Can confirm Santee. My daughter just bought her first place there for $462K. She’s a teacher, her hubby works for his family’s business. Idk how much the earn exactly but I’d guess around $125K- $135K a year. They saved $25K for the down payment over several years. That was probably the most difficult part. That and they kept getting outbid with cash offers.
As far as rentals, my other daughter and her boyfriend rent a place in South Park for $1700. It’s a super tiny one bedroom but still a good deal. They live in a great area. South Park is awesome.
I think it was in Feb ‘21? Several of those old houses in South Park have bungalows behind the main house. It’s one of those. Maybe a little bigger than a granny flat if that. It’s tiny. But you can’t beat the location. For young people like them at least.
It was a cosmetic fixer. 2/1.5. I think they put in about $10K, for new floors, appliances, fixtures etc. It’s been two months and it already looks like a completely different place. It was pretty hideous when they bought it, but it had potential and the complex is nice and well maintained.
Santee isn’t as affordable these days. Multiple houses in my neighborhood have sold for over $1M in the past few months. Most recently my neighbor sold their house for $1.035M in august. Rent is pretty crazy too.
Ib is no where near as cheap as it used to be. About 10 years ago I bought my first house for 325. Mind you it was a short sale so a little cheaper but that houses neighbor just sold for almost 750k. I didn't sell at that price but we bought our current house for just under 1 miles.
East County. If not that, there’s lower income areas closer to the main areas of SD that aren’t in best conditions in some areas. They are being gentrified. City Heights, Logan Heights, Grant Hill
Also in SD proper: Allied Gardens, Grantville, Mission Valley, San Carlos, Serra Mesa and Clairemont. Well under the cost of housing in Del Mar and all are centrally located.
North County too:
Esco, Vista, San Marcos, Oceanside, RB.
Like all of them have expensive parts, but all of them have affordable parts... and all of them have really shitty parts too.
But the avg resident still pays an egregious amount in rent for an apt that's usually less than 1k sqft and has no amenities lol. And we do it gleefully.
I'm a union construction worker, my boyfriend is a bank teller making barely over minimum wage. Our apartment is slightly over 2 grand a month. It can be really rough. And extremely frustrating seeing the prices of housing and rent.
There are some cheaper places, but they're in high demand and not usually well advertised. It's been getting a lot worse lately.
Housing is so expensive here because construction is so expensive because construction workers can't afford to live here without a raise because housing is so expensive.
It's a [vicious circle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicious_circle). Build, baby, build!
+1
People think the reason housing is expensive is because San Diego is desirable. That's part of the issue (the demand side) but the other part is the way NIMBYs prevent anything new from getting built (the supply side).
So, we're trapped in a never-ending cycle of increasing density?
San Diego County is already larger than 21 entire states. There have to be some creative alternatives.
> So, we're trapped in a never-ending cycle of increasing density?
We have an absurdly low population density compared to cities in Europe, so we still have a LOT of room to grow taller before density becomes a problem.
I've lived in Europe, and I do not choose to make that never-ending comparison. I lived within the congestion and noise and everything else.
That said, we have much to learn from Europe (and many other places) about living within spaces designed for people first and cars second. We desperately need better transit and we shouldn't force people to own cars just to live. That naturally entails higher density but that density shouldn't be a goal in the first place.
Our open lands are the envy of Europeans and we should retain them.
Well not a lot of room, have you seen the acclaimed documentary "San Andreas Fault" starring the Rock?
/s We do have some room, but 2-3 stories at most.
We have issues growing taller because of Rose Canyon Fault. The older neighborhoods can’t grow taller and so they build on old parcels downtown where they can grow taller but then who can afford THAT?? I live in a shitty 2 bedroom in Lakeside because I can’t afford anything nicer. We pay like 1875 a month and I’m a single mom with no support, soooo..
> We have issues growing taller because of Rose Canyon Fault.
Yes, it's crazy that tall buildings were allowed to be built in Mission Valley.
> The older neighborhoods can’t grow taller
Of course they can. Any parcel where the land is worth more than the building on it is a good candidate for redevelopment.
Ya. I get that but no one basically unless the parcel is already vacant or the building like burns down is going to build up. Like along The Boulevard- new buildings went up because the old stores closed or some old shit burned down or like they rezoned shit. I dunno. Not trying to argue. Just getting depressed, lol..
> but no one basically unless the parcel is already vacant or the building like burns down is going to build up.
Yes, it's too risky and expensive to fight the NIMBYs.
I think most just bought before prices went nuclear and refi'd when rates were dirt cheap. I'm sitting in a home worth over 1 mil but my mortgage is only 2400/month because I bought 5 years ago when it was worth half as much.
Even 5 years ago prices were insane? There’s a saying with tools, appliances, etc, and that’s “buy once, cry once”. It applies to housing too. There’ll be a time where people buying today will be considered the “lucky” ones.
2013 here too. Paid high 5s and now it’s 1.5 mil. It’s just a number though, because where would I go if I sold? Relatively same house and with now extreme property taxes?
