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Escoguy
ParticipantThis may be useful to you when planning where to buy in Dallas:
http://www.dallascad.org/TaxRateCalculator.aspx
A typical $300,000 home in Dallas in a good school district can have $9-$13K/year in property taxes.
Keep in mind also that your utility costs are generally higher as $400/month is not unusual in Texas due to the heat. (Lived there myself). Solar isn’t as viable as the utility rates are lower but the amount of power consumed is higher.
http://www.trulia.com/voices/Home_Buying/Electricity_amp_Gas_charge_for_a_sq_ft_home_-482839
Overall Dallas isn’t bad but do be ready that much of what is saved in housing ends up going to transportation.
http://www.reconnectingamerica.org/assets/Uploads/pubheavyload1006.pdf
There is also a very pervasive culture of eating out a lot.
Current prices are overvalued by some measures:
http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2015/05/texas-dallas-fort-worth-home-prices-are-significantly-overvalued-analyst-warns.html/Keep in mind, there is A LOT of undeveloped open space in Texas with almost no restrictions on development. One of the reasons for booms/busts like in the 1980s.
There is still some uncertainty about the full impact of oil prices on broader income:
Just know these things going in, as it may not be the easiest place to save money given the social dynamics/costs/property taxes/utilities.
But good luck, there are wonderful people in Texas!
Participanttreehugger,
You’re touching on the real issue.
Some of us drive for Uber/Lyft part time and would never dream of trying to making a living doing it with a family/mortgage and real obligations.
The social interaction is fun and the rough economics are exactly as you said, it pays for the car plus a little extra as long as Uber doesn’t squeeze too hard.
Given, a single person can make $800/week doing it full time and for those who have a choice of minimum wage or nothing it is clearly a better choice. Many drivers are semi retired and like having company.
I spoke with one Lyft driver who mentioned he makes more driving than being a care giver which paid $13/hour.
He also mentioned he couldn’t get a loan as the bank said, Uber can be gone tomorrow. This goes back to the original topic, that Uber becomes a subprime lender for vehicles with the accompanying credit risk. It would be interesting to know just how many vehicles are being purchased with the idea of ride share paying some or most of the payment.
If a person is in a situation where they depend on Uber/Lyft to make a living, then my advice would be to get more skills as sitting in a car 40-60 hours/week isn’t healthy even if the conversation is fun etc.
For drivers who started over 2 years ago, the rates were much higher and it may have led some to conclude this would last and make plans around it, alas that isn’t the case.
I am convinced it will be better one day once this price war stops and the app improve with better options for matching riders and drivers.
If the payment was roughly $1.50/mile that might be fair but for now it’s about 1/2 that.
Due to the low payment, it is easy to get emotional and react negatively about Uber, but that underscores my point. It is not a full time job.
I certainly hope none of this discussion puts anyone off from using the service.
Participantsvelte,
If you’re in a high density “drinking zone” like OB/PB, Little Italy. Many rides are short and that’s not a problem because I might do 10 of those. It is just be aware that a few dollars tip is greatly appreciated for those short rides.
In some areas the short rides just don’t work, like when I get off the freeway to take a kid to High School or a guy home from the gym.
I wouldn’t want to make you not use the service, but just be aware of the economics so it works for everyone.
ParticipantI’ve done 600 trips with Uber and 100 with Lyft, recently switched to Lyft.
Lyft is better as it allows tips and you can put in your destination so the passenger is matched to where you are going anyway.
Uber drivers can only get 50% or $2.40 for short trips.
I try to filter rides by calling passengers, in the morning I try to only get rides to the airport.On Friday/Saturday, I may drive downtown in the evening for 5-6 hours. My wife calls it my hobby, I make probably $20-25/hour, after expenses, perhaps $17.
In Escondido I can tell by where the ride originates if they are going to SAN Airport or not but I call anyway.
It is not worth it to do short rides as the driver may need to drive 5-10 miles to make the pickup. If the passenger is only going 2-3 miles, it can be a total of 7-15 miles for $2.40. Uber needs to let the driver put on automatic filters to prevent that.Also if Uber would add the destination filter like Lyft, that would be helpful. I don’t mind driving 5-8 miles out of the way if I can get paid for 30-25 miles plus tip.
If they had a $5 minimum for drivers on short trips and they are not more than 2-3 miles away, that might work but passengers should still have the ability to tip.
Most riders are fine, but one did damage my car. Uber did cover that. It can be fun on occasion to drive but I wouldn’t want to try and make a full time living doing it.
Lyft does offer the ability to order a ride the previous day too.
