Goodby, San Diego!

[lostkitty]

renterclint – Here is a bit of the lunacy you'll leave behind (as per zip-re):

"Just staged!!Quiet gracious retreat right in rsf village, shows beautifully!! Close to everything. Large living rm w/fireplace, sunny atrium w/doors open to all main rooms. Lg kitchen w/breakfast dining, sep dr. Pvt walled patio, 2 car gargage – ready for move-in. Show your most discerning buyer.

6161 PASEO DELICIAS, Rancho Santa Fe

$1.275,000 – $1,375,000"

Oh JOY!!!! A 'JUST-STAGED' CONDO! With a walled-in patio. Check out the photos … this is a nasty looking place – for 1.3M. Not worth 200k.  Revolting.

[Ozzie]

Just curious, lostkitty

You said you moved 5+ years ago and had pleny of savings and a well paying job in North County coastal. Why didn’t you buy back then? $500k would have gotten you a house that is probably now worth $900k and if you locked or re-fi’d in the low 5’s your payment on a $450k mortgage would be less than $2500/month. Rent for that same house today would far exceed the $2500.

[Ozzie]

Just curious, lostkitty

You said you moved 5+ years ago and had pleny of savings and a well paying job in North County coastal. Why didn’t you buy back then? $500k would have gotten you a house that is probably now worth $900k and if you locked or re-fi’d in the low 5’s your payment on a $450k mortgage would be less than $2500/month. Rent for that same house today would far exceed the $2500.

[sdrealtor]

Ozman,
Didnt you say you werent coming back.

sdr

[sdrealtor]

Ozman,
Didnt you say you werent coming back.

sdr

[sdcellar]

Good luck Clint! My wife and I have discussed moving up there. Maybe we’ll run into you some day.

[sdcellar]

Good luck Clint! My wife and I have discussed moving up there. Maybe we’ll run into you some day.

[lostkitty]

#1 Needed to move as the airline industry was tanking after 9/11 and we could see the handwriting on the wall – tough times ahead for pilots. (We were right, and pay was slashed by 44%!!! and we had to endure a short furlough during the next year or so) If we had stayed and had to weather that storm out in San Diego, our family would have suffered.

#2 We wanted a lower payment than that which you suggest for extra cash for savings and kids’ activities (in particular they have an expensive string-instrument habit… I mean hobby)

#3 Interest rates were not quite as low as that when we were looking to move. yes, we could have re-fi’d but, you telling me that is using 20/20 hindsight, and we do not make decisions for our family based on ‘hopes’ that interest rates will decrease. In early 2002 (when we left). Similarly, I would not have bought a house hoping to cash out and move up to a better one when prices increased. I already thought prices were out of line with reality in 2002 – at least my reality.

#4 When you add in taxes and maintenance, I think your $2500 is a lot low on a $500k house.

#5 In early 2002, there weren’t any $500k homes (that were large enough) in the areas we wanted to live. Some friends had just sold their nasty dark condo for 475K in Coronado near us. THAT is what we could have bought at the time. No thank you.

#6 We did not make quite as much at the time (close though), and our increased salary has come as a result of sticking in one place and making connections, and better job.

[lostkitty]

#1 Needed to move as the airline industry was tanking after 9/11 and we could see the handwriting on the wall – tough times ahead for pilots. (We were right, and pay was slashed by 44%!!! and we had to endure a short furlough during the next year or so) If we had stayed and had to weather that storm out in San Diego, our family would have suffered.

#2 We wanted a lower payment than that which you suggest for extra cash for savings and kids’ activities (in particular they have an expensive string-instrument habit… I mean hobby)

#3 Interest rates were not quite as low as that when we were looking to move. yes, we could have re-fi’d but, you telling me that is using 20/20 hindsight, and we do not make decisions for our family based on ‘hopes’ that interest rates will decrease. In early 2002 (when we left). Similarly, I would not have bought a house hoping to cash out and move up to a better one when prices increased. I already thought prices were out of line with reality in 2002 – at least my reality.

#4 When you add in taxes and maintenance, I think your $2500 is a lot low on a $500k house.

#5 In early 2002, there weren’t any $500k homes (that were large enough) in the areas we wanted to live. Some friends had just sold their nasty dark condo for 475K in Coronado near us. THAT is what we could have bought at the time. No thank you.

