powayseller is right. The right time to buy is at least 2 years away in my view. Don’t bother working working with a realtor for now. She/He will just “pressure” you to buy by showing you listings and telling you about the “good deals.”
Just sign up with zipreaty.com (free) and track the homes that you like on there. Then cross check with zillow.com for sold and comps. Also go to the SD County website to check sold prices if not yet available on Zillow.
If you do this for 2-3 months. You’ll see that prices are dropping. You’ll notice the following:
1. Houses that you like are not selling.
2. Prices are periodically reduced.
3. Days on Market is stretching longer.
4. More sellers are getting under-water or close to it.
5. People are pulling their homes of the market and relisting to manipulate DOM.
My suggestion is a simple thing to do until you move to San Diego. Then when in SD, rent for a while and continue looking. You’ll know it when it’s the right time for you to buy. Don’t buy until you feel 100% certain.
BTW, zip realty also assigns you a realtor. You can ask that person to provide you sold listings. The nice thing about Zip is that they don’t really bother you as everything is done by email (tell them you’re too busy to be reached by phone).
