Getting married in September 2007. When should we buy?

[kev374]

If you ask me *REALLY* bad idea to buy right now. Wait at least 2 more years. Until then rent a nice place for HALF the cost and add the money saved to your downpayment amount and also reap interest on the 70k cash you have now.

If you buy now you’re going to get burned as we are definitely at the very top of the market and it has a long way to go down. You will lose your 70k and perhaps you will be upside down for a long time to come.

BTW, Zillow is so inaccurate it can be safely IGNORED for all practical purposes 😉

[SD Realtor]

Jimmy –

I actually lived (rented) off of Calle Cristobal the past 1.5 years. In fact the place I rented is now on the market and NO WAY would I pay the prices they were asking. Not even 10-15% lower. asianautica has done an extensive amount of researching listings in mm and sorrento valley and has keen insights in the area there. As someone who used to live there and still works in Sorrento Valley I know it well also. Try to hold off if you can. I think some serious future foreclosure activity will happen. There is already CURRENT forelosure activity there right now.

SD Realtor

[patb]

i would watch the real estate roller coaster video before
you even consider a purchase in real estate in the bubble zone

[LookoutBelow]

A double whammy !

Marriage AND a house purchase at the top of the market ?…..god bless you ! you got balls man 

Here's some of my favorites…

1: Theyre not making anymore real estate ! 

2: Real estate wont ever go down in value ! 

3: Divorce ?…Ha ! thats for other people… We love each other

 

[an]

I agree with SD Realtor, hold off if you can. Things will get much worse before it gets better. I’ve also seeing a lot of NOD all over MM in all price range. So, hang in there, good time will come.

[Nancy_s soothsayer]

I could add some more favorite myths about San Diego.

4. America’s Finest City — yes, enjoy it now because the water still flows through the Colorado river. But with the Global Warming, water wars will ensue. That Colorado water will turn into a trickle and drought will turn the America’s Finest City to America’s Brownest and Driest City. Soon, the Navy ships would be rationing desalinated water.

[waiting hawk]

Hello Jim check this out, after we got married in late 05 we almost bought a house in April of 06. Check out one of my very first post on this website. As of now I’m very grateful that I didn’t and glad to still be renting and extremely happy that I sold my last property in that same month.

http://piggington.com/buying_a_house

ps.. back then I said I had only 50k and now it’s well over 100k.. I had been gaining while the market has been dropping. It definitely was a win win for me.

Does my first post in that link seem familiar?

ps 2. that was the same point I started up my site forsakencraft.

Back then I did not know much at all, but now I’m so confident that we are moving from here and renting another place (where I live sucks) and we will hit close to the bottom of this cycle.

[jimmyle]

Thank you everyone for your advice,
I think I will wait until September and then make my decision from there.
By the way, I like the following house, but it is way overpriced. Hopefully a house like this will be around $500K in one or two years.
http://yahoo.prudentialcaliforniarealtyonline.com/details/start.aspx?Results=true&propid=0090076023501

[temeculaguy]

One thing you need to consider is that after you get married, it is possible you may have children in the next few years (I don’t know your ages and life goals, so I’m guessing here). While your income will go up, could you make that mortgage of over 400k on your income alone? Would it be a 30yr fixed? In 1992 I bought a house for exactly 3x my income alone (wife worked at the time of purchase and made about the same)and by the time I had my first kid a few years later the debt on the house was 2x my income alone and I remember being pretty cash strapped when she decided to “take a year or two off work.”

Just something to consider, I feel terrible for those who are starting out in today’s market.

[jimmyle]

I make about $75K and my fiancee makes about $50K. There is no way I can afford a home if she doesn’t work. None of my friends can buy anything without their spouses’ income (we are around 30 yrs old). I remember my uncles bought homes on their Engineering salaries in the 90s. I think it will never be like that again.
We plan to have children immediately but luckily my to be mother-in-law is in Mira Mesa and she wants to baby sit the kids. She loves kids. That is why I have to buy in Mira Mesa.

[an]

I think that house should be in the low $400k, not $500k. But that’s just me. That house is over priced compare to the other houses around that area. Here are some example:
This house:
1641 sq-ft listing @ $648k.

Other houses:
7144 BLAKSTAD CT., SD – Mira Mesa, CA 92126
1984 sq-ft listing @ $600k for over 70 days w/ no buyer.

7745 PRAIRIE SHADOW ROAD, SD – Mira Mesa, CA 92126
1826 sq-ft listing @ $625k for over 60 days w/ no buyer.

11845 GEHRING CT, SD – Mira Mesa, CA 92126
2102 sq-ft listing @ $645k for over 30 days w/ no buyer. This house is down the street from the house you posted. So location is almost identical.

[Anonymous]

Why do you “think it will never be like that again”? That is an illogical statement. The main purpose of this site is that we belive IT WILL BE THAT WAY AGAIN. The current prices are NOT based on peoples real income. It is a scam that was enabled by the loose lending. As we speak this pyramid scheme is unravelling. The subprime lenders are dead. One of the prime lenders, American Home Mortgage just announced a disatrous earnings warning. In the big picture this unprecedented rise in home prices will be but a blip.

When it is all finished, absolutely you will be able to buy a house in San Diego on an engineers salary.

[temeculaguy]

Deadzone is right. You can read all the graphs and talk to as many experts as you like but your situation is the true “canary in the coal mine.” When educated young professionals with decent jobs can’t buy a modest home in a modest area, there’s nowhere to go but down. It’s not like you are looking for a premium area or a coastal area. When the white collar workers can’t live in the blue collar neighborhoods the writing is on the walls. I don’t know your wife-to-be but my wife in 1991 just had to have that new house with the white washed oak cabinets. In Jan 1992 we closed escrow. I was upside down until 1998 and could have bought my exact house on another street in 1995 or 1996 for just over half of what I paid. At an auction of a repo (I was outbid by 17k in trying to aquire my first rental, damn those sealed bid fha repos). But she had to have it and just like any young husband, happy wife/happy life I thought. I have lots of excuses (I was young, there was no internet, I was raised in the 80’s and houses always went up in value as far back as I could remember). I even paid a retired couple to sit in line for three days so I could get the one I wanted when the phase was released. You aren’t going to get a big house in Carlsbad for 300k but you will get one in Mira Mesa for that. Rent Karate Kid at blockbuster and listen to Mr. Myagi, “patience grasshopper.”

[SD Realtor]

Jimmy I would agree with asianautica as well. I cannot say how far down the market will drop although Mira Mesa has a high probability of getting whacked hard. I do think that the pricing on the house you focussed on can go down much further. Try to hang loose if you can. Your deal will come. As a father with a few new kids, I cannot tell you how nice it is to have a mother in law to help out, ours lives with us… So I see why you need to be near yours.

SD Realtor

[jimmyle]

asianautica,

I hope you are right. It would be nice to buy a house like that under $500K.

There was another Blackstad house listed for $549K (1800+ sq ft). We checked it out but didn’t like it because the back yard fence got knocked down, the bathrooms and kitchens needed replacement). Bedrooms have laminated woods (bad idea). Stairs were squeaky. The owner seemed depressed when we talked to him. Anyway, it went into foreclosure today.

[Author]

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