So the solution would be to also keep an eye out for school districts?
As a single guy, what percentage of your income would you justify spending just to own a house?
Nothing in the current market seems reasonable to me. Other than viewing the whole thing as an investment for appreciation. I am not sure if I am ready to invest that much money in a market that I don’t completely understand. In places like the midwest, you can own a property and have positive cash flow by renting it out. In places like San Diego, it seems the ownership costs would be two to three times the price of just renting. So no possible cash flow just hope you build enough equity through appreciation when you sell the property to offset all the investment.
well here in FL if you go to community college for 2 years you’re basically guaranteed entrance. of course you have to apply right off the bat if you want to get in asap.
In San Diego right now, just forget about a house. Buy a condo with a low HOA fee if you really feel the urge to “build equity”, be a landlord or not “throw away money to rent”. The house you want will cost 80% of your take-home pay and the house you can afford looks like this:
My wife and I just closed on a home in LA a few months back. We’re spending around 20% of our pre-tax income on our mortgage. Prior to buying our house we were renting a one bed apartment in the IE so our mortgage payments are around 2.5x what we were paying in rent. FYI the mortgage payments at the start aren’t even close to what you’re actually paying. After taking into account minor upgrades (flooring, landscaping, fixtures, etc), pool maintenance, furniture (my god furniture has gotten expensive), we’re looking at an extra 25-30k upfront costs for the first year.
With all that said, I’m not sure I’d do anything differently. I always hated living in an apartment and dealing with dozens of other people to use the amenities or having to chit chat with neighbors or at the bbq stations. I like the peace and quiet and it was worth the cost to have a home of my own, even if a million dollars gets you 1600 sf of livable space and a 7000 sf lot in LA.
What places to check out these days to get a mortgage with reasonable rate and costs?
My local bank is slow as hell but sounds reasonable on rates.
Rocket Mortgate is fast but they are in space with their rates and costs.
I also want to check out PenFed and someone recommend us a guy from rate.com
Try mortgage shopping sites such as bankrate, zillow, and nerdwallet. Sometime, mortgage companies will advertise different rates on different website. I was able to get a good rate from Better Mortgage last year from NerdWallet. It’s actually much lower than the rates Better Mortgage has on their only website.
“reasonable” rate is subjective these days after last week’s run up! Last week was the largest mortgage rate run up in a week since 1987… But starting to come back down. As with anything else shop around. Banks, credit unions and brokers should all be competitive now.
PenFed is usually decent on rates. Don’t over look arms for short term needs. Better rates and arm apps at 14 yr highs.
I don’t know about you, but my mortgage gives me constant nightmares. But I guess somehow, it’s the thing that keeps me going. I lost the enthusiasm in life before getting a mortgage; everything seemed monotonous and pointless. Nothing brings you back to life. The instinct of survival, and that’s what my mortgage does, gives some sense to my job :). Unfortunately, I can’t give my house for rent as I’ll have to rent myself. Strange, the fact that I am not the only one struggling with a mortgage gives me some comfort.
FWIW, it’s a generally accepted opinion in Cali that San Diego has perfect weather.
I think of the mortgage payment premium above equivalent rent as the embedded leveraged real estate investment. You’re putting a 10-20% deposit on the fair market value upfront but reap 100% of the equity earned. And mortgage interest is tax deductible. You don’t get those advantages in stocks.
Properties in coastal California metros have long term track records of value increases. I think that explains why it’s so much cheaper to rent based on monthly payments. Whereas in other cities in the country values have not historically increased as much because housing supply isn’t as constrained.
That said, don’t rely on gains as a basis for the decision to purchase. Like others have said, start off renting and get a feel for the location you choose and gain local insight as you build your network. Then you’ll have a better idea of the neighborhood where you’d want to take the plunge for your first home.
While the mortgage payments are higher than the equivalent rent, that’s never going up if you lock a fixed rate. Rents get increased annually and in time will be higher than your locked mortgage payment.
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I’m not sure why this would be construed as a political comment. But for SoCal, there are charter options to avoid bad schools zoned to appealing neighborhoods that are more affordable than private schools. Also, in my case we moved to a desirable LAUSD neighborhood near Culver City and petitioned into that very good district and avoided paying the “school premium.”
The top UC’s are competitive whether you live in state or not. But tuition is much lower for residents.
I’ve lived in Miami Beach, Honolulu, Manhattan Beach (LA, Calif), Santa Barbara, and San Diego. I can confirm that San Diego has the best year round weather in the continental USA (and probably North & Central America, Caribbean, Mexico, etc, for that matter, (though Cabo San Lucas is close)). Honolulu is #1 best weather in the USA, it’s not even close. People are going to say what about " Bend, Oregon or Boulder, Colorado " and they can blow out their ass.
If the OP can afford to buy anywhere in coastal San Diego (west of the 5 Fwy or close), then do it, even if it’s in a one bedroom condo in an HOA – but not in a high rise, please. They’re not making any more Socal coastline and the only competition is Baja Mexico --if they get their act together, and find water.
