I’m not a big fan of 4S Ranch but the area is great. The inventory levels are horrible so I agree with you there. What price range are you looking at?

Carmel Valley (92130) is going to be more expensive vs. 4S Ranch and some of the communities are really horrible with almost no lots at all or houses so close all your neighbors can see inside of your house (think Pacific Highlands Ranch).

I’m really glad I bought when I did in mid 2011 as the inventory is really horrible now.

What price point are you looking at?

I actually live in 4S Ranch, in the Talavera by Davidson area that you mention. We moved here last April and love it. I think you get a lot for your money in this area. 9 years old, ~3800-4100 sq feet for ~$800-900K, with generally very nice hardscape and landscaping. The only thing I would change is that I would like more little kids to move in… I have very young kids, but the majority of the kids are middle school/HS age (probably because this section was built in 2003). My little ones need some future playmates!

We have a great view of Black Mountain, but I am envious of those on the canyon rim. I think there is only one Talavera home for sale at present, at least according to zillow. But maybe if you keep your eyes and ears open, something else will open up?

Are you trying to do a private sale to avoid realtor fees?

[quote=flu]Please buy in 4s. So there’s no additional demand in CarmelV….

Don’t live in CarmelV and don’t live in Mira Mesa. Both places are not worth the price.[/quote]
Especially the West side of both Carmel Valley and Mira Mesa. Both are way over priced now.

[quote=asegal]sort of out of options… I agree with you about CV but a gem pops up once in a while. It’s definitely been a while since I’ve seen one and they are usually significantly pricier. 92127 corridor is full of mello-roos ranging from a few hundred to well over $1K p/month. That’s another $100K borrowing power for buyers. I’ve seen nice homes sell in the mid-800s to low 900s so I’m open to consideration there in low mello areas. You definitely caught the sweet spot in 2011. Sellers are pricing too aggressively right now charged by early signs of recovery and low inventory. If things don’t shape up, I’ll have to get comfortable renting. :)[/quote]

Yeah. I agree there are some gems sometimes but they seem to go very quickly. Yep, 92127 is full of Mello Roos taxes. I pre-paid both Mello Roos taxes last year so it’s good to be done with them. Paid off both the Poway USD and Santaluz CDF’s and it was a good feeling to pay them off.

I agree 2011 was a good time to buy. Inventory wasn’t so hot but at least there were several options to choose from. That’s far from the case today.

I haven’t seen all of the developments over in 4S Ranch as I haven’t looked since 2011 but definitely Davidson makes some great houses. Our house is a Davidson and I’m really happy with the quality minus a few very small things.

For example, I was really surprised when we bought that they didn’t put ceiling lights in all the bedrooms. You’d think on semi-custom homes they would have done that but it sounds like here in California that is more common here. So we put in ceiling lights in all the rooms. It wasn’t a big deal on the 2nd floor but I didn’t realize putting in ceiling lights required so much work on bottom floor levels.

Also, the toilets throughout the house were “contractor specials” type toilets. Very low end. I ended up changing out all 5 toilets for Toto higher end toilets.

All in all I’m really happy and I’m thrilled with the house and the area is great as well. What I like is you’re far enough inland to get the great sunny weather but avoid the higher temperatures of Poway and that area.

Sometimes when I leave the house and visit my friends in Poway the car registered a full 12 degrees more. And sometimes when it’s bright blue skies and sunny I’ll take the 10 minute car ride to Del Mar and it will be cloudy.

asegal, did you check out the Maricel development properties at all? I drive by there all the time. I’m not sure of price points but Davidson is the builder on them I believe. I think it’s still 92130 there. I thought I saw signs that said from the $700s?

asegal,

Ah ok.I’m glad you checked out Maricel. I was curious about them. I didn’t know it was a gated community.

I’m not sure what your maximum budget is but did you check out any homes in Santaluz? I’m not sure what is/isn’t on the market but I noticed this one just got an offer but it was on the market for a few months. It will be interesting to see what it sold for.

http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Diego/14418-Caminito-Lazanja-92127/home/6462575

The guy bought it near the top of the bubble back in October 2007 so I’m curious to see what it sells for.

Santaluz is great if you have kids. And some of the houses we looked at were highly upgraded. I’m not sure what is on the market there but it would be worth checking out. The community is AWESOME to live in if you have kids. We absolutely love it here. (I’ll send you a PM).

Also, there are some nice houses in Verrazzano as well. It’s not gated there but it’s really nice and great parks there if you have kids. HOA fees I believe are lower there since it’s not gated.

The prices going up I think is just from lack of inventory. There isn’t anything too special on the market now. It was kind of tight back in 2011 but NOTHING like now. We are so glad we bought when we did.

[quote=cvmom]I would say the only reason to buy in CV over other areas is the quality of the public schools. I can’t speak for the elementary schools but I am very impressed with the middle and high schools. There are a lot of very academically-focused students, which has its plusses and minuses, but I think it is mostly plusses.

As soon as our kids are out of school, we plan to move out of CV. Not huge fans of soulless suburbia…but we think it has been the right choice to raise our kids.[/quote]

I agree cvmom. I think the main reason why many families buy in that area are the wonderful schools in the area. That’s what got us even looking in that area is the school system.

The weather is pretty darn good as well plus you are just minutes from the beaches in Del Mar. That is a big plus as well.

Was wondering about this…Would it be “better” / “easier” to get to a top university/school if everyone in your high school isn’t as TOP/Overachieving?

Like I would assume if everyone from the top CV high school applies to say Stanford, they aren’t going to take a ton of people from the same school right?

Course, it doesn’t mean they’ll take someone from the lower high school neither, but I’m assuming the admissions will start getting glassed eyed after reading about the 7th Nguyen student from the same CV school and why they should be admitted…