[Coronita]

Warren Buffet is most famous for VALUE investing. My own father in law lives a life of retirement luxury by buying undervalued stocks. I bought my first property in the UTC area, the area so many like to call a dump. It made me $125k in couple of years. My realtor bought his LJ Shores house for a mere 600k at around the same time. It's worth over 2 mil now. That's value investing in housing. Once it isn't a value anymore, sell. That is all.

I'd like to distinguish between folks that can consistenlyt turn a profit, and people that turned a profit being in the right place at the right time. The former I would think can turn a profit at any economic cycle. The latter is no different than those Qualcomm people that were in the right company at the right time. (no offense).

It's one thing to have flipped RE in recent times and to have made money from it. But are these people really "RE investors", or just lucky?????

I'll admit something that I usually don't bring up too often. My wife and I sold a CV condo for almost 100% gain. But unlike some others that might claim financial astuteness, I'll admit we did this completely out of luck. There was motivation for that, none of which were economic astudeness on our part. For one, we wanted to move into a bigger place. Second, even though we could hold on and probably cash flow positive as a rental, the real reason why I didn't want to hold onto it was that it would leave the door open for my inlaws to permanently move here (and ditto with my parents). So I pushed to sell it. Again, the time we sold it is was shear luck of the draw. We went into escrow 3 times, each time the buyer kept backing out. But finally, as our RE kept raising prices, there was always another buyer lined up. The buyer (I think was a flipper) tried to flip it for an immediate $50k. But it backfired, because by the time they tried to do this, the market already started to sag. They eventually sold it at small loss, excluding any mortgage interests and susidized rent they provided.

So, while I don't dispute there are some on this board that are financially astute, I wouldn't say everyone (in fact most) who could time the markets right.

Which brings me to the original point. For a primary resident, if you don't consider your primary residence as an investment, it probably makes sense to buy when you can afford to live in the area/size you want to live without going out on a limb.

Some expert correct me if I'm wrong but…Primary residence doesn't generate cash flow, so the only way to "make money" really is through appreciation, right? If you agree with that, then the only way you will make money is based on appreciation less the interest portion of your mortgage you paid, offsetted by tax benefits and how much you would have paid for rent for something comparable (I'm leaving out other factors too). Yes/no?

 

 

[Coronita]

Warren Buffet is most famous for VALUE investing. My own father in law lives a life of retirement luxury by buying undervalued stocks. I bought my first property in the UTC area, the area so many like to call a dump. It made me $125k in couple of years. My realtor bought his LJ Shores house for a mere 600k at around the same time. It's worth over 2 mil now. That's value investing in housing. Once it isn't a value anymore, sell. That is all.

I'd like to distinguish between folks that can consistenlyt turn a profit, and people that turned a profit being in the right place at the right time. The former I would think can turn a profit at any economic cycle. The latter is no different than those Qualcomm people that were in the right company at the right time. (no offense).

It's one thing to have flipped RE in recent times and to have made money from it. But are these people really "RE investors", or just lucky?????

I'll admit something that I usually don't bring up too often. My wife and I sold a CV condo for almost 100% gain. But unlike some others that might claim financial astuteness, I'll admit we did this completely out of luck. There was motivation for that, none of which were economic astudeness on our part. For one, we wanted to move into a bigger place. Second, even though we could hold on and probably cash flow positive as a rental, the real reason why I didn't want to hold onto it was that it would leave the door open for my inlaws to permanently move here (and ditto with my parents). So I pushed to sell it. Again, the time we sold it is was shear luck of the draw. We went into escrow 3 times, each time the buyer kept backing out. But finally, as our RE kept raising prices, there was always another buyer lined up. The buyer (I think was a flipper) tried to flip it for an immediate $50k. But it backfired, because by the time they tried to do this, the market already started to sag. They eventually sold it at small loss, excluding any mortgage interests and susidized rent they provided.

So, while I don't dispute there are some on this board that are financially astute, I wouldn't say everyone (in fact most) who could time the markets right.

Which brings me to the original point. For a primary resident, if you don't consider your primary residence as an investment, it probably makes sense to buy when you can afford to live in the area/size you want to live without going out on a limb.

Some expert correct me if I'm wrong but…Primary residence doesn't generate cash flow, so the only way to "make money" really is through appreciation, right? If you agree with that, then the only way you will make money is based on appreciation less the interest portion of your mortgage you paid, offsetted by tax benefits and how much you would have paid for rent for something comparable (I'm leaving out other factors too). Yes/no?

