Goodbye Imperial Beach (Laguna, Laguna Beach: homes, neighborhoods, luxury)

[The Flying Dutchman]

Cue tears.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by expatCA

It is called Change. It will always occur. Politics and other social concepts will not change that. Look at Newport Beach 150 years ago. What happened? People moved there, had kids, military men and women came through and enjoyed the area and moved here, retirees decided they liked it here and moved to the area. This is normal. No desirable place ever stays the same. No law can address it. It is the way life goes. many will try to blame it on a political party, a social view and such. It is just the way life goes in areas people want to live and the population grows. Remember they make more babies, but not land. IB will be a target as has every other coastal city and it will keep changing away from a working class area. How do you pass a law that stops someone from selling their house for a profit to someone who offers a lot of money to them? You can't do that. I wish I could buy a house a friend did in the 60's in Newport Beach. $50,000.00 and on the beach. You do not want to know what it is worth now.

And blocking all development also hurts the working class. Homes in California are expensive precisely because tons of red tape make it very hard to build new housing, so home prices and rents have skyrocketed as a result. Who does that hurt the most? The poor and the middle class.

[rosebud49]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

And blocking all development also hurts the working class. Homes in California are expensive precisely because tons of red tape make it very hard to build new housing, so home prices and rents have skyrocketed as a result. Who does that hurt the most? The poor and the middle class.

They can move to AZ

The harder you work the funner you have

[newgensandiego]

Originally Posted by sdlife619

Yes it is, Greed rules at the end the day. Honesty, care for one another's well being, and the moral human nature to help others, all goes out the window as a developer. These people are the worst, they're the most selfish, cold hearted, cold blooded people you can ever imagine. Their greed blinds them, and they are destroying small quaint communities like IB, and forcing longtime residents to move out of their homes and businesses that have been their for generations. What is crazy to me, is just in the last 5-7 years, housing prices, rents and gentrification all across CA, and the nation, has taken off at an insane rate of speed.

I think you mean landlords...

These communities have thousands of existing units and new development pales in comparison. Ultimately, the problem is landlords increasing their rent or selling out to developers. Shameless people who do nothing to improve their property, but will gladly increase prices or evict tenants for additional $. Now that is greed.

Why didn't all this gentrification and rapid turnover of old apartment buildings that are being turned into some wannabe luxury condo conversions happen 20 years ago? Or even back in the 90's? Why now and especially the last 5 years? It's not just old apartments, but houses and commercial real estate too.

Population is still growing and the remaining swaths of open land are being developed (Carmel Valley and Otay Ranch). All the easily developable area has been developed.

It's just odd how fast all this change is occurring. L.A. is going through this exact same thing, and SF has had it rough in recent years with their insane housing prices increases.

Literally the same reason as above. Any easily developed land on the fringe of these regions have insane commutes that are unbearable. More people would rather live in a townhome or multi-family unit closer to jobs than a SFH in Hemet or Tracy.

[newgensandiego]

Originally Posted by RosieSD

I strongly suspect this is the case with IB. If you look at sales close to the beach for the last year, you'll notice that many of them were immediately turned into rental properties, which suggests they're being bought by absentee investors, not people who plan to move in themselves. Prices along Seacoast drive have gone through the roof -- last year at this time, you could still buy a condo on the sand for under $500,000. Today, you're looking at $800,000 and up and there isn't much inventory in the beach area even in that price range. Lots of million dollar homes for sale in IB on and near the beach.

This is absolute BS. We desperately need to regulate these short-term rentals or risk having our beach communities turn into a Venice or Barcelona situation in which no locals can live within a mile of the beach. Absolutely ridiculous. The "benefits" and economic impact of tourism are absolutely not worth it.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Originally Posted by RosieSD

Don't worry. Eventually, they will all move to Portland, Oregon.

Hey, where did you go?

[malcorub16]

^^ I remember she chimed in a couple months back on the congressional 50th district thread but she said it was just a cameo, she is a gem and is missed.

Originally Posted by newgensandiego

This is absolute BS. We desperately need to regulate these short-term rentals or risk having our beach communities turn into a Venice or Barcelona situation in which no locals can live within a mile of the beach. Absolutely ridiculous. The "benefits" and economic impact of tourism are absolutely not worth it.

For now, CoronaVirus is doing a good job of regulating AirBNBs and other STR's especially with the investors/gamblers that mortgaged several properties to turn into STR's.

