[quote=yellowS2K]We looked at some listings there near the Torrey Pines Elem and the YMCA – they would be great to live near, but the $1.45m is $450-$500K more than what we were looking at in the CV-CCH area near Sage and Ocean Air. There are $1.5 listings up there too (e.g., one in Derby Hills right next to Ocean Air), but also a number of 5bdrms listed (existing stuff and the Pardee Bridle Ridge stuff) from high $900K to $1.1. To go as high as $1.45m – don’t know if we’d be comfortable doing that. Suppose we could always low-ball them and see what happens, but I doubt the market in LJ is that soft. We’ve actually kept an eye on the LJS area for awhile – stuff that comes on the market there at $1m seems to always come with an opening line in the description of “Bring your architect…” and it’s a 1950s-era beach cottage that’s barely been remodeled since it was first built. If we could buy there, though, wife would get a Segway to commute to work (seriously, she would). There was one (http://www.redfin.com/CA/La-Jolla/8322-Sugarman-Dr-92037/home/4881369) that just showed up as sold for $1.112m, so maybe it’s within reach. We missed this as it went from listed (Nov 15) to pending (Dec 6) and we found about about the job for sure a day or two later, and no way we could have acted fast enough even if we had seen it.[/quote]
yellowS2K, why don’t you keep your eye on this area?? The properties within it will keep their value FAR BETTER than CV (and outliers) newish and new tracts. Even if you have to take a slightly smaller house in 92037, it is a MUCH BETTER INVESTMENT than the new construction you’re looking at and FAR more convenient for your spouse. In addition, for the one week per month you are out of town, your spouse can use the YMCA for daycare. Not sure if they accept infants, but they accept preschool and above and run an after-school program for TPHS. Why don’t you check into their programs??
The number for Community Care Licensing in San Diego is (619) 767-2200 to get an infant care referral in your preferred area. The licensing criteria for home-based infant care is stricter, in that each infant must have its own crib and there has to be one adult caregiver for every four infants. I’m sure you could find a drop-in referral for competent infant care for the one-week per month you will be gone.
Even if you had to pay smallish HOA dues, you could likely qualify to purchase a less-expensive property on the east side of LJ Scenic Drive, where HOA(s) prevail.
IMO, if your young family “lands” in this little northern pocket of LJ, I don’t believe you’ll ever be sorry for this decision (or wondering if your “newly-constructed house,” will begin to lose value “straight out of the gate”) as you would with CV new construction. The property values in LJ are long-established.