 

 

[Coronita]

Warren Buffet is most famous for VALUE investing. My own father in law lives a life of retirement luxury by buying undervalued stocks. I bought my first property in the UTC area, the area so many like to call a dump. It made me $125k in couple of years. My realtor bought his LJ Shores house for a mere 600k at around the same time. It's worth over 2 mil now. That's value investing in housing. Once it isn't a value anymore, sell. That is all.

I'd like to distinguish between folks that can consistenlyt turn a profit, and people that turned a profit being in the right place at the right time. The former I would think can turn a profit at any economic cycle. The latter is no different than those Qualcomm people that were in the right company at the right time. (no offense).

It's one thing to have flipped RE in recent times and to have made money from it. But are these people really "RE investors", or just lucky?????

I'll admit something that I usually don't bring up too often. My wife and I sold a CV condo for almost 100% gain. But unlike some others that might claim financial astuteness, I'll admit we did this completely out of luck. There was motivation for that, none of which were economic astudeness on our part. For one, we wanted to move into a bigger place. Second, even though we could hold on and probably cash flow positive as a rental, the real reason why I didn't want to hold onto it was that it would leave the door open for my inlaws to permanently move here (and ditto with my parents). So I pushed to sell it. Again, the time we sold it is was shear luck of the draw. We went into escrow 3 times, each time the buyer kept backing out. But finally, as our RE kept raising prices, there was always another buyer lined up. The buyer (I think was a flipper) tried to flip it for an immediate $50k. But it backfired, because by the time they tried to do this, the market already started to sag. They eventually sold it at small loss, excluding any mortgage interests and susidized rent they provided.

So, while I don't dispute there are some on this board that are financially astute, I wouldn't say everyone (in fact most) who could time the markets right.

Which brings me to the original point. For a primary resident, if you don't consider your primary residence as an investment, it probably makes sense to buy when you can afford to live in the area/size you want to live without going out on a limb.

Some expert correct me if I'm wrong but…Primary residence doesn't generate cash flow, so the only way to "make money" really is through appreciation, right? If you agree with that, then the only way you will make money is based on appreciation less the interest portion of your mortgage you paid, offsetted by tax benefits and how much you would have paid for rent for something comparable (I'm leaving out other factors too). Yes/no?

 

 

[Coronita]

Warren Buffet is most famous for VALUE investing. My own father in law lives a life of retirement luxury by buying undervalued stocks. I bought my first property in the UTC area, the area so many like to call a dump. It made me $125k in couple of years. My realtor bought his LJ Shores house for a mere 600k at around the same time. It's worth over 2 mil now. That's value investing in housing. Once it isn't a value anymore, sell. That is all.

I'd like to distinguish between folks that can consistenlyt turn a profit, and people that turned a profit being in the right place at the right time. The former I would think can turn a profit at any economic cycle. The latter is no different than those Qualcomm people that were in the right company at the right time. (no offense).

It's one thing to have flipped RE in recent times and to have made money from it. But are these people really "RE investors", or just lucky?????

I'll admit something that I usually don't bring up too often. My wife and I sold a CV condo for almost 100% gain. But unlike some others that might claim financial astuteness, I'll admit we did this completely out of luck. There was motivation for that, none of which were economic astudeness on our part. For one, we wanted to move into a bigger place. Second, even though we could hold on and probably cash flow positive as a rental, the real reason why I didn't want to hold onto it was that it would leave the door open for my inlaws to permanently move here (and ditto with my parents). So I pushed to sell it. Again, the time we sold it is was shear luck of the draw. We went into escrow 3 times, each time the buyer kept backing out. But finally, as our RE kept raising prices, there was always another buyer lined up. The buyer (I think was a flipper) tried to flip it for an immediate $50k. But it backfired, because by the time they tried to do this, the market already started to sag. They eventually sold it at small loss, excluding any mortgage interests and susidized rent they provided.

So, while I don't dispute there are some on this board that are financially astute, I wouldn't say everyone (in fact most) who could time the markets right.

Which brings me to the original point. For a primary resident, if you don't consider your primary residence as an investment, it probably makes sense to buy when you can afford to live in the area/size you want to live without going out on a limb.

