To all moving, or thinking of moving to San Diego...some advice (real estate market, rental)

[Klaudia]

In our case, he wants to buy, I want to rent and get a feel for the area first.

[skeke]

My financial advisor suggested we rent for year before buying to let home prices drop some more. We ended up choosing to buy right away (we did rent a room in a furnished house for 6 weeks as we had to be in town for our jobs). During that time we looked, bought and went through escrow as we had sold our prior home in 10 days so it was in escrow before we made the drive down to San Diego. Either way, it has always worked for us. We just didn't have the energy to think of moving all our household goods to one location and then again to another. Maybe if the movers didn't bring a house full of furniture, or if they stored their furniture, or if they had more energy than we do it would work for them. We just could not imagine packing everything up, unpacking it in a rental, then doing it all over again to move in to a purchased home.

[soymabelen]

Originally Posted by skeke

My financial advisor suggested we rent for year before buying to let home prices drop some more. We ended up choosing to buy right away (we did rent a room in a furnished house for 6 weeks as we had to be in town for our jobs). During that time we looked, bought and went through escrow as we had sold our prior home in 10 days so it was in escrow before we made the drive down to San Diego. Either way, it has always worked for us. We just didn't have the energy to think of moving all our household goods to one location and then again to another. Maybe if the movers didn't bring a house full of furniture, or if they stored their furniture, or if they had more energy than we do it would work for them. We just could not imagine packing everything up, unpacking it in a rental, then doing it all over again to move in to a purchased home.

I agree. I am not arguing that strictly speaking from a financial point, it makes sense to wait and rent first. We decided to buy straight away however. We wanted to settle down into a community and schools and not have to move in one or two years again. Moving is stressful and hard work, especially when you have several family members to consider and schools are involved too.

[thepinksquid]

We're renting at the moment, and I'm glad we did. Originally, we were thinking of buying, being that the home prices are relatively low at the moment. However, we probably would of had to settle for something in Eastlake Chula Vista, given the prices there. I know a good deal of people like that area, and honestly it seemed nice, but we want something a little more urban than that, and a little closer to San Diego itself.

Anyhow, renting is working out pretty well for us at the moment, and hopefully we can save a bit more by doing so for a few years, and buy that nice place in Mission Hills or University Heights (ha! One can hope...)

[MyLaMesa]

squid--did you mean to say University City?

I agree with the OP's advice. Unless you have lived in this county for 8K years, like I have, you need to rent first. I am kind of wondering how people from elsewhere deal with "sticker shock." I'm a fan of Jim the Realtor (North County coast) and have seen him focus on homes in the $500-600K range and thought, that's a pretty good deal!

[HarborEastGuy]

OP has the right advice for everyone coming into SD. And besides, the
housing market has not hit bottom yet so why lock into a higher price
right now.

[Charles]

For some, renting first is a luxury.

The downsides of renting first, then buying:

You have to move twice; maybe not a big deal for some single dude who can fit all his belongings in the back of a pickup - but it is a big deal for a family of six with five bedrooms worth of stuff, a garage full of stuff, and all the other stuff in closets, living, dining, and family rooms and the kitchen.

Your kids might have to adjust to new schools twice.

You have to go through all the hassles of address changes twice.

Also, if a person has a pretty tight set of parameters for example, no more than 10 miles from employer, X bedrooms, Y car garage, narrow price range, narrow range of years built, top Z% of schools, etc then it really boils down to a few neighborhoods.

[mricu]

That is some great advice, but most places lock you in a 6 or 12 month lease. Does anyone know of a property management company offering month to month rentals?

[RD5050]

Excellent advice for San Diego.

San Diego has lots of very different types of neighborhoods.

Make sure you are happy with living in a neighborhood first, before purchasing a house there.

"Try before you buy" is the way to go!

[thepinksquid]

Originally Posted by MyLaMesa

squid--did you mean to say University City?

Nope--University Heights.

University Heights, San Diego, California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia