Not really – by that point I owned 3 properties, this one, another I bought later in Oxford (also rented out to students) and one I built in Ireland. I had just moved back to the UK from Ireland and I was renting. So I liquated all the other properties and bought something where I worked in the UK. THEN I moved to San Diego. At one point I had about 400K pounds in mortgage on 3 properties and my ability to pay was completely tied to my ability to rent them all out. The only moral I think is applicable is the collapse in value can be horredous and my experience in London was that it was far, far worse in outlying areas. The pattern was prices rose in the center of town until people coud not afford them. Then outlying areas started to rise, with gentrification following (Brixton for example). Prices in the center stagnated whilst the outer areas continued to rise. Whnen the crash hit, people could suddenly start to afford the more fashionable neighbourhoods again and you couldn’t give away property where I lived.
I’d be very suprised if the same thing doesn’t happen here…there will be a bloodbath in Temecula for example because most people only live there because they have to and endure the commute. A drop in pricing in Carmel Valley, Del Mar, Cardiff, Carlsbad will KILL the Temecula market. I bet it’s already happening. And the drop can be far, far steeper than I think most on this site even realise. Forget 20 or 30%. Try 60, 70, 80% in these areas.
