What is the age and size of the house you’re in? The reason I am asking is that I did an appraisal on a new house a couple of days ago, in a development called Stratton Point at French Valley. It may be a little farther out than your location, but this was a new house of 3300 s.f., that’s selling for about $430,000, with $10,000 in builder concessions. This tract has been open for over a year, and of 103 homes planned, 51 have been released for sale, with 36 closed or in escrow.
I would agree with Powayseller that prices in Murrietta / Temecula are likely to fall more than San Diego County. It seems like there are an awful lot of resales of newer homes on the market right now, and I would guess that the rate of foreclosures there will be a lot higher than SD County. For someone like you that’s currently renting, I can’t see buying there now or in the new future.
The positive things I see there are that there is still a ton of commercial and retail construction, so population and retail job growth, (although not high-paying), may continue to increase. Also, builders have slowed down home construction considerably to match the slow demand.