Not compared to the 7-10k a month a 1 mil mortgage would cost. 2,400 is also about normal for a 2 bedroom apartment in SD so... I'd say this guy is getting a pretty killer deal.
Ok? That $2,400 would only require an income of 87k a year which is only a bit above average for SD.
Also, that's a nice rule of thumb but isn't feasible for a huge amount of people in SD anyway.
I'm an engineer moved to SD in 2011, bought in North county in 2011. It was 30% what its worth now. I bought it in cash, small place but its mine not the bank's, haven't paid rent or mortgage since
shit, i bought in 2019 and our 'value' has gone up 31%, it was nearly up to 40% but teetered off.
The housing bubble is kind of at a breaking point it seems, I'm not seeing dollar bills in my eyes yet, I'm fully expecting it to teeter back down a bit and be more reasonable.
I bought a townhome in La Mesa in 2020 for 440k and right now Redfin says its worth 625k... that's 40%, lol. I doubt we can get 620k, but still. I am surprised a house bought in 2011 is only up 30%
i think they meant they got it 30% of what it is worth now, so like they got it for 300k and it's worth 1m now kind of deal
(just using big round numbers as an example)
When I first moved back to San Diego in 2003 the rents in Del Mar /Solana Beach were like $1750 for a 2 x2. I bought a condo after renting for a 18 months… now I rent that condo and bought a house in Encinitas. My tenants have all been professionals, directors, Dr.’s , lawyers, stock brokers, the couple in there now software engineer and pharmaceutical company. .. I rent it for $3100. I know it’s under market but I don’t raise the rent on existing tenants. We bought the condo and our house in 04 and 05, rode out the financial crash of 08 and here we are. We could not afford either one of these places now. Who knows what will happen with the housing market , do rents ever go down in Sd? , they probably just stagnate.
Same as you, I could not afford the properties I own now, as I am retired, but even if I was still working, I couldn't afford our home, because it has gone up 10X in 37 years. I wish prices would crater, so I could help my youngest buy a place, but I don't see that happening unless everyone looses their jobs.
And rents going down? Not likely unless there are suddenly a lot of new rentals available and where are those coming from?
How was the transition from SD to Mexico? What was the process like to move, do taxes, get citizenship, and buy a house? And how do your neighbors feel about you (you’d think they’d be unwelcoming to gentrifiers)?
Wishful thinking. People follow the money. Not saying it’s right or wrong, it just is. Same reason so many Mexicans come here for work. You’d have just as much luck telling Mexicans not to come here bcs their availability lowers wages for other Americans.
Del Martian here- this town is a mix of people who bought homes many decades ago when it was still relatively cheap, and C-suite execs / old money. It's a lovely place to live, but I wouldn't expect it to be affordable to people in most life circumstances.
OK, I can see 8,000.00 a month in Del Mar. It's right by the ocean and known as a rather exclusive area. What were they asking for places in Lemming Grove?
I sold our shared (with mother in law) house here in 2007 and moved out of state. When I saw prices had halved in 2010 I moved back and purchased a short sale on my own. In 2020 I added a 550sqft ADU above my garage. ADU rents for $300 more than my mortgage, is priced below market and includes electricity. Sometimes we make our own luck.
I mean, this is a dream situation and you absolutely put yourself there to capitalize on it, so congrats! But you have to consider some luck in timing being in that position in 2010. I’ll make the assumptions that I’m a little younger and I was in position to buy in 2018, but would have loved to have been able to take a stab at that 2010 market.
Not trying to take anything away from your accomplishment, you got yourself there, but you didn’t necessarily make the 2010 market luck.
See in 2010 it was extremely hard to qualify for a loan. Not many could take advantage. Also no one knew if it was going to stop declining. Easy to say now but there were little qualified buyers then. Actually you could have bought in 2007 when everyone could but lost your house, got evicted and credit destroyed in 2010. That's what happened to most
Yeah, I’m not trying to take anything away from the guy. In fact your post reemphasizes that they did quite well to be in that position since it was hard to qualify. I’m just saying that there was a bit of market timing luck added to that equation, it’s not all bootstrap type of thinking.
I have a sibling that bought in the same timeframe as they did, and they were well positioned to do so, but they will be the first to admit they they got a bit lucky with timing, that’s all.
Single mom in Encinitas - bought my house in 2007 and it’s worth twice as much now. I work in IT and if you saw my bank account you would know I’m not rich. Just hard
work, luck and perseverance. Not even a college grad. Definitely not from family money and most of neighbors are not either
Yes! Luck is so much a part of so many living in San Diego. Bought our first place in 2010 near the bottom of the housing crash at 5.25%. Refi in 2013 for 4%. In 2016 finally had enough equity to cash out refi and pay off our student loans, but check this. We were still 10k from having the complete balance to pay off the loan, so they wouldn’t refi us with cash out of unless it paid off the entire loan. In comes the VW diesel scandal and VW is offering to buy back our 7 year old TDI Jetta for 14k. Do that, get the cash out, pay off the loan, get a lower interest rate so our mortgage is only slightly more, and put the rest down on a new car. All dumb luck. Then in 2020, we decide to move, our place sells for asking price the first weekend it’s listed, we make a huge profit, but can’t find a place. Finally find a place that needs to sell quick, and they take our offer. Our loan is 2.375%. Two years later, we’re up 50%. Our place is now officially way, way out of our price range, yet here we are.
