[CricketOnTheHearth]

Going rental rates are more responsive to actual incomes, I think. You can’t get an 3/1 ARM with magical pony dust to cover your rent, it must come straight out of your paycheck.

So, someone who could afford a $2,000 rental payment could afford a $250,000 mortgage, assuming it’s an old school sane fixed-rate mortgage. The fact that $250K sounds unusually low to you just shows how out of whack prices around here are with peoples’ actual ability to pay.

FWIW, in 1996 I remember Rancho Bernardo houses going for $250K-ish. The MM house I’m renting in right now went for well under $200K. And to this day, comparable houses, with larger yards, in my Midwestern hometown go for closer to $100,000.

Yes, I know it’s California… but wherever you are, there’s only so much juice you can squeeze out of a grape.

[CricketOnTheHearth]

Going rental rates are more responsive to actual incomes, I think. You can’t get an 3/1 ARM with magical pony dust to cover your rent, it must come straight out of your paycheck.

So, someone who could afford a $2,000 rental payment could afford a $250,000 mortgage, assuming it’s an old school sane fixed-rate mortgage. The fact that $250K sounds unusually low to you just shows how out of whack prices around here are with peoples’ actual ability to pay.

FWIW, in 1996 I remember Rancho Bernardo houses going for $250K-ish. The MM house I’m renting in right now went for well under $200K. And to this day, comparable houses, with larger yards, in my Midwestern hometown go for closer to $100,000.

Yes, I know it’s California… but wherever you are, there’s only so much juice you can squeeze out of a grape.

[CricketOnTheHearth]

Going rental rates are more responsive to actual incomes, I think. You can’t get an 3/1 ARM with magical pony dust to cover your rent, it must come straight out of your paycheck.

So, someone who could afford a $2,000 rental payment could afford a $250,000 mortgage, assuming it’s an old school sane fixed-rate mortgage. The fact that $250K sounds unusually low to you just shows how out of whack prices around here are with peoples’ actual ability to pay.

FWIW, in 1996 I remember Rancho Bernardo houses going for $250K-ish. The MM house I’m renting in right now went for well under $200K. And to this day, comparable houses, with larger yards, in my Midwestern hometown go for closer to $100,000.

Yes, I know it’s California… but wherever you are, there’s only so much juice you can squeeze out of a grape.

[CricketOnTheHearth]

Going rental rates are more responsive to actual incomes, I think. You can’t get an 3/1 ARM with magical pony dust to cover your rent, it must come straight out of your paycheck.

So, someone who could afford a $2,000 rental payment could afford a $250,000 mortgage, assuming it’s an old school sane fixed-rate mortgage. The fact that $250K sounds unusually low to you just shows how out of whack prices around here are with peoples’ actual ability to pay.

FWIW, in 1996 I remember Rancho Bernardo houses going for $250K-ish. The MM house I’m renting in right now went for well under $200K. And to this day, comparable houses, with larger yards, in my Midwestern hometown go for closer to $100,000.

Yes, I know it’s California… but wherever you are, there’s only so much juice you can squeeze out of a grape.

[CricketOnTheHearth]

Is it even possible to get a condo without an HOA??
I thought they all had them.

As far as % ownership… I think there is a shortage of rental properties in the county, so condos are often recruited to take up the slack. A lot of these apartment complexes that were condo-converted, never should have been (= GREED) and now they are half-unowned, and the would-be sellers are renting out the rest in a desperate attempt to maintain cash flow. If they had just left them as apartments they would have full cash flow already.

Also the problem is that in this county, there is a super scarcity of mid-size, mid-price housing. Your choices are either a
$1/2-million oversized house or an apartment with a mortgage.

[CricketOnTheHearth]

Is it even possible to get a condo without an HOA??
I thought they all had them.

As far as % ownership… I think there is a shortage of rental properties in the county, so condos are often recruited to take up the slack. A lot of these apartment complexes that were condo-converted, never should have been (= GREED) and now they are half-unowned, and the would-be sellers are renting out the rest in a desperate attempt to maintain cash flow. If they had just left them as apartments they would have full cash flow already.

Also the problem is that in this county, there is a super scarcity of mid-size, mid-price housing. Your choices are either a
$1/2-million oversized house or an apartment with a mortgage.

[CricketOnTheHearth]

Is it even possible to get a condo without an HOA??
I thought they all had them.

As far as % ownership… I think there is a shortage of rental properties in the county, so condos are often recruited to take up the slack. A lot of these apartment complexes that were condo-converted, never should have been (= GREED) and now they are half-unowned, and the would-be sellers are renting out the rest in a desperate attempt to maintain cash flow. If they had just left them as apartments they would have full cash flow already.

Also the problem is that in this county, there is a super scarcity of mid-size, mid-price housing. Your choices are either a
$1/2-million oversized house or an apartment with a mortgage.

