[quote=bearishgurl][quote=earlyretirement]Sure…good question…. mainly school district and the style and look of the houses. We really love the look of many modern homes in Santaluz. Prices are MUCH lower in 4S and it’s still a great school district but the area doesn’t seem as high end and I’ve heard there is potential for it to get a bit run down in a few years…..
You’re right that we don’t yet live in the area….just vacation there every year in La Jolla.
Definitely I’m up for suggestions…what other zip codes would you suggest for modern homes that are mostly build after 2002 that are in the Poway or San Dieguito school district? The best options to me seemed like 92130 and 92127 but definitely I’m open to suggestions.[/quote]
earlyretirement, have you thought along the lines of a custom home on a large lot in Poway 92064? Many recently-built custom homes were built in areas outside of community facilities districts (no Mello Roos bonds). These custom lots were subdivided from acreage that may have sat empty for many years under one or two owners and was never commercially developed – thus no bonds to help with streets/sidewalks and the like were sought by a developer to assist it with area buildout. Private owners installed their own long driveways or roads from their homes to the street. I have no doubt that several of these owners spent more $$ than they can now get for their property but are now forced to sell due to their mortgage(s) resetting (pd I/O) or coming due (30 due in 5 or 7) and are unable to refinance.
Even if you pay cash for a property in 92127, you will be indebted to a CFD for =>25-40 years and have little to no land to show for this. This zip code has among the highest (if not THE highest) MR obligations in the entire county.
Also, “school district” and “individual school performance” is a “perception” from family to family. The home life of children and rearing style of their parents is far more important to a student’s accomplishment than the “API scores” of a particular school (which fluctuate from year to year).
In 92127, you will be paying a LOT in “fees” every month (including HOA and MR), wherever you go and will not be getting much, if any, land for that. I am unfamiliar with that area myself but looked at it from a Google “aerial view” a couple of days ago and it looks very dry, brown and nondescript, like all these homes were crammed together on a lunar surface. I’ve lived in this county for almost 36 years and that area didn’t look like those residing in it had a “San Diego lifestyle” to me.
Also, why do you feel your home here has to be built in 2002 or later? Do you realize that many homes older than that have been completely remodeled since 2002, some all the way down to the studs?
Pigg lifeizfunhuh is a local attorney who has lived in urban SD near the coast for many years. He recently purchased an eye-poppingly INCREDIBLE spread for his family for $770K just outside of beautiful Alpine, CA (91901), which is situated in the Grossmont Union High School District. A new high school is slated for Alpine by 2014, I believe.
I have been out there visiting a few times over the years and this area is full of huge boulders, little streams and pine trees. There is often a nice breeze and you can SMELL the pines out there. There is no fwy or road noise, no jet noise and no military/police helicopter noise. Just the sound of frogs chirping, acc to lifeizfun.
Also, if you visit LJ when you come here, are you aware that the schools are very good there? Are you aware that you very well may be able to purchase a 2300 to 2800 sf 50+ yo home in your price range on a fairly large lot there which may need updating and landscaping clearing, etc??
earlyretirement, you appear to have many choices in life and presumably the ability to make the deal of a lifetime in these “opportunistic times” we’re currently in which will not last forever. I think you would be SHOCKED at what you could buy in SD County in your price range and even $200K-$300K LESS with NO MR if you just expand your search a bit and come here and drive around looking property in various (unencumbered) CUSTOM areas, NOT tracts.[/quote]
Thanks so much for this great post. Alpine and that area is too far out for us. I also heard it gets MUCH hotter once you go past Highway 15 so we wanted to avoid that. We prefer to be closer inland vs. going past I-15. We really prefer to stay West of I-15 but we’ll take a good look around that entire area.
I’m not locked into the Santaluz area so we’ll take a look around. Seems like most of the people that are against it don’t live there. So far, all the ones we have talked to that actually live there really enjoy it and several of them have kids. The main negative that we hear over and over again is the high HOA and Mello Roos but I’m not opposed to paying those fees when it’s all said and done.
Yeah, I do agree this is a decent time to buy. Not great but ok. I actually was one of those that dumped my USA real estate before the crash and bought up real estate in other parts of the world so I’ve been on the sidelines of USA real estate the past several years waiting for it to crash. I still think that prices can fall further but we’re buying for the long term and I’m buying as a home to live in vs. an investment which I think is the best thing for USA real estate.
I still see challenges ahead for prices however. With the challenges of banks loaning out money and that probably is going to get worse. Also, at the higher end of homes over $1 million, the Jumbo limits once they come down shouldn’t help things at all. Unemployment is also high. The true numbers are much higher than the government is saying. Also, interest rates have no where to go but up. So all these things should be challenging at best for future home prices.
So… for the shorter term (next 2 years or so) I think things can dip more in areas like San Diego. Longer term and if you’re buying as a “home” and not an investment, I think it’s a fine time to buy.
We already own many rental properties in other parts of the world which is a much better ROI than real estate in the USA.
I’ve been looking on Redfin for over a year now and have a pretty good feel for the area but we’ll spend some time looking around once we move there in August.
I do like La Jolla quite a bit but you can get much more for your money outside of La Jolla. We really love that area but most likely will buy further out.
I do realize that many properties are renovated but honestly I don’t like the looks of many older homes and I really don’t want to renovate. I have spent the past 7 years buying and renovating properties and to be honest tired of it so for our “home” we just want to buy move in ready.
I don’t mind a smaller yard and don’t feel the need to have a big spread. Just more work as far as I’m concerned. A smaller yard is ok with me. To give you perspective, the past several years we’ve lived in a Penthouse apartment with no yard at all. We do have outdoor space with a private rooftop terrace but we are already used to not having a yard. So really any yard will feel like an oasis…ha ha.
I see others for sale in that neighborhood but most of them aren’t as nice or have ugly exteriors.
Hopefully we find something or more things come on the market before this Fall….I’ve been looking daily on SDLookup and not so impressed at what is on the market…..
Oh well…I guess we can always rent longer if need be.
