are far nicer areas in SD without question.

85K is plenty to survive for 3 people and you could probably get into a relatively nice area as long as you're not expecting to live in a really high-end home. I'd suggest getting into something a little smaller, living in a nicer community, and living a little further away from the financial edge to be safe. Another area to consider might also be Sorrento Valley more toward the 5 freeway (not the Mira Mesa end). It's expanding, new, and pretty nice. Not sure about the schools at all, though.

That being said, I'm single, make a little over 100K and I'm still relocating, primarily for the lower cost of living. SD is a really nice town, but I the added expense of living here is tough to justify after living in several other states. I will miss being able to go outside in flopflops year-round, though. You've probably already seen it, but try this cost of living calculator since it might help you with your decision. It gives you cost differentials for things like housing, groceries, healthcare, etc.

Cost of living: Compare prices in two cities - CNNMoney.com

I plugged it in and found that I could effectively get a 50K raise simply by moving from SD to St Louis, which happens to be a really nice town. In my profession, my income does not change much from state to state so it was a pretty easy decision. Comparing the home/neighborhood that 500K will buy you in the St. Louis suburbs to what it gets you in SD is ridiculous.

Don't get me wrong, the economy in CA is pretty bad right now, but there are people doing just fine on considerably less than 85K per year. It all just depends on how badly you want to live here and why.

[dweej]

I just used the calculator (it's a very easy-to-use one!) and if, for example, you are making $85K in Dallas, TX, you would need to make $125K in S.D. just to maintain the same standard of living. That's a huge difference!

[JohnAlt]

An 85k income can afford a median priced home in San Diego County. It may require a bit of financial discipline (what a concept) but it's hardly scraping by. Most people still make less than that.

[dweej]

Originally Posted by JohnAlt

An 85k income can afford a median priced home in San Diego County. It may require a bit of financial discipline (what a concept) but it's hardly scraping by. Most people still make less than that.

Tell that to the banks who are burned, burned, burned by this housing fiasco and have gone back to the "old school" debt/income ratio. You personally may know you're able to afford more, but you're not gonna get a mortgage.

[JohnAlt]

Originally Posted by dweej

Tell that to the banks who are burned, burned, burned by this housing fiasco and have gone back to the "old school" debt/income ratio. You personally may know you're able to afford more, but you're not gonna get a mortgage.

Define "old school" for me. 3-4x annual income with decent credit is certainly not too much house to afford at current interest rates. If it was a lot less people would be buying right now.

[dweej]

Originally Posted by JohnAlt

Define "old school" for me. 3-4x annual income with decent credit is certainly not too much house to afford at current interest rates. If it was a lot less people would be buying right now.

A mortgage of 4x annual income is too much for me to even consider or ever recommend for a family. Your mortgage+interest+taxes per month is going to equal almost 50% of your net income. How much does that leave for retirement savings per month? College savings for your kids? Disposable income so that you can actually enjoy your life and home? Spring break trip fund so that your kids can see more of the world than just SoCal? Emergency savings in case the primary income earner becomes ill? Music and sports lessons because they're not getting that in CA schools anymore? If the housing debacle has taught us anything, it should be that we should refrain from overextending ourselves financially just because we "can". That is why someone with financial savvy will discourage a family from moving here if their income will be $85K.

[Sassberto]

4x 80k income gets you 320k which will put you in a neighborhood where the average income is 40k... The nicest house in a total disaster neighborhood or a dump in Clairemont, or where I live, with crap schools and shopping carts on the corner, that is the conundrum of San Diego, that is why it is unaffordable. Neighborhoods with avg 85k incomes have homes that cost 600k.

This is the forum where people say you should shop at the 99 cent store to afford living here.. the same logic where people drive bimmers but in 1BR apartments.

[w1ngzer0]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

85k is still scraping by for a family or a homeowner.

wow... really. That is sad.