Dharmagirl – congratulations on your new home! Always several views/takes on when to buy as evident here at Piggs but for those of us looking for a home & not a house with plans on staying around awhile I think you made a wise choice. I do not view a home as much as an investment as I do a way of life for myself and family. There are other avenues for investments – those that have made a bundle in the housing boom the last ten years would disagree but I think this past year illustrates this point extremely well. One thread noted that this area is in the process of being “financial nuked” … I think most of S. Calf would fit this statement right now, especially in real estate. I agree with the other view too – this is going to be a great place for retirement and family. I will stay in touch and look forward to your input as our search continues.
As you know from my previous strings I have looked considerable on where to end up with my family – with the goal of a home & roots for 14 yrs (until the kids complete highschool). I grew up in the Southwest but have lived in almost every portion of the U.S. for one reason or the other. I quickly narrowed down my search to Ft Collins – CO, Seattle – Wash, Flagstaff/Sedona – AZ, San Luis Obispo – CA (no, I never used a“Best Place to Live List” ) and during the last 24 months have gone back to visit each of these locations for a few weeks. Yes, all of these are extremely different from each other and unique in there own right. But N San Diego & T.V. is where we want to end up.
I am starting to narrow down the specific area of North County to a few and Temecula is on the short list (top six). I see this month that the area west T.V. & I-15 is dropping prices finally. These are too much home/space/$$ for our needs but another indication of the market there in general… 5-10 acre lots with new homes of 4500-7000 sq ft all custom built – when I first starting looking at T.V. these were 2 – 5 M and the price has dropped considerable with several now in the 1.3 M range. If I had to commute down to San Diego, or anywhere else, then T.V. would have never made it on our list. I am confident as we narrow down the community phase of our search to 2-3 places that T.V. will be a locations where we start to look at individual homes. An area in which you can get to a major downtown center in an hr with all the services such as San Diego, to the desert in 1.5, to the ocean in 45 min, and even up to Mammoth for a four day weekend in 5 hrs…. unique in itself with the wine region – – – hard to beat. In my view – no comparison to Vegas or Phoenix and beats these hands down as these were never in our sights to begin with.
Other than T.V. the areas we are looking at are Carlsbad south, Encinitas – Olivenhain, Fallbrook & Del Luz. Piggs is an incredible resource as several comments have been taken to heart and help clarify our search with some responses definite eye-openers:
Q:Where is the best school district & place to raise kids in N San Diego ?
-A: in your home (loved this response)
Q: Private vs. Public school?
-A: both are difficult to educate a child in today, more parental involvement is the only way
Q: Coastal vs. Inland?
-A: Home many people crammed on the coast can actually see the water from their home, how many actual go to the beach except 1-2 weekends a month – if that
-A: Have you done a commute recently from Inland
-A: Have you done a commute from the coast recently
-A: Inland weather is not desert hot but it is more “this black car interior can not be “touched” hot
The search continues as I follow these post for more info … Hope your move into the new house is smooth!