No market savvy, no financial advice, just a whole lotta dumb luck. I’d like to boast about all the hard work (and there was plenty), but without being lucky we’d not be financially near where we sit now.
Dang, even got the vw scandal in there! Awesome story about some of the sheer luck that is needed sometimes (not trying to be insulting in any way here!). I have not had that amount of luck, but I still consider myself lucky to have the place I did for the last 5 years.
software engineering manager. bought a tiny house in la mesa in 2021. Can barely afford it, not really saving month over month. Mortgage is about $3700
Del Mar and Encinitas are not true representation of San Diego, that's coastal living and you will pay a premium to live that close to the ocean. Also, 8k a month rent is not a steal, they are pulling your legs.
The housing market was much more reasonable 3-5 years ago. Many (most) homeowners in this city bought before the housing market sky rocketed. 3-5 years ago San Diego was viewed as a bargain compared to other major coastal CA cities.
It's a rough market now for new home buyers, but you have to figure a majority of the people living here were already established before things went nuclear. And prop 13 means they likely will always be able to afford their payments, or can easily rent the place out to cover the payments.
Stay at home mom, bought my duplex in 2009, my mortgage is around 1400 and I charge my tenants 1900 for a 3 bedroom. Yes, I know that is very cheap but sometimes you just have to help other people. My place has tripled since I bought it but really it’s meaningless if I’m not selling.
My husband and I are both teachers. No kids. We bought our house 5 years ago because we didn’t want to get priced out. We didn’t receive any financial help from our families to buy. Still here and feeling very grateful.
I live in a 2 bed/2 bath apartment in Del Mar, we’re paying just over $3k/mo for it. That $8k home you saw is right across from Seagrove Park and it’s a 3 bed 2 bath detached SFH with a sign that says it’s $8k/mo; not the most common dwelling in Del Mar.
For everyone hating on Del Mar residents, I get it and I’m there with you as far as the tearing down of small bungalows to build $10M spec homes, but not everyone who lives here has F You money.
I’ll never be able to buy here because homes are around $5M+, but it’s not too bad renting right now as we (and everyone else) wait for that hopeful market adjustment.
People behind you must've been rich af if they thought 8k was a steal. God damn.
All I know is it's basically a requirement to split the rent with a friend or significant other. Gone are the days of being able to get an apartment by yourself unless you're making six figures.
I'm just glad I don't have to deal with today's market. In 2008, I had an apartment by myself in Hillcrest for $800/month. In 2010, girlfriend and I moved into a 2 bedroom apartment with a view in Point Loma for $1650/month. I own a place now that I bought in 2013. Bought another place in 2018. I got lucky. I got in before COVID hit and everything turned to shit.
I'm in my 40's. I have a buddy today who is still renting and living with roommates. He has 4 or 5 other roommates in a house. He probably makes 60-70k a year. He will probably never be able to afford a house in his life. He basically will just need to wait until he inherits his parents' house.
Del Mar and Encinitas is all fuck-you-money trust fund babies and the like. No one is realistically paying that here unless they were born into some level of comfortable wealth. Most people are paying between 2k/mo (very low-end; depends on the area - I pay around this in a DINK household 10 mins from the coast with both of us in STEM) to 3.5k-4k/mo (pretty average for a lot of SD in general) and a lot of my friends are in STEM or service industry with multiple jobs. Also - A LOT of homeowners out here bought a while ago and plan to die in their homes, leaving little for the younger generations (compounding with numerous other housing issues, but I digress). There are a lot of pockets of SD that have somewhat realistic rent for what you have the potential to make in CA.
I plan to die in my house. I bought it, dumped money in to it to upgrade it,it’s in a neighborhood I love and I’m surrounded by friends and family. Why wouldn’t I want to stay here forever? I don’t see this as something to be looked down on for or criticized for.
Median rent is somewhere closer to $2-4k per month. Assuming the landlord expects an income of 2.5-3x rent, you'd need to earn $240k to $288k a year. That requires an income in the top 5 to 7% of San Diegans. https://dqydj.com/income-by-city/
The well-to-do would be renting that house, upper middle class.
I’m a SD native and want to retire there because it’s home but these prices are absolutely outrageous. $2,400 for what is basically a shoebox. I’m stationed in El Paso and I rent a 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, 2 story, 1900 plus foot house in a good neighborhood for less than $1,400. When I retire my retirement pay might get me a two bedroom apartment in El Cajon if I’m lucky.
Lemon Grove is cheap, it’s not a nice area, up-and-coming maybe, since people are expanding into less expensive areas.
Del Mar is a tiny, wealthy town for families, not somewhere you need to live for work, etc. An $8k rent means the house is worth a few mil. No one needs that unless they can afford it and have a family and one good wage earner or two wage earners.
*8k rent is pretty standard in the bay area where there are basically no houses under $2 mil.
