[mrquoi]

House prices in some areas (my old neighborhood in UTC) are just a hair above *2003* prices, when we sold. Looking at some of the obvious flipper houses online, it is entirely possible that a lowball offer would put us back in at the same price or maybe lower — which is still ridiculously high for a 3br 70s era, uninsulated, washer-and-dryer-in-the-kitchen crackerbox.

[mrquoi]

Here’s Craneville from Ben Jones’ blog slideshow.

http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/slideshow/#2

There are many hilarious “move-in for $1 down” style ads in the SD Reader. Also, the best massive for sale sign nest I’ve seen is at the corner of El Camino/Manchester in Encinitas.

[mrquoi]

Forclosure buying is for people with a lot of $. (At least relative to the price of the property.) I’m not sure what the latest rules are, but I think you have to pay all cash at the auction and you are not allowed to do an inspection. So you could wind up getting whacked with huge repair bills since most foreclosures have had people living there that did not bother to keep up the property at best and destroyed it at worst.

[mrquoi]

He’s also concerned about the tax deduction, but since we have significant student loans (just finished grad school) I think we have plenty to write off already.

[mrquoi]

A large chunk of that is probably Utah, where the market only warmed up about a year ago and is currently on fire. People are paying $400K for A-frame shacks with a woodburning stove and tin roof on .5 acres in the middle of nowheresville (where my relatives live), not near a ski resort, grocery store, anything nearby. IIRC the same thing happened last time around in the 90s — the money sloshed out of California, into Arizona and up to Utah and Idaho. And then the bust followed the same path.

[mrquoi]

Now that I think about it, that would mean that the people I sold to are >$10K under + Realtor’s commission if they need to move. They bought using an ARM since that’s the only way they could afford to get in.

[mrquoi]

I’ve found that biotech jobs that pay 80K in the Bay Area only pay 70K in San Diego. And unless you’re with a good company whose going to survive and have the stock be worth it — well you’ll be looking for another job in a few years.

It is very exciting that Genentech is moving to O’side, though.

I used to work at UCSD, which I believe is SD’s largest employer. Employees that have been there a long time are doing OK, since they were grandfathered in at a time of sweet retirement benefits and probably got cost of living increases. Or at least until every one was forced to take pay cuts in the 90s. But people who started in the last decade or so are not only taking a 25-30% hit for the pleasure of working in academia, they’re getting paid at least 10-15% less than other UCs. Plus parking is $70 a month, you now have to pay for your health insurance, you start with only 3 weeks vacation, etc, etc. I have a friend there now who’s gotten a total of 4% increase in salary over the past five years.

In a presentation on posted on the HR website, the average UCSD staff salary is $46K.

[mrquoi]

Well, I’m back from a weekend in San Diego. I’m still formulating my philosophy as to what will make my kids turn out (hopefully) successful. Some combination of environment, peers, parenting, and the kid.

Anyhow there weren’t that many signs or open houses up in Mira Mesa except up and down Calle Cristobal. Encinitas on the other hand — there were a ton of signs along El Camino. A particularly large nest of realtor and FSBOs on El Camino and Manchester.

There are definitely dumpy parts of Mira Mesa — it’s sort of a street-by-street thing. But, since we’re planning to do an old-fashioned 20 percent down, 30-year fixed, it’s where we’re headed. Unless the market totally tanks and I can get a little beach shack across from Swamis for the same money 😉 But my data-deficient instinct says the really big cuts will be in places like San Elijo Hills, Temecula, Murrieta, Santee, etc rather than on the beach. We drove from LA down the 15 and they’ve got billboards for inland developments all over the place. I’ll make a count the next time I drive down.

[mrquoi]

Wow, such fast responses. We’re interested in the west end of MM for commuting reasons. Part of the reason for buying a cheaper place in Mira Mesa rather than Scripps Ranch or RP is that I can stay at home with my kids, which I think will affect their success in school more than anything. However–to me, anyhow– Mira Mesa schools on the west side do OK compared to Scripps Ranch. (I haven’t looked much at east MM.)

Here’s some API scores from 2005.

http://api.cde.ca.gov/APIBase2006/2005Base_Co.aspx?cSelect=37,San,Diego

The first # is the number of students, the second is API base, the third is statewide rank.

Sandburg Elementary 446 855 9
Ericson Elementary 537 873 9
Hickman Elementary 471 860 9
Mason Elementary 571 824 8

Miramar Ranch Elementary (Scripps Ranch) 540 876 9
Dingeman Elementary (Scripps Ranch) 527 930 10

Challenger Junior High Challenger Middle 1,098 807 9
Wangenheim (Scripps Ranch) 1,275 797 8

Mira Mesa Senior High 1,800 758 8
Scripps Ranch High 1,657 799 9

Gasp! A Realtor lying about schools! Not that they would try to steer you into a more expensive house by exploiting your parental guilt. But that would be evil since you could put the difference in house prices towards college tuition.

HOWEVER! Mira Mesa students have a *much* higher priority than Scripps Ranch, RP, Clairmont, UTC, etc. if they (or parents) decide they want to attend a magnet school or charter school. So, say my son turns out to be a lovely kid with a passion for science or the arts. He’d have a much better shot being from MM.

http://sandi.net/enrollmentoptions/magnet/enrollment_priority.html

High Tech schools (excellent charter schools) students are admitted through a zip code based lottery system.

http://www.hightechhigh.org/schools/

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