sdr, you are usually pretty good with math, but a few corrections are in order.
July of 2020 was more like a year and a half ago, not two. So our appreciation rate was about 20% per year, in line with most all the RE reports on St. George houses.
No I did not sell my San Diego RE investments 2-3 years ago…more like twelve years ago, investing in AZ. Yep, it would have done better if left in San Diego, but not by much.
The new house we moved into last April did not require any money to be move-in ready as the developer (Brio) gave us so many choices and optional add-ons, costing about 50K but included in the $556,000 price.
Back to the bigger picture, CA has the highest unemployment rate 7.7% (BLS, December), and Utah second lowest (1.9%), with St. George the lowest in Utah. Utah has the 2d fastest population growth and CA is losing population faster than all states except NY and IL. I’m guessing the politics of each state is a major factor. Incidentally, our property taxes are about one-half of one percent, so moving to a better house with better government cut our taxes paid by about 80%. Income taxes, likewise.
Congrats on your low utility bills, but let’s not ignore the $20,000 to $40,000 you probably spent to put in solar.
As you and I have previously pointed out, SD is benefitting from people moving from the two other worse-governed coastal California metropolitan areas who still want to stay near the ocean. With employers fleeing CA to other western states, I’m not sure how long that will prop up San Diego prices.
