San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

Other than missing the San Diego sunshine how do you like living there?

It's just easy to live here.

Everything is cheaper: $4.05/gal gas, $3/gal milk, big homes in the nicest areas w/ great schools are in the $300k range, & the neighborhood I live in is awesome w/ tree lined streets, every house is different (no tract homes). Our neighborhood feels like an well established suburban area, and yet we drop down the hill 10 minutes & we're in the middle of a clean downtown (where I work). It really is pretty great. But just like everywhere else it has it good & bad. It's like 95% caucasian, so my kids are not exposed to much diversity, and we lose a lot of the culture of the bigger cities. While we have amazing forests & lakes w/ lot of great outdoor activities (boating, skiing, etc), we all still manage to miss the beach at times. But generally speaking, the people seem friendlier, & in just over a year, we've all made a lot more friends than we had back home in SD. We know most of our neighbors here, and there is a great sense of community.

All that said, my wife & I still imagine moving back to SD when the kids are college age (about ten years). San Diego is just a tough act to follow. And with prices still dropping down there as they seem to be, maybe we'll be able to afford a little place by the beach by then. The market up here is slowing a bit. It reminds me of the first bad stage in San Diego. Prices are not dropping, but inventory is taking longer to sell. That was the phase in the SD cycle when I discovered Rich's site. Things didn't spike up as crazy as they did down there, but I still suspect we'll lose a good 10-20% in values in the next few years. Which would suck, but in my opinion, that's what we really need to get people buying again & get this economy moving again. The construction outfits will finally move inventory, the banks will start getting current payments on all those delinquent construction loans & we'll be back to liquidity.

renterclint,

As you can tell by reading this forum, prices continue to fall, but I would not expect them to fall and remain flat for ten years. You should think about some kind of investment here, that would allow you to return in ten years. Maybe some kind of rental that you could sell to buy what you want when you return.

Washington sounds like San Diego did, 50 years ago.

Aecetia,

That really is good idea. We've talked about that a lot. I still think the market there has some correcting to do (I'm thinking at least 2 more years), and I will continue to keep a close eye on things. Hopefully we'll be in a position to invest by then.

In an odd way, Spokane really reminds me of 1970's Poway or even Clairmont. It's sad how over-developed San Diego has become, but I guess you can't have a jewel like that locked up forever.

I keep looking at this place. If it had a 2-car garage and a driveway and just a tad more square footage, I'd consider it.

It does seem a little low for the current market in that area. If it goes for close to that, it tells me we might see newer 3-bdrm condos in areas like Bressi Ranch and San Elijo Hills for $150k in a few years. Wow. Rental heaven, if rates don't go down too much.

Even though I won't be buying it, I love the fact that it will only help push prices further down.

Spokane is such a nice small city, enjoy living there. Plus you have the beautiful Couer d'alene nearby and awesome Idaho skiing. San Diego is beautiful, but I miss the landscape of WA and the fresh smell of cedar. You'll make it back someday. :)

I think this price may be an aberration as there appears to be some type of low-income subsidy in place. The SD Lookup listing says that a qualified buyer must have an income of 44K to be eligible, 50K for 2 people.

http://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-080050561-62...

Even priced at 232K, seems like a heavy financial burden for a person or family at that income level.