scaredycat, the fundamentals suggest there is still some downside in the san diego market, but if you are sure you want to live there for 10-20 years, and you find a home you really love, go ahead and buy it if your monthly payment on the purchase would be close to what you could rent it for, for example: purchase price 400k, loan amount 400k @ 7%, payment is 2646 plus 480 tax and insur for a total of 3126. say you can write off 30% for a net payment of 2188; if this home would rent for that much, i would say it will be a good investment.
i’m a lender, i understand there are only a couple of 100% financing programs out there right now, and i understand closing, carrying and selling costs, this is just a general idea of determining wether or not to buy; if you can buy for what it would cost to rent and you are going to be there for a long time, you’ll probably be ok…
