[UCGal]

[quote=svelte]What you don’t mention is how long you plan on keeping the home and/or staying in San Diego.

I think you have to go into a home purchase with the mindset that you’ll keep it at least 5 years, and hopefully 10. Property values will be higher in 5 years in most cases, and will surely be higher in 10 years.

If you’re planning on selling in 2, 3, or 4 years – well then it all depends on how much risk you are comfortable with. There certainly could be a temporary price dip in that time period.

Another reason to buy: sounds like mortgages will be easier to get in 2015, which means more folks will buy, which means more demand on the housing market.

http://www.10news.com/financial-fitness/4-reasons-buying-a-home-in-2015-will-be-easier%5B/quote%5D

I agree the timeframe you plan to hold the home is key. If it’s a home you plan to stay with for 7 years or longer – that helps amortize the transaction costs associated with buying/selling. If you plan to “move up” in a few years… keep renting.

Is your job likely to stay here in San Diego – or could you be transferred?

There are opportunities out there- especially if you’re ok with something that needs some work. My block had two houses sell for a $200k difference within 2 months of each other. One was fixed up and fancy, one was dated. Buyer of the cheaper one is in process of spending about $50k for new kitchen/bathrooms/flooring. But most buyers don’t want to bother.

[UCGal]

SWLBX (Schwab total bond fund)
SWRSX (Schwab TIPS bond fund)

Disclaimer – no idea if these are the best bond funds – but they fit my plan for a 60% equity/40% fixed income asset allocation that I could set and forget.

I know a lot of people just go simple and use Vanguard Wellington or Wellesley active (but low expense) funds. But I’m at Schwab – so tried to use Schwab funds.

[UCGal]

[quote=memyselfandi]my attorneys are telling me that the separate property is separate property but the HELOCS are community debt. Just trying to figure out if it is still separate property reimbursement if the HELOCS were used to pay for the house and property taxes. Thanks for any info.[/quote]

My understanding (which could be complete crap – so take it with that understanding) is once funds (or debt) is comingled – it’s joint.

So inheritance/separate property – even if joint funds are used on it – is separate. Debt, in both parties names, is joint.

I was told that if a person receives an inheritance, while married, and puts the money in a joint account – it’s now joint property – so half the spouses…. However if it’s kept separate, it stays separate.

Real life example. I inherited some money from my dad. We used it to build a granny flat on our property. I cannot claim the amount put into the granny flat is MINE alone – since it is a jointly owned property. I gave up that separation when I chose to use the money that way.

Yours is kind of the reverse. It sounds like HELOC (joint) funds were used on a separately owned property. That didn’t change the status of the ownership of the separately owned property… and the HELOC is joint debt.

But definitely ask an attorney…

[UCGal]

[quote=flu][quote=UCGal][quote=flu][quote=NicMM]Why don’t we just buy BKR-B? Isn’t it simpler than tracking Dow and adjusting portfolio very year?

NicMM[/quote]

I don’t want to add to that position.[/quote]

What about any of the total market indexes.
I’m sure it includes dogs and diamonds… since it includes everything.[/quote]

I have VTSAX, which is a vanguard total stock market.

I guess I was just wondering, if given an amount X that you want to allocate it into the stock market, do you distribute it among different benchmarks, or do you just pick 1 like the total stock index and call it a day?

It just seems like there is a variability in each of the benchmarks, but is it worth being in all of them…Or if you do that over a long period of time, it ends up being noise and no difference than just picking a “total stock market index”?[/quote]

Personally – I keep it simple.
Total stock index fund.
total bond index fund
Some leftover TIPS index fund
and a small int’l equity index fund.

The common thread is index funds. My total in the stock/equity side is 60%. My total in the bond side is 40%. That way on days the market takes a dump, my bonds either go up , or go down LESS… Kind of adding hysteresis to the market fluctuation. I don’t try to time anything or go to heavily into any sub group (energy, tech, whatever…) I just keep it simple.

I lost a lot of money when I was buying individual stocks and trying to time the market. I’m not smart enough for that.

[UCGal]

[quote=ljinvestor]If it was recently rebuilt from the studs they should have permits on file with city which you can check on.[/quote]

Yep. Take a trip down to development services downtown and see what permits and inspections were done. If the seller didn’t pull permits, despite being a licensed contractor, I’d run away – far away.

The permit building inspections aren’t perfect by any means but they often catch “short cuts” and make the contractor fix them.

The rusty fan under the house is a big red flag to me. This guy is trying to cover stuff up.

[UCGal]

[quote=flu][quote=NicMM]Why don’t we just buy BKR-B? Isn’t it simpler than tracking Dow and adjusting portfolio very year?

NicMM[/quote]

I don’t want to add to that position.[/quote]

What about any of the total market indexes.
I’m sure it includes dogs and diamonds… since it includes everything.

[UCGal]

I’m a little out of balance – but this is my target plan

Target (all index funds unless otherwise noted):
40% Large Cap stock
10% Small Cap stock
10% Int’l stock
(so 60% equities)

25% domestic bonds
15% cash/CDs
(so 40% fixed income)

The reason cash is so high is that I pull out 1 years worth of investment withdrawal at the beginning of the year. Cash will deplete over the course of the year.

We also have our very illiquid companion unit – it generates income but can’t be sold unless we sell our primary home. I don’t consider the primary home (and hence companion unit) in our “investable assets”.

I’m following a pretty simple “lazy portfolio”.

As far as new years resolutions – those aren’t financial (except to stay the course on my budget/investments)… I want to continue the dog walking exercise program for the new year. I want to eat healthy.

