Starter home or condo in Encinitas

[hawk]

sdr, I have noticed prices slipping in Cambria, I have only driven by…too bad I won’t see you at Vons as I am a Stater Bros fan myself! Vons does have double coupons back though so maybe I will make a switch

We really do not mind an older home and/ or a fixer upper. It seems that we are in a quandary b/c we do not want a 2 bdrm condo and have to move in a few years when we decide to have kids. That puts us in a pretty highly priced condo which is only about 50-75k lower than a smaller 3 bdrm fixer upper in Village Park.

Right now I am just monitoring the market and saving as much as we can. We will likely stay put for a long time when we finally find the place, especially if its a house.

SD Realtor, that is pretty funny about your client in Hillcrest. My opinion is if I am going to live far away from my job, I better LOVE the place, and it should be near the coaster.

I know the condo in village park that was sold by sdr or SD R (sorry that confuses me, I am home sick so a little slow). We went out looking once with a realtor and went to the “crazy” guys condo about 3 months ago. He was not in touch with reality. He told us that another condo had sold 8 months before at a certain price and he didn’t want to go lower. We didn’t take him to task b/c my husband coaches his son but we got a kick out of his stubbornness!

[hawk]

sdr, I have noticed prices slipping in Cambria, I have only driven by…too bad I won’t see you at Vons as I am a Stater Bros fan myself! Vons does have double coupons back though so maybe I will make a switch

We really do not mind an older home and/ or a fixer upper. It seems that we are in a quandary b/c we do not want a 2 bdrm condo and have to move in a few years when we decide to have kids. That puts us in a pretty highly priced condo which is only about 50-75k lower than a smaller 3 bdrm fixer upper in Village Park.

Right now I am just monitoring the market and saving as much as we can. We will likely stay put for a long time when we finally find the place, especially if its a house.

SD Realtor, that is pretty funny about your client in Hillcrest. My opinion is if I am going to live far away from my job, I better LOVE the place, and it should be near the coaster.

I know the condo in village park that was sold by sdr or SD R (sorry that confuses me, I am home sick so a little slow). We went out looking once with a realtor and went to the “crazy” guys condo about 3 months ago. He was not in touch with reality. He told us that another condo had sold 8 months before at a certain price and he didn’t want to go lower. We didn’t take him to task b/c my husband coaches his son but we got a kick out of his stubbornness!

[CardiffBaseball]

I guess if you don’t plan on having kids, a condo would be ok, but if you harbor any desire to have a family, then detached homes in Encinitas are a better way to go. I can just picture you wanting a yard for the kids to play, so you’d move. Then you would have to unload the condo, because it’s likely at today’s prices or even one year out, costs, it will never cashflow as a rental. Unless you have a huge downpayment very few people would pay $3500 month to rent a condo.

Another option is to look at a Duplex, as there are plenty of decent ones over in Park Place. At least there you’ll have a full driveway, and two-car garage. I have seen several decent size duplexes sitting on Lake for quite awhile. 4 BR types if I am not mistaken, but I haven’t paid attention recently to see if those have sold.

[CardiffBaseball]

I guess if you don’t plan on having kids, a condo would be ok, but if you harbor any desire to have a family, then detached homes in Encinitas are a better way to go. I can just picture you wanting a yard for the kids to play, so you’d move. Then you would have to unload the condo, because it’s likely at today’s prices or even one year out, costs, it will never cashflow as a rental. Unless you have a huge downpayment very few people would pay $3500 month to rent a condo.

Another option is to look at a Duplex, as there are plenty of decent ones over in Park Place. At least there you’ll have a full driveway, and two-car garage. I have seen several decent size duplexes sitting on Lake for quite awhile. 4 BR types if I am not mistaken, but I haven’t paid attention recently to see if those have sold.

[hawk]

4plexowner, I think you are correct in your observation that condos are not as good as an investment as a sfr. I think that your statement about condos being one rung up from mobiles home is, well crazy!

There are mobile home complexes near my residence (I have heard that they are some of the nicest due to their location by the beach) but come on!

I would give them AT LEAST 5 rungs up that ladder.

If your advice is never buy a condo only a sfr, I understand, but making outrageous comments doesn’t help.

[hawk]

4plexowner, I think you are correct in your observation that condos are not as good as an investment as a sfr. I think that your statement about condos being one rung up from mobiles home is, well crazy!

There are mobile home complexes near my residence (I have heard that they are some of the nicest due to their location by the beach) but come on!

I would give them AT LEAST 5 rungs up that ladder.

If your advice is never buy a condo only a sfr, I understand, but making outrageous comments doesn’t help.

[hawk]

CardiffBaseball I think you may be right. Our hope with a condo would be that we don’t want kids for a few years (we are newlyweds) and that we would wait to sell when they were in school. You then have to factor in moving costs etc.

I have seen one or two of the duplexes on Lake on the MLS. At this point they are out of my price range but they look nice. I will have to check it out.

Thanks again for the advice, its really helpful

[hawk]

CardiffBaseball I think you may be right. Our hope with a condo would be that we don’t want kids for a few years (we are newlyweds) and that we would wait to sell when they were in school. You then have to factor in moving costs etc.

I have seen one or two of the duplexes on Lake on the MLS. At this point they are out of my price range but they look nice. I will have to check it out.

Thanks again for the advice, its really helpful

[SD Realtor]

Actually she is into fixing things up but yeah I tried to tell her that the twin homes out there are few and far between and what is there, is well… well you know… She has a Park Village fixation and also is thinking alot about Summerhill.

The main point as you said is that townhomes out in 92024, especially of better quality seem to have held up well.

SSD Realtor

[SD Realtor]

Actually she is into fixing things up but yeah I tried to tell her that the twin homes out there are few and far between and what is there, is well… well you know… She has a Park Village fixation and also is thinking alot about Summerhill.

The main point as you said is that townhomes out in 92024, especially of better quality seem to have held up well.

SSD Realtor

[an]

I don’t think that outrageous at all. What else can you think of that’s below condo and above mobile home?

[an]

I don’t think that outrageous at all. What else can you think of that’s below condo and above mobile home?

[sdrealtor]

a tent

[sdrealtor]

a tent

[sdrealtor]

The VP homes are only about 1200 sq ft while there are 3BR townhomes between 1400 and 2100 sq ft for less. The bigger ones also tend to be in better elementary school boundaries. We were in the same boat a decade ago and went the townhome and had our first child there. If we were still there it would have been fine. My only regret is not holding onto it when we mved up as it would be cash flow positive by about $1000/month today for us as a rental.

You wouldnt want to live on Lake and I shop mainly at Stater Bros myself. I just cant stand their deli counter which I’m sure you understand.

[Author]

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