[CricketOnTheHearth]

Is it even possible to get a condo without an HOA??
I thought they all had them.

As far as % ownership… I think there is a shortage of rental properties in the county, so condos are often recruited to take up the slack. A lot of these apartment complexes that were condo-converted, never should have been (= GREED) and now they are half-unowned, and the would-be sellers are renting out the rest in a desperate attempt to maintain cash flow. If they had just left them as apartments they would have full cash flow already.

Also the problem is that in this county, there is a super scarcity of mid-size, mid-price housing. Your choices are either a
$1/2-million oversized house or an apartment with a mortgage.

[CricketOnTheHearth]

Is it even possible to get a condo without an HOA??
I thought they all had them.

As far as % ownership… I think there is a shortage of rental properties in the county, so condos are often recruited to take up the slack. A lot of these apartment complexes that were condo-converted, never should have been (= GREED) and now they are half-unowned, and the would-be sellers are renting out the rest in a desperate attempt to maintain cash flow. If they had just left them as apartments they would have full cash flow already.

Also the problem is that in this county, there is a super scarcity of mid-size, mid-price housing. Your choices are either a
$1/2-million oversized house or an apartment with a mortgage.

[CricketOnTheHearth]

Thanks, everyone, for your comments.
Some really handy info.

I have played with online rent-vs-buy calculators before, but I just wanted to fiddle with the question from a slightly different angle.

Some more pondering:
First, assume the $1500/month apartment is roughly equivalent to a condo in the area, and condos in the area have HOA fees of roughly $300. So then the apartment would be roughly equivalent to a condo with a mortgage costing $1200/month. (Assuming no down payment, very simplistic, I know.)

Second, very roughly, each $100K on a standard 30-year fixed mortgage results in approximately $600/month in mortgage payments. (This is one rule of thumb I use when eyeballing the price of a place.) So this rent implies an “equivalent condo price” of $200,000– well below current RB prices but by the same token, above the price recommended by temeculaguy’s ratio rule listed above.

I notice also that the ratio rule (100/125/150) equates out to around 7 to 10 years’ worth of rent, FWIW.

[CricketOnTheHearth]

Thanks, everyone, for your comments.
Some really handy info.

I have played with online rent-vs-buy calculators before, but I just wanted to fiddle with the question from a slightly different angle.

Some more pondering:
First, assume the $1500/month apartment is roughly equivalent to a condo in the area, and condos in the area have HOA fees of roughly $300. So then the apartment would be roughly equivalent to a condo with a mortgage costing $1200/month. (Assuming no down payment, very simplistic, I know.)

Second, very roughly, each $100K on a standard 30-year fixed mortgage results in approximately $600/month in mortgage payments. (This is one rule of thumb I use when eyeballing the price of a place.) So this rent implies an “equivalent condo price” of $200,000– well below current RB prices but by the same token, above the price recommended by temeculaguy’s ratio rule listed above.

I notice also that the ratio rule (100/125/150) equates out to around 7 to 10 years’ worth of rent, FWIW.

[CricketOnTheHearth]

Thanks, everyone, for your comments.
Some really handy info.

I have played with online rent-vs-buy calculators before, but I just wanted to fiddle with the question from a slightly different angle.

Some more pondering:
First, assume the $1500/month apartment is roughly equivalent to a condo in the area, and condos in the area have HOA fees of roughly $300. So then the apartment would be roughly equivalent to a condo with a mortgage costing $1200/month. (Assuming no down payment, very simplistic, I know.)

Second, very roughly, each $100K on a standard 30-year fixed mortgage results in approximately $600/month in mortgage payments. (This is one rule of thumb I use when eyeballing the price of a place.) So this rent implies an “equivalent condo price” of $200,000– well below current RB prices but by the same token, above the price recommended by temeculaguy’s ratio rule listed above.

I notice also that the ratio rule (100/125/150) equates out to around 7 to 10 years’ worth of rent, FWIW.

[CricketOnTheHearth]

Thanks, everyone, for your comments.
Some really handy info.

I have played with online rent-vs-buy calculators before, but I just wanted to fiddle with the question from a slightly different angle.

Some more pondering:
First, assume the $1500/month apartment is roughly equivalent to a condo in the area, and condos in the area have HOA fees of roughly $300. So then the apartment would be roughly equivalent to a condo with a mortgage costing $1200/month. (Assuming no down payment, very simplistic, I know.)

Second, very roughly, each $100K on a standard 30-year fixed mortgage results in approximately $600/month in mortgage payments. (This is one rule of thumb I use when eyeballing the price of a place.) So this rent implies an “equivalent condo price” of $200,000– well below current RB prices but by the same token, above the price recommended by temeculaguy’s ratio rule listed above.

I notice also that the ratio rule (100/125/150) equates out to around 7 to 10 years’ worth of rent, FWIW.

[CricketOnTheHearth]

Thanks, everyone, for your comments.
Some really handy info.

