[Carlsbadliving]

And what good is 5% going to do if all your stocks get wiped out?

[Carlsbadliving]

I couldn’t agree more.

When it does come time to buy, I will do everything in my power to avoid buying into an HOA.

I always remember my dad saying “I’d much rather put up with a broken down car in somebodies front yard than someone telling me I can’t put up a basketball hoop.”

[Carlsbadliving]

Thanks for the link. I figured they were about 6-12 months behind SD.

[Carlsbadliving]

Brian,

I don’t imagine rental rates continuing to climb too much higher. First off we aren’t seeing a huge influx of migration coming into San Diego. Second off we aren’t going to see a giant number of people moving from homeowners to renters, simply because they can’t sell their houses fast enough. I think there are plenty of owners out there right now wishing they could rent but are stuck with that house on the market. I think that any frenzy in the rental market will settle down soon enough.

What part of Washington are you moving from? My wife and I actually moved from Seattle three years and may be returning within the next year. What do you hear about the market up there?

And why Carlsbad?

[Carlsbadliving]

As far as I know, if you have that 700k mortgage and the bank unloads the house for 500k, you will be taxed on the 200k as if it were income. That’s no small piece of change.

[Carlsbadliving]

I see the bottom in early/mid 2008. I think this will shakeout fairly quickly with 2007 seeing the sharpest declines. All the upcoming ARM resets will help prices drop quickly.

At least this is what I’ll be rooting for. The sooner we get to the bottom, the sooner I can buy. Plus I think a quick and painful price drop will do less harm to the economy than 6-8 yrs of slow declines.

[Carlsbadliving]

PC,

I like the parallel between the housing market and Iraq. It appears that the adiminstration is chasing down the market, so to say. The President “bought” Iraq in 2003 watched it chug along, everthing appeared to be going well (even declaring victory), but now his ARM is resetting and he refuses to believe that the value will ever go down. However, current appraisals of Iraq are showing a rapidly declining market price.

Unfortunatley, this is one foreclosure that will hurt more than all the rest.

[Carlsbadliving]

The conversions will absolutely cool. They already have, with many proposed conversions being turned back into rentals.

[Carlsbadliving]

I can add to question 3:

It all depends on the City regulations. Most cities have different regs for apartments and condos. Carlsbad for instance requires additional parking, more recreation space, extra storage, etc for condo units. They associate a higher standard of living with the condo vs. the apartment. So when it comes time to convert, the builder would have to upgrade all the amenities, which is some cases isn’t possible (not enough room for parking, extra storage, etc.). By doing this Carlsbad has been able to prevent the mass conversions. As far as I know there have been only several small (handful of units) conversions in Carlsbad.

Other cities, including San Diego have much less restrictions on the conversions. A simple facelift and airspace subdivision and you’re done. This led to WAY too many conversions in San Diego. You might have read that recently San Diego has considered tightening their regulations and even had a lawsuit over whether an environmental review was necessary for the conversion.

[Carlsbadliving]

Iraq isn’t a financial problem? The half trillion $$ or so that we’ll spend in Iraq isn’t a problem?

[Carlsbadliving]

The landfill is the green colored portion to the south of the main development area. 

[Carlsbadliving]

Bressi is in the Carlsbad school district. Rancho Carillo to the east is in the San Mucus school district.

[Carlsbadliving]

San Elijo is near an old landfill. Bressi is not.

[Carlsbadliving]

It also sounds like you’re in a good position to wait, living in the in-laws house. Take advantage of the situation and save up for a down payment. You’ll be very happy you waited in a few years.

[Carlsbadliving]

Here's the link. 

I'm sure that a large number of the lower-income people in the County recently stretched to buy that first house.  Obviously they don't have the income to support it. 

 In the past we've talked about not enough high paying jobs in the County, well, it appears there aren't even enough mid-paying jobs. 

 

ljr – check the link, they give a breakdown of income, 24% make between 60k and 100k. 

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