Fairbanks Ranch vs. Santaluz vs. Cielo vs. rest of Rancho Santa Fe

[bsrsharma]

Raptorduck: Can you tell why you preferred to move to San Diego for such a big purchase? I thought, if you want to buy a multi-million $ property, New England has some fine high class properties (miniature “Hearst Castles”). I think the South also has some fine estate property (if you hate cold). When I drove through RSF, it felt more upper middle class than “Hearst Castle” like. If one were to buy something for multi-millions, I think a fair degree of privacy, like you get with a a couple of hundred acres of grounds, is reasonable to expect. paying so much for a one acre lot seems excessive.

[North County Jim]

If what seller’s agent said is true, which is somewhat suspect, there is no need for us to get into a bidding war in this market anyway.

Whether the agent’s dubious claim was true or not, there’s nothing that says you have to get in a bidding war if you like the house. Why not call the agent’s bluff and submit an offer on your terms?

[Coronita]

Rustico

What about Santee?

 

 Rustico, that's not a bad idea. I hear it only 10 minutes away from La Jolla , and the schools rank in the 70% percentile. 🙂

 

[Bugs]

If what seller’s agent said is true, which is somewhat suspect, there is no need for us to get into a bidding war in this market anyway.

That would almost prompt me to submit a really lowball bid.

Anyways, just to give you an idea of the market you’re looking at, I ran some sales statistics for $3mil+ properties through the MLS:

Zip Area/Active/Sold within the last 12 months
92067 / 88 / 40
92130 / 16 / 10
92127 / 26 / 14

There are undoubtably some more transactions that didn’t go through the MLS as well as some build-to-suit transactions, but no matter how you look at it we have close to 2-years worth of inventory sitting on the market right now in these upper price ranges.

That’s why I really do think time is on your side and why, with a little patience, you probably will be able to get your FR (north) preference at your price.

[raptorduck]

Rule #4, no bidding wars, period. RSF and surrounding areas is an embarrasment of riches for very very nice homes. We did like the house, but rules is rules. I just think it a big mistake to bid on a house with more than one bid in this market, particularly if there is a large inventory of the kind of houses we want. RSF is nothing but the kind of houses we want.

If that were up here in the Bay Area, maybe perhaps I would consider . . . . never mind, not here either. Not in this market, no way. We may be looking for a house to retire in, but if my wife falls for the pool boy and we get divorced I need to make sure my half of equity is enough to hire the People’s lawyer.

[raptorduck]

25 Reasons why I love San Diego.

25. I grew up in Connecticut.
24. I hate the cold.
23. I hate clouds, of any kind. Even nice clouds. They just bug me.
22. Not much for rolling hills comprising 99% elm trees, comprising 99% of a state.
21. Never been into Tudors, Cape Cod, Craftsmen, French country, or country architectual styles.
20. I have lived in Florida.
19. I hate humid tropical weather.
18. Not a big fan of hurricanes and thundershowers so dense you have to pull over immediately to avoide geting clobbered on the interstate.
17. Not much for flat, flat, flat countryside where the highest point is a highway overpass.
16. Not much into Plantation or Victorian architecture.
15. I live in the Bay Area
14. Not into weather warm enough to dress down for, but too cold to dress down for.
13. Not into beaches you can only look at unless you want to freaze to death, get eaten by a Great White, or be pulled to your death by a rip current.
12. Not into Ranch Style Homes at all.
11. $3.5-$4.5 mil will get me 3,500-4,500 sf of 50 year old never updated Ranch home in an area that people here think as bling, unless they have been to La Jolla, RSF, Beverly Hills, or Bakersfield.
10. I have lived in San Diego.
9. I love warm and dry weather with ocean breezes.
8. I love beaches you can actually swim in.
7. I love palm trees and tropical flora.
6. I love 320 sunny days a year or whaterver it is.
5. I love diverse landscape.
4. I love Spanish Mediteranian, Spanish Revival, Spanish Colonial, Spanish Mission, Spanish Hacienda, and Tuscan architecture.
3. I served our country there
2. I met my wife there and married her there.
1. My wife says we must move back to SD.

[Bugs]

Your No. 1 pretty much outweighs all the others combined.

[raptorduck]

Anyone from Cielo care to plug the area? It seems to have taken some good hits here from commentators. We saw some very nice, albeit McMansionish houses there. A few of the views made us want to ignore its isolation and the whole commute thing, not to mention the McMansion feeling.

[Fearful]

If you hate clouds you will want to be at least a little bit inland, no? I am new to the area myself so I don’t know this for sure, but I understand that the marine layer typically penetrates about eight miles inland.

Personally, I love the marine layer clouds and how they keep things cool. I moved from San Jose and am glad to see the clouds again – I grew up in Santa Barbara. Home again!

Best of luck to you; in a way, having substantial cash makes the decisions tougher, no? When you can afford 99% of the houses, there are both a lot of choices in the 99% and the 1% is that much more enticing!

[sdcellar]

I really like Meadows Del Mar, but I’ve only been there once. I would definitely think you could find something to your liking up there.