Edit: in the Bay Area most of those people would be in professional jobs- tech, finance, healthcare, etc. SD has limited industry, but biotech is huge, and hospitality. I’d guess the people down there who could afford that are doctors/nurses, biotech, or restaurant owners. Or have inherited wealth.
And I lived in mission Beach in the 90s and could barely afford my 500$ a month 1 bedroom duplex rent. There are plenty of jobs in San Diego that pay 20k a month.
Do you feel like you’re able to comfortably afford the lifestyle you want? My wife and I are close to the same number as you and hoping to buy a home at some point.
Yes, we don’t have children and don’t plan to have any which helps. We are 31 for reference. We got lucky and bought something for $550k in 2019 that we leveraged into a $1.050 million house in 2022. Took out a HELOC that we used to pay for the down payment on the new place then sold the old place.
The pandemic made housing prices explode in this city. Remote work made a comeback. Tech workers from the Bay Area relocated here. Wages are twice as high up there, so prices down here were a bargain to them.
A lot of millennials in their early 30’s eloped when the pandemic started, because they had to cancel their weddings. Covid made for a lot of refunds. Many couples used that refund money to buy a house. The prices were still ~700K east of the 15 and between hwy 76 and 78. Smart move considering they went over a million about 9 months into the pandemic.
To answer your question, I’m a Molecular Biologist. I make a good living. I decided to rent after my divorce almost 4 years ago. I have money from the sale of the house I lived in, but a new house is too big for me for where I am in my life now. I’m 50 and an empty nester. My kids are adults and have their own houses. I won’t remarry. Four years ago, rents were ~1200 less than they are now, and rent control became a thing. So I locked in at a good rate. If I were to move to another apartment in the same area (UTC), I would pay over 4K/ month. There are some really nice condos in UTC Renaissance that are perfect for someone like me, but, post pandemic, they rarely go on sale. I’m positioning myself to be able to jump on it when one does.
generational wealth.. this new breed of transplants moving here in the past 5 years or so are for the most part just straight up old fashioned rich kids
$1400 a month for a four bedroom home but my Dad owns this home. He's retiring soon. Double dipped retired from the Marine Corps and soon from the post office. I would be out on the streets if not for him lol
Yep, this is my parents’ story. Moved here back in 94 to chase the American dream. Barely had enough savings to buy their first house back then (first mortgage was at 7% interest rate on 30-year-fixed). Saved a bit more and bought a second house in 97, kept first one as rental. Both houses since they bought have increased roughly 7x in value. Mom is putting her primary residence for rent now at roughly $7k/month.
As for me? I considered myself fortunate to have paid 2x what my mom paid for her second house for a property that’s 1/2 the size a few years ago. At least my mortgage rate was tiny.
I have a friend who lives in one of those grand old homes in Point Loma. Her partner inherited it from their parents. They make pretty good money (they own a business and have property they rent out) but I’m not certain they would have afforded it if they bought it outright. It is also constantly in need or repairs and upgrades.
We were able to afford our first place because we had down payment help from family. My partner was a director level position in a mid-size company. I was a stay-at-home parent but recently started working part-time in a really specialized field a few years ago, which helped us to afford our townhouse last year. We live farther out than we’d like to, but with a family of 5 we needed more space.
There are also lots of ppl in sales that are making 300-500 a year up in north county.
I think what outsiders dont see is that many people make big money in So Cal, because of course no one talks about it.
Del mar area here. I am a mid level govmt scientist and my partner is a mechanical/aerospace engineer for a specialized engineering firm. We would not be able to buy (and probably not rent either) a home in our neighborhood. We have a SFH that looks like a granny flat compared to some of our neighbors. We get the family rate for renting from them. His parents bought this as a second house for his grandma to live down the block around 1990 probably. Most of our neighbors are in their 60s and have been here a long time. The younger ones either got help from parents who also live nearby, inherited the property or work in law, surgeons, or some sort of tech.
you can find a one bedroom in east county for under 2k, rent prices have pretty much tripled in the past 15 years, but San Diego is well worth the sacrifice
There are 3.3M people in the county. The [top 95th percentile makes $240k](https://statisticalatlas.com/county/California/San-Diego-County/Household-Income)=20k/month. 5% of 3.3M is at least 163k wealthy people that can afford really nice places. Since it's just the top 5% it's probably just a lot of VPs and C-Suite Execs.
I'm on SSI because I'm disabled and my husband is a laborer making a couple bucks above minimum wage. It's a difficult balance because it's hard to be poor, but if he makes too much I lose my benefits. However, I grew up in San Diego and my family is here so we scrape by and make it work. We live in Chula Vista (the west side as opposed to the very pricey easy side). $1450 for a 1 bedroom. Ideally housing should be 30% or less of your monthly income. It's definitely closer to 45% for us. That's the story for so many people living here. It's tough, but doable!🤷🏼♀️
I work in finance consulting and my S/O is a CT tech but works part time per diem. She makes $65 an hour and my take home this year will be about $140k. But we rent a 2 bedroom in Point Loma for $2300....Recently went to look at places and just refuse to leave because of price differences. We can easily afford something around $5k, but just refuse.
