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For anyone living in San Diego, I was wondering what the housing market is like. How far has it fallen? I'm hoping pretty far so that I can actually afford to move down there (from Vegas).

A couple friends who just got back this week said that there were some places at Mission Beach that got as low as 800 for a studio. I imagine it's going to be all of 300 sq ft, but if it really is 10 ft. from the beach...  :awesome_for_real:

We were drunk that night we talked about it, so it could all be nonsense. So, I'm wondering if it is that low in areas now.

San Diego is pretty simple, you choose the temperature by deciding how far away from the water you want to live.

So the first question is, 68, 72, 80 or 100?

Prices go up as the temperature goes down, so the hotter you can stand the cheaper the land will be.

Next, do you want a view of water, the city and/or of your neighbours?

Where do you plan on working?  Some combinations can result in commutes of well over an hour.

Also, avoid El Cajon Blvd.  This is me passing on life experience to you.   :why_so_serious: :why_so_serious: :why_so_serious: :why_so_serious:

The west end of ECB by the zoo is fine, I've stayed at the Lafayette there a couple times.

Yeah, very west is fine.  But I was referring to areas more.....east of University Heights.

I had a friend who lived at 49th & El Cajon.  I wouldn't take him home after dark.  Western side of 15 & El Cajon is... okay.  West of 805 & El Cajon is better.

As far as where you want to live, $800 for a studio in Mission Beach is probably some dinky 1905 shack that if you are lucky has heat and a stove.  Even luckier if it isn't obstructed by some huge house right in front of it or on all 3 sides of it.  Parking is non-existent in Mission Beach too, so if you have to drive anywhere you will end up having to walk 3-4 blocks home or more.  It's an okay area if you are a beach bum with no real job or a partying college student who likes bars and doesn't mind drunks passing out in the streets or on the sidewalks and having your shit broken into more than usual.  Pacific Beach is a nicer area but pricier and with less bars.

As far as where you want to live, as said above, pick your temperature and neighbor situation and price accordingly.  Commute is a big one too, as if you live too far away in the wrong direction the commute time sucks.  Grimwell does his 60 minutes each way commute every day and says it isn't that bad, but I think he's lying ;-)

Edit: As far as affording to move here, if you have a *job* you can afford rents.  But San Diego's unemployment rate is like 11-12% and somewhat higher than the rest of the state.  So unless you have a job first, I wouldn't move there in hopes of finding something that isn't McDonald's.  I was laid off in March and it took me 4 months to get a job, on the other side of the state.  As for buying, house prices are nice and low in crappy areas, but the nicer quality neighborhoods are still pretty expensive.  Not fuckdiculously priced like they were, but still pretty high.

Most of the beach towns are pretty skeazy, avoid them unless you like loud, drunk college twats wandering by your house all weekend tossing shit into the bed of your pickup truck/convertible. The last time I went to Mission Beach, some bum was waving a knife around while yelling at the owner of the headshop he had just been kicked out of. Yeeeeeeah.... The non-skeazy ones are simply more expensive (La Jolla, Del Mar, Carlsbad, etc). I personally like Carlsbad and Solana Beach the best.

Housing has plummeted, there's a lot of new stuff being built up north (Escondido, San marcos, Vista, Rancho Bernardo) that you can get a pretty good deal on (compared to two years ago) if you want a full blown family house/condo. They seem desperate for buyers, really. Probably several of them for rent from people stuck with them during the boom.

My brother lives in La Mesa and has for years....seems pretty straight to me. Might be a bit far from beaches or SD proper for you though.

I really don't mind my long commute!

But before any practical advice can be given, we do need to know roughly where you would like to live and how much you are willing to suffer to pay less.

My house cost half a million new (just shy). I got it for a severe discount. Timing was my friend. But I don't even live in SD county. ;)

Jesus wept.

