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Getting back to buying a home, one issue that you need to be aware of is that there is a TON of competition for any home priced under $500K these days. I have a family member who just put in two bids on homes in the $400K to $450K price range. One was in Lemon Grove, ended up with 10 offers, and sold for $25K over the list price. The other was in Santee, and received 30 offers. That one ended up selling for $32K over list price to someone who paid all cash and waived the inspection (in other words, probably a flipper).
In a lot of cases, buyers will opt for a seller who is putting down a larger down payment or who is fully pre-approved for a mortgage (or who can pay all cash or is willing to waive inspection). And, it is easy as a buyer to get caught up in the frenzy of a bidding war and end up over-paying for the local market.
So, if you want to house hunt in this price range, here are important things to do:
1. Get pre-approved for a mortgage
2. Get as much of a down payment together as you possibly can so you have some flexibility with bidding
3. Find an experienced realtor who knows the areas where you plan to look and who can give you realistic advice about what to bid, and when to let homes go in a bidding war. It is also really important to work with someone who knows the local area well.
For instance, El Cajon has some decent areas, but also some areas that look nice enough on first glance but which have issues with crime, the homeless, and schools and are therefore probably not good bets for appreciation. An experienced realtor will be able to help you discern the differences. (Frankly, I'd worry more about whether you'll be able to get your money back and/or make a profit if you decide to sell in a couple of year than rattlesnakes!)
4. Know how much of a "fixer upper" is realistic for you. Most of the homes in your price range will probably need some updating. How much can you do yourself? How much will it cost to do yourself? Some may need much more than updating; they may have deeper issues that will be expensive to fix. A good realtor can help you spot *some* things (like a leaky roof) but in the end, you'll also need to be ready to walk away if the home inspection prior to sale turns up major things that will put you over your budget.
5. Trulia.com and crimemapping.com can give you recent crime data for the area surrounding specific addresses. It's not a bad idea to run your current address on crimemapping.com (set the default to six months) to get a baseline for comparison. Think seriously about whether you would be OK with buying a home in an area with higher crime. Some people are OK with that, some aren't. Crime levels WILL affect your resale value down the road, so it is something to think about beyond just how safe you feel living there.
6. Be ready to move fast when you see a house you like. Do your research on what homes are SELLING for (not just being listed for) in the areas you are considering so you get a sense of what you may have to actually pay once you start putting bids in.
Both Zillow and Trulia allow you to do a history search for what homes actually sold for in different parts of the county over the last six months. Do that in addition to looking at current list prices because it will help you get a sense of which markets are "hot" and which ones aren't. That will also help you put in realistic bids for the specific area/market.
7. Be patient. You'll find the home that works for you eventually!
What Rosie says is all true. Of course, there are good deals to be had out there. My current slumlord bought two houses on the same property for $415,000. The two bedroom house has been occupied for eight years, and I'm in the fixer upper that didn't get fixed up.
La Mesa recently raised the number to 5 from 2, but La Mesa's municipal code is pretty strict about noise control, including barking dogs, so that is another factor to read up on for the different cities and areas.
This
There was a couple renting near me a while back. They had a dog that would not shut up( I was at work most of the day and could not hear it)
Most of the retires could not stand the dogs barking and call La Mesa PD Daily. LMPD gave the homeowners 3 choices
Move, Remove the dog or be fined for every occurrence that LMPD has to come out to investage.
Sadly the moved, they were the only family with kids my kids age.
Rattlesnakes can be -- and are -- found anywhere in San Diego County. One of the biggest rattlers I've ever seen I saw on Sunset Cliffs in Point Loma!
Because they can be found anywhere in the county, all dogs in SD really should be given the annual rattlesnake vaccine, unless they never ever go outside.
There are also rattlesnake avoidance classes that you can take with your dogs to teach them what to be afraid of.
However, even in more rural areas of the county (and I don't consider La Mesa or El Cajon to be "rural"), it is not exactly like you are going to be tripping over rattlesnakes every day. And rattlesnakes don't hunt people or dogs. They prefer to AVOID you and your dogs if they can.
(Coyotes too can be found everywhere. I saw a coyote two blocks from Adams Avenue in Normal Heights a few years back, just walking down the sidewalk like it was no one's business. With Coyotes, the key to keeping your animals safe is bringing the dogs in at night, keeping their pet food bowls inside, good fencing, etc.)
Since you have multiple dogs, be sure to research restrictions on the number of dogs different cities allow.
In incorporated cities (i.e. La Mesa, El Cajon, Lemon Grove, National City, etc.) make sure to verify the number of animals the city municipal code allows.
La Mesa recently raised the number to 5 from 2, but La Mesa's municipal code is pretty strict about noise control, including barking dogs, so that is another factor to read up on for the different cities and areas.
I'm not sure about the other cities, but a quick google search of their city municipal codes should find you the answers.
Unincorporated parts of the county can be good options if you have dogs, especially some of the more semi-rural areas, since there aren't as many restrictions on the number of animals you can have in a residence and if you have a bit more space between homes, neighbors may be less likely to complain about barking noise.
