yuhtey, what the Piggs are trying to tell you is that, at the present time, you can’t afford what you want where you want it for your first home. There’s nothing new about this phenomenon. It was alive and well in SD in ’75, ’85, ’95, ’05 and now, 2015.
For those “entitled boomer-sellers” you speak of in CV who need to “freshen” their place before putting it on the market (acc to you) and need to just sell low (to you) and leave (cuz they don’t need the schools anymore, acc to you), that house may have very well been the 3rd, 6th or 9th house they’ve owned in their lives.
Let me clue you in. That listing very likely wasn’t their first rodeo. If they were longtime Californians, their first rodeo may very well have been a 1500 sf 3/2/1.5 in Allied Gardens (SD) or El Monte (LA).
This is the main problem with your generation (I’m going to assume you’re Gen Y here). You need everything to be perfect for your first home. I noticed here that you posted yesterday that and your spouse made fun of a recent online listing in CV which you called a “turd,” again because of the owner’s furnishings (which you wouldn’t be buying) and the “pointless tile” they used in the kitchen.
Listen up! If you ever need a reference to a good, fast, reasonable, extremely professional local tile man, pm me!
The reality is that YOU have two? young kids (baby and toddler?). Haven’t you eaten enough cereal bowls full of nails by now for breakfast? How’s apt/condo life treating you?
IMO, you currently “need” a house if you’re going to remain in SD County. You may have a year or two “wiggle room” to find a suitable one to buy (while the values inch up every month, lol), but that’s it. One of your kids will eventually start school.
I’ve lived in SD County for nearly 40 years and am originally from Alameda County. I’ve been around the RE block on numerous occasions and am also a longtime RE licensee (35 yrs). In addition, I’ve had several decades experience handling money and raising kids and can tell you with certainty that money keeps indefinitely but jobs don’t, necessarily. Have you ever (gasp!) considered buying a cosmetic fixer for say, $675K and saving the rest of your downpayment or cash you were going to use to buy a ~$1M home?? It is entirely possible that you could need to put your entire family on the state’s (expensive and rising) health insurance exchange at some point if you can’t afford (temporary) COBRA for them. Someone in your family could be injured by an uninsured or underinsured driver or be diagnosed with cancer.
Those are just but a couple of examples of life’s little problems which could befall you and your family and you got a lo-o-o-o-ong way to go, buddy.
If you’ve recently had the good fortune of a buyout or inheritance, you would be wise not to put all your eggs into one basket. Especially not while attempting to live long-term in a CA coastal county. “nuff said. Just think about this. I don’t care about your spouse “saving face.” “Saving face” with who, exactly?
If your spouse considers herself too Asian to live amongst some Bsians, then she needs knocked upside the head for a dose of a reality check. You and she are not “better” than your brethren or “better” than any generation, for that matter. You can start in a “starter” or “move-up” home, like your predecessors did.
You don’t need to start at or nearly the top rung of the ladder.
