Condo bought for $160k in SD = $160/mo tax, $250/mo HOA, liability insurance $10/mo. Maintenance is chump change if you do the work yourself — you can buy appliances off of CL or from Habitat for next to nothing and the HOA deals with the outside.
Rents for $1100/mo. About 5% net return. 5% return on $320k is $16,000/yr or $1333/mo. Doesn’t seem like much, but it’s taxed pretty low due to depreciation, deductions, etc.
If you live in another condo which costs you ~$420/mo to upkeep, pay $500/mo for health insurance, you still have something left over, enough for food if you cook for yourself.
Any job that you work at is basically going towards your car, clothes, recreation, travel, savings, etc. Pretty nice. If you really come to San Diego with $500k cash, you can be very happy for the rest of your life if you throw what’s expected of you out the window.
EDIT: speaking of abroad, what are return rates on rental properties (condos, I guess, for non-citizens) in Mexico, in areas that are relatively safe and easily accessible from SD?
