Cost of housing.

[Provost Harrison]

I ain't going back into academia, where I couldn't afford a pot to piss in.

[:) Smiley]

Next up on Poly: Why Oerdin is leaving the South.

[Lonestar]

Oerdin divides his time between San Diego/Sacremento/Iraq. There is no "South"!

[Dinner]

Sad but true!

[Dinner]

BTW I got "pre-qualified" for a home loan today because it seems no one wants to bother talking to you unless you are pre-qualified for a loan. I didn't even bother trying to qualify by myself because all the loan calculators told me that a debt free man with my income could only afford a house up to $285,000. Since that won't get me a card board box in a trash dumpster I submitted paperwork with my father co-signing. One hour later the bank faxed us a form saying I was pre-qualified for a loan up to $800,000. Woot! Go dad!

I also called back that fellow with the nice town house I looked at earlier today. I was intending to make an offer which would be contingent upon inspections, home appraisals, and all the other normal home buying formalities but the guy told me he'd decided to raise the price $35,000. What the price went up 35k in five hours?! He said he'd looked at the other open houses in the area and had decided to revise his price.

It's true that several owners in this area have asked up to $490,000 for homes in this track but the most recent sale price was $430,000 for a four bedroom 1800 square foot house. This one is only 3 bedrooms with 1350 square feet. $395,000 seems to be about the correct valuation. I'm sure if he waited a couple of months he could get the extra $35k but right now it seems unreasonable.

I'm already going to be in debt up to my eyeballs with $395k what with taxes and home owners dues. I'll avoid PMI by getting a second (I don't have the $79,000 cash to put down which is needed to avoid the costly mortgage insurance) but that shouldn't be a problem as property in this city appreciates like the last snickers bar in a concentration camp. I figure I can rent out one or two of the three bedrooms since the area is close to both UCSD and a junior college. Renting the rooms shouldn't be hard since it shouldn't be hard since California seems to have the strange phenomenon of hordes of well paid 20 something college graduates who never the less can't afford to buy a house and so must rent.

[JohnT]

God, Oerdin, that's tragic.

[Dinner]

Unexpectedly salvation may be at hand.

http://www.realtor.com/FindHome/HomeListing.asp?snum=5&mlsttl=San+Diego&frm=bycomm&pgnum=1&mls=sandiego&js=on&poe=realtor&st=ca&areaid=1017354&areaid=1017373&areaid=1017378&areaid=1017383&areaid=1017390&areaid=1017397&areaid=1017405&areaid=1017407&areaid=1017411&areaid=1017412&areaid=1017414&areaid=1017415&areaid=1017416&areaid=1017419&areaid=1017423&areaid=1017425&areaid=1017431&areaid=1017437&areaid=1017438&areaid=1017439&areaid=1017440&areaid=1017442&typ=1&mnprice=0&mxprice=450000&mnbed=3&mnbath=2&mnsqft=1200&ss_mitm=n%2Fa&sid=02F1C376AFDEC&snumxlid=1036476602&lnksrc=00002

This house is in Escondido which I have always considered the domain of poor white trash and addled speed freaks but it is a small though reasonably sized starter home which has a yard, a two car garage, and all of the accouterments that young 20 something yuppies are preprogrammed to expect in a starter house. It's closer in then the houses in Riverside County which were spoken about in previous posts and it is higher up in the foothills so it isn't nearly as hot as East County. Sure, it isn't the perpetual perfect weather I've become accustomed to but it is affordable.

Predictably the realtor isn't available so I left a message and hopefully he will call me back in the morning. Of course tomorrow is the last day I have in America before I return to Iraq but my dad has a power of attorney for me so if I like the place he can finish all of the associated paper work. Luckily, he loves that sort of stuff. My father just seems to think business negotiations and haggling are the stuff which life is made from.

[Urban Ranger]

Re: Re: Re: Cost of housing.

Originally posted by Oerdin
$450,000 comes to be around $2200 per month for 30 years.

You're paying way too much interest on 30 years.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by PLATO
If you want to maximize the kind of house you can have in 5 years, then bite the bullet and buy smaller in a high appreciation area.

I looked at a tiny two-bedroom cottage up the street from me. Asking price: $465,000.

[Dauphin]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Cost of housing.

Originally posted by Urban Ranger

$450,000 comes to be around $2200 per month for 30 years.

You're paying way too much interest on 30 years.

A quick sum of digits calc says thats less than 5%. I don't know what the mortgage lending rate you're comparing to is, though.

[:) Smiley]

well, good luck with finding the house.

[pchang]

The North is worse

As bad as these stories of Southern California sound, it is worse in Northern California. The townhouse Oerdin describes for sale at $395,000 (now $420,000) would easily be going for $550,000 to $600,000 in San Francisco. As for the owner raising the price, you can always offer the original $395,000.

[Dinner]

Which is exactly what I did today. The owner said two other people are seriously interested but as of right now I am the only one who's filled out the paper work and offered a deposit. He told me he'd give me the final word tonight and that he is motivated to sell. Apparently he's owned this place as a rental for 20 years and his granddaughter is getting married and buying a house. This guy is giving his granddaughter and her husband the $300,000 or so he will make off of the deal.

[MrFun]

What would be a lot cheaper is to build your own life-size home out of a couple billion lego blocks.

[pchang]

Real estate should be more affordable in Iraq too - in case you want to go native (a la Lawrence).