VC sorry to hear about your reticence. However no pity. I was one of those who advised you that whatever you did, be prepared for more depreciation. One can never identify the bottom but certainly one indicator would be volume leveling off… so if you walk away or work out the plan with your parents or whatever you do, if you do buy again, perhaps waiting until volume levels off would be a good thing.
To not realize that Temecula is on the heavy side of slope down is a large miss on your part. The fact is that Temecula/Riverside and other outlying areas will indeed bottom out sooner then more desireable areas. However when they do bottom I would expect them to stay flat for awhile and stay in a narrow range that will be defined by the investor participation to scoop up properties for rentals because raw buyer demand will not be sufficient out there.
PW – My advice for clients (who are buyers) is for them to scrub out a THOROUGH budget for the costs of owning the home. Regardless of whether it is owner occupied or a rental. Neglecting all the recurring costs one is saddled with for owning a home is not an option.
As far as building a home out in Temec or anywhere out there, I believe (like you I think) that it will indeed go low enough that you can get as good as, or close to the pricing of a build yourself and there is ALOT less hassle involved.