#6 We did not make quite as much at the time (close though), and our increased salary has come as a result of sticking in one place and making connections, and better job.

[renterclint]

Alex_angel,
I know what you mean about the “cars sliding around & hitting each other”. I already lived in Spokane for 5 years before returning to SD, and I was actually one of those cars (on the freeway no less)! Very scary & I was very fortunate to live to tell about it. That happened in my first couple years there. We Californian’s take a while to get used to driving on “black-ice” as they call it.

FormerSanDiegan,
Thanks for the kind words. I have to say the “You’ve ruined our state, Move Back to Cali” campaign is alive & well. The sad thing is we ex-Californians have really taking over that town in particular. I am returning to my previous employer where 20 out of 40 people in my department are from SoCal. We’re all very careful not to bring it up however. I can’t say I blame them for their animosity. I think the median income in Spokane is about $35k and 5 yrs ago a nice, big house would sell for around $130K. Now you need $250k for a fixer-upper. That’s not entirely our fault, but you hear many instances where SoCal folks come up & pay cash for house that the typical Spokanite can no longer afford. For instance, we sold our last Spokane house to a young couple from Manhattan Beach for just under $200k. They paid cash for it & the husband boasted how he did not plan on working for a few years because of all the $$ in the bank. It’s pretty easy for the homegrown folks to become resentful. Spokane has experienced a kind of appreciate that we might consider normal here, but there it is considered shocking.

Sdduuuude,
I actually looked for a Spokane Bubble site, but couldn’t find one. If things keep appreciating there the way they have, maybe I’ll start one myself. The realtor told us the South Hill area has gone up 27% in the last year. And she says many of the buyers are from out of state. They’re actually buying properties “site-unseen”.

Lostkitty,
You are great! I enjoyed your comments over the last couple of years as well. I guess I just assumed you were still living down here. In what area up North are you residing? People from Easter Washington always make it a point to clarify that they are not from the West side (the land of gray days & liberals). Not to get political, but I am a steadfast centralist/independent, but in ultra-conservative Spokane I’m considered a screaming “Pinko”. My friends down here get a good laugh at that. I try to explain to the Spokane folks that Orange County is the Republican stronghold of the west, but they just can’t believe it – Cali is the land of fruits & nuts… as they say.

Even if the San Diego market gets better in a year or two, I’m a done deal. After all of the change I’ve put my little family through, I am determined to stay in Spokane for a long while. At least until the kids are out of school. Maybe after that I’ll just get a double-wide in a senior living trailer park in Encinitas for just under $1 Mill.

Thanks everybody!

[renterclint]

Alex_angel,
I know what you mean about the “cars sliding around & hitting each other”. I already lived in Spokane for 5 years before returning to SD, and I was actually one of those cars (on the freeway no less)! Very scary & I was very fortunate to live to tell about it. That happened in my first couple years there. We Californian’s take a while to get used to driving on “black-ice” as they call it.

FormerSanDiegan,
Thanks for the kind words. I have to say the “You’ve ruined our state, Move Back to Cali” campaign is alive & well. The sad thing is we ex-Californians have really taking over that town in particular. I am returning to my previous employer where 20 out of 40 people in my department are from SoCal. We’re all very careful not to bring it up however. I can’t say I blame them for their animosity. I think the median income in Spokane is about $35k and 5 yrs ago a nice, big house would sell for around $130K. Now you need $250k for a fixer-upper. That’s not entirely our fault, but you hear many instances where SoCal folks come up & pay cash for house that the typical Spokanite can no longer afford. For instance, we sold our last Spokane house to a young couple from Manhattan Beach for just under $200k. They paid cash for it & the husband boasted how he did not plan on working for a few years because of all the $$ in the bank. It’s pretty easy for the homegrown folks to become resentful. Spokane has experienced a kind of appreciate that we might consider normal here, but there it is considered shocking.

Sdduuuude,
I actually looked for a Spokane Bubble site, but couldn’t find one. If things keep appreciating there the way they have, maybe I’ll start one myself. The realtor told us the South Hill area has gone up 27% in the last year. And she says many of the buyers are from out of state. They’re actually buying properties “site-unseen”.

