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bearishgurl
Participant[quote=ltsdd][quote=bearishgurl]La Mesa is absolutely boomer heaven! My bouts of vertigo won’t let me live on those narrow roads up high on Mt Helix, but LM village and the location of ltsdd’s listing on the other side of the mtn (bordering Rancho SD) are just perfect. I’ve driven all thru that area many times and I really like it!
I would have to get used to A/C, though. When I stayed in relatives’ homes in “flyover country” in the summer, I found that I don’t care for the smell of A/C inside a home. Some systems are better than others.
ltsdd, are you considering buying a home in La Mesa?[/quote]
I would absolutely would consider buying in LM as soon as I could figure out what high-tech companies is out there. In the mean-time I’ll work on getting a 4×4 truck and the chewing and spitting tobacco thing down pat. Once I get that down I should fit right in in la mesa.[/quote]
Well, your English is getting there. However, if you were planning on spitting tobacco on a LM street corner, I think you’ll quickly find that you’re in the wrong town. You must be confusing LM with Lakeside … or Flinn Springs. If you’re going to hone those skills, you’d best buy an RV instead of a 4×4 and find a place to park it and property “skirt” it out a little further east with your “brethren.” You can always take the 52 into work. After all, it’s just over ten minutes from Santee and Lakeside/FS is just another hop and a skip. No sweat!
ParticipantLa Mesa is absolutely boomer heaven! My bouts of vertigo won’t let me live on those narrow roads up high on Mt Helix, but LM village and the location of ltsdd’s listing on the other side of the mtn (bordering Rancho SD) are just perfect. I’ve driven all thru that area many times and I really like it!
I would have to get used to A/C, though. When I stayed in relatives’ homes in “flyover country” in the summer, I found that I don’t care for the smell of A/C inside a home. Some systems are better than others.
ltsdd, are you considering buying a home in La Mesa?
Participant[quote=ltsdd][quote=spdrun]Who wants to be in a gated prison with an HOA, cameras, and security guards? I wonder if the gates are to keep the riff-raff out or the residents in.
I’d sooner move to San Quentin. At least room and board are free and it has great views of San Francisco Bay.[/quote]
May be this is more like it for you. Mid-century charm with a much lower price tag
https://www.redfin.com/CA/La-Mesa/4225-Calavo-Dr-91941/home/5645203
[/quote]Wow, that’s a really nice house! And a one-story is a bonus! Love the lot, too. Overall, very very nice. And reasonable. Almost perfect except I would redo the FP in rock or brick.
I kind of even like the green carpet if it is in good shape.
Thanks so much for sharing, ltsdd!
Participant[quote=spdrun]Who wants to be in a gated prison with an HOA, cameras, and security guards? I wonder if the gates are to keep the riff-raff out or the residents in.
I’d sooner move to San Quentin. At least room and board are free and it has great views of San Francisco Bay.[/quote]
LOL … Alcatraz has an even better view. You could get a job there as a museum docent and hob-nob with tourists from all over the world five days per week, spdrun! Job includes unlimited free ferry rides to/from SF!
ParticipantIn looking at the photos of the Bacara Ct listing (facing the opposite direction of the other two listings), it shows a dirt road on the hill behind the dirt backyard (poss easement for utility vehicles?)
http://www.sdlookup.com/Pictures-150009728
Behind that dirt road about 150 to 200 yards are multiple high-powered lines.
I wonder if the image on the google satellite map behind the Cobble Creek listing is also a utility easement. I can’t see any lines on that side from the image but it is possible that they are there.
Participant[quote=Dukehorn]What a cluster@#$@ of a thread. Here’s an easy way to look at it. If tuition for private school for my two kids is 25k each year for 7 years, at a minimum, I’m willing to toss in that extra $350k into a house with a junior high/high school rated in the 850s or above–easy, no questions asked.
I might be willing to drop my kids down into a lower scoring school but it would be nice for them to have AP classes. I wouldn’t drop them into a 600s scoring high school ever. I agree with flu that having a discourse on college admissions scoring students higher from a worse performing high school is a stupid thread piece–is spdrun going to give us sociology studies about what happens when kids are extremely bored at school for 7 straight years. hint, it usually doesn’t turn out well.[/quote]
I agree that this has turned into a cluster@#$@ of a thread, Dukehorn.
I’m going to take a stab at this and say that in SD County, private elementary school is about $35K per kid, middle school is $15K per kid and HS is $30K per kid. Total of 13 years (incl K) for $80K per kid. That’s $160K for two kids. If your kids are already in school and you’re just calculating 7 years of public school after you move, then it would be less. That is … unless you want them in Francis Parker or other really expensive HS.
