[quote=joec]Hi BG, just out of curiosity, what age bracket are you in? My wife and I in our late 30s with a young child. I’ll take a stab at why some piggs (namely me) can care less about the large lot. I grew up probably in a 15-20k lot in my parent’s house in the bay area. For us now, we really don’t care having that 10k+ lot (and we’re in a postage sized lot now) because . . . Lastly, being Asian and all the stereotypes that come with that, I think a lot of those zip codes are simply not on a lot of asian families list of cities to buy in. Lemon Grove, having lived in East county before is a pretty bad area having been there a few times . . .
5) We like NEW! Maybe the old generation has time to “fix up” the house, but like point 3 above, who has time to do a “home project?” I’d rather spend my time doing things I enjoy than fixing things around the house that’s constantly breaking in a 20 year old house…
Give me my postage stamp sized lot brand spanking new, highly energy efficient home anyday over a 20k lot 20 year fixer…[/quote]
joec, suffice to say that you and I are a generation apart. I, too, grew up in the Bay area, East Bay to be exact. We moved away just as the tracks were being laid for the East Bay BART stations.
“My generation” actually “expected” to fix a house upon purchase. A “20-year old house” is relatively new. In the urban areas I mentioned, the average age of a house is 55 years. Of course, we didn’t have any of the “distractions” that are present today (i.e. cellphones, PC’s, handheld devices, etc.). There were only so many cable channels to watch. Yes, we had jobs and kids, sometimes 2 jobs per person. But we expected to work on a house and fix it up. We were taught that *land* is real estate and there is no substitute for well-located land, no matter WHAT sits on it. If you are not handy and don’t enjoy renovations or repairs, then you made a lifestyle choice to “buy new.” But IMHO, in CA, the construction quality and superior locations are in the older stock.
I have a good longtime friend “single-mom” in Lemon Grove who has lived there all her life and owned her own home there for 11 years now. She has had absolutely no incident whatsoever. It is very quiet and many lots are quite large, including hers. There are many “granny-flat” rentals there on SFR lots, as well.
joec, I don’t know where you live but Asian people live everywhere. In South County, high concentrations of Asians can be found in Valencia Park (92114), Bay Terraces (92139), National City (91950), Chula Vista (91911, 91913, 91914 and 91915) and Otay Mesa (92154). You would feel right at home in all of these areas.