If you use the service and you’re going to an odd direction, please text or call the driver to let them know. San Clemente or TJ doesn’t always work. Also if you take a short ride and the driver is slightly irritated, please don’t ding on the rating as that doesn’t make anything better. Just be grateful that he came as it is impossible to make a living on short rides.
Keep in mind Uber/Lyft cost about 1/3 the amount of a taxi.
ParticipantI had 30 Indian employees direct reports in the Middle East. They ladies would give hell to a girl who wanted to divorce/leave an abusive husband. They would shun her and gossip about her incessantly.
I’ve worked in many countries on several continents but there was something particular about these women wanting to force another women to be completely submissive which was unique. Who knows, perhaps it was just that group.
I also recall a girl who married and afterwards commented “as it turns out, we have a lot in common”. Post arranged marriage.
Participant1. Do be sure you can get good insurance. A person I work with told me about how in Cabo after the last hurricane, some homeowners had to put up another 250K to rebuild as the insurance didn’t fully cover the loss. Do some research into this.
2. Don’t buy off plan ever in Mexico or most places in the world.
3. Get a lawyer who knows what he/she is doing.
4. Make sure the builders can post bond and the bank provides a written guarantee. Be sure you have a plan if a builder fails.I personally wouldn’t put more than 10% of my assets (net worth) in one property in Mexico.
Good luck!
ParticipantIn the three zip codes where I own/watch prices are up meaningfully in the past two months with the majority of new listings going pending in less than a week: 92027, 92127, 92078
While less costly than coastal areas, the new “affordable” benchmark is about 650K for a 3BR and 700-750K for a 4 BR in inland areas around the 15 in North county.
Luxury is looking at 100-200K higher.
Inventory is very low <1 month.Most buyers I know are trade up from the area which should make the market more stable.
ParticipantBG
Thanks for your comments, if you look at the contingent as a portion of active back in early 2013, almost all active were contingent. I’m guessing that the brokers aren’t updating the contingent like they used to. Would be useful to know what portion of “active” really is active, but while one data point isn’t the full story, I’m guessing it could be as much as 50% today which would align more with the spring 2013 data.ParticipantI hear ads from New American funding for rates in the 2s for the 1st year then fixed for the remaining 29 years. I haven’t checked on details but if anyone can find more would like to know. I’m also at 3.5% on 30 fixed so don’t expect it’s really better than that.
ParticipantHousehold formation is outpacing supply and is likely to continue to do so for the foreseeable future. With rates staying low, every dollar saved can be leveraged so prices probably won’t come under pressure with job/wage growth/low gas prices etc.
ParticipantHere’s hoping a decent third party candidate emerges.
No not all Republicans will vote for Trump. I’d say as many as 1/3 won’t which gives the election to Hillary.
ParticipantCurrency rates are often determined by short term rates which would likely rise if the bonds were sold.
Agree on less trade, a stronger dollar just hurts exporters, imports don’t really get cheaper.
It’s kind of worst of all three worlds, less trade, higher rates and less capital in the country. A strong dollar doesn’t mean more investment in the country, just where hot money goes to make a little more interest in the short term.
ParticipantWe have relied on Chinese and oil producing countries (Muslims) to finance our deficit for over a decade. Trump may alienate these lenders causing interest rates to rise, this will strengthen the dollar and cause exports to drop. Housing will also drop in value. Slower economy overall. If you’re a bear and don’t care about negative consequences vote Trump.
ParticipantJust more info:
http://catcher.sandiego.edu/items/business/Miller%20Presentation%20to%20Housing%20Outlook.pdf
3.7% Average Forecasted Rent Growth 2017 – 2019
1) The London Group report suggests a shortage in housing units of 50,000 to 118,000.
2) SANDAG estimated that San Diego will need to produce 161,980 more units of housing from 2010 -2020. After 36 percent of time elapsed, San Diego produced:
• 31 percent of the high-income units needed,
• four percent of the moderate-income units needed and
• six percent of the low-income units needed3) This is not surprising since the easiest housing to get approved is low density and more expensive than the neighbors.
San Diego’s economy grew 1.8% in 2014 – above the 10-year average growth of 1.4% – and is forecasted to grow at substantially higher rates of 2.9% in 2015 and 2.4% in 2016.
With regards to employment, from April 2014 to April 2015 San Diego added a total of 40,900 jobs, an annual growth of 3.1%. That qualifies as the strongest year of job creation in the recovery and the highest in 15 years. San Diego’s employment is forecasted to grow 2.5% in 2015 (+33,120 jobs) and 2.5% in 2016 (+34,680 jobs). This is an attractive pace by historical standards as our average job growth over the last 20 years has been 1.7%.
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