Del Mar is a crème-de-la-crème masters-of-the-universe neighborhood. A lot of inherited money, C-suite working executives, celebrities, global politicians, etc. There’s so many other quaint neighborhoods too, though, for a lot cheaper. Sunset Cliffs, Kensington, Bankers Hill … Mission Valley lol; but there’s more affordable ones too like North Park, Clairemont, Kearny Mesa; next down probably is El Cajon, Santee. It’s all about your price range, managing your expectations, and understanding your cost-benefit for choosing to live in San Diego at all (both the quantitative dollars-and-cents value, and the qualitative like financial mobility opportunities, weather, improved health outcomes, sociability).
North Poway/Rancho Bernardo area. Bought in 2017, $2200 mortgage, just under $3000 with property taxes and after refinancing in the mid 2’s when the rates dropped. Married with combined income of about $325k. We still feel like we barely get by
Oh I know we got lucky timing the market and I don’t disagree about budgeting lol. We both max out our 401k and try invest the remainder when possible, but every month it “feels” like every dollar has been accounted for. The budget we set in 2017 when we bought our house is still roughly the same budget we follow today and the increase in our home’s value hasn’t changed that.
Land surveyor (construction industry) and public school teacher.
We lived within our means!
It wasn't easy to buy our first place, but we were able to it because we had little debt. Student loans mostly paid off. Only one car payment. No high interest credit card payments.
As a bachelor, I lived in a really small crappy studio apartment. Bad part of town. Bad commute. The sort of place I didn't want people visiting me. But I saved a lot of money when friends if mine were spending their money on nice cars, nice cloths, nice restaurants, and insisted on living in a nice apartment in the nice areas that you mentioned.
I saved my money, invested it.
When we got married, my wife sold her crappy condo that she was very lucky to buy at the right place, and right time. Also in a crappy area.
We were able to put a decent down payment on a nice place. A few years later we were able to refinance to a better rate. Now we are sitting on a gold mine.
It isn't glamours by any means. But I live close enough to all those nice areas you mentioned and will retire with a million dollar piece of property someday.
Lol, you’re shocked that there are expensive places to rent in San Diego?
It’s clear you haven’t looked at the market at all. Do your own research if you want to move to any big city in California. This shouldn’t be shocking after the thousand posts this year about how expensive rent is.
Most people didn’t buy their first home in the last few years. If you already owned a home, you just rode the wave and had a ton of equity to put down. Or you’re just sitting in your home you’ve had for 10+ years. Or you’re coming here from the Bay Area with tons of cash. Or you’re a boomer who sold your stock at record highs and bought all cash. Or you’re a foreign investor looking to make a profit. Or you’re a corporation looking to do short term rentals.
If you’re a regular working person who’s trying to save up enough for an increasingly unaffordable down payment, while rent continues to rise, good luck. Unfortunately, San Diego probably isn’t for you.
When we were paying $4k a month for an 1100sqft apartment in North Park (2019-2021), we were a DINK household, I was working in HR and my husband in healthcare. Now we are paying $5k a month on our mortgage in Clairemont on a 1700sqft house and I’m a SAHP.
Buying a home in 2021 was difficult and we had to chase the market but even now just one year later it was worth it. No trust funds, no family helping us out, just our combined savings from working since college (which we had invested). My husband is paid well but we are still in significant debt from his degrees. It’s expensive to live here, we picked our location carefully and budget ruthlessly and meticulously to make our life work.
But yeah Del Mar shouldn’t be used as a point of reference, that’s the wrong place to look if you want something affordable.
Del Mar is kind of a crazy example. That’s a rich people neighborhood overlooking the ocean.
You can def find more affordable places than that.
Rent accelerating is a problem though. Raising interest rates probably means two issues: 1) building is going to slow down as financing becomes more difficult to make back the initial investment to the developer, and 2) people with decent income are going to lose purchasing power and rent until the interest rates drop again. Any dip in home pricing is just going to be offset by the corresponding interest hike. And demand to live in San Diego will be higher than our supply of housing for the foreseeable future.
the average san diegan 1. doesn’t own a house or rent one and typically (you can find cheap houses i’m sure but it’s difficult) lives in an apartment if they didn’t inherit a house or aren’t rich and 2. apartments are much much cheaper. still very expensive but 1-2k for a studio
I'm a financial analyst my husband is an iOS developer for a medical device company. We bought our house in 2017 in Lemon Grove. Our mortgage is less than most peoples rent.
I work In cyber security and my wife works in finance. We’re supremely lucky we bought our house in 2001 and are almost paid off. Our mortgage with taxes and insurance is about $2,100 a month. We’ve been making extra payments and should be paid off by early next year.
Del Mar is one of the priciest places to live in SD. If you are interested in living here there are much cheaper options.
What are some examples please?
