[yipla]

Yes, SD Realtor and joec, we are staying in temporary housing at first. Arriving mid-August. It should be a decent sized 2-bedroom apartment on a month-to-month lease so we have flexibility, but I kind of hate living in apartments with carpet and no space for a garden. I’m picky! =) Need sunlight to grow! I have a bunch of plants I’m bringing from our current location and wish to plant them in the ground somewhere…

My partner hates commuting, so he really prefers a neighborhood near UCSD. We looked downtown around Hillcrest and University Heights for a while, and over time, he decided he hated the idea of driving even the 20 minutes it takes to get from there to UCSD. He hates driving on highways. He likes the idea of just having to drive up Genessee to get to school. So the more affordable starter-home neighborhoods nearby seem to be Clairemont and Mira Mesa. We might check the Mira Mesa neighborhood out when we get down there, but I’m so far not convinced it’s very convenient to anything but UCSD and the tech jobs nearby.

It does seem that the buying activity in Clairemont has been slowing down the last month. I wonder how long that will go on for and what that means for prices? This might be going into topics discussed elsewhere here, but do people think prices in Clairemont will see a dip as interest rates go up in 2015? Or will prices just stay flat.

I’m not trying to rush too much, but at the same time, most of the houses seem similar and I’d be fine living in most of them. It’s just about getting the right price for a house that is in reasonable shape to rent out in a few years. Too much of a fixer and it will be like putting more cash in for an effective down payment (read: more opportunity cost, no related deductions). That works if the purchase price is a really great deal, but not otherwise, especially if Prof. Piggington is right in valuations being at a high and likely to go down.

If Rich is to be believed, perhaps now is a bad time to buy. If I didn’t need a place to live, maybe I wouldn’t.

sdduuuude, maybe some people are getting good rents, but it would make me nervous to count on getting a high rent in an area where that doesn’t seem to be the norm. I might try to be conservative so that I can be sure I’m not losing money every month down the line. We’ll see!

Thanks again to everyone!

[yipla]

Thanks, everyone! Because it’s a starter home for me, I’m looking on the more affordable end but in a convenient location. It’s a balance of finding an affordable place that can still rent for enough to make it worthwhile. If Clairemont is not good value for rental vs purchase price, what areas are better?

I’ve been checking craigslist for a couple months and there aren’t actually many homes for rent in the north clairemont area. Most of the ones listed have been listed a long time because they’re asking over $2400. I wondered if one of the houses I mentioned could more easily rent for $2300, or if that would still be difficult.

sdduuuude, for $2800/month what kind of home price would that come to for purchase? How many beds and baths? I also have concern that if I get something too high-end there is more time searching for tenants between tenants. Maybe not as many people are looking to rent a high-end home in Clairemont.

On the Mt La Platta property, is that area desirable for renters? It will probably go before I have a chance to see it.

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