I haven’t looked into secular private HS’s but the Catholic HS’s in SD County have a very rigorous and challenging college-prep curriculum. Also, ALL public HS’s in CA (excepting “continuation” HS) offer AP classes. However, some HS’s offer more AP classes than others. Most schools rated 7 and up have at least 4 AP offerings. Very, very few HS’s in the state rate a 9 and I’m not sure if there are any HS’s in CA which rate a 10 (there may be a handful).
I agree that a HS rated a 6 may not be the best choice for a bright kid.
I think spdrun was just suggesting a valid way to “beat the system.” flu himself has posted several threads here lamenting the fact that he feels Asians are “over-represented” at the UC and therefore his kid (however deserving at the time of application) will be overlooked in favor of a less-deserving applicant from an under-represented group. In his defense, he did have a point as his kid will likely attend TPHS (if he still lives in CV) and will have to work their butt off to have a class ranking anywhere near the top 9% of that HS, which is highly competitive. The ELC is an accepted route to UC admission. An ELC applicant is not guaranteed admission to the campus(es) of their choice but they are guaranteed admission into a UC campus.
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/california-residents/local-path/index.html
Dukehorn, I don’t know how old your kid(s) are but you will find (if you haven’t already) that getting accepted into any UC (or CSU campus, for that matter) is nowhere near as easy as it used to be. All the “rules” for admission have changed in the last 2-3 years and thousands of hopeful highly-qualified CA-resident HS graduates are left out in the cold by mid-April.
I highly recommend that all UC/CSU applicants (both freshman and junior) apply to at least six campuses (of each system, if applying to both systems) and be willing to take one of their choices down the line, if offered to them.
ParticipantWhy don’t any of these listings discuss the time, expense and great effort these beleaguered sellers took to install super-deluxe slither-proof snake fences around these properties? I don’t see this amenity mentioned at all!
And I want to know exactly WHICH carriers (if any) will still write homeowner policies around there, especially for the listings in links 2 and 3. (The OP’s listing is one street, or the 3rd roof in but that doesn’t mean much when an 50′ high inferno is raging 100 yards or so behind it.) And how much do those policies cost nowadays (any insurance-professionals out there)?
Also, I could really use some help with this map:
A whitish-colored straight line running diagonally down the hill behind the Cobble Creek listing terminates just behind the (next-door) lot directly to the east and starts back up the hill 4 houses down to the east.
I can’t tell but it looks as if it could be a a single or double high-power line …. or a concrete trench of some sort. (It doesn’t appear to have any support behind those 3 homes.)
Does any Pigg with better eyesight than me or personal knowledge know what this is and why it is there?
I note the OP’s listing features some carpeting here and there and 2 pre-formed plastic-type bath/shower enclosures … while sporting the highest asking price of the 3 at $1.8M.
Were you considering defecting from CV and moving out to lizardland, flu?
Participantflu, clearly, you’re now trying to “pollute” the thread.
Panties in a bunch lately? What’s wrong, flu? You can tell the Piggs.
Believe it or not, I always considered you as one of the most successful of the enginerds on this board. It had nothing to do with your housing choices or anything like that.
It was because of your breadth of experience in your field. And the fact that you know how to “relax.”
Don’t you have any track cars that are up and running right now?
Why don’t you go take a spin this evening?
Participant[quote=FlyerInHi]Of course, the most expensive house, if you can afford it, or even sacrifice by stretching for your kids.
The reason is simply in the thinking that the extra value in the house will be always be there.[/quote]Agreed.
But during the years their kid(s) are using those schools (12 – 20 years for those whose oldest is in first grade), the parents have to pay the (increased) mortgage and taxes based upon a higher assessment at the time of purchase plus 2% compounded per year. How much is this difference every month?
That extra monthly outlay (minus any of it being applied to principle) isn’t paying down their debt and thus can’t be recovered upon sale. Perhaps the extra amount of interest (to buy the better schools with a higher mtg) used for the MID would benefit most families on their tax return.
The parents purchasing the higher-priced home have also invested more of their own money towards the downpayment which cannot now be deployed elsewhere.
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I just thought of something. Private schools run about $4-10k yr through grade 8 for one kid (Catholic schools being the least expensive). Private HS’s (both religious and secular) run $10-$20K per year per kid.
I can see why some families choose this option, especially if they have “inherited” an older home in an area where the schools aren’t considered as good. Also, for those parents who took an oppty to purchase their “dream” period home in the urban core and only have 1-2 kids.
ParticipantFolks, I want to know exactly how much $$ your kid(s) right to attend particular public schools is worth to you (per kid). Let’s assume one in first grade, one in K and and any other kids are not in school yet so let’s assume 2 kids, for discussion purposes.
Let’s break it down here:
What is a “good school” . . . say 9 to 10 on Great Schools) “worth” to a parent today (over and above a similar-sized home situated in an area costing much less with a 7 – 8 school score on Great Schools)?