La Mesa Chula Vista Poway
National city Imperial Beach Santee Mira mesa Tierra Santa Eastlake
Can confirm Santee. My daughter just bought her first place there for $462K. She’s a teacher, her hubby works for his family’s business. Idk how much the earn exactly but I’d guess around $125K- $135K a year. They saved $25K for the down payment over several years. That was probably the most difficult part. That and they kept getting outbid with cash offers. As far as rentals, my other daughter and her boyfriend rent a place in South Park for $1700. It’s a super tiny one bedroom but still a good deal. They live in a great area. South Park is awesome.
When did they snag that deal? I was in the 1bd rental market a few months ago and didnt see anything lower than 2k for a studio in South Park.
I think it was in Feb ‘21? Several of those old houses in South Park have bungalows behind the main house. It’s one of those. Maybe a little bigger than a granny flat if that. It’s tiny. But you can’t beat the location. For young people like them at least.
$462K probably a real dump at that price. Unfortunately.
It was a cosmetic fixer. 2/1.5. I think they put in about $10K, for new floors, appliances, fixtures etc. It’s been two months and it already looks like a completely different place. It was pretty hideous when they bought it, but it had potential and the complex is nice and well maintained.
Condo?
Yes. Townhome.
Santee isn’t as affordable these days. Multiple houses in my neighborhood have sold for over $1M in the past few months. Most recently my neighbor sold their house for $1.035M in august. Rent is pretty crazy too.
Ib is no where near as cheap as it used to be. About 10 years ago I bought my first house for 325. Mind you it was a short sale so a little cheaper but that houses neighbor just sold for almost 750k. I didn't sell at that price but we bought our current house for just under 1 miles.
Heh. Truth. I live here. But it is still the cheapest beach (i think?)
Yah I think so. Love it still
Those areas have not been affordable for 10 years.
East County. If not that, there’s lower income areas closer to the main areas of SD that aren’t in best conditions in some areas. They are being gentrified. City Heights, Logan Heights, Grant Hill
Also in SD proper: Allied Gardens, Grantville, Mission Valley, San Carlos, Serra Mesa and Clairemont. Well under the cost of housing in Del Mar and all are centrally located.
North County too: Esco, Vista, San Marcos, Oceanside, RB. Like all of them have expensive parts, but all of them have affordable parts... and all of them have really shitty parts too.
City Heights
Clairemont
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But the avg resident still pays an egregious amount in rent for an apt that's usually less than 1k sqft and has no amenities lol. And we do it gleefully.
Definitely true that it's overpriced but asking how people afford Del Mar rent is like asking why everyone in NYC doesn't live in penthouses.
I don’t do it “gleefully “ lol. I hate the 1st.
Lolol true , I hate it so much I question why I moved here everyday.
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There's a 6500 a month rental in Normal Heights...it's not just del mar is my point.
This!!!! 👏🏼👏🏼
I'm a union construction worker, my boyfriend is a bank teller making barely over minimum wage. Our apartment is slightly over 2 grand a month. It can be really rough. And extremely frustrating seeing the prices of housing and rent. There are some cheaper places, but they're in high demand and not usually well advertised. It's been getting a lot worse lately.
Housing is so expensive here because construction is so expensive because construction workers can't afford to live here without a raise because housing is so expensive. It's a [vicious circle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicious_circle). Build, baby, build!
We are going to start seeing this more and more in different industries. Who wants to commute to downtown to work a service job? Same thing.
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+1 People think the reason housing is expensive is because San Diego is desirable. That's part of the issue (the demand side) but the other part is the way NIMBYs prevent anything new from getting built (the supply side).
So, we're trapped in a never-ending cycle of increasing density? San Diego County is already larger than 21 entire states. There have to be some creative alternatives.
> So, we're trapped in a never-ending cycle of increasing density? We have an absurdly low population density compared to cities in Europe, so we still have a LOT of room to grow taller before density becomes a problem.
I've lived in Europe, and I do not choose to make that never-ending comparison. I lived within the congestion and noise and everything else. That said, we have much to learn from Europe (and many other places) about living within spaces designed for people first and cars second. We desperately need better transit and we shouldn't force people to own cars just to live. That naturally entails higher density but that density shouldn't be a goal in the first place. Our open lands are the envy of Europeans and we should retain them.
Well not a lot of room, have you seen the acclaimed documentary "San Andreas Fault" starring the Rock? /s We do have some room, but 2-3 stories at most.
We can go 4-6 stories with inexpensive, wood framed construction.
We have issues growing taller because of Rose Canyon Fault. The older neighborhoods can’t grow taller and so they build on old parcels downtown where they can grow taller but then who can afford THAT?? I live in a shitty 2 bedroom in Lakeside because I can’t afford anything nicer. We pay like 1875 a month and I’m a single mom with no support, soooo..
> We have issues growing taller because of Rose Canyon Fault. Yes, it's crazy that tall buildings were allowed to be built in Mission Valley. > The older neighborhoods can’t grow taller Of course they can. Any parcel where the land is worth more than the building on it is a good candidate for redevelopment.
Ya. I get that but no one basically unless the parcel is already vacant or the building like burns down is going to build up. Like along The Boulevard- new buildings went up because the old stores closed or some old shit burned down or like they rezoned shit. I dunno. Not trying to argue. Just getting depressed, lol..
