I don’t think people have as much time as they think. The reality is that people thought they had time in 1999 and when they put in there full price offer on their dream home they were outbid and had to start the process over. Then they found another dream home after trenching it out for weekends and they were outbid. More frustration and family fights betweens husband and wives.
Here is the reality and it seems like the realators on this board have made extremely clear, you need to have a realistic idea of the market, and what you can afford. When you identify that property you need to be ready to pull a trigger. That doesn’t mean recklessly going out and getting exotic mortgages to get into something you can’t afford but it is also coming to the reality that if your spouse is not working and you are making a 100 K a year that you are probably not going to get into Carmel Valley, Rancho Bernardo or some of the other newer communiities.
You can continue to think that somehow there will be a half price special and that when this occurs that you will also get exactly what you want. The reality is that you have to be able to identify what you want, and what is available. If stretching means having your wife get a job, cutting out the family vactions, sending your kids to Public Colleges instead of private then you will be able to buy. If you wants to have both then I would think about going elsehwere because it probably is not going to happen in Southern Cal.
There is a lot of money out here and the lifestyle is desirable. A lot of income in San Diego does not show up in the statistics because there are a lot of small business ownere who make plenty of money and it is not being reported. Additionally there are enough old timers who have set up trust funds due to the fact that the did buy many eons ago who and going to help there kids out.
I rent. I make good money. Enough in many markets to buy something really nice. I have cash and I have family that has cash and I too am looking for a bargain but I am also realistic that I am probably not going to get my dream home out of the gate. I am not going to find a home in Del Sur for a conforming loan limit of 417K. I will have to pay good money for something fairly average but I will have a school system, a location to work, the weather which will ofset the negatives. I will also have a cost of housing that is within my means and hopefully I will have neghbors and a coommunity of people that I enjoy living with. This all comes at a price.