Some expert correct me if I'm wrong but…Primary residence doesn't generate cash flow, so the only way to "make money" really is through appreciation, right? If you agree with that, then the only way you will make money is based on appreciation less the interest portion of your mortgage you paid, offsetted by tax benefits and how much you would have paid for rent for something comparable (I'm leaving out other factors too). Yes/no?

 

 

[Coronita]

Warren Buffet is most famous for VALUE investing. My own father in law lives a life of retirement luxury by buying undervalued stocks. I bought my first property in the UTC area, the area so many like to call a dump. It made me $125k in couple of years. My realtor bought his LJ Shores house for a mere 600k at around the same time. It's worth over 2 mil now. That's value investing in housing. Once it isn't a value anymore, sell. That is all.

I'd like to distinguish between folks that can consistenlyt turn a profit, and people that turned a profit being in the right place at the right time. The former I would think can turn a profit at any economic cycle. The latter is no different than those Qualcomm people that were in the right company at the right time. (no offense).

It's one thing to have flipped RE in recent times and to have made money from it. But are these people really "RE investors", or just lucky?????

I'll admit something that I usually don't bring up too often. My wife and I sold a CV condo for almost 100% gain. But unlike some others that might claim financial astuteness, I'll admit we did this completely out of luck. There was motivation for that, none of which were economic astudeness on our part. For one, we wanted to move into a bigger place. Second, even though we could hold on and probably cash flow positive as a rental, the real reason why I didn't want to hold onto it was that it would leave the door open for my inlaws to permanently move here (and ditto with my parents). So I pushed to sell it. Again, the time we sold it is was shear luck of the draw. We went into escrow 3 times, each time the buyer kept backing out. But finally, as our RE kept raising prices, there was always another buyer lined up. The buyer (I think was a flipper) tried to flip it for an immediate $50k. But it backfired, because by the time they tried to do this, the market already started to sag. They eventually sold it at small loss, excluding any mortgage interests and susidized rent they provided.

So, while I don't dispute there are some on this board that are financially astute, I wouldn't say everyone (in fact most) who could time the markets right.

Which brings me to the original point. For a primary resident, if you don't consider your primary residence as an investment, it probably makes sense to buy when you can afford to live in the area/size you want to live without going out on a limb.

Some expert correct me if I'm wrong but…Primary residence doesn't generate cash flow, so the only way to "make money" really is through appreciation, right? If you agree with that, then the only way you will make money is based on appreciation less the interest portion of your mortgage you paid, offsetted by tax benefits and how much you would have paid for rent for something comparable (I'm leaving out other factors too). Yes/no?

 

 

[Coronita]

I wouldn't entirely count this out as a valid shelter. There are plenty of people (both crooks and non-crooks) that appeared to use corps as asset shelters. The question is, minus the trival costs of setting up a corp for this purpose, and managing the day to day operation, I'm actually curious to hear how someone would use this to protect assets. I'm sure it's can be done, just very few people know or are willing to talk about it.

I really wish we had an blogger here that's an estate lawyer that could talk about liability shelters. It's a valid concern, especially living in a sue happy state.

 

My perspective though.

 

In most cases, if you're only concern is about getting sued because you have assets (say if you get into an accident, or someone slips and falls on your porch), getting a nice liability insurance on both home and auto AND adding an umbrella coverage would be a good start. Total coverage of $1million of liability would be a start.As insurance companies are cheap and will resist payouts, they will fight to defend against frivolous lawsuits. Particularly in a sue happy state CA, this is useful if you get into a fenderbender, even if it wasn't your fault..some idiot will always try to make money off of it. Second rule is to keep a nice camera in the car so when the accident happens, snap a nice picture before moving any vehicles (I have a nice webcam that also films when, just in case those nice people who drive big SUVs should happen to leave me nice door dings in the shopping malls and accidentally forget to leave a note)

 

It also helps to put things in other people's names and the account types matter. In some states, retirement accounts aren't subject to creditors. In CA, i'm not so sure (But I'm not a lawyer, and can't speak with certainty).

 

There's also things with irrevocable trust accounts and foundations which I haven't investiagated. I wish someone here could speak to that. NOTE: Living Trusts don't necessarily add any asset protection according to lawyers that I spoke with. They only facilitate distribution of wealth at death by avoiding to go to probate and offer some increased exemptions from estate taxes for married couples.

 

One thing about 529 education savings account. I did read that the 529K education plan accounts weren't considered a protected account in CA. Other states treat this similar to a retirement account and creditors can't go after it.

