I thought real estate was expensive in San Diego? (London: apartments, condos)

[TheDeltaOrionis]

Hello,
I don't live in California, I'm from Europe, but I always read that housing is eye-watering expensive there, especially on this forum.

Well, the thing is I was browsing for some real estate on Trulia in San Diego - just for fun - and found a lot of reasonably priced (~100K to 150K) and perfectly livable 1 or 2 bed condos.
Is there any catch with those? Something I am missing? Are those scams?

It seems rather low for a city like San Diego.

For a comparison, a similar apartment in London - EU, UK would cost five times more, and they don't even look that nice! People are forking way more there for shoebox-style apartments.

In Rome, where I currently reside - a city that doesn't offer anything in terms of job prospects to its residents and surely doesn't have the good climate of SD - the average price for similar apartments in my neighborhood is about twice as much.

So what's the deal with California being considered expensive?

[aramax666]

Compared to a older / denser metros CA is relatively cheaper. Forget Europe, the Bay area is cheaper than Mumbai.
The point of the lance when it comes to real estate in CA is the Bay area NOT san diego. There the issue are rapidly rising home prices. Its that rate of growth that is alarming everyone. In time, it would have become the norm. London has not experienced double digit growth across the board like the bay are has.

The other part of your puzzle is the entitlement or legacy of the american working class living in big houses. Which is coming to a crashing halt in the bay area.

SO in short, yes, its not nearly as expensive as the bigger metros across the world. But the growth rate is staggering, causing CHANGES for lots of people.

[sschibuola]

Well . . it's certainly expensive relative to the rest of the US, which is most posters' frame of reference. Remember, in probably 85% of the US (by geography if not population) $150k will still get you a very nice 3 bedroom detached home - or more.

But even so . . I just ran your search on Redfin and for less than $150k I found only 8 places, all less than 1,000sf, all in pretty undesirable neighborhoods . . .bad schools, at least petty crime, downscale shops in the neighborhood . . .not what most people associate with "San Diego"

[NYSD1995]

Post the addresses of these 100k condos and we'll tell you why they're so cheap. US is going to be cheaper than a major European city simply because US is a bigger country and US cities are bigger with more people and more houses. US is also generally more growth-oriented and builds out to accomodate it's population (see SF Bay area for what happens when that cycle stops). For context,the population of Rome at about 3.5MM people puts it at #1 for Italy but #20 for the US.

[TheDeltaOrionis]

Thank you for all your great explanations.

For example there's a cute, albeit small, condo for only 100K in the zip 92105, and a very nice 2 bedroom one in a gated community in the zip code 92113 for 150K.

But from what I understand San Diego is very safe from violent crime, so housing location is not that much important.

Maybe you can argue that those zipcodes are not very "hip", but when you consider the pros - paradise-like climate, surely a better job market and more well paying jobs than where I currently live in (average net salary of about 1000€ per month for new grads if they're lucky enough to actually find meaningful employment here in Rome, ugh!), only 2h distance from LA, great outdoors opportunities - it doesn't seem too much, especially compared to Europe.

The apartment where I grew up in Rome is currently worth about 400K, about 1000sqf, and it still sucks: very old, kind of decaying, unmodern, practically all to renovate.

I was surprised of what I could buy in SD for a similar price, really modern and gorgeous homes / apartments, there's really no contest!

[StarsNStripes]

Ah, Logan Heights. Enjoy. Not so "safe from violent crime".

[Cardiff Kook]

Originally Posted by StarsNStripes

Ah, Logan Heights. Enjoy. Not so "safe from violent crime".

Probably pales in comparison to the crime found in the ghettos of Rome

[SportyandMisty]

Wait. There's crime in San Diego???

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by TheDeltaOrionis

For example there's a cute, albeit small, condo for only 100K in the zip 92105, and a very nice 2 bedroom one in a gated community in the zip code 92113 for 150K.

But from what I understand San Diego is very safe from violent crime, so housing location is not that much important.

Arguably two of the worst zips in SD, but the exact location will tell the tale. San Diego is very safe for a US city, but gun crime and violence are much more of a part of the US culture than where you live.

[John7777]

Originally Posted by TheDeltaOrionis

Hello,
I don't live in California, I'm from Europe, but I always read that housing is eye-watering expensive there, especially on this forum.

Well, the thing is I was browsing for some real estate on Trulia in San Diego - just for fun - and found a lot of reasonably priced (~100K to 150K) and perfectly livable 1 or 2 bed condos.
Is there any catch with those? Something I am missing? Are those scams?

It seems rather low for a city like San Diego.

For a comparison, a similar apartment in London - EU, UK would cost five times more, and they don't even look that nice! People are forking way more there for shoebox-style apartments.

In Rome, where I currently reside - a city that doesn't offer anything in terms of job prospects to its residents and surely doesn't have the good climate of SD - the average price for similar apartments in my neighborhood is about twice as much.

So what's the deal with California being considered expensive?

The cheaper condos probably aren't in a good area. I've been looking at condos, and to buy a nice one in San Diego seems to cost upwards of $300K. Doable, but hardly "cheap." The same condo in most of the rest of America, outside of California or NYC or DC, could probably be had for $125K. So there's a big mark-up for the San Diego location.