[quote=SDEaves]BG,
Just as you said last month, homes in our price range are getting snatched up by cash buyers.
Since last month’s post, we have put in 2 offers in LM but to no avail. One was taken by an investor; the other we were outbid.
We are still searching. As you and other Piggs have said, inventory is extremely low in our price range. So this all should come as no surprise to you 😉 Your last post implies some sort of impatience at us taking our time with buying and asking questions in the meantime. Perhaps I read into your last post wrong? We will gladly update you once we close escrow on a home. Please send us good luck with our search- we need it![/quote]
Glad to hear you have been actively placing offers, SDEaves. The reason of my mentioning that you stated on your previous thread that you took a year to “look?” is because that is a very long time to simply “look” while interest rates are inching lower and lower, thereby increasing your competition. Perhaps you also placed (unsuccessful) offers during that time frame but my understanding was that you didn’t and were just “looking.”
I stand by my prior recommendations for you of SFR’s in LM, LG, Lakeside, Santee, and even Spring Valley (now on the SR-125). As a family of five with three small children, you don’t have to accept a condo today. With a condo, even in the absence of low income units, your future saleability and future sales price is largely out of your control. These factors are in the control of your neighbors in the complex, the quality of construction and most of all, the HOA. If you buy a condo now, you will invariably grow out of it and may not easily be able to sell. Even if you CAN successfully sell and recover all or most of your DP, you will then have to qualify to purchase the same SFR’s you are looking at today at a higher price. You stated your family is not a “dual income” family.
The type of residential market we’ve had here in the past 18+ months is the type where buyers (ESP those in your price range) must be willing and able to immediately act and have your counter offer figure at the ready in case there is competition for the property. You can sort out the condition of the property later in escrow with an inspection contingency. The only way I see that you can initially lose out this way is if the property is an obvious “heavy fixer” (which you would not likely place an offer on, anyway) and cash investors waiving the inspection contingency are flocking to it. This doesn’t typically happen today unless there is a LOT of potential “sweat equity” in the property due to its “location.”
If I was in your shoes and had to choose a daily commute of equal distance using the SR-52 or SR-125, I would consider those communities along the SR-52 first. The SR-125 is much more crowded because it now comes from the int’l border (its toll road ceases at SR-54). HOWEVER, the properties in your price range will have more “curb appeal” (likely have older, raised foundations) in LM and LG. Lakeside DOES have some properties like this, but many of them have split-level backyards (which you might like – they are “horse properties”).
If you will continue to look and place offers in the areas I have just mentioned again here, I don’t believe you will run up against as much competition as you have been. These areas are favored by individual buyers who grew up there and also for their larger lots with more liberal zoning. You won’t be running across these hundreds of “dual-income parent” buyers from somewhere else who are primarily looking for a “lifestyle” as you may have been in the past. You will hopefully instead land a good solid home with room for possible expansion that would last your family for many years.
JM2 cents … and the best of luck on your search, SDEaves.