[Coronita]

I wouldn't entirely count this out as a valid shelter. There are plenty of people (both crooks and non-crooks) that appeared to use corps as asset shelters. The question is, minus the trival costs of setting up a corp for this purpose, and managing the day to day operation, I'm actually curious to hear how someone would use this to protect assets. I'm sure it's can be done, just very few people know or are willing to talk about it.

I really wish we had an blogger here that's an estate lawyer that could talk about liability shelters. It's a valid concern, especially living in a sue happy state.

 

My perspective though.

 

In most cases, if you're only concern is about getting sued because you have assets (say if you get into an accident, or someone slips and falls on your porch), getting a nice liability insurance on both home and auto AND adding an umbrella coverage would be a good start. Total coverage of $1million of liability would be a start.As insurance companies are cheap and will resist payouts, they will fight to defend against frivolous lawsuits. Particularly in a sue happy state CA, this is useful if you get into a fenderbender, even if it wasn't your fault..some idiot will always try to make money off of it. Second rule is to keep a nice camera in the car so when the accident happens, snap a nice picture before moving any vehicles (I have a nice webcam that also films when, just in case those nice people who drive big SUVs should happen to leave me nice door dings in the shopping malls and accidentally forget to leave a note)

 

It also helps to put things in other people's names and the account types matter. In some states, retirement accounts aren't subject to creditors. In CA, i'm not so sure (But I'm not a lawyer, and can't speak with certainty).

 

There's also things with irrevocable trust accounts and foundations which I haven't investiagated. I wish someone here could speak to that. NOTE: Living Trusts don't necessarily add any asset protection according to lawyers that I spoke with. They only facilitate distribution of wealth at death by avoiding to go to probate and offer some increased exemptions from estate taxes for married couples.

 

One thing about 529 education savings account. I did read that the 529K education plan accounts weren't considered a protected account in CA. Other states treat this similar to a retirement account and creditors can't go after it.

[Coronita]

I wouldn't entirely count this out as a valid shelter. There are plenty of people (both crooks and non-crooks) that appeared to use corps as asset shelters. The question is, minus the trival costs of setting up a corp for this purpose, and managing the day to day operation, I'm actually curious to hear how someone would use this to protect assets. I'm sure it's can be done, just very few people know or are willing to talk about it.

I really wish we had an blogger here that's an estate lawyer that could talk about liability shelters. It's a valid concern, especially living in a sue happy state.

 

My perspective though.

 

In most cases, if you're only concern is about getting sued because you have assets (say if you get into an accident, or someone slips and falls on your porch), getting a nice liability insurance on both home and auto AND adding an umbrella coverage would be a good start. Total coverage of $1million of liability would be a start.As insurance companies are cheap and will resist payouts, they will fight to defend against frivolous lawsuits. Particularly in a sue happy state CA, this is useful if you get into a fenderbender, even if it wasn't your fault..some idiot will always try to make money off of it. Second rule is to keep a nice camera in the car so when the accident happens, snap a nice picture before moving any vehicles (I have a nice webcam that also films when, just in case those nice people who drive big SUVs should happen to leave me nice door dings in the shopping malls and accidentally forget to leave a note)

 

It also helps to put things in other people's names and the account types matter. In some states, retirement accounts aren't subject to creditors. In CA, i'm not so sure (But I'm not a lawyer, and can't speak with certainty).

 

There's also things with irrevocable trust accounts and foundations which I haven't investiagated. I wish someone here could speak to that. NOTE: Living Trusts don't necessarily add any asset protection according to lawyers that I spoke with. They only facilitate distribution of wealth at death by avoiding to go to probate and offer some increased exemptions from estate taxes for married couples.

 

One thing about 529 education savings account. I did read that the 529K education plan accounts weren't considered a protected account in CA. Other states treat this similar to a retirement account and creditors can't go after it.

[Coronita]

I wouldn't entirely count this out as a valid shelter. There are plenty of people (both crooks and non-crooks) that appeared to use corps as asset shelters. The question is, minus the trival costs of setting up a corp for this purpose, and managing the day to day operation, I'm actually curious to hear how someone would use this to protect assets. I'm sure it's can be done, just very few people know or are willing to talk about it.

I really wish we had an blogger here that's an estate lawyer that could talk about liability shelters. It's a valid concern, especially living in a sue happy state.