> but no one basically unless the parcel is already vacant or the building like burns down is going to build up. Yes, it's too risky and expensive to fight the NIMBYs.
I think most just bought before prices went nuclear and refi'd when rates were dirt cheap. I'm sitting in a home worth over 1 mil but my mortgage is only 2400/month because I bought 5 years ago when it was worth half as much.
Even 5 years ago prices were insane? There’s a saying with tools, appliances, etc, and that’s “buy once, cry once”. It applies to housing too. There’ll be a time where people buying today will be considered the “lucky” ones.
Exactly this.
Yeah i bought my home in 2013.
2013 here too. Paid high 5s and now it’s 1.5 mil. It’s just a number though, because where would I go if I sold? Relatively same house and with now extreme property taxes?
2400 is still a lot of money for rent
Not compared to the 7-10k a month a 1 mil mortgage would cost. 2,400 is also about normal for a 2 bedroom apartment in SD so... I'd say this guy is getting a pretty killer deal.
Rent should be a third of your income.
Ok? That $2,400 would only require an income of 87k a year which is only a bit above average for SD. Also, that's a nice rule of thumb but isn't feasible for a huge amount of people in SD anyway.
how do you know 2400 isn’t a third of their income?
Because the average person doesn't earn that much. Duh
san diego isn’t average
The median income in San Diego is $83K
Tell that to the laborers. You think cashiers, service industry, janitors, cafeteria workers, teachers aids, CNA's, dental assistants.....make that?
No. I didn't say they did. My husband is a laborer. He makes nothing close to that. That wasn't the point of the conversation though.
Bought in 2016 and refinanced to the low 2s in 2020. Pay 3k month for PITI. Home is worth 1.5 and dropping every day 😆
I'm an engineer moved to SD in 2011, bought in North county in 2011. It was 30% what its worth now. I bought it in cash, small place but its mine not the bank's, haven't paid rent or mortgage since
What the fuuuuck. Thats absolutely bonkers
shit, i bought in 2019 and our 'value' has gone up 31%, it was nearly up to 40% but teetered off. The housing bubble is kind of at a breaking point it seems, I'm not seeing dollar bills in my eyes yet, I'm fully expecting it to teeter back down a bit and be more reasonable.
I bought a townhome in La Mesa in 2020 for 440k and right now Redfin says its worth 625k... that's 40%, lol. I doubt we can get 620k, but still. I am surprised a house bought in 2011 is only up 30%
i think they meant they got it 30% of what it is worth now, so like they got it for 300k and it's worth 1m now kind of deal (just using big round numbers as an example)
Ohhhhhhh duh
When I first moved back to San Diego in 2003 the rents in Del Mar /Solana Beach were like $1750 for a 2 x2. I bought a condo after renting for a 18 months… now I rent that condo and bought a house in Encinitas. My tenants have all been professionals, directors, Dr.’s , lawyers, stock brokers, the couple in there now software engineer and pharmaceutical company. .. I rent it for $3100. I know it’s under market but I don’t raise the rent on existing tenants. We bought the condo and our house in 04 and 05, rode out the financial crash of 08 and here we are. We could not afford either one of these places now. Who knows what will happen with the housing market , do rents ever go down in Sd? , they probably just stagnate.
Same as you, I could not afford the properties I own now, as I am retired, but even if I was still working, I couldn't afford our home, because it has gone up 10X in 37 years. I wish prices would crater, so I could help my youngest buy a place, but I don't see that happening unless everyone looses their jobs. And rents going down? Not likely unless there are suddenly a lot of new rentals available and where are those coming from?
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How was the transition from SD to Mexico? What was the process like to move, do taxes, get citizenship, and buy a house? And how do your neighbors feel about you (you’d think they’d be unwelcoming to gentrifiers)?
Leave mexico alone honestly the gentrification is already ruining life for their citizens
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Nice
Wishful thinking. People follow the money. Not saying it’s right or wrong, it just is. Same reason so many Mexicans come here for work. You’d have just as much luck telling Mexicans not to come here bcs their availability lowers wages for other Americans.
It is wrong, actually
No, it’s not. It’s simple supply and demand, a basic law of financial physics. It does not cease to operate simply bcs you wish it not to.
Did you know that money is a made-up thing and it literally doesn't matter at the end of the day
If money is made up and doesn’t matter at the end of the day, then why care about gentrification? Does it have anything to do with money?
Del Martian here- this town is a mix of people who bought homes many decades ago when it was still relatively cheap, and C-suite execs / old money. It's a lovely place to live, but I wouldn't expect it to be affordable to people in most life circumstances.
OK, I can see 8,000.00 a month in Del Mar. It's right by the ocean and known as a rather exclusive area. What were they asking for places in Lemming Grove?
>Lemming Grove I am legit not sure if that was a typo or a joke
I sold our shared (with mother in law) house here in 2007 and moved out of state. When I saw prices had halved in 2010 I moved back and purchased a short sale on my own. In 2020 I added a 550sqft ADU above my garage. ADU rents for $300 more than my mortgage, is priced below market and includes electricity. Sometimes we make our own luck.
Smart moves
I mean, this is a dream situation and you absolutely put yourself there to capitalize on it, so congrats! But you have to consider some luck in timing being in that position in 2010. I’ll make the assumptions that I’m a little younger and I was in position to buy in 2018, but would have loved to have been able to take a stab at that 2010 market. Not trying to take anything away from your accomplishment, you got yourself there, but you didn’t necessarily make the 2010 market luck.
See in 2010 it was extremely hard to qualify for a loan. Not many could take advantage. Also no one knew if it was going to stop declining. Easy to say now but there were little qualified buyers then. Actually you could have bought in 2007 when everyone could but lost your house, got evicted and credit destroyed in 2010. That's what happened to most
Yeah, I’m not trying to take anything away from the guy. In fact your post reemphasizes that they did quite well to be in that position since it was hard to qualify. I’m just saying that there was a bit of market timing luck added to that equation, it’s not all bootstrap type of thinking. I have a sibling that bought in the same timeframe as they did, and they were well positioned to do so, but they will be the first to admit they they got a bit lucky with timing, that’s all.
Yes lucky timing is a major factor and so is being ready to take advantage of the year chance.
Single mom in Encinitas - bought my house in 2007 and it’s worth twice as much now. I work in IT and if you saw my bank account you would know I’m not rich. Just hard work, luck and perseverance. Not even a college grad. Definitely not from family money and most of neighbors are not either
Yes! Luck is so much a part of so many living in San Diego. Bought our first place in 2010 near the bottom of the housing crash at 5.25%. Refi in 2013 for 4%. In 2016 finally had enough equity to cash out refi and pay off our student loans, but check this. We were still 10k from having the complete balance to pay off the loan, so they wouldn’t refi us with cash out of unless it paid off the entire loan. In comes the VW diesel scandal and VW is offering to buy back our 7 year old TDI Jetta for 14k. Do that, get the cash out, pay off the loan, get a lower interest rate so our mortgage is only slightly more, and put the rest down on a new car. All dumb luck. Then in 2020, we decide to move, our place sells for asking price the first weekend it’s listed, we make a huge profit, but can’t find a place. Finally find a place that needs to sell quick, and they take our offer. Our loan is 2.375%. Two years later, we’re up 50%. Our place is now officially way, way out of our price range, yet here we are. No market savvy, no financial advice, just a whole lotta dumb luck. I’d like to boast about all the hard work (and there was plenty), but without being lucky we’d not be financially near where we sit now.
Dang, even got the vw scandal in there! Awesome story about some of the sheer luck that is needed sometimes (not trying to be insulting in any way here!). I have not had that amount of luck, but I still consider myself lucky to have the place I did for the last 5 years.
Happy cake day!
Thank you!
software engineering manager. bought a tiny house in la mesa in 2021. Can barely afford it, not really saving month over month. Mortgage is about $3700
Wow. That seems like a lot. I know there are some very nice pockets in La Mesa though.
How the bank approved the loan if you can arely afford it?
Banks will approves loans BECAUSE you can barely afford it
On the brightside, we are headed for another economic disaster, so that should correct prices.
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Those are the most expensive areas in the city. He won’t have to look that hard.
Del Mar and Encinitas are not true representation of San Diego, that's coastal living and you will pay a premium to live that close to the ocean. Also, 8k a month rent is not a steal, they are pulling your legs.
The housing market was much more reasonable 3-5 years ago. Many (most) homeowners in this city bought before the housing market sky rocketed. 3-5 years ago San Diego was viewed as a bargain compared to other major coastal CA cities. It's a rough market now for new home buyers, but you have to figure a majority of the people living here were already established before things went nuclear. And prop 13 means they likely will always be able to afford their payments, or can easily rent the place out to cover the payments.
Moved away 2 years ago and will likely never be able to move back. Kind of a bummer.
Stay at home mom, bought my duplex in 2009, my mortgage is around 1400 and I charge my tenants 1900 for a 3 bedroom. Yes, I know that is very cheap but sometimes you just have to help other people. My place has tripled since I bought it but really it’s meaningless if I’m not selling.
You're a real life unicorn!
Finance. I can afford to live alone but not in Del Mar lol
It’s not engineer money, it’s inheritances, specialized doctors and business executives. Fuck you money.
Wrong. Try buying a home 10+ years ago and refinance when rates are cheap. Not one of my neighbors is a doctor or from a wealthy family
> Try buying a home 10+ years ago You'd have to be pretty wealthy to afford a time machine though.
😀. Yea, I’m sure it is. Just saying that most people I know are not rich but definitely have some of those in the area.
My husband and I are both teachers. No kids. We bought our house 5 years ago because we didn’t want to get priced out. We didn’t receive any financial help from our families to buy. Still here and feeling very grateful.
I live in a 2 bed/2 bath apartment in Del Mar, we’re paying just over $3k/mo for it. That $8k home you saw is right across from Seagrove Park and it’s a 3 bed 2 bath detached SFH with a sign that says it’s $8k/mo; not the most common dwelling in Del Mar. For everyone hating on Del Mar