Thank you! And yes, I've seen rattlers and coyotes even in North Park and Golden Hill, so I know we have to be careful everywhere. I would never leave my little ones outside in a yard alone, but good point on safety tips.
Also, great point on being aware of number of dogs allowed in each area. I know San Diego proper allows 6, which is why I was hoping to stay in an SD zip code. My dogs do enjoy a good barking session during play time with one another, so that's a good point about noise control, as well. Thank you!
My neighbor that lives behind me has five dogs, two big dogs, two medium sized dogs, and a puppy. They don't bark all the time, but they're great watchdogs. They bark once in a while, but if someone that they don't know walks down the street, they get ballistic.
This
There was a couple renting near me a while back. They had a dog that would not shut up( I was at work most of the day and could not hear it)
Most of the retires could not stand the dogs barking and call La Mesa PD Daily. LMPD gave the homeowners 3 choices
Move, Remove the dog or be fined for every occurrence that LMPD has to come out to investage.
Sadly the moved, they were the only family with kids my kids age.
That's sad that they ended up having to move (but at least they didn't dump their dog)
I wanted to add one more thing that my relative has found in looking at homes in the 400-450K price range that probably also applies to below 400K.
My relative has found that some homes have unpermitted additions. A patio was enclosed and turned into a family room, or a garage was turned into an extra bedroom or a "studio apartment". Sounds great as you get "extra" square footage but what my relative has discovered is that it can be very tricky to get through escrow and get a mortgage approved on those homes with unpermitted additions. And, there is a chance when you buy a home with an unpermitted addition that it will trigger the local city to fine the owner (who is now you) for back taxes that they should have paid after the addition was added.
You can generally tell when something is unpermitted because it will not show in the square footage of the listing, but in at least one case, the unpermitted addition was included on the square footage of the listing. Luckily, their realtor caught that right away and they didn't end up putting a bid in on that house.
For some reason, this issue of unpermitted additions seems more prevalent in that lower price point. I'm not sure why that would be -- perhaps if you can't afford to move, you just add on and hope no one notices?
In any case, it's another thing to watch out for when you begin shopping for homes.
Thanks for all the advice everyone! $400k is my max because it’s the max mortgage I can afford. Also, the reason I’ve ruled out condos is because most HOAs have a two dog limit, and I’m well over that. As much as I’d love to move to a cheaper city/state, I have a great job here that it took me a long time to get and I don’t want to give up on it :-)
I’ve started looking in La Mesa and Lemon Grove as well. I have concerns about “wild life” (coyotes, snakes, spiders) in those areas, mostly because of the dogs and also because I’m paranoid :-D will start browsing there more heavily!
You may have to bite the bullet on this one.
I know you don't want a condo but that may be your only way in. That's how I got to where I'm at
I bought a 2 bed condo in El Cajon for cheap. I lived in it for 8 years till I had enough equity to purchase a single family home.
Crawl before you walk
Ps: As far as the dogs go What the HOA don't know won't hurt them, walk the dogs on different schedules.
I wanted to add one more thing that my relative has found in looking at homes in the 400-450K price range that probably also applies to below 400K.
My relative has found that some homes have unpermitted additions. A patio was enclosed and turned into a family room, or a garage was turned into an extra bedroom or a "studio apartment". Sounds great as you get "extra" square footage but what my relative has discovered is that it can be very tricky to get through escrow and get a mortgage approved on those homes with unpermitted additions. And, there is a chance when you buy a home with an unpermitted addition that it will trigger the local city to fine the owner (who is now you) for back taxes that they should have paid after the addition was added.
You can generally tell when something is unpermitted because it will not show in the square footage of the listing, but in at least one case, the unpermitted addition was included on the square footage of the listing. Luckily, their realtor caught that right away and they didn't end up putting a bid in on that house.
For some reason, this issue of unpermitted additions seems more prevalent in that lower price point. I'm not sure why that would be -- perhaps if you can't afford to move, you just add on and hope no one notices?
In any case, it's another thing to watch out for when you begin shopping for homes.
This has already come up multiple times in my search! The homes with unpermitted additions end up being cheaper because they aren't allowed to incorporate the value of the additions into the cost of the home. I am avoiding them like crazy because if I can't afford more than $400k for a house, I definitely can't afford someone else's fines/back taxes haha Thank you!
You may have to bite the bullet on this one.
I know you don't want a condo but that may be your only way in. That's how I got to where I'm at
I bought a 2 bed condo in El Cajon for cheap. I lived in it for 8 years till I had enough equity to purchase a single family home.
Crawl before you walk
Ps: As far as the dogs go What the HOA don't know won't hurt them, walk the dogs on different schedules.
There's always that ONE neighbor who wants to ruin your life, though, and reports you for being over your limits. And then what? Sigh. I've asked my realtor if there are any "cool" HOAs in the area and there appear to be done
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