[eastcoastbias]

Originally Posted by newgensandiego

I think you mean landlords...

These communities have thousands of existing units and new development pales in comparison. Ultimately, the problem is landlords increasing their rent or selling out to developers. Shameless people who do nothing to improve their property, but will gladly increase prices or evict tenants for additional $. Now that is greed.


Population is still growing and the remaining swaths of open land are being developed (Carmel Valley and Otay Ranch). All the easily developable area has been developed.


Literally the same reason as above. Any easily developed land on the fringe of these regions have insane commutes that are unbearable. More people would rather live in a townhome or multi-family unit closer to jobs than a SFH in Hemet or Tracy.

How dare the Landlords raise rent when the COL is increasing, the economy is doing well and people are making a better living!!!!

Some people buy gold, some buy stock, some go ETFs, some have a pension and some buy real estate as an investment. If you aren’t making the initial investment in any of these why is It “greedy” for someone fronting the money to expect a return on investment.

Having said that I hate when Landlords buy and don’t make an effort or expense out the maintenance portion of keeping a sound investment. The neighborhood shouldn’t suffer because of your neglect.

[newgensandiego]

Originally Posted by eastcoastbias

How dare the Landlords raise rent when the COL is increasing, the economy is doing well and people are making a better living!!!!

I think my larger point is that developers are not any more evil than landlords.

Some people buy gold, some buy stock, some go ETFs, some have a pension and some buy real estate as an investment. If you aren’t making the initial investment in any of these why is It “greedy” for someone fronting the money to expect a return on investment.

Morally, I don't think housing-a basic human necessity- should be a quasi-regulated market of winners and losers. First and foremost, housing should be focused on housing people. Secondly, a focus on helping households gain wealth through equity. Thirdly, and the lowest priority, it should be an instrument for investment or income.

Was that not the goal of postwar federal housing policies? It's sad how far away we've gotten from that...

Housing simply should not be a market akin to stock trading. Did we not learn that from the last housing-induced recession? When are we going to get back to focusing on housing people?

Having said that I hate when Landlords buy and don’t make an effort or expense out the maintenance portion of keeping a sound investment. The neighborhood shouldn’t suffer because of your neglect.

San Diego's housing inventory is abysmal and outdated compared to many other major metros. Also, we can thank Prop 13 for disincentivizing improvements to rental units and our housing inventory (which should be disqualified to begin with). Major improvements or redevelopment (within highly restrictive zoning) result in marginal additional return given the increase in assessed value & property taxes. That's just based on my experience running the numbers!

[eastcoastbias]

Originally Posted by newgensandiego

Morally, I don't think housing-a basic human necessity- should be a quasi-regulated market of winners and losers. First and foremost, housing should be focused on housing people. Secondly, a focus on helping households gain wealth through equity. Thirdly, and the lowest priority, it should be an instrument for investment or income.

Was that not the goal of postwar federal housing policies? It's sad how far away we've gotten from that...

Housing simply should not be a market akin to stock trading. Did we not learn that from the last housing-induced recession? When are we going to get back to focusing on housing people?

1. "focused on housing people" The Gov. subsidizes housing and there is rental assistance going on all over this County. The argument that some are not taken care of is blatantly false when you consider generally the lack of overall affordable housing for EVERYONE in SD County. Right now the push is housing/sheltering everyone. We have tent structures downtown and we are temporarily using the Convention Center for Shelter in this COVID Time.


I think there will be some wonderful Commercial space conversion into housing opportunities after this COVID pandemic. There will be less commercial space required given this new idea of limiting people in office spaces. These vacancies will be prime for turning into housing if allowed.


2. "helping households gain wealth" Isn't that what most long terms SD resident do? They decide to stay they finally buy the condo they realize equity in their condo, enter a family they buy a larger home and they may even upgrade their home as a result of some equity and then further down the road they may ultimately leave and retire in another locale with larger home or a more appealing space based on their equity over the years here. This is fairly common here and even other places.


3. "instrument for investment". It is retirement fund for some. Many savvy investors will tell you its one of the best tools. Its a pain in the neck for others and they move toward 401K setups or maybe they have a pension.


Lastly, There were many factor at play with the last housing recession one of the large factors were creative applications process (NINJA) and lax lending disclosures. There were lots of families biting off more than they could chew because everyone believed they could own a home and were told they could and lending allowed it- we've since learned the owning a home requires financial stability.