Thanks everyone for the feedback. There were a bunch of questions, that I thought I would address.
1. No, I do not work for a firm that received TARP funds. That is a nasty stigma these days, but you must remember 99% of the people in those firms are innocent bystanders who got hurt as well.
2. We currently live on a hill overlooking Birdrock now and really like the area. I work from home, so no commuting issues.
3. After 15 years in NYC, SD is a breath of fresh air. I actually love the small town feel and have no intentions of going back. I do miss my NY Giants games though.
4. I don’t know what your definition is of insanely wealthy is, but while I certaintly have no issues affording the home I don’t consider myself wealthy enough to blindy throw money away. This is a big decision for us and the difficult part is that it is a financial decision and a lifestyle decision. I am not approaching the home purchase as a personal ATM, which is partly what got the country into this mess in the first place. I would be more than happy with an average annual return of 1-2% over 10 years.
5. My wife wants the home because she believes we will happy there and after seeing 40 plus homes this was one of the only ones we liked. It also happened to be the least expensive. I on the other hand have a hard time in purchasing a depreciating asset, which is the reason for the original post. To be honest this whole dilemma is due to us having to vacate our current rental and our lack of interest in renting again.
6. SD Realtor – you stated that you believe I am overpaying. Is this belief on the current purchase price for a home in that area ($575 psf)or the speculation values will continue to decline? Because if you believe I am overpaying today and will have the furthur hit of a market decline that is a double whammy that will be tough to overcome.
