Home prices north of san diego (for sale, loan, houses)

[cunparis]

I'm currious with the home loan problems if home prices have went down in San Diego? I'm currently in Paris France and I'm dying to move back to the US. I lived in Phoenix before I moved here and have never lived in California. If the home prices are going down, it'd be a great time for us to take advantage of it and move to the US. We're also looking at Charlotte (I know, totally different) and the home prices never went up a lot so they didn't come back down. So I'm thinking a discount on a home in SD would be safer investment. We're looking at moving next summer.

Just for information, a small house here directly on the train tracks (the only ones that seem to be for sale) goes for around 1.2 million. When I say small I mean like 1500 sq ft and also about 30 years old. We can't afford a house here.

PS: Salaries are lower here in France so houses are even more unaffordable than it looks.

[esmith143]

Home prices went down since 2005, but they didn't go down significantly in good areas (yet). It's still a lot more expensive than Phoenix or Charlotte. A comparable 1500 sq ft house in a desirable inland area would cost you from 450k, coastal areas (within 3-5 miles from coast) carry an additional premium.

On the other hand, there are many "subprime" areas where prices are basically crashing and you can easily find a house below 250k. Those areas generally have bad schools, poor largely Hispanic immigrant population (legal or not), sometimes problems with crime.

Hope it helps.