GET REAL About San Diego Rental and Real Estate Prices (refinance, credit score)

[pgrdr]

Originally Posted by SurfinSD

As a landlord in SD, I can tell you my duplex in North Park (hippster central) rents for $2k for a front 3/1 about 1200sq ft with 1 car garage and the rear 2/2 with a 2 car garage rents for $2,200. Our home which is a few blocks from the beach would likely rent for $3,500-$4k. Nice place, but only 1600 sq ft 3/2 with 2 car garage and walled in (Spanish) yard.
Those do not strike me as cheap rents, but it is San Diego and people love living here.
In my mind, if you don't want to surf, why pay the premium to live here as there are plenty of other places to live for much less.

It's good to know there are some 2/2 rentals in North Park. My spouse and I might be moving from further up the coast to SD in the next couple of months, and I'd ruled out North Park (neighborhoods of old, historical homes in general) because they all seem to have only 1/1 and 2/1 homes. That's true in most cities, unfortunately. I love old, established, historical neighborhoods and homes, but we won't settle for only one bathroom, and if we can't get a two-car garage, we at least want our second vehicle parked next to our home. The burbs are boring, and we don't have to worry about schools for the kiddies anymore, but as freeing as that is finally (yay!), we're too used to space, garages, and bathrooms to live squashed without amenities like parking and a second bathroom. So many of the fun neighborhoods require being squashed, though. It's a bummer.

[pgrdr]

Originally Posted by someguy10

I think a single person making $50K has it harder than implied.

Income & Housing
$50K Gross
$300K residence w/ 20% down -- roughly $1,450 /mo before HOA/mello roos
1% maintenance ($3K/year)
Renting for $1,200/mo up until purchase

Budget Assumptions based on (BLS stats - CONSUMER EXPENDITURES--2014), divided in half to approximate moving from CU to single

Utilities/House $304
Food $282
Apparel & Services $74
Transportation $378
Healthcare $179
Entertainment $114

Total $1,331

Calculations
$3,000/mo take home (after Fed+FICA+MC+State+SDI)

20% down payment: 60,000/(3000-1200-1331) = 127 months = 10.7 years to save for down payment

After purchase
+3000/mo take home
-1450/mo mortgage (PITI)
-250/mo maintenance
-1331/mo monthly budget

So this person is $31/mo in the hole before factoring in HOA/Mello Roos, personal insurance, retirement savings, and any larger one-off type items (i.e. major repairs, furniture, vacation, etc). They would also need to save for an additional three years prior to purchasing in order to have an emergency fund of 6 months of expenses.

Dropping purchase price to $200K removes around $500/mo in housing expense which is at the very borderline edge of "making it" in my book.

I agree with you.

Unfortunately, our nation is teeming with people who don't even make that much, despite working full-time, and they receive no benefits like healthcare and sick-days. I don't know how they survive, but I do know from the studies done that they and those making more than they are, are miserable and stressed every day because they live on the edge and they ultimately pay more for almost everything just because they earn less. Makes me sad.

[pgrdr]

Originally Posted by skyegirl

Oh, please. Don't be such a Debbie Downer. If that were actually the case, proper homes in neighborhoods like Hillcrest wouldn't cost 800K. Carlsbad? Yes, it's very nice if you like being 40 minutes from downtown San Diego. If you have no children or are retired, most folks want to be around the action, at least I do! I suppose if action to you consists of going to the mall and having dinner at The Olive Garden, then yes, Carlsbad is for you. I'm glad you found your Utopia in Phoenix, definitely no illegals there.

I lived in the Phoenix Valley for three years and couldn't wait to get out of that hellhole. The government corruption, urban sprawl, uncontrolled development, racism, energy wastefulness during a 15 year-to-date at that time drought, and lack of consumer protection ruined a place with great weather that could be really nice.

Oh, and during that three years, our home almost doubled in value, which should not be possible. We sold our home and left AZ literally a few days before the entire real estate market there crashed and created the worst housing crash crisis in the country. But it wasn't the first time unregulated greed ruined residents of the valley and state financially, and it won't be the last. In fact, there was another financial scandal soon after we left that resulted in lost (stolen) retirement monies and savings for numerous people, plus a large building project in Tempe was stopped cold in the middle of it due to the sudden missing funds. There will be more...

[pgrdr]

Originally Posted by nightlysparrow

And it's not just SD. It's state law that HOA fees can go up by 20%. EVERY year! Maybe not likely, but possible under law.

How Often Can They Raise Condo Association Fees? | Home Guides | SF Gate
Assessment Limitation

Who decides when HOAs go up and by how much? Aren't owners/residents voting members who make those decisions? Or does someone else have that authority?

[pgrdr]

Originally Posted by phinneas j. whoopee

I will try to tone down the partisanship here but it has to be said:

The topical relevance of all this is that we would blame the suits in Wall Street for their corruption and causing our bad economy, but they are a symptom, not the cause.Wall St used to drive our economy, created it. Because of Clintons collusion with China, they are now but another of the vultures feeding off the remnants of America. The last of which that is solid, being real estate.

