The bottom line at least between OC and SD is we are looking at roughly $100k in difference in regard to comparable homes in comparable neighborhoods. And as the salary comparisons demonstrated, while LA metro do allow for slightly higher pay (probably mostly due to cost-of-living-adjustments), it still does not account for that 100k difference.
Let’s do some OC/SD comparisons.
I would say 4S Ranch/92127 vs Ladera Ranch/92694 are two very similar comparisons. Both were built in the middle of the bubble, both have a lot of homes in distress, both are about the same distance to the beach. Schools should be fairly comparable, but 4S may have an edge here. Both areas also have similar HOA/MR rates.
median household income is slightly higher in 92694, at $130k vs $103k.
on ziprealty, counting all SFRs above 3000 sqft, there are 8 homes in 92127 priced at less than 700k, 2 of which are short sales.
on ziprealty, there are NO homes in 92694 priced at less than 700k.
So we would have to move up to the 700k to 800k price range if you want a house in Ladera Ranch. But there’s a very limited selection at just 5 homes, all of which are short sales or foreclosures, which obviously have their issues.
meanwhile, if we move up to the 700k to 800k range in 92127, there’s a robust 15 homes for sale, of which only a couple are short sales/foreclosures.
for Ladera Ranch, we do not see decent selections until we head further up in price scale to the 800k to 900k range, where there are 12 homes for sale.
On a general scale, there are far more “4S Ranch” type nice neighborhoods with lower pricing in SD than LA/OC.
On a personal note, we are unlikely to have been able to get anything close to what we ended up purchasing here back in LA/OC. Again based on comparable location and scale of home, our home in LA/OC would be at least $400k to $600k above our purchase price here in SD.
