Fact Finding weekend - suggestions please (San Diego, Oceanside: middle-class, real estate, foreclosure)

[IL2SOCAL]

My wife and I will be spending 4 days in SD in early May. The purpose of our visit is to check out SD for ourselves. We have heard great things, and we have heard not so great things. Since neither of us have ever been there, we wanted to take a brief look, and get as much of a feel for the place as we can in 4 days.

We have been looking into moving to SD from Chicago for more than a year. We have researched real estate online. We have researched employment online. We have been looking at buying a business......online.

Our goal for the four days is to take a look at a small business we are interested in in Encinitas, and look at various neighborhoods/areas we think might suit us.

Our moving plan, for which we do not have a date set, is to rent a home while we determine where, when and what to buy.

We are both IT professionals. Our household income is $200,000. We currently own a $280,000 home in the far western suburbs of Chicagoland. We are thinking of spending $400,000 - $500,000 for a home in SD. We have no children, but have 2 huge dogs that live outdoors...they need a garden....and so do we. We are in our 30s. We are suburbanites, and would like to live in a quiet, neat and safe middle income neighborhood. We are not overly trendy and do not need to live in a hot/trendy/yuppie area, but we do like to dine out, and we do appreciate quality. We have our own transport, so do not need public transit.

After that lengthy intro , does anyone have any advice on what areas we should check out, (the IE is out since the commute is not an option), maybe a restaurant or two we should try (no franchise chains please), some public parks, beaches, and recreational areas?

Which are some of the rougher areas we should not bother with? We are not politically correct, so please don't ask me to explain. We just don't want to waste our time looking at areas that are unsafe and/or run down.

Thank you in advance for any replies and suggestions.

[MsFancyPants]

Hey. Sounds like north coastal is your best bet. It's going to be tricky finding a really nice home in in that price range, but admittedly I haven't looked at prices lately. Anything in Del Mar, Encinitas, Carlsbad, Solana Beach...parts of Oceanside. Some parts of O'side are gang-banger/thuggish, but some parts are really nice neighborhoods. San Clemente is an option too. But again, that 400-500k might take some really hard looking.

Coming south, with your political incorrectness (LOL @ that), I'd stay out of Mira Mesa. But UTC (University Town Center) and La Jolla are nice, but can be pricey. Go inland a little and Scripps Ranch, Poway, Rancho Penasquitos and Carmel Mountain would all fit the bill.

Coming further south (and getting into a long commute now) would be downtown San Diego, Hillcrest (gay community but REALLY great neighborhood), Kensington, and then east of that - no. Downtown, Hillcrest and Kensington have some great restaurants and culture.

I wouldn't go east or south of those areas, but that's just based on your criteria. There are some great neighborhoods but I think the commute would kill ya! LOL!

As for restaurants, there are some great threads here that offer tons of info on that.

You'll love San Diego. Just don't expect it to be urban like Chicago. It's much smaller, more laid back. Expensive, but to me it's worth every cent. You cannot beat this weather.

[NYSD1995]

400-500k is going to be tough in a good north county coastal area. I would look at inland suburban areas like Rancho Penasquitos, Rancho Bernardo, Poway, Carmel Mountain, ,maybe some of the nicer parts of Escondido. You should also look at condos since you will be priced out of most detached homes west of 5. You are going to be living in an area where the median income is less than half of yours with that kind of price range. Thats just how it is here. People who make 200k incomes here often spend 700k+ on homes. A "middle income" neighborhood in San Diego is going to be people making much less than you would expect (median household income is around 60k) and will probably appear run-down or unsafe to you.

[IL2SOCAL]

Originally Posted by MsFancyPants

You'll love San Diego. Just don't expect it to be urban like Chicago. It's much smaller, more laid back.

We hate Chicago, so the more different it is, the better. Smaller and laid back is what we want, and we know we have to pay for that, but Chicago ain't exactly cheap either.

Thanks for the info.

[IL2SOCAL]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

People who make 200k incomes here often spend 700k+ on homes.

This is what I do not understand. How do they afford it (or don't they afford it)?
Do these people spend all their income on their mortgage? We're not exactly big spenders; we do not live an expensive lifestyle, but we would have a hard time spending 700k on a house with a 200k income.

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by IL2SOCAL

This is what I do not understand. How do they afford it (or don't they afford it)?
Do these people spend all their income on their mortgage? We're not exactly big spenders; we do not live an expensive lifestyle, but we would have a hard time spending 700k on a house with a 200k income.

Depends on how long they've been here.

The longtimers bought their homes years ago when San Diego was cheap and/or traded up into the expensive house using the equity they gained. San Diego has a large population of retirees, many of whom are sitting on masssive home equity.

Home prices in San Diego have tripled and even quadrupled in some areas over the last 10-20 years. That is part of the economic dynamic in the region. In the areas you are looking at, many people bought those 700k tract homes for 250-300k when they were built in the 80's and are still living in them. My brother bought his house (a trashed foreclosure) for about 110k in 1991, even after the crash in the market it is worth probably 4 times that. And that is a neighborhood you would probably consider unsafe / run-down.

Many of the newcomers did the toxic loan dance and as you probably already know, a lot of them aren't homeowners any more. There are a lot of people in San Diego living hand-to-mouth, who despite the nice home and nice car are one paycheck away from a bankruptcy. It is just part of the boom / bust / always-changing nature of SoCal, a very different dynamic from the midwest where stability is the norm. Middle-class neighborhoods in particular can go uphill, they go downhill, sometimes in a few years. The areas that are top-tier command a massive premium as a result.

[IL2SOCAL]

Thanks. I knew it had to be something like that. We are in no rush to buy, especially since we first have to sell in Chicago.
And before we get to that, we need to find employment. That may be the most difficult task of all over the next year or two at least.

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by IL2SOCAL

Thanks. I knew it had to be something like that. We are in no rush to buy, especially since we first have to sell in Chicago.
And before we get to that, we need to find employment. That may be the most difficult task of all over the next year or two at least.

You say you are in IT, I have been in IT for 10+ years in San Diego... it can be very tough to break in here, and very very tough to make six figures (most IT jobs here pay around 75-80k). What type of stuff do you do?

[sdurbanite]

MsFancyPants makes some good suggestions with the North County Coast, but as Sassberto said, finding a place in your price range ($400,000-$500,000) might be tough. The inland areas mentioned (Rancho Bernardo, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Sabre Springs,etc) might fit your bill, too.

What type of business are you looking to open?

Originally Posted by IL2SOCAL

We have heard great things, and we have heard not so great things. Since neither of us have ever been there, we wanted to take a brief look, and get as much of a feel for the place as we can in 4 days.

What things have you heard (good and bad) about SD? Maybe we can help clarify your expectations.

[esmith143]

Originally Posted by IL2SOCAL

This is what I do not understand. How do they afford it (or don't they afford it)?
Do these people spend all their income on their mortgage? We're not exactly big spenders; we do not live an expensive lifestyle, but we would have a hard time spending 700k on a house with a 200k income.

At prevailing interest rates, your total after-tax payments on a 700k house (assuming 10% down) would be around 28% of your gross income. And you'd be getting a big tax deduction on top of that.

People do tend to spend bigger portions of their incomes on housing in San Diego compared to Chicago, but it's still manageable.