[quote=mixxalot]Well I am seeing a lot more Chinese in San Diego renting and buying places in group tours than just a few years ago. I will preface my thoughts that I have no issues with them as I do have friends from China and Asia but the problem is lack of common sense with overpaying real estate prices. I was telling my buddy the other day that I can buy a home outside of coastal areas for under 500K and a nice sailboat with a live aboard slip for a fraction of coastal real estate and have a better experience being in a big place and have water recreation.[/quote]
Uhh, mixxalot … a “live-aboard” slip, such as those with full utility hookups on the (secured) J Street Marina in Chula Vista, cost quite a bit more than the $500 month you stated earlier here that you were considering paying on Harbor Island (SD) on the “Are home prices just silly right now” thread.
If you already had a <=$500K home in SD County, you would ostensibly have no need for a "live-aboard" slip in SD County if you owned a vessel longer than 25'. You could park it on your own property for free (if you bought the "right kind" of property).
Why don't you just focus right now on accumulating your downpayment and qualifying for a mortgage for that home right now and save your boat/plane dreams for a later date? It's not going to get any easier to buy a house in SD County a few years from now because the last vestiges of distressed property left over from 2011 and prior is now being marketed in pockets of East County (and likely inland North County as well). Once these properties are gone, distressed property listings will be fewer and farther between, IMO (stemming from random HELOC defaults, no doubt).
Of course, this suggestion is all predicated on the notion that you will stay in SD County for the long haul and not move or get transferred to another locale. If you don't know where you will be in five years (or have no control over this), then it is probably not worth it for you to buy a house here.