Lostkitty,
You are great! I enjoyed your comments over the last couple of years as well. I guess I just assumed you were still living down here. In what area up North are you residing? People from Easter Washington always make it a point to clarify that they are not from the West side (the land of gray days & liberals). Not to get political, but I am a steadfast centralist/independent, but in ultra-conservative Spokane I’m considered a screaming “Pinko”. My friends down here get a good laugh at that. I try to explain to the Spokane folks that Orange County is the Republican stronghold of the west, but they just can’t believe it – Cali is the land of fruits & nuts… as they say.

Even if the San Diego market gets better in a year or two, I’m a done deal. After all of the change I’ve put my little family through, I am determined to stay in Spokane for a long while. At least until the kids are out of school. Maybe after that I’ll just get a double-wide in a senior living trailer park in Encinitas for just under $1 Mill.

Thanks everybody!

[lostkitty]

Thanks for the compliment renterclint. : )

I am actually in the Northeast though… Upstate NY (hence, the ice and sliding cars reference – although for the past few months it has been sun and flowers). Good for you in leaving San Diego behind. That income thread in off-topic really hit home for me. People have a lot of money, and feel they shouldnt buy at those prices.
I dont even understand why anyone would stick around San Diego and try. Yes, weather is good, but what else?

Traffic/roads? … nope, not good.
Town character/cool architecture? … nope (besides downtown LaJolla, Coronado & DelMar which are impossible to get in and out of because of … traffic!)
Good schools?… nope, not even close.
Good government/economy?… nope.
Good country clubs to join for connecting socially?…. nope – too expensive out there!
Good music/arts for the kids at school?… nope.
Nurturing community for kids? .. Like oh-my-god, like totally gag me! She is like SO fat! Did you see her shirt? Oh my god, I think she like bought it at like Target or something – eeewwwww…. Nasty trash girl!

It is great for vacations and retirement, not for raising kids. Will be nice on old bones/joints to leave the house and have it be the same temperature constantly, but for that little house or condo, I can wait and save.

Good luck renterclint!

[lostkitty]

Thanks for the compliment renterclint. : )

I am actually in the Northeast though… Upstate NY (hence, the ice and sliding cars reference – although for the past few months it has been sun and flowers). Good for you in leaving San Diego behind. That income thread in off-topic really hit home for me. People have a lot of money, and feel they shouldnt buy at those prices.
I dont even understand why anyone would stick around San Diego and try. Yes, weather is good, but what else?

Traffic/roads? … nope, not good.
Town character/cool architecture? … nope (besides downtown LaJolla, Coronado & DelMar which are impossible to get in and out of because of … traffic!)
Good schools?… nope, not even close.
Good government/economy?… nope.
Good country clubs to join for connecting socially?…. nope – too expensive out there!
Good music/arts for the kids at school?… nope.
Nurturing community for kids? .. Like oh-my-god, like totally gag me! She is like SO fat! Did you see her shirt? Oh my god, I think she like bought it at like Target or something – eeewwwww…. Nasty trash girl!

It is great for vacations and retirement, not for raising kids. Will be nice on old bones/joints to leave the house and have it be the same temperature constantly, but for that little house or condo, I can wait and save.

Good luck renterclint!

[Anonymous]

Aw, lk, tell your husband to get off his duff and earn some money. Then, you could afford a nice little Cape Cod in LJ, Bishops, sailing in Mission Bay on weekends, a nice backyard for the beagle, evening walks on quiet, tree-lined streets with a cool evening breeze, and bum off your friends who have the membership at the Beach and Tennis Club.

Is there a more spectacular setting for youth baseball and soccer than Cliffridge Field, set on a hill, with its commanding views of the Pacific?

You public school kids sure are a whiny lot.

Tell your husband to quit watching TV and quaffing Bud and to up his earning power.

[Anonymous]

Aw, lk, tell your husband to get off his duff and earn some money. Then, you could afford a nice little Cape Cod in LJ, Bishops, sailing in Mission Bay on weekends, a nice backyard for the beagle, evening walks on quiet, tree-lined streets with a cool evening breeze, and bum off your friends who have the membership at the Beach and Tennis Club.

Is there a more spectacular setting for youth baseball and soccer than Cliffridge Field, set on a hill, with its commanding views of the Pacific?

You public school kids sure are a whiny lot.

Tell your husband to quit watching TV and quaffing Bud and to up his earning power.

[Author]

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