Thanks for your long reply SRO. I think for me and my family, we certainly didn’t want to wait 10, 15 or even 5 years because number 1: we were buying to live now and the home was never an investment. Life can also change so even though we all plan to be somewhere for 10-20 years, you never know.
We wanted to enjoy our area, feel safe outside walking about, have good schools and maybe the upside isn’t as high in other areas, but I still think when/if the market moves back up, pretty much all the other areas discussed here will have better appreciation due to more limited supply (#1) and greater desirability to be closer to the employment centers. I think in general, most home buyers would prefer to live in a smaller house in a nicer area compared to a big house in a not as nice area. That was our thinking at least. Location location location right?
I agree that the city of Santee is trying very hard to improve the image and clean it up a lot. This was also our reasons for trying to find a new home there and we were extremely close to pulling the trigger on Riverwalk/Stoney Creek. Looking at prices back in Feb 2008, Plan 3 (2600 sqft) was going for 565k. Crestview was going for 595k – 690k in April 2008 with most closer to 610k or so. I think that’s off 75-100k now for Crestview…Still, at 500k, I think I’d rather pay lower HOA fees and move to Del Sur if I had to have a new home or some of the new smaller places in Carlsbad for 500-600k.
I understand not wanting to say what you paid, but any range of everything that closed around that time is ok with me (and I don’t want to bother looking it up) since I think for the same amount, we’d probably look elsewhere.
I suppose in end, it really just boils down to what’s important to you and a view is worth $0 to us so that’s why we didn’t go for Sky Ranch. 🙂
Hope this helps other folks in the same house hunting even though it seems like a lot of Pigg members have bought in the past 2 years. I know I don’t visit as much as I used to myself!
