[applejack]

Actually, gold and brass are the new (again) cool thing. Stainless is still a safe option but is starting to get old and have less style impact.

[applejack]

I didn’t understand the appeal of places like Carmel Valley and Scripps Ranch until I had school-age kids. Now that I do, these areas make total sense to me: peace of mind of knowing your kids are at great schools and that their peers will be similarly motivated. Also, the convenience of not having to drive them long distances for good schools, sports and lessons. CV has the added advantage of being very close to the coast and SV tech jobs. If you have 2-3+ kids, the advantages compound.

As far as this timeshare in CV is concerned, my guess is that it would look attractive to someone that lives in a very cold place (like Toronto) to come hang out at a 5 star resort in San Diego every winter.

[applejack]

Update: We decided to move forward with the house, despite the low appraisal. Our mortgage broker helped us appeal the original appraisal, and the new appraisal was was only 30k below our agreed upon price. These are the reasons:

1. The PITI is equivalent to the rent we are paying, but the house is nicer than our rental. Monthly expenses will actually go down due to solar panels on new house.

2. We think the stock market and housing market are BOTH over valued right now. If we keep renting, we do not want to put the down payment money into the stock market. Bonds are also a bad option right now, and I don’t want to hold that amount of money as cash. The downpayment is 20% of our net worth. It makes sense to diversify where we are holding our money.

3. We like the house and think we will stay there at least 5 years.

4. If they had multiple offers at list price, it seems like the price we are paying is actually the true market value. (or the market is too heated, not sure about this one.)

5. My husband wouldn’t let me not buy it. He really likes it. I actually wanted to walk away from the deal and wait until the market cools, but he was pretty upset about that idea. All of the upgrades and style choices are exactly what we would have chosen.

So there you have it — a case study on the fools that pay inflated prices for their house! Haha!! I hope it works out!

[applejack]

Vees, I think Scripps Ranch is one of the best communities for families! Very strong sense of community and the schools are good all the way through high school. It’s like living in a small town. My husband does the commute from SR to SV and it takes about 10-20 minutes via MM Blvd. It’s a very manageable commute. It will take longer depending on house far east you are in SR. Carmel Valley is also nice and I agree the location is better — shorter commute and closer to the ocean. There is a different vibe though, and in the lower price ranges the yards are often quite small. I guess you should check out both communities and see where you feel more comfortable.

[applejack]

My agent says that houses are appraising low right now due to the rapidly rising market. Sellers agent says the house will be worth a lot more by the end of he summer, and they already have a back up offer in place so they don’t care about our appraisal. Apparently they had a lot of offers. House went pending within days. Mortgage broker says they deal with a lot of transactions and they haven’t been seeing low appraisals. Is it pretty normal for houses with really nice landscaping and back yards (very beautiful pool, etc) to appraise low?

[applejack]

Wow, thanks for all the comments! A little more background: We knew we would be paying more for the house than the recent sales, but it is due to (in our mind) the size of the lot and the beautiful landscaping. It’s the type of yard where you feel like you are in a resort. I guess we thought that would be accounted for in the appraisal, especially since many of the recent sales in the area had very small and undeveloped back yards. Another issue is that we are only looking in a small area of a certain neighborhood, and it seems like someone has to die before a house comes on the market! There haven’t been too many sales in the past year in the particular area we like, but of those, many of the sales were estate sales. I am pregnant, so that adds some urgency to our situation. However, I feel like we are back in the the 2006/2007 crazy housing mania, and I don’t want to be paying 50k over the appraised value if the market is going to turn south! Or maybe I am just having cold feet…or pregnancy hormones…

[applejack]

Yes, they had already accepted another offer. If only they had waited a few more days they would have had an extra 135k in their pockets (minus realtor commissions). I guess I have learned that when selling my own house, I won’t accept any offers when more showings have been scheduled! My offer was close to their list price, but I guess they accepted a low ball offer. 🙁

[applejack]

I take a bath at least three times a week, so I think having a separate tub is very important! It sounds like I am alone on that, though.

[applejack]

I take a bath at least three times a week, so I think having a separate tub is very important! It sounds like I am alone on that, though.

[applejack]

I take a bath at least three times a week, so I think having a separate tub is very important! It sounds like I am alone on that, though.

[applejack]

I take a bath at least three times a week, so I think having a separate tub is very important! It sounds like I am alone on that, though.

[applejack]

I take a bath at least three times a week, so I think having a separate tub is very important! It sounds like I am alone on that, though.

[applejack]

I agree with the comments that this is not so much an issue with the house but with my husband’s and my expectations and differences. We haven’t lived near either of our families before, and I had a feeling that there might be some issues because our lifestyles are so different than my family’s lifestyle or his family’s. We’ve always lived in very dense urban areas and haven’t owned cars since college (we both grew up in California and then moved), while my family is SUV-driving, suburban stock and his is truck-driving rural stock! Still, I do like the coastal areas because I grew up near the beach but I am concerned that we would never be able to find a “unique” house in our price range on the coast.

[applejack]

I agree with the comments that this is not so much an issue with the house but with my husband’s and my expectations and differences. We haven’t lived near either of our families before, and I had a feeling that there might be some issues because our lifestyles are so different than my family’s lifestyle or his family’s. We’ve always lived in very dense urban areas and haven’t owned cars since college (we both grew up in California and then moved), while my family is SUV-driving, suburban stock and his is truck-driving rural stock! Still, I do like the coastal areas because I grew up near the beach but I am concerned that we would never be able to find a “unique” house in our price range on the coast.

[applejack]

I agree with the comments that this is not so much an issue with the house but with my husband’s and my expectations and differences. We haven’t lived near either of our families before, and I had a feeling that there might be some issues because our lifestyles are so different than my family’s lifestyle or his family’s. We’ve always lived in very dense urban areas and haven’t owned cars since college (we both grew up in California and then moved), while my family is SUV-driving, suburban stock and his is truck-driving rural stock! Still, I do like the coastal areas because I grew up near the beach but I am concerned that we would never be able to find a “unique” house in our price range on the coast.

[Author]

Posts