Another option is: where should a parent of two school-age children today put their homebuying funds based upon what they can afford? Examples:
Elem school 10
Middle school 9
High school 8House cost will be $850K, rent will be $3500 mo;
Elem school 9
Middle school 8
High school 8Same house will cost $650K; rent will be $3000 mo, OR:
Elem school 8
Middle school 7
High school 8Same house will cost $550K; rent will be $2500 mo.
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Food for thought: What would the right to attend a particular HS with a “9” score be worth to a parent who has, say, only a 13 and 14 yo the time of home purchase?
Use money, please, i.e. “I would spend $150K more ($75K per kid for two kids) for a home located in an “8” high school attendance area than I would pay for a similar home situated in “7” HS attendance area” (all other factors being equal). Thanks.
Participant[quote=flu]This is awesome. I’m glad the pigg resident real estate experts are now finally talking about homes in San Gabriel Valley, with equal conviction as homes in North County without (1) living there (2) doing business there and (3) having purchased/rented there. I’ll now watch and learn what experts on SGV say now. and learn from it……by thinking completely the opposite. That appears to be more an accurate pulse of what really happens, based on previous track records of expert advice from LETDLITA’s!!!… Carry on ![/quote]
No need to worry, flu. Those listings in the SGV (although a much better deal than CV) aren’t your “direct competition.”
You can breathe easier, now.
Participant[quote=FlyerInHi]BG, the San Gabriel Valley is a big place. Carmel Valley, San Diego is just a neighborhood of ~45,000.
If you just go by school API, I believe that Carmel Valley is cheaper.
Show me some listings in SGV to backup your assertions.[/quote]
Not sure what you’re asking for here, FIH.
Yes, the SGV is a HUGE place but my point was that Asians will buy a home wherever they feel comfortable doing so. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a newer econobox or McMansion, as is most of the inventory in CV.
What is the percentage of buyers shopping in CV which are only engaging in bidding wars for schools?
Are “schools” the only (or biggest) reason why a homebuyer in CV will repeatedly engage in bidding wars just to (hopefully) have the “winning” bid on any house at all there?
Participant[quote=FlyerInHi]BG, new construction do not contribute to escalating prices. New houses hold down appreciation of old houses.[/quote]
I don’t think ALL newer-construction tracts are currently escalating in value, FIH. Just a few are, which are either in a particular location or have a particular footprint (~2700 – 3500 sf econobox or Mcmansion) usually situated on a small lot with HOA/MR).
Yes, the presence of newer construction DOES (indirectly) hold down values of adjacent older construction, purely due to increased choices for the buyer, which can be confusing because the older and newer listings are not “apples to apples” comparisons. (I covered this issue.) Just because today’s buyers have more choice doesn’t mean they are actually choosing correctly for their long-term needs.
I think most of them are just “complacent,” as Jazzman stated. They don’t want a house that is not completely “turnkey.” If they do decide to venture into an older area and find a listing that is “turnkey,” if all the surrounding homes don’t appear “turnkey-looking,” they don’t want to make an offer.
In the newer area, everything “appears” more turnkey from the street but many of the backyards are still dirt and in some tracts, plastic shades or sheets still hang in some or all of the windows in some houses a decade after being built. The other invisible issue in some of these tracts is there is a large percentage of homeowners delinquent on HOA dues and their taxes (primarily due to the large MR assessments added to their tax bills) which were never fully budgeted for by the homeowner.
The high delinquency rate for the HOAs of some newer home tracts doesn’t bode well for new buyers.
Participant[quote=FlyerInHi][quote=Jazzman]
My view is that RE has been highjacked in many places and these places share things in common. They tend to be English or Asian speaking, major metropolitan conurbations, with an industry that drives it and a government that accommodates it. In other words, a culture has been built up around it. [/quote]You’re on to something… but when will it all unravel?
If you’re mobile and retired, then you have more choices… But what if you must live in London or Hong Kong. Your only choice is to live in a closet.[/quote]
The San Gabriel Valley isn’t going to “unravel” any time soon. Most of it is “self contained,” meaning there is an abundance of “mom and pop” and other closely-owned larger businesses there. In addition, there are lots well-paying jobs for its residents within a 20 – 45 min commute (west to LA and south to the OC). And they aren’t all concentrated into just ONE sector (ex: tech).
Of course, the SGV is still fairly reasonable to purchase a house in and never had the intense run-up in “values” (as did Carmel Valley).
The SGV is a great example of good bang for the buck in home values while still living in an inner suburban ring (having reasonable commute times) in a CA coastal county. And a new beautiful Metrolink station was recently finished almost 50 miles inland within the “City of Industry.”
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