The house I was born in (which my grandfather built) is worth about $800,000 now.  Well, last time my sister checked which was a couple of years ago.  Who knows in this economy.  My father sold it when I was a teenager for about $30,000 or something insane like that.  I didn't pay that much attention.  That just kills my sister who wants to buy it back except it's never been up for sale since my dad sold it.  I don't care, personally.  I'm not sentimental like she is.  I do remember that my grandfather was really pissed off and barely spoke to my mother again.  It also might be why my sister and I were cut out of everyone's will, even though we had nothing to do with anything.  Life!

Eh, thats about average in San Diego (at least during the housing boom) for most good houses.  Friend of mine's family had a house in Mira Mesa that they sold for about 800,000.  They originally bought it for around 200,000 I think.  Of course, they sold it at the height of the boom and got while the getting was good.

I suppose it's telling that I didn't even blink at this.   Gotta love living on the coasts.

Why not wait till CA finishes imploding? Prices will probably keep dropping for a while.

Yeah, just spoke with a friend back in San Diego, who's looking to buy a house.  Prices have dropped nicely all over the place, but he says the banks are just holding all the property they can right now and aren't lowering prices, to create demand.  We'll see how long that last when the next wave of ARM's hit  :why_so_serious:

Just wait until the baby boomers start retiring and need to sell their houses.

Well, there are reasons that part of me wants to see this entire ballooned to fuck system crash, but I'll save the vitriol for the unmentionable forum.

My family was deeded land in Maine after the revolutionary war, and with the WW2 shake-up, most of the family is gone now. Nobody can afford to buy up any of our old land now (we owned an entire peninsula), even with a close family friend in real estate there. Same thing happened with our camp in the Adirondacks. The family line is "If you sell it, you'll never be able to afford it again." That's fucking crazy.

Bah, let me be more clear:
Original listing of my house: $480K
I paid: $230K

Well, I gave them a child, some blood, and promised to pay well more than $230K over the course of the next 30 years, but you know how it goes... interest and all that.

I timed the crash quite well and have a lovely house out in the middle of the hot fucking desert.  :ye_gods:

I'll take 75 all year. Even though this year hasn't been too bad, I'm pretty much done with Vegas summers. I love the city, but the weather fucking kills it. I just miss decent weather 98% of the year.
Really all I need is a tiny condo with an idyllic view in some quiet neighborhood. The older I get, the less I'm willing to settle. (the big 3-0 is coming up - not a big deal to ya old farts, but it freaks me out)
Goddamn, only 230K? If I could get rid of my house here, I'd definitely be down there already.

I checked out Walkscores for some the areas I was thinking of too. Would be nice to not have to use my car all time.

I was surprised there is still some decent demand for what I do. (Mech, Plumb & Elec Design/Cad with a BS in Game art & Design,  :oh_i_see:). Heh, Raph's Meatspace is out there isn't it? maybe he'll hire me? :grin:

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So, no El Cajon Blvd. Western side of 15 & El Cajon is... okay.  West of 805 & El Cajon is better.

I will be checking the areas of La Jolla, Del Mar, Carlsbad,Solana Beach, Escondido, San marcos, Vista, Rancho Bernardo & La Mesa then.

If you live inland, it won't be 75 all year. It gets hot even if you're not that far from the coast. Not quite Vegas hot in most places but there will be multiple days over 100 in places like Rancho Bernardo for sure.

Last time I was there (before the housing crash, mind you) it looked like there were a lot of nice condos available in Hillcrest. Mind you, that's basically the San Diego gay district, so if that would bother you never mind.

75?

I would suggest looking in La Jolla, La Jolla Village, Torrey Hills, Torrey Pines, University City (don't let the name scare you, lots of very nice houses, condos and apartments in the area) and downtown (Gaslamp Quarter, Horton-plaza area).  

Downtown would probably be the best if you are going to try and go without a car.  Don't forget, San Diego is still California so you will be treated like a leper if you do not have a car.  On the off chance that you do go car-less, there is a tram to take you to Tijuana for cheap hookers, the stadium to see the worst football team ever and to a very nice mall.  Also, there is a very nice train that only crashes when the conductor's cell phone gets service that will take you to Anaheim and LA cheaply.

Carlsbad, Rancho Bernardo, and Del Mar are great if you enjoy sitting in traffic for hours at a time.  Also, try to avoid getting a job in Mira Mesa, getting off the highway in the morning and on in the evening will most probably cause you to go postal.

Best of luck with your search.

The Lions play in San Diego?!

I find the area names amusing. You should definitely try to move into Rancho Bernardo!

There be dragons.  (Sony HQ)

You beat me to it...

La Jolla is still fuckdiculously priced and a complete bitch to get in and out of (2 lane road).  Nice area, but very snobby and artsy (aka bring lots of cash).  Del Mar & Solana Beach are more of the same, but easier to get in and out of - relatively speaking, anywhere that is off of I-5 in that area sucks for traffic about 80% of the day and all day long on weekends as people from LA come to visit and leave on Sunday.

Escondido is inland about 20 miles, so despite what people saying about not needing air conditioning in San Diego, they don't mean this part.  It will regularly get to 95-100° in the summer and a few days or a week of 110° is not unheard of.  It's also very hit or miss regarding "okay" vs. "totally shitty gangbanger" streets.  Grimmy used to live there and he can can tell you about the wonderful and colorful neighbors you will have.

Rancho Bernardo is old people's town.  Seriously.  2 lane roads, speed limit is 30 everywhere.  They started it as a retirement area for old people and even used to have an age limit to move into the area.  They've relaxed a bit now, but seriously, it's old people's town.  VERY little open on Sundays or after 8PM.

San Marcos, Carlsbad, and Vista are all right, but about the same temperature-wise as Escondido.  San Marcos is a little cooler and gets more marine layer.  The 78 freeway is too small for the area and getting in and out can cause you to go nuts.

Basically if you want it to be 75 year-round you need to live close to the water, but not so close that you are part of the party kids and bums scene or part of the yacht club.  Point Loma, Hillcrest, Linda Vista, University Heights, North Park, and the west side of Mission Valley are all places to consider.  Not the *nicest* or most expensive neighborhoods, but not ghetto town either.  Golden Hill and Banker's Hill have some pretty nice views and cheap places without being too bad in most areas (plus you can live in a rich banker's old mansion that has been duplexed or triplexed).

Sounds like my kind of place!

You are too young to move there ;-) 

Edit: Not to mention, the traffic is utterly horrible there as Sony and many other companies put up big offices across the freeway from the area and it's grown like weeds.

Indeed.  I'm looking for a house in the Mountain View / Palo Alto / Los Altos area, and I don't think you can buy tear-downs for 500K out here.

Manilla Mira Mesa always seemed nice when I was there.  Not sure if all my friends just lived in the good parts though.

But yeah, if you want to live in the cooler area's (and thus, closer to the water) your going to want to follow Selby's advice
Those are all nice area's that aren't as assfuckingly expensive as others.  If you don't mind a commute, most places in the North county are nice.

You might be able to in Sunnyvale these days, but yeah, the housing market here is still pretty annoying. Condos have come way down at least.

Poway, Penasquitos (where I grew up) and Scripps Ranch are inland enough to not get really cloudy beach weather, and coastal enough to not get really bad summers.

There's tons of other neighborhoods to name drop, but all you really need to do is look between the 5 and the 15.

I'm kinda surprised that it hits 100 at all. I've been down there countless times and it's always just pure  :heart:. But thinking back, I'm always near/on the beach so my memories are skewed. Gotta remember everyday living isn't all fun and beeaches.

Old people neighborhoods are great. For peace and quiet. But I am a fan of nightlife so I'd like to be closer to the fun. Hell, the first place I started checking out was the Gaslamp district since that's where we always end up. Ya... I forgot I wasn't born into money...

I'll be down there in a week or so to do more research (ogle the girles and get drunk).

Thanks to everyone for such useful advice! Never realized so many F13'ers lived there.

In case others haven't been implicitly clear: you will not make it without a car in San Diego. Coyotes will eat your dessicated corpse on the side of the freeway. The best you can hope for is a semi-walkable neighborhood with a cluster of neat shops that will serve SOME of your needs.

I'll also recommend La Mesa as a good place to start. It's inland enough that the prices are more reasonable, but built around I-8, which is your main East-West freeway. It may have changed with recent events, but I liked the area of La Messa called 'The Village.' There were a few decent restaurants down there which would be great if they were within walking distance.

Some area's of La Mesa get pretty ghetto'ish though, so just scout the neighborhood a bit first.  Other parts are fine though.

I drove through La Mesa. 

Once.

As for having everything in one place, Gaslamp/downtown is hard to beat.  Pretty much anything off of Market Street is nice and would probably be near-ish to your budget while still providing acceptable temperatures, transportation, shopping and night life.

You used to be able to in Mountain View until all you Google people took it over. It's one of the more expensive places to buy a home now. I haven't looked to see how much prices have dropped in the last few months but a tear down in a minuscule lot in those areas was around $750K - 800K with Palo Alto still being the highest per square foot (Los Altos has some areas with larger lots than you typically find in MV or PA).

I lived in Penasquitos for 5 years, and this is pretty true.  You get mostly decent days, but there are a few mindblowingly hot days in the summer (it was the aforementioned 110°F for a week or two in 2004-2005 timeframe that led me to install AC in the house).  No nightlife in that area though, and Scripps Ranch is turning into La Jolla East (lots of snobbery and overpriced houses).

Mira Mesa has nice parts, but most of it is very congested and the traffic in and out is just horrible during rush hour +/- an hour.  Having 3-4 families who don't speak English (and not Spanish) living in the houses next door to you are a turn off to some people as well.  There's some gang activity from the imported cultures moving in (mostly Asian) so you need to watch which part you live in.

Yeah, don't do that if you can avoid it.

I must say, up here in the Bay Area where I now live, houses are stupidly priced still.  I can't imagine trying to touch a house in Palo Alto or Mountain View these days.

Dangit, it was about to fake-edit his post to replace the 500K with 750K, based on the tear-downs I saw when I lived there, and comments from friends and colleagues who are still trapped in the heart of Silicon Valley.  My favorite was the tear-down that was across the street (or next to?) a car-junkyard that backed onto 101, and was "a bargain" at 700K...in 2005.

For the record, I moved to MV back in 2000, well before Google moved in, and five years before they went and bought the company I was working for. (it's not my fault!)

Decent single family detached on 6000-7000 ft^2 lots (would benefit from some remodeling, but in pretty decent shape) seem to be going for 850-950 in MV right now.  The same sort of thing in Los Altos or Palo Alto tends to be 200-300 more.  Palo Alto has a bit more variety of construction, where Los Altos has pretty much the same sort of 50s ranch homes as MV.

Wherever you end up, always be prepared and wary of the giant squid menace. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8155417.stm)

Since I rent an apartment in ghetto El Cajon I am completely unqualified to give you housing advice. Out here we definitely need our air conditiioning, and we live next to brown people. It's okay, they are actually pretty cool. East County SD representin' yo.

and they live next to white people. It's okay, they are actually pretty cool.

I don't know ... some of my white neighbors are pretty shady characters.

Probably wetos then.

I have a feeling that most of you in California will be eaten by giant squid, anyway.  I'll go ahead and predict that.  I have to find a way to stop caring about all of you.

Does that happen before or after the state sinks into the sea, taking us with it?

I guess what I'm asking is, "are giant squid a threat to those of us who don't live right on the beach?"

I don't know.  I guess as the state starts to sink into the ocean, more of you are apt to be eaten.  It is the logical outcome.  Maybe you should move to Nevada.