[svferris]

A while back, I was looking at some places in Sabre Springs. They weren’t in the PUSD in terms of district maps. However, I was told that part of the HOA fees were going towards the PUSD in exchange for allowing residents of the community to go to the schools.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t a similar deal for the Stonebridge communities.

[svferris]

Craigslist is definitely going to be your best choice for finding a rental.

I also found Backpage.com to be useful. I think the Reader classifieds show up here.

You can try the Union Tribune classifieds, although I never had much luck with them. But, should a place be listed by a non-technical person who doesn’t use the internet or doesn’t know about Craigslist, it’ll probably end up there.

[svferris]

A realtor mentioned this option to me when I was considering buying a house a couple years ago. Here is a site that has more information:

http://www.cmgfs.com/partner/#

I think the idea behind it is that your money normally sits in your checking account earning little or no interest in preparation for paying upcoming bills. Instead, you have your direct deposit go into a checking account that is tied to your mortgage payment. As the money sits in there, it accrues a decent interest rate, which helps to automatically pay down the mortgage.

This will only really work for people who have more money coming into the account than leaving it. A direct deposit automatically pays down the principal, but should you need to then pay a bunch of bills, it’s the equivalent of taking out a HELOC.

Seems like an interesting idea and I’d love to hear from anybody that has actually looked into or had one of these.

[svferris]

Hey gold_dredger_phd…I’m in Torrey Highlands, off 56 and Camino Del Sur. I rent in the Bellardo complex, which is just behind the Albertsons shopping center.

I’m renting an 1800 sq. ft., 3BR+den townhome here from the owner for $2,000/mo. I’ll admit that I think I’m a bit below the average as I heard the place next to me rented for $2,500. Still, I think you can find a decent place around here for about $2,200 or so. I’ve seen quite a few For Rent signs. You should walk the area and write down some phone numbers. You should also do the same in your area, or nearby neighborhoods. I bet you could find houses for rent for what you’re paying.

[svferris]

Vrudny, I think your rent sounds pretty good. I just recently moved and did a LOT of searching around for places along the 15 and 56. Three bedrooms in Rancho Bernardo were a minimum of $1400-1500, and that was for pretty ugly and small places. Decent places were about $1600-1800. Getting into nicer areas like Torrey Highlands or Carmel Valley, you can’t touch a three bedroom for below $2000.

To give you an idea, I consider myself very lucky to have found a 3BR 2.5BA 1800 sqft. new townhouse in Torrey Highlands (off the 56 at Camino Del Sur) for $2000/mo. I think it should be another $400-500 more per month. If this is within your price range, you should take a look around the area. There’s a number of places for rent by me (behind the Albertson’s shopping center).

BTW, I’d like to point out that I think rents are more expensive than they should be, but that’s the way things are right now. People are trying to cut their monthly losses as much as possible.

[svferris]

Powayseller: The Shea Homes website I linked above says “Sanctuary residents with children will appreciate the advantages of the Poway Unified School District”. My guess is that they aren’t in the Poway city limits, but they probably pay for the privilege of being in the district (as part of HOAs/Mella-Roos). When I was looking at various condos and townhouses in the Scripps Ranch/Sabre Springs area, I noticed a lot of them did exactly this. “Poway School district” means they can tack extra value (i.e. profit) into the selling price.

I went back and looked at the ad in San Diego magazine and the development is Stonebridge (as manMom noted). It looks like a big development, as they have 7 different communities.

I found a bit of info on the development:
http://mcmillin.com/findahome/stonebridge/stonebridge.html

And here’s the location on Google Maps:
Stonebridge

[svferris]

The map did say “Not to scale”, but they definitely call it Scripps Ranch. I guess that’s a lot more prestigious than Poway.

I’m definitely not interested in the properties as there’s no way I’d be able to afford that in my whole lifetime. Just thought it was kind of a curiosity. I could find much nicer houses and areas to spend my money on (if I had it) than there.

I didn’t realize Sanatluz was gated. I live just south of there in Torrey Highlands and have been meaning to drive up and take a look around, just for fun.

[svferris]

Ok, so I was looking through San Diego magazine and saw an ad mentioning that there are like 5 other developments, all over $1 million in the same area as Sanctuary. They’re all like 4,000-6,000 sq ft. McMansions.

Are we looking at east Scripps Ranch as the next Rancho Santa Fe? I’m really curious to see how this area does over the next several years. I predict it will not do well. I think I heard some similar news about Santaluz and how nobody is buying there. At least it isn’t next to Miramar, and is in close proximity to Rancho Santa Fe.

[svferris]

It sounds to me like you made a (relatively) good decision. You’re buying a house because you want a place to live. You’re also buying to address other concerns you have, such as space and customization. I think as long as it makes you happier and you can afford it, don’t worry about if the value goes down a bit. It will eventually come back up. In the meantime, you’ll be in a place that makes you happy. And that’s what really matters.

I think what you find on this blog are people (myself included) who were priced out of the market and cannot afford a place if they wanted to. The fact that you can comfortably pay the monthly payment puts you in a whole different category. Unfortunately, I need to wait a while longer before this even becomes an option for me.

[svferris]

“For example if a Mexican immigrant does your gardening, you have more time to read, study and spend with your family. He’s grateful for the work and you benefit too.”

What about the gardener down the street who is an American citizen who can’t get a job because the immigrant comes over and takes less pay (under-the-table). If the average person has to choose whether to pay $100 to get their lawn cut by a citizen or $50 by an immigrant, guess which they’ll choose?

“If a foreign scientist comes to America, he helps develop technologies that benefit us all.”

I really don’t think this is a valid argument. How many scientists do you know that are climbing the border fence in San Ysidro so they can come develop technologies here? I don’t think anybody is arguing against foreign scientists legally coming over here and practicing.

[svferris]

Oops, link didn’t work. Here’s the linked version:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=omPGf5_6dUA

[svferris]

I’m waiting for the huge surge of Plasma TVs that populate these McMansions to come onto the market and knock down the 2nd hand prices.

I check Craigslist, but haven’t seen too much change. Any suggestions on where to check? Any good consignment/pawn shops?

[svferris]

I’m SOOOO happy that my new place has a storage area. It’s rather brilliant and I wish more places did something like it.

It’s a townhouse and the main level is a split-level. So, the upper area is above ground level. They then used the space below there to be a storage area, which is off the garage. The area is almost 500 sq. ft, which is just awesome for storing all those extra boxes I used to have scattered around the house or in the garage at my old place.

Of course, it just means I’ll probably end up keeping even more junk I should be throwing away.

[svferris]

I had these same concerns when my wife and I were looking for a place to rent just recently. The last thing I wanted to do was end up in a place where

1. The house would be foreclosed on
2. The owner would try to sell it while we’re living in it
3. The owner would be so desperate to make their payments that I’d see big increases in rent.

So, when we were looking, I used the public records information (via MLS) to find out when the places were bought, for how much, and how much was mortgaged.

My wife and I lucked out and found a great place in Torrey Highlands where the owner put up a large downpayment for the place. We’re paying under the comps for rent. I ran the numbers and it looks like after mortgage, HOAs, taxes, etc., he’s still profiting pretty well every month. And the previous tenants who were there for 2.5 years said he never raised the rent, and in fact, didn’t even raise it for us from what they were paying.

So, I’m definitely not worried. The owner did mention he may want to sell in a couple of years. Personally, I think he’ll change his mind when he sees that the value of his house is below his purchase price by that time.

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