Did anyone else read yesterday and today in the Union Tribune about the woes of the condo conversion developers? I found this quote today about the El Cajon conversions pretty interesting:
“Three years from now, people will be saying, ‘I wish I bought one of those condo conversions in 2006.’ ”
I’m pretty sure I won’t be one of those people.
You can go over to http://www.signonsandiego.com and read Part 1 from yesterday about San Diego conversions in general and the article today about El Cajon condos.
The article says: “Councilman Bob McClellan said he wants as many as 10,000 of the city’s 18,200 apartment units converted. McClellan said he is pleased with the progress despite the slowdown.”
I’ve driven by many of the new conversions. Can anyone else see the improvement? They still look like apartments to me. El Cajon is just not a desirable place to live in my view. Especially where many of the conversions are located. Where are the people supposed to come from who can afford these new conversions? I don’t think the new owners are the same people that rented the apartments before they were converted. All the people forced out are going to have to rent somewhere. Or am I missing something?
I am a person who could “afford” to buy one of these conversions but I instead choose to rent a 2/1 next door. (I recently downgraded from renting a 3/2 in San Carlos). When prices are under 100k for these conversions I’ll be more interested. I don’t think that is going to happen though.
Aaah, condo conversions. There’s one a block up the street from me (University Heights) that just got finished two months back. One of the units may have sold, but then again, it could just be a real estate agent parking their car there.
My biggest complaint about them is that four parking spots point directly into the two front units – so those lucky people would get headlights shining onto their dinners every night. And, despite the verbiage on the signage in front, “fully mature landscaping” does not fully described the the left-over greenery that “came with” the old apartments.
They are going for $250K for 1/1. Open house three days a week. No action.
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