And I say all this not from an office of an investment banker in the golden triangle, defending Wall St bankers. Obviously I don't know the lingo of an economist. I've been sleeping in a 20 year old SUV for almost 2 years now since my rental duplex in OB was demolished to make way for a mcmansion.

Looking back, I regret economic decisions the Clinton administration made, and it is true that that "balanced budget with a surplus left over" was really just on paper and not sustainable given what the banks and Wall Street were doing and then escalated whole-hog under the Bush administration.

The reality, is, the Bush administration let them get away with even more, appointed anti-government people to head federal agencies, and slashed consumer protection, all of which plunged us further into the economic abyss. The banks, credit card companies, and the insurance industry are still running roughshod over us because reforms are too weak and full of holes as a result of those industries essentially owning our federal government. They weaken every effort at reform.

The other reality is, Clinton made those changes because his advisors from Wall Street convinced him they were smart moves. Clinton was president, but he was following the advice of his Wall Street advisors, so it was actually Wall Street behind the weakening of reforms that had been passed to prevent another economic crash like we'd suffered during The Great Depression. Wall Street was also behind the move to overseas manufacturing, the transfer of jobs to overseas call-centers, and the importation of skilled and educated workers from overseas instead of training Americans for those jobs like corporations and industries used to do, and ultimately Wall Street has been behind the looking the other way as giant agribusinesses and service industry businesses hire illegal immigrants in order to keep the wages low for Americans and legal immigrants.

Wall Street was driving our economy then and it is driving it now, because unfortunately, during his first term, President Obama used the same advisors who'd worked for President Clinton and did not discover until his first term was close to being over that they'd not been "serving the president" but were still serving themselves, and therefore, they'd not worked to make the changes he'd instructed them to make. He'd lost the momentum he had when he took office so any reforms he wanted have been that much harder to get and they've been watered down when he did get any.

Big money, driven by Wall Street (it isn't "corporate America" anymore, but a relatively small collection of international conglomerates) is the enemy of the people because it is behind the massive transfer of wealth from the many to the few that has decimated our middle-class.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by pgrdr

A few weeks ago I read a Real Estate article that said only 28% of San Diego County residents can afford a median-priced home in San Diego County.

We're racing dowhnill toward the extremes of the haves and have-nots.

Before I struggle I'll punch out and move someplace affordable. I don't know why people work a bunch of jobs, have no time off, just to say they live here.

[mixxalot]

Well at least my rent did not go up when I renewed my lease for another year. Still waaay less expensive to rent than own in Point Loma. My buddy pays 2-3k to own a big townhouse way out in Santee. He never goes to the beach and all that he does is work to pay for his mortgage. Very sad way to live. I'd rather be walking distance to the beach and close to the action downtown. And have more cash in my pocket.

Of course realtards will always cheerlead that real estate only goes up. Will see once Fed raises interest rates in the future.

[Cardiff Kook]

Originally Posted by mixxalot

realtards

Never head that term before. Anyways, there are more benefits to owning than just price appreciation. However, if you look at historical trends real estate in this region always bounces back after a dip occurs. So while prices may dip temporarily, they always come back higher and stronger than before (at least in coastal areas such as Point Loma). This isn't speculation...history tells us this story is true. Moral of the story being, if you buy and hold for the long term you are going to come out ahead..

[pilotjoe]

Originally Posted by mixxalot

Well at least my rent did not go up when I renewed my lease for another year. Still waaay less expensive to rent than own in Point Loma. My buddy pays 2-3k to own a big townhouse way out in Santee. He never goes to the beach and all that he does is work to pay for his mortgage. Very sad way to live. I'd rather be walking distance to the beach and close to the action downtown. And have more cash in my pocket.

Of course realtards will always cheerlead that real estate only goes up. Will see once Fed raises interest rates in the future.

Well I do appreciate your points and agree it's a shame to waste your life just working away to survive and not enjoying life. However I too lived inland SD for many years when I was a young Navy Lt. We bought a house and supported a mortgage foregoing the beach and fine dining for many years. My friends rented in PB and OB and partied often enjoying there time. Now after many years I cashed in my inland home and a couple rentals I picked up along the way and I now live "at the beach" in my own home in Coronado. Some of my friends have moved away and live in Pheonix and Texas. I guess it's a delicate balance of living frugally early but trading it in later for a better life, or living it up early with not too much to show later. Problem for some is they never give up the frugality and miss the good life. Too each his own.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by pilotjoe

Well I do appreciate your points and agree it's a shame to waste your life just working away to survive and not enjoying life. However I too lived inland SD for many years when I was a young Navy Lt. We bought a house and supported a mortgage foregoing the beach and fine dining for many years. My friends rented in PB and OB and partied often enjoying there time. Now after many years I cashed in my inland home and a couple rentals I picked up along the way and I now live "at the beach" in my own home in Coronado. Some of my friends have moved away and live in Pheonix and Texas. I guess it's a delicate balance of living frugally early but trading it in later for a better life, or living it up early with not too much to show later. Problem for some is they never give up the frugality and miss the good life. Too each his own.

You got it.

We used to live in a society that valued saving and planning for the future. Now it is "I want it now". Does not work out very well in the long term.

For those who like being frugal, well .............. at least they are used to what their future will be.