San Diego Housing Market News and Analysis

I speak from experience. I lived in low income housing as a college student. It sucked. I'll speak to the disadvantages:

Your low income neighbors:
1. are more likely to steal from you/other neighbors
2. are less likely to maintain their property
3. will probably cram 2 people per bedroom, and 3 in the living room
4. will constantly invite their shady friends over ( this is usually what leads to the theft and property damage )

Low-income is deed restricted so you can't resell at market price, so there's no price appreciation to make it worth the ownership premium.

It's the same as renting in my opinion.

If you look at Smart Corner, downtown, or La Boheme in North Park, or the income restricted housing in 4S/Del Sur, those income-qualified homeowners are going underwater. They can't sell so they are pretty much stuck. But since they were credit-qualified better than the market rate buyers, they are not defaulting en masse.

It looks like income-restricted housing in San Diego is going into foreclosure at a much lower rate than the market-rate housing. Would be interesting to do a comparison of the proportions.

These 2 comments are Bullshit. In San Diego the low and moderate income programs can be great depending on where you look. You can get a 400K place in Carmel valley at a fixed monthly payment of 1000 dollars or less. Take Airoso in Carmel Valley for instance. They have a low income component. Neighbors paid 600 plus for their place.

Are you going to experience appreciation. NO. The point of these programs are to provide you a place to live, build your credit, save money, then move on and make way for the next family.

Thanks for your input. My sister will try to qualified and will attend a HUD first time buyer session tomorrow which is required for the buying process.

I think housing appreciation won't be like the early 2000s any time soon so there is not much concern about profitting. As long as my sister can get an affordable place it is great.

This program is in a very nice city with good schools. The homes are 1300-1500 sqf.

one more question, my sister is single right now and her income meets the qualification. However, she plans to get married next year and her fiancee has high income. Will this affects anything once she bought the house?

I have a friend who purchased a low income unit in the Santaluz area and really likes it. I visit pretty frequently and it seems that the neighbors have not been a problem. She is now married and would not qualify either jointly or with her income as it has gone up.

With the low amount they are paying (less than 1k 2bdrm 2bath), they are able to save up for their future house. It has worked for them. Note, I am not advocating that this program is good for the housing market, but have seen people take advantage of it.

It depends how soon you plan to move. But isn't that what renting is all about?

You still have to pay transactions costs when you sell. So if appreciation is not in the cards, that will mean money out of pocket, if you sell too soon.

You cannot rent out the house for income.

Transaction costs are a consideration. So is the interest rate. Monthly payments are based upon income, as interest rates go up the value of the place actually can go down. But if you are following the intent of the program and can see yourself living there for 5+ years or more it is a great dea for a young family looking to build credit and save up money for a future home purchase.
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The moderate income requirement for 1 person is $42K to $63K. My sister's base salary is $52K, however because of overtime, last year her total pay was $65K. Can my sister uses her base salary to qualify? Obviously there is no overtime this year so her take home pay will be her base salary.