SD real estate vs. Norcal real estate (San Diego, Sacramento: houses, neighborhoods)

[michaelsa]

Hi All,

I'm looking to buy a small starter home in the suburbs in either Northern California or San Diego. Small starter homes in safe, suburban SD neighborhoods are sooo much cheaper than anything I've seen in Norcal (including tiny, dead, cow-town areas outside the Bay Area) that I'm wondering why. Are there just NO jobs in SD at all, or did the market just crash especially hard there? Are salaries so much lower in San Diego that it warrants these low prices? Or is Northern California just shockingly overpriced, even in the cow-town areas? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

A

[michaelsa]

To elaborate on my original post--I've looked extensively at real estate in Northern California--and there are towns where there is nothing but a dead cow, a starving dog and a minimart, and the falling down shacks there STILL cost $1 million+. By comparison, San Diego is beautiful, and warm, and full of people and things to do...and it's so cheap.... ?

[esmith143]

Can you give an example of a cow town where falling down shacks cost $1 million?

In California, houses have value for two reasons. (1) Desirable retirement destination (especially if it's less than 10 miles to the ocean), (2) close to high-income jobs. Marin County is both, and therefore it's expensive like hell. Stockton is neither, and you will have a hard time finding ANYTHING worth $1 million in there.

[tande1n5]

Originally Posted by michaelsa

Hi All,

I'm looking to buy a small starter home in the suburbs in either Northern California or San Diego. Small starter homes in safe, suburban SD neighborhoods are sooo much cheaper than anything I've seen in Norcal (including tiny, dead, cow-town areas outside the Bay Area) that I'm wondering why. Are there just NO jobs in SD at all, or did the market just crash especially hard there? Are salaries so much lower in San Diego that it warrants these low prices? Or is Northern California just shockingly overpriced, even in the cow-town areas? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!

A

Can you name some of those cow towns so we can get a better idea? There are certain rural areas in the Bay Area, perhaps even cowtowny, that are expensive because of that rural quality, yet so close by to the city. My parents live in the Sacramento area and real estate's hardly as inflated as you say. There's no way they could sell their house and get something comparable down here.