Thank you very much for your reply. We spent 5 weeks driving around Carlsbad and SoCal this winter trying to figure out where we would be comfortable living. This will be eventually a winter home for us, though the finances at this moment do not allow us to do so. Our nest egg and saving were very much reduced at the moment like most people.

We are not looking to flip the property and make a profit, at this point, we are trying not to pay too much and thus reducing our savings even faster. We can wait, but if prices do make a move upwards at the low end of Carlsbad, we may be priced out of the area.

As for the difference between the properties, the condo are within 50 sq ft of each other in size. The HOA fees are much higher in La Costa, $380 vs $230 and I figure that is because the La Costa ones are much older. Around that area, the condos are all built around 1975 vs the ones built around 1990 in Vista. The La Costa units had not been modernized much. The Kitchen cabinets, washroom fixtures are mostly original. That’s one thing I don’t get about the La Costa units as well, with supposedly a nicer neighborhood, why didn’t people upkeep their homes ? I live in a 25 year old neighborhood right now, and flooring, kitchen, bathroom fixtures are mostly replaced in our neighborhood. We take pride in our homes and maintain them, not apparently most condos at La Costa we had seen. Of course we are looking at the $200,000 range and therefore the low end so maybe that is the reason. Of course that may be a good reason where we go buy in a neighborhood perhaps not so pricey and be middle class instead of “low end” in a high priced area.

The Vista condos have nicer swimming pools and spas though the views are not as nice as around the golf course at La Costa. The Vista condos are of course in a nicer condition being much newer and has a double car garage, vs underground parking at La Costa.

I can’t tell about the type of people living around the condos, both condos are quiet. Both are not gated. There seem to be a lot of vacation rentals at La Costa, just be looking at Craigslist. I saw two vacant units with for rent signs on windows at some units. Not very attractive. From my research from CL, the La Costa condos do not rent for as much as the Vista condos, when I thought the reverse would be the case. La Costa is more a valley type of situation, at a low point of the surroundings. The Vista condo is slightly elevated.

I tried to ask the real estate agents these questions and honestly, never got straight answers from them. For eg. foundation problems at La Costa, – they didn’t hear of any issues but short of hiring a soil engineer hard to know…..

I wonder if the homeowner association has to disclose such information if we put the offer in on the property.