[fun4vnay2]

Bought two houses in SD so far.
Bought both of them on my own.

If I like a house, simply talk to the listing agent to work for you as well and take couple of thousands of dollars as commission and give back the rest.

Not sure, if this would work for you or not but I didn’t find any value in going through realtor unless its a complicated buy e..g short sale, insider listing, foreclosure…

I knew where exactly to buy and what to buy..

In this era of open and easily accessible information, don’t see a need for realtor.

[fun4vnay2]

Yeah, you are right about the historical fact.
I am one of the least educated person about data and facts.

I report/act on what I observe at the ground level.
I knew in 2007/8 that this much housing prices in sd is not sustainable as wages are not supportable. I waited till 2011 to buy.

I feel the same now. I feel all this is bubble. But I’ve been wrong before 🙂
The high paying wages are not really growing. Job uncertainty is there/increased.

SD may have seen big job growth but how many of these jobs are paying $150K ?

I feel that a decently earning ( ~$100K/year ) middle class family can’t really live here …

[fun4vnay2]

Guys,

I’d advise to to do a quick stop at chase bank
I guess minimum was $45K or so.

Thanks

[fun4vnay2]

I believe that a relatively smaller house with larger number of bedrooms like 4 BR in 1400sqft is a better utilization of space at least in CA where the weather is good
But we have been blinded by the hype that bigger is better.

[fun4vnay2]

Cash in chase investment account and their conservative model pay almost 4-5%/year, their moderate model pays almost 7%/year.
The money is liquid.
One can always argue there are better options but I am not aware of any. I chose chase as I bank with them primarily.

[fun4vnay2]

Since you have lot of money for cash down, I’d say invest in some good relatively safe place to get you 4-5% return.

In couple of years, when and if the interest rates hit high, I am sure the prices would come down

Real estate prices in CA are cyclical in general and if anyone says otherwise, please look at the history.

Of course no one knows the future..

[fun4vnay2]

Crazy price with crazy appreciation..

[fun4vnay2]

Different strokes for different people.
5 years back I thought I have a kind of permanent job in San Diego but with the flight of jobs from SD to low cost areas, this is no more the case.
Renting a home is not looked down any more.
Only reason I bought house is to build equity and I am glad I didn’t pay heed to people in 2007/6 and bought in 2011.

The real estate in CA is very cyclical and I a sure there would be opportunities abound for the people who have the patience.

Do we have one ?

[fun4vnay2]

Investors are still there but the bulk of them made their money and are gone.
UNless the investors see a big upside potential, they won’t be spending money here..

Wage growth is another story. Wages are more or less stagnant for last few years.

I work in a field which pays quite a lot close to 200Ks/year and I see big time automation and outsourcing of jobs to cheaper places..

[fun4vnay2]

I see investors already made their money and thus don’t see the same investor’s activities.
They don’t the appreciation rate to justify the real estate transaction cost which can be as high as 5-6% of total cost.

[fun4vnay2]

THis is from what I paid 8 years back and what my friends are paying right now.
I was paying almost 1550 in 2007 and last when I moved out in 2011, I was paying almost the same money.

I don’t really see any rent appreciation which can be called drastic.

I see rent increase but not drastic.

[fun4vnay2]

Looks like the investors are fleeing away from the real estate market now.
Investors are not really into holding the real estate as rental but flipping after few months for profit.

I see the similar craziness in real estate what I saw in 2006/7. I was under pressure in 2006/7 to buy but finally bought my second house in 2011.
IN 2006/7, people told me few facts stating the reason that prices in san diego would never go down:
here are few of them:

1) In SD, land is limited unlike tx, you have desert on one side and ocean on another. With tough zoning in CA, it makes residential land more precious.

2) SD has best weather , everyone wants to live here so prices can never go down

3) SD has very rich people with lots of money. This would make real estate never go down

3) SD has companies like QCOM where people are in very high paying jobs with tons of stock options. Today, the QCOM is not the same QCOM it was 8 years back. The myth is broke that in QCOM you have a permanent job and you ca be millionaire because of stocks. QCOM stock is in doldrums.

Few of my buddies went head and bought houses for 800/900K in SD in 2008. Those houses dropped to 500/600K in 2011.

Currently When I talk to realtor they say: One should buy now lest priced out forever LOL

Everyone says: this time is different.

I learn a lot from this forum and hats off to the people here.

I am looking for a house to buy now and am in the sidelines.. but I see similar craziness in the areas I’m interested in and this does not portend good per my gut feeling.

Off topic: I see big flight of high paying knowledge based jobs out of USA in general and out of san diego in particular to cheaper cost places. This again portend bad for middle class jobs..

[fun4vnay2]

Then you’d need to include the lost opportunity cost tied to your house down payment.
so rent may seem cheaper than own but that wont be the complete picture.
same can be said about 20% down as well.

[fun4vnay2]

I use my office cell phone, My wife uses pay as you go phone $10/month.
Electricity/gas is $70/month/average
No cable tv just internet at $35/month

sometimes i bike to work save on gas as well

my dream: to get rid of our second card and be more reliant on bike

[fun4vnay2]

Right now, assuming with 20% down,even with historic low interest rates, it is cheaper to rent than to buy a house. At Least in my area: SR/Sabre springs..

From what I experience/observed, rent never increased drastically as some people mentioned in this forum.

A 2 BR/BA condo in Mira Mesa was almost 1600/month 8 years back and I see the similar rate today as well.

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