[quote=bearishgurl]ER, I viewed three of your SantaLuz videos last night. SantaLuz cannot be compared to the Del Sur tract that the newswoman is investigating for MR overcharges as they are apples and oranges for a variety of reasons.
SantaLuz (the SFRs at least) are situated on spacious lots, thus you aren’t listening to your neighbors’ toilet flush. A (renowned?) golf course designer came into the picture early on (before housing was even in the picture) and created a world class golf course to run with the lay of the land. You have a full-service gym/spa on site as well as a restaurant which serves only the residents and their guests. I think it is interesting that young families (mostly newcomers to SD?) ultimately decided to buy into SantaLuz and the comaraderie among neighbors is very good due to all of the organized community activities. However, I personally would not like living behind a guarded gate (and we DO have a few of these type of subdivisions in South County, btw). Insomuch that your neighbors cannot store their non-running vehicles in front of their houses, for example, is a blessing, you are paying HIGH HOA dues ($440 mo for a SFR?) for enforcement of those covenants, conditions and restrictions. But you are correct in that you are getting tangible services (cable TV, broadband internet and trash P/U) for the money as well as the full service gym with classes, pool and jacuzzis (along with availability of on-site trainers, golf pros and masseuses, for example) is very nice. I don’t golf but would find the rest very convenient. And I was intrigued by the round-lot concept, capturing distant ocean and surrounding views since the development appears to sit up pretty high.
And for you (unlike the masses who purchase[d] elsewhere in 92127), I would leave the public schools issue out of the equation because you made an early payoff of your obligations to the CFDs encumbering your property and it was formally accepted as “paid in full.” Whether or not a buyer will pay you for your trouble and expense is immaterial in your case, IMO. The reason being that the PUSD is in deep sh!t and will remain so far into the future (which is not your problem anymore). You have kid(s) who are or will ostensibly attend the public schools there and so ~$60K is not that great of a cash outlay in light of the fact that you state will hold your property longer than ten years.
From your videos, it truly DOES appear that buyers in SantaLuz buy into a “convenient lifestyle” over buying just a home. However, I’ll bet if you ask your “buddy” in LG whether he would choose to buy in SantaLuz (if he could afford it) knowing it would cost him an additional ~$940 month in MR/HOA, that he would say no. I can see how younger buyers with minor children took the place of the “empty nester” buyers the development originally expected would be its target market. No matter how “well-heeled,” the mindset of many “empty nesters” who are already retired to soon to be retired is of conserving funds, not throwing ~$940 month to the wind. Especially in light of the low-interest environment we have today. You have to take into account that not only does this group not know if they will ever be able to enter the job market again (even on a part-time basis), they don’t know how long they will live and thus how long their funds need to last. For these reasons, it is folly for many in this demographic to throw ~$940 month out the window (or even $800, considering they were going to pay for cable/trash elsewhere) to live in a development where they may or may not regularly use its amenities.
I did enjoy the videos and thought your community was well-planned, ER. Many of your “brethren” in the rest of 92127 are no doubt paying just $100 to $150 less than you are every month in MR/HOA and not getting anywhere near level of amenities you are privy to OR the spacious lots. For this reason alone, I think you got a good deal for the house and lifestyle that you and your family wanted.[/quote]
Hi BG,
Thanks for the thoughts. I TOTALLY agree with you that you can NOT compare Del Sur to Santaluz. Like night and day, IMHO. Although for Mello Roos purposes, I had the CFD #4 and as I understand so do they in parts of Del Sur. Only I believe their CFD exposure is larger I believe.
You know, at first I didn’t think I would enjoy the “guard gated” portion as much as I do but I really really love it. It’s so extremely safe here. Even contractors that I put on my list can’t get in unless I put all of them on the list. (For example, I’d have several contractors with a company and unless I listed all of them specifically they would stop them at the gate and call me).
Having kids I really love how safe it is here. Even nearby Carmel Valley has had a rash of break ins lately but we don’t have that problem at all in Santaluz. It is ranked one of the safest communities in all of Southern California.
Oh, my friend in Lemon Grove LOVES Santaluz and he said he would buy here in a heartbeat. Especially if he had kids. Really, I network quite a bit and have had many many friends and colleagues out here and they have all loved it. I know that you’ve never personally been out to Santaluz but I think even you would admit that it’s pretty special (and I know you have no love of this area).
I haven’t yet met anyone that didn’t like the development. I guess it’s not for everyone but so far everyone has been impressed with how the developers designed this community. I really believe it’s a special place here in San Diego.
I totally agree with you that not everyone can afford the $900 – $1,000 a month HOA/Mello Roos payments and it’s not for everyone. But for those that can afford it, it’s really an amazing lifestyle out here.
[quote=bearishgurl][quote=earlyretirement]…You just have to remember BG that there are a lot of people that wouldn’t accept to live in certain parts of San Diego even if you gave them a free house. They would much rather live where they do paying a mortgage vs. taking a perfectly fine house in an area like Chula Vista. In fact, I’m one of those people. Even if you gave me the option of a FREE perfectly fine house in Chula Vista and promise to pay all property taxes…. I’d opt not to take it and pay a mortgage instead along with any applicable taxes. Nothing wrong with that…it’s just the way it is.[/quote]
ER, I’m not sure if you are aware of this, but about 5/8 of Chula Vista’s residential property owners pay MR. It WAS more like 2/3 of the population as recent as 2006, but since May 2007, ChulaV subdivisions have been retiring their MR bonds one by one.
FYI, developers within the City of Chula Vista (such as Lane Kuhn, Fieldstone and McMillin) DEBUTED the use of MR bonds in San Diego County. The next city to adopt them was Poway. The earlest ChulaV subdivisions built with 20 and 30 yr MR bonds with the first phases being sold in May 1987 (3 subd in Eastlake Shores) and 1991 (2 subd in Eastlake Hills) which have already paid off their MR bonds. RDR-II paid off their (20 yr) street bonds in 2012.
Having worked alongside several of these owners from the beginning, I’ve seen it all, first hand. The monthly HOA struggles, the HUGE property tax impounds, etc. A few of them hung in there and made it through to the retirement of the bonds but I’m not sure if this makes their properties more “valuable” than similarly-situated ChulaV properties which do not lie in MR areas OR if their kids got a “better” education than they would have had they attended schools in non-MR areas of the same district.
So, in a nutshell, I “get” the concept of MR but don’t know/can’t measure its true long-term fiscal value to an affected homewoner.[/quote]
Wow. I knew that Chula Vista did have Mello Roos areas but I didn’t realize it was as much as 2/3 at one time.
That is very interesting. BG, to your knowledge, have any CFD areas ever had their bonds extended past their original pay off dates? Thanks for the information.
