However, my original goal has always been to stay here in SD because I like it here.
My Plan A was to get my degree, get a good job, and stay in San Diego. So, I went back to school in 1999 on the GI Bill and worked my way into UCSD. While I was finishing my engineering degree, the housing prices doubled, then tripled so that by the time I finished University at the end of 2004, and got a pretty good job mid 2005, the wife and I were COMPLETELY priced out of buying anything but a fricken 40 year old condo sh!tshack in Encanto or some such thing.
Imagine that, an engineer with a household income over 100K can’t afford an average single family house even in Clairemont. And by “afford,” I mean actually afford to pay back the loan, like a 30 year fixed, not some suicide loan like the I/O, Option ARMs, crazy money rental scams like that.
So yeah, I am pretty bitter after doing all the right things and STILL can’t buy a family home.
Anyhoo… My Plan B is Wichita, Kansas. I’ve researched it a bit, and traveled there for work a couple times. They are heavy into Aerospace companies there so should be good for engineer work. Most importantly, Wichita never participated in any fraud filled housing bubble like Southern California. Go ahead and Zillow.com the area. They have lots of great single family homes for less than $150,000. It’s pretty nice country there too, they have real seasons and everything.
The most shocking thing about Wichita is that common, average, regular people can actually afford to live there (GASP! the horror!).