[UCGal]

[quote=Essbee]
I have never been to Hacienda Heights and know nothing about it. However, the original poster stated that his friend’s parents bought a house for $700K and that it is now worth $900K. AFAIK, there is nothing that expensive in Clairemont Mesa (SD). Since this is true, how is this even a relevant comparison? Homes in Hacienda Heights ($700-900K) are nicer than homes in Clairemont SD ($500-600K). Yes, one would hope so![/quote]

Just to correct this. There were quite a few homes that sold for over $900k in Clairemont (92117) in the past year. A quick redfin search shows this.

https://www.redfin.com/zipcode/92117/real-estate#!min_price=900000&sold_within_days=365&status=131&v=8&sst=&region_id=38117&region_type=2&market=socal

Most of the higher priced homes had nice views of the bay or ocean… but those views usually came with freeway and train noise. Here’s one that sold for over a million with no ocean view. Others have obstructed views but still sold for a lot.

https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Diego/3110-Denver-St-92117/home/5203493

Clairemont is starting to become a tear-down community – because of the convenient location people are buying, tearing down, and rebuilding showpiece houses. Not everywhere – but on the canyon lots and some of the bay/ocean view lots.

My step-mom sold her place in Clairemont last year… a 1960 era 1500sf house – bay view… but not fixed up at all, small usable portion of the lot (due to hillside), small house, small dated kitchen… she got almost 700k for it.

[UCGal]

I believe our zone is RS-5. 5k sf lots minimum in our area. (So bigger minimum lots than the minimum in the area you’re talking about where parts have 3k sf lots.)

At the time we got the permit/built (2007) the requirement was for nominal DOUBLE the size of the minimum lot size for your hood – so we had to have a 10k sf lot.

The parking didn’t need to be covered – but it did need to meet the “street wall” requirements – which was a PITA. Street wall has to do with the space to either side (setback) from the front corner of the main house and the property line… parking had to be in that side area, between the front of the house and the street. So if you have a short front yard or narrow setbacks you might have issues with this requirement. The rules might have changed. This was the hardest requirement to meet.

We were limited to 700sf for the companion unit.

I believe (but could be misrecollecting) the unit had to be on the back 1/3 of the lot…. which for us made it more expensive because of a slope issue.

I’ve read that they have relaxed some of the requirements (perhaps lot size) since we built. At the time we built it was almost impossible to meet the requirements – but we managed to jump through every hoop and roadblock they threw up in front of us. The mayor, at the time, was on record for NOT liking companion units and was rumored to have told development services to find reasons not to approve. Fortunately, that situation has changed.

Good luck and keep us posted. Our project was a nightmare to build – but turned out great.

[UCGal]

Walk the dog on the beach at least 3 mornings a week when in town.

Stay retired.

Organize my house.

Continue to improve fitness (dog walks are part of that.)

[UCGal]

It wasn’t you?

I’m taking Italian at City College. But the same teacher, Profesoressa Heidrich, also teaches at Mesa and Grossmont. A five unit class. I am not a good speaker – but can read/understand much better than before.

Bagna Cauda comes in two styles – with cream and without. I made the cream style. It’s a warm dip that you dunk veggies and/or crusty bread. It’s heavy cream, garlic, anchovies, olive oil, parsley, and cayenne.

[UCGal]

I’m sorry for your loss, Scaredy.

I agree that even 50 is being optimistic. My brother died at age 47 (2 months shy of 48)… He was very athletic, ate healthy, had no risk factors other than genetics. Anniversary of his death is this week. My dad had died a few months earlier. Mortality slapped me hard in the face that year.

Realizing there are no health guarantees, even if you eat right and exercise, was a factor in my decision to retire early… Life is short.

[UCGal]

[quote=scaredyclassic][quote=flu]impound account… 2% return by CA law….Better than than a CD![/quote]

That plus lower interest rate. I thought the impound acct. Was a nobrainer…[/quote]
Can’t have an impound account if you don’t have a mortgage. Just sayin’.

[UCGal]

[quote=moneymaker]If there was a pill to cause aging to be cut in half? i.e. you could live twice as long if you started taking it as an infant, would it be a good thing? If women could reproduce into their 70’s and 80’s would it cause the earth to over populate sooner? So if I’m 50 and would have lived to 100 without the pill, but with it could live to 150, would I want to? I think as long as the answer is “yes” then one is still alive and life is worth living, if one does not want to take the pill then one foot is already in the grave.[/quote]

I’m not sure I’d want that. Does it mean puberty lasts twice as long?
For women – menstruation/cramps, PMS, etc… for double the number of years. (I’m sooooo close to being done with this – but can’t quite make it into menopause… but I’m ready… very ready to be done with childbearing years.)

Then there’s the quality of life as you age… Frail bones, slower reactions when driving, macular issues, dementia, stairs become a chore…. twice as many years of the aged stage of life.

And as someone who’s reached a great stage of my life – living twice as long would mean you need a LOT more money to retire… so more work years.. more traffic filled commutes, more years with passive aggressive bosses…. No thank you.

My financial plans call for the very unlikely scenario of living to 100, but truthfully, I’ll be happy if I live to 80 or 90. Especially if I can avoid dementia and broken hips.

[UCGal]

Redfin gives a more complete listing/sales history.
My guess – someone thought they got a “steal” in a short sale – and is now trying to reap the profit… but it’s not selling for the price they want.

You can see the older listing here (the one that closed in August). Absolutely NO interior pictures
https://www.redfin.com/CA/Chino-Hills/6415-Seldon-Way-91709/unit-24/home/3990824/crmls-CV14045105

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