Nice post gary and some very well thought out advice. I agree that the rent/buy numbers are the most important because the expected appreciation cannot be considered for a few years. The one thing that will save this zip code is it’s demographics. You can get any demographic info you want for free at http://profilewarehouse.sandag.org/
92130’s dominant demographic was 200k+ income earners, nearly double the 150-200k crowd. The median household income is 120k, more than double the county average.
Another thing is that since 2000 it has added very few SFR’s (4% increase in it’s stock over six years) while it’s growth in population was 49.2% in that same period. The dominant growth was in 200k+ earners.
Not to knock El Cajon but it is important to know how much money the people you are competing with have. El Cajon’s dominant demographic was 15-30k household income with 30-45k in a close second, 50k is the median. All prices will suffer but where the residents can still afford to buy, the prices will have more support. Just food for thought but all other costs are constant (food, electricity, cars) so if one areas residents make 2-3x another’s then 2-3x the house prices are actually have more support. these are broad bruch strokes but a guy making 75k buying a house for 400k is in far worse shape than the guy making 200k buying a house for 800k.
