[quote=UCguy][quote=jstoesz]
Unless people like you demand more, sit out and keep renting like you are doing. This will never get better. If you are looking for a place to have paid off in your retirement, buy a sweet cabin on Mt. Laguna or Forest Falls or even further away (I bet you can find a sweet 1930 fixer for 130k).
That is my off the wall, probably unsolicited advice. Make your cabin your family’s constant. My favorite memories of my life, and of my parents life, have been time spent at the cabin.[/quote]
“Demand” more? What planet do you live on?! Hell, we are glad to have jobs! There are VERY FEW jobs in our area of expertise. I moved to industry because I demanded more. Do you know how little a PhD earns in academia if not a tenured Professor? My wife is paid relatively well for academia, and has enviable job stability, plus benefits galore.
In case we weren’t clear, we were looking for a HOME for us and our children and our parents, close to schools and shopping center and not TOO far from our work places, not a vacation home.
Maybe when the kids go to college, and our parents pass away, we move to a chepaer place. We aren’t in love with San Diego, too expensive, but so are all the major cities on the Coasts where we can both find jobs.[/quote]
Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. I understand your situation, and my comments are coming from my own personally bitterness with SD. Hell, you make 3 times the median, and you are looking at how you can scrape together enough for a far flung cookie cutter home (there is something severely wrong still, even in light of “historic” affordability). I should not have said “demand more.” That was probably not exactly what I meant…how’s “going galt” on the home market. I was also not disparaging your income, I find 180k for a household to be a good chunk of change (nationally I think that is the 95th percentile), and I commend your ability to pull that together. I also find your stockpile of savings/retirement to be pretty decent by the average American’s standards. I bet 95% of your fellow citizens would trade with you in a New York Minute.
You were very clear about wanting to buy a home, but I figured what was the harm in throwing an oddball idea out. I can completely understand that feeling. I was not intending my comments to be antagonizing, in any way. My wife and I have talked about doing this on numerous occasions. And we often think we would rather rent a crappy home and own a sweet cabin. Granted the rubber has not yet met the road on this decision yet. For the record when I lived in SD, I lived on a boat. I have lived in my car, on a ranch, in a tent…and a couple houses along the way. So I am not a straightforward practical guy, and I do not want to be one.