That said, I’m in the rent camp as well. I always wonder who rents places for $5,000 a month-plus, but it must be guys like yourself. Still gotta be cheaper than a mortgage on a 3 million dollar place. Even if you’ve got a big down payment, that money can work for you while you rent.

Santaluz has a constant stream available. Some might even have a little space around them, but you probably can live without an acre with a rental.

The only thing to watch out for is owners in trouble and Santaluz appears to have no shortage of those. You want to make sure you move out on your terms, not some flipper’s.

Anyway, I’m sure there’s stuff in Fairbanks and RSF as well.

[raptorduck]

Good points Fearful. I do remember the marine layer when I lived in Del Mar and know that Cielo also gets clouds. Everything is relative. I have never been to Seattle on a sunny day and I have been there a lot. In the east, every day seemed cloudy, until I went to Seattle. In the Bay Area, every day seemed sunny, until I went to San Diego.

You are also correct that when you can afford more homes, decisions get tougher. Now I would not say I an afford 99% of RSF, more like 60% seems to be the case for me in my price range, but up here I don’t have that problem. There are 3 homes in my price range for sale that I would even remotely be interested and not one of them is any where as nice as the worst home out of the 34 homes we will have already viewed in 3 trips to SD by this Monday. All 34 were/are nice and 20 of them very nice with at least a half dozen dream homes to me.

If the worse one of them were up here, we would probably go, “wow, that is a dream house.” Your standards change. And the “dream” homes we saw down there just don’t exist up here (at least where we would look). The ones just below that would be $10 million plus homes here (at least where we woudl look).

That is simply because 6,000-8,000 sf homes are so rare on the Penninsula that they can sell for a serious premium. The lowest priced 6k sf home I saw in Los Altos Hills was a new developer home that was very poor quality and shoddy workmanship on 1 acre that was selling for $5 million, and that was after 3 price drops! I viewed it because the price seemd so dirt cheap for the square footage? It was a Mediteranian so easy to compare to RSF houses I saw. Not even close in quality and it was a big box rectangle and no pool and sparse landscaping AND right next to (I mean glued to) loud Highway 280 (just jump over the fence and get run over at 80mph).

There are very high quality built homes in LAH and the Bay Area of course, but not at that price range. The nicest one I saw in LAH in the Mediteranian style was well done, but not as nice as most I saw in RSF as to details. But it was much much higher quality that the 6k sf house above. It was 4,600sf and selling for $4.4 million, right at the top of my range.

[raptorduck]

sdceller, that is about the rent we would plan on paying if we decide not to buy just yet. We figure $1 for ever square foot and we would need at least a 5k sf house to rent an older house RSF. When I lived in Del Mar 10 years ago, my roomate and I paid $4,500/month for an 1,800 sf house on 10th Street (well worth it!).

Yes, as the other folks here have indicated, that is a lot lower than a mortgage, even with a large down.

[San Diego Native]

As a native who has lived in La Jolla for over 20 years I would definitely suggest renting in this market–that is what we are suggesting to friends who want to move here.

We were very fortunate to get over an acre with ocean and golf course views in the low six-figures when we purchased our home, but for those who are just now entering the market here, waiting for the inevitable price drops would seem to be the wise choice.

Whatever you do–ENJOY!!

[Rockemsock]

$4500 rent for 1800sf in 1997!

Googling ‘Toronto Raptors owner’

Googling ‘Anahiem Ducks owner’

———

anyhow, as far as the marine layer is concerned, i would assume it depends on the geography of the area. In Encinitas, I was 3 miles inland and we rarely had that marine layer around for long (burned off around 11am if not earlier). But we lived on the water for a year (546 4th St. in Encinitas) and the marine layer was with us for most of the day during May and June and a bit of July. But all the places you are looking at are much farther inland than that, obviously.

Also, another thing to think about, is the associations and their building commitees and all that goodness. I remember a thread from a few months back about Del Mar building commitee and people not wanting to live in the associated part of Del Mar because it was nearly impossible to make any significant changes to the house, etc. Perhaps someone remembers the thread.

[raptorduck]

Not quite 1997. $4,500 was our rent when we moved out in 1999, it went up once from I don’t recall what #. I picked 10 as a round number, but it is actually 7 years ago since I left SD (seems like 20). I did not live in SD yet in 1997.

The owners of that house lived in RSF and I recall thinking “why would they not live in this awesome place/location?” Emm, because 1,800 sf was too small for their family. Single guy brain just did not comprehend stuff like that. They were British and I think the last of their kids was out of the house so they were going to downsize and move into it, so we got booted out.

My next rental was $1,900/month in Carmel Valley with my future wife. That was a duplex near Carmel Country Road/Carmel Creek Road. On Corte de la Siena to be exact. It went on the market in 2000 for $325-$375k if I recall corectly once I decided to relocate back to the bay area. Don’t know what it is worth in this market, but I would be surprised if it were that low, very surprised, shocked even.

I have no ideas what those places would rent for today. It seems they would for about the same rent as back then. The Del Mar house was a corporate rental. I.e. The company my roomate and I worked for paid the rent for us. Yea, we did not leave that place willingly. They did not pay for the rent in my next place.

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