@Escoguy
My wife works downtown (near seaport) and I work in the Torrey Pines / UCSD area. DINKS, ~250K income with (hopefully) plenty of room for income growth.
We have 15% downpayment + reserves. We’ve been considering a 80/10/10 mortgage. We rent currently, very much looking forward to the potential tax deductions.
1st child now on the way, so DINK status will be retired soon.
Wife plans to continue to work, but we also do not want to over-commit.
I do sometimes wonder about the average income for families in these developments – DINK or SINK or SIWK (single income with kids). Helps to calibrate what exactly we are getting ourselves into. Willing to run things a bit lean/tight for a few years, will help to establish some ‘forced’ savings in our mind. Also wanting to lock in low rate now, in a potential ‘forever’ home rather than buying a small starter home now and feeling the urge to upgrade in 3-5 years.
@njtosd
By landscaping, do you mean monthly maintenance?
Or an initial cost since the builder leaves the home with only dirt?
How much $$ are we talking here? 🙂
Everything I read suggests that RE tax AND mello roos are tax deductible (mello roos seem to be in a grey area) but most seem to add this as a deduction.
We will certainly attempt to simulate our commute from PHR a few mornings – will also look a bit more into existing stock along the xpress-way.
@zk
You experience with the sense of community in CV + lots of young families with children is exactly why we are considering this development – it is nice to hear some positives. Also with the temperature, we would prefer more mild temps 🙂
About the agent commission, I did some additional reading after making this post and found exactly what you describe. The builder is unwilling to offer a discount for buyers without agents because it would then set a precedent for a lower price for the next buyer (with an agent). So they basically stand firm on this. We might as well either use redfin for the rebate, or find a local agent willing to stand-in for a small piece of the pie.
We were very careful not to sign anything formally just yet and I believe you are right – it is only after one is added to the priority list, or fills our the form to tour the standing units that the buyers agent needs to be formally acknowledged.
