[quote=bearishgurl]
Thanks, Essbee. Congratulations on your new purchase!
Often, buyers “state” they want to “move up” but in reality they instead end up paying a LOT more $$ for about the same size house & MUCH less lot in an inferior location to the old one, just to get newer construction. It seems here that you really did “move up” size-wise. That’s a HUGE house that should last you a VERY long time (no matter how big your family or extended family becomes)!
Due to the fact that 3800 sf homes are VERY hard to find at ANY price range in 30+ yo (or even 20+ yo) neighborhoods in SD Co (ESP under $1M), you likely would not have been able to find that type of home in more convenient older areas in your price range.
And because of the big price difference between your old and new home, we can now see why you wanted to get in ASAP at the very lowest possible interest rate.
You didn’t do too bad commute-wise for the size tradeoff, either. Would you say it’s an additional 15-20 mins each way?[/quote]
SDRealtor and Bearishgurl,
I’m know I’m about to give out so much info that someone COULD identify me (or at least one of the relevant transactions) if they feel so inclined, but I guess don’t really see the harm.
YES, we bought in 4S Ranch. I’ve read this blog long enough to get some of the inside jokes, too. 🙂 We bought in the older side, south of Camino del Norte.
[Incidentally, I think this blog opened my eyes to the fact that new construction (Del Sur) would require a large cash outlay for landscaping. Also made me rethink the much higher Mello Roos over there.]
RE: the price difference, we ended up putting down a 25% down payment (long story… stupid appraisers/ lenders!), so there was a huge cash outlay for house #2. However, despite a larger mortgage, the monthly mortgage payment itself is now actually LESS than the mortgage payment for house #1. (Huge difference between a 4.125% and a 6% interest rate).
Of course, property tax, HOA, and Mello Roos are all more for house #2, so the overall monthly costs will be more, but like you said, it’s a LOT more house. Incidentally, even house #1 (30 yrs old) had an HOA fee. And our Mello Roos are not bad because we are in the South side of 4S.
As for the commute, not sure yet. We’re in a rentback phase and actually move in a few days.