I have played with online rent-vs-buy calculators before, but I just wanted to fiddle with the question from a slightly different angle.

Some more pondering:
First, assume the $1500/month apartment is roughly equivalent to a condo in the area, and condos in the area have HOA fees of roughly $300. So then the apartment would be roughly equivalent to a condo with a mortgage costing $1200/month. (Assuming no down payment, very simplistic, I know.)

Second, very roughly, each $100K on a standard 30-year fixed mortgage results in approximately $600/month in mortgage payments. (This is one rule of thumb I use when eyeballing the price of a place.) So this rent implies an “equivalent condo price” of $200,000– well below current RB prices but by the same token, above the price recommended by temeculaguy’s ratio rule listed above.

I notice also that the ratio rule (100/125/150) equates out to around 7 to 10 years’ worth of rent, FWIW.

[CricketOnTheHearth]

On Renters, Renting, Rental Rates

I am one of these SD renters, and I also make the median SD income (or slightly below), and, bonus, I am also in Mira Mesa. So I will describe my situation and see if it sheds light on things.

My work is up in Rancho Bernardo. Minimum I can hope to rent a 2BR place for up there (or even, anywhere in a radius of 15 mi from there) is $1500. 1BRs are slightly less but not enough less for the reduced space. I refuse to live north of Lake Hodges because the commute is horrific– 45 minutes to drive 4 miles to work. I lived that for 3 months in 2006 and got the hell out.

So anyway, $1500 would be 30% of my gross pay, which is the max they advise for people to pay for housing. What is not mentioned is that this is about half my take-home pay. I could improve the latter ratio but that would mean reducing my 401(K) payment– not gonna happen. I am only 23 years away from retirement, max, and I refuse to screw myself that badly.

By living in a $1500 place I would have nothing left over to save up for a down payment. Which would mean that I would be renting theoretically until I retired (a dead-end road in itself), but the way rents have been jacking up (and pay hasn’t), I would probably hit the financial wall a lot sooner than that.

So, instead, I am renting two rooms in a friend’s house in the southeast quadrant of Mira Mesa, with my appliances in storage at the movers’, for $600 a month. And yes, I fully realize that this is a steal deal, as normally a single room rents for about $600 in this town. Part of my “rent” is cleaning the place (which I assure you is indeed a time sink as my friend is messy).

One upon a time I was thinking of buying in Mira Mesa, maybe a house on this same street. No longer. What a bunch of noisy gits for neighbors– teenagers pulling up to the house across the street with their car stereos at night, multiple cars loitering in the street and and their drivers “chatting”, the other neighbors having all their friends over for the ball game and whooping and hollering through their open front window. And these houses are packed very close together (as all San Diego houses seem to be) so you hear everything, even with the window closed. So basically, forget about taking an afternoon nap or even going to sleep before about 9:30 or 10:00 at night, unlike places where I used to live up in RB.

The only places around MM that I would consider living in permanently are out around the edges, and go for more like Rancho Bernardo prices ($600K-ish) currently. I wonder who is “snapping up” all these $400K MM houses and if they are OK with the quality of life/neighbors/lack of quiet they are buying into.

More comments on rents and why they are so high: At least in the RB/RPQ/CMR area, I think there is a multiple whammy going on– one, all those people who got burned out of their houses in the fire last fall are renting currently, soaking up units. Two, those who got foreclosed out of their houses and moved out are forced to rent (esp the 4S/4Closure Ranch schmoes). Three, in the RB area there were 4 or 5 apartment complexes that got condo-converted in the past 2-3 years and that took a LOT of rental units off the market in the area.

In 2006 I could find several units on offer for the $1200’s, including one I wound up renting. Now such rates are “unobtainium”. (In answer to why I moved out of the $1200 place, which would have been financially tolerable– I was literally forced out of it by toxic fumes– new cheap paint and carpet which refused to stop stinking even after a year’s ventilation, and which literally made me sick over the winter.)

I have also been looking closely at the “active” listings on Realtor.com for the RB area. It is amazing how many of these are condos, mostly the aforementioned conversions. Also amazing are the number of liar realtors; you go to look at a “single family home” listing on Realtor.com here and find that no, it is actually a condo (which should be listed as “condo/townhouse”). I think in actuality it is about 4:1 ratio of condos:houses for sale up there.

Craigslist for the area is also pretty amazing– there are a bunch of flippers and converters trying to rent out their bling-crap condos to get some kind of cash flow out of them. I would not rent anything west of the I-15, particularly if it has granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and other moronic bling, because to me this is a sure sign of an underwater flipper unit which might get foreclosed out from under you, the hapless renter, shortly. And of course, all of them going for at least the ambient $1500/month.

So, much as I hate my current crappy noisy neighborhood, it looks like if I am to do anything remotely sensible for my financial future, I have to bite the bullet and continue renting (and saving up) here for a while. And hope I can keep my job.

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