 

My perspective though.

 

In most cases, if you're only concern is about getting sued because you have assets (say if you get into an accident, or someone slips and falls on your porch), getting a nice liability insurance on both home and auto AND adding an umbrella coverage would be a good start. Total coverage of $1million of liability would be a start.As insurance companies are cheap and will resist payouts, they will fight to defend against frivolous lawsuits. Particularly in a sue happy state CA, this is useful if you get into a fenderbender, even if it wasn't your fault..some idiot will always try to make money off of it. Second rule is to keep a nice camera in the car so when the accident happens, snap a nice picture before moving any vehicles (I have a nice webcam that also films when, just in case those nice people who drive big SUVs should happen to leave me nice door dings in the shopping malls and accidentally forget to leave a note)

 

It also helps to put things in other people's names and the account types matter. In some states, retirement accounts aren't subject to creditors. In CA, i'm not so sure (But I'm not a lawyer, and can't speak with certainty).

 

There's also things with irrevocable trust accounts and foundations which I haven't investiagated. I wish someone here could speak to that. NOTE: Living Trusts don't necessarily add any asset protection according to lawyers that I spoke with. They only facilitate distribution of wealth at death by avoiding to go to probate and offer some increased exemptions from estate taxes for married couples.

 

One thing about 529 education savings account. I did read that the 529K education plan accounts weren't considered a protected account in CA. Other states treat this similar to a retirement account and creditors can't go after it.

[Coronita]

I wouldn't entirely count this out as a valid shelter. There are plenty of people (both crooks and non-crooks) that appeared to use corps as asset shelters. The question is, minus the trival costs of setting up a corp for this purpose, and managing the day to day operation, I'm actually curious to hear how someone would use this to protect assets. I'm sure it's can be done, just very few people know or are willing to talk about it.

I really wish we had an blogger here that's an estate lawyer that could talk about liability shelters. It's a valid concern, especially living in a sue happy state.

 

My perspective though.

 

In most cases, if you're only concern is about getting sued because you have assets (say if you get into an accident, or someone slips and falls on your porch), getting a nice liability insurance on both home and auto AND adding an umbrella coverage would be a good start. Total coverage of $1million of liability would be a start.As insurance companies are cheap and will resist payouts, they will fight to defend against frivolous lawsuits. Particularly in a sue happy state CA, this is useful if you get into a fenderbender, even if it wasn't your fault..some idiot will always try to make money off of it. Second rule is to keep a nice camera in the car so when the accident happens, snap a nice picture before moving any vehicles (I have a nice webcam that also films when, just in case those nice people who drive big SUVs should happen to leave me nice door dings in the shopping malls and accidentally forget to leave a note)

 

It also helps to put things in other people's names and the account types matter. In some states, retirement accounts aren't subject to creditors. In CA, i'm not so sure (But I'm not a lawyer, and can't speak with certainty).

 

There's also things with irrevocable trust accounts and foundations which I haven't investiagated. I wish someone here could speak to that. NOTE: Living Trusts don't necessarily add any asset protection according to lawyers that I spoke with. They only facilitate distribution of wealth at death by avoiding to go to probate and offer some increased exemptions from estate taxes for married couples.

 

One thing about 529 education savings account. I did read that the 529K education plan accounts weren't considered a protected account in CA. Other states treat this similar to a retirement account and creditors can't go after it.

[Coronita]

That's Bs. If you base your decision on trying to buy based on VALUE you will be renting your entire life like many of these others on this board. How many good companies trade for book value, or similar metric? They trade at premiums or other valuation to their intrinsic value for various reasons, the same reason homes in san Diego sell for more than those in Dallas or huntsville, or other locale you all claim to be a better value.

125, the only way you will me able to build equity and leverage up into larger homes is to start somewhere. Heck, if prices drop a bit and you are living in a place you like, who cares?

Or you can just rent like all these others and spend your time on this board trying to convince others not to make a good decision.

 

I would sort or agree with some things RO is saying here. I personally think in some neighborhoods, there will be an intrinsic premium for owning versus renting. That said, if you want to find bargains, it's not happening in CV,RP (yet). There are some homes in the off of Camino Del Sur (part of RP) that are relatively new, about 2000 sqft in the mid $650k. (Next to the new Intuit campus). I've always a been a proponent that you own your primary when you can afford it without going out on an arm and a leg. But I never view primary homes as investments. I would though recommend you spending your time to be picky and choosy.

[Coronita]

That's Bs. If you base your decision on trying to buy based on VALUE you will be renting your entire life like many of these others on this board. How many good companies trade for book value, or similar metric? They trade at premiums or other valuation to their intrinsic value for various reasons, the same reason homes in san Diego sell for more than those in Dallas or huntsville, or other locale you all claim to be a better value.

125, the only way you will me able to build equity and leverage up into larger homes is to start somewhere. Heck, if prices drop a bit and you are living in a place you like, who cares?

Or you can just rent like all these others and spend your time on this board trying to convince others not to make a good decision.

 

I would sort or agree with some things RO is saying here. I personally think in some neighborhoods, there will be an intrinsic premium for owning versus renting. That said, if you want to find bargains, it's not happening in CV,RP (yet). There are some homes in the off of Camino Del Sur (part of RP) that are relatively new, about 2000 sqft in the mid $650k. (Next to the new Intuit campus). I've always a been a proponent that you own your primary when you can afford it without going out on an arm and a leg. But I never view primary homes as investments. I would though recommend you spending your time to be picky and choosy.

[Coronita]

That's Bs. If you base your decision on trying to buy based on VALUE you will be renting your entire life like many of these others on this board. How many good companies trade for book value, or similar metric? They trade at premiums or other valuation to their intrinsic value for various reasons, the same reason homes in san Diego sell for more than those in Dallas or huntsville, or other locale you all claim to be a better value.

125, the only way you will me able to build equity and leverage up into larger homes is to start somewhere. Heck, if prices drop a bit and you are living in a place you like, who cares?

Or you can just rent like all these others and spend your time on this board trying to convince others not to make a good decision.

 

I would sort or agree with some things RO is saying here. I personally think in some neighborhoods, there will be an intrinsic premium for owning versus renting. That said, if you want to find bargains, it's not happening in CV,RP (yet). There are some homes in the off of Camino Del Sur (part of RP) that are relatively new, about 2000 sqft in the mid $650k. (Next to the new Intuit campus). I've always a been a proponent that you own your primary when you can afford it without going out on an arm and a leg. But I never view primary homes as investments. I would though recommend you spending your time to be picky and choosy.

[Coronita]

That's Bs. If you base your decision on trying to buy based on VALUE you will be renting your entire life like many of these others on this board. How many good companies trade for book value, or similar metric? They trade at premiums or other valuation to their intrinsic value for various reasons, the same reason homes in san Diego sell for more than those in Dallas or huntsville, or other locale you all claim to be a better value.

125, the only way you will me able to build equity and leverage up into larger homes is to start somewhere. Heck, if prices drop a bit and you are living in a place you like, who cares?

Or you can just rent like all these others and spend your time on this board trying to convince others not to make a good decision.

 

I would sort or agree with some things RO is saying here. I personally think in some neighborhoods, there will be an intrinsic premium for owning versus renting. That said, if you want to find bargains, it's not happening in CV,RP (yet). There are some homes in the off of Camino Del Sur (part of RP) that are relatively new, about 2000 sqft in the mid $650k. (Next to the new Intuit campus). I've always a been a proponent that you own your primary when you can afford it without going out on an arm and a leg. But I never view primary homes as investments. I would though recommend you spending your time to be picky and choosy.

[Coronita]

That's Bs. If you base your decision on trying to buy based on VALUE you will be renting your entire life like many of these others on this board. How many good companies trade for book value, or similar metric? They trade at premiums or other valuation to their intrinsic value for various reasons, the same reason homes in san Diego sell for more than those in Dallas or huntsville, or other locale you all claim to be a better value.

125, the only way you will me able to build equity and leverage up into larger homes is to start somewhere. Heck, if prices drop a bit and you are living in a place you like, who cares?

Or you can just rent like all these others and spend your time on this board trying to convince others not to make a good decision.

 

I would sort or agree with some things RO is saying here. I personally think in some neighborhoods, there will be an intrinsic premium for owning versus renting. That said, if you want to find bargains, it's not happening in CV,RP (yet). There are some homes in the off of Camino Del Sur (part of RP) that are relatively new, about 2000 sqft in the mid $650k. (Next to the new Intuit campus). I've always a been a proponent that you own your primary when you can afford it without going out on an arm and a leg. But I never view primary homes as investments. I would though recommend you spending your time to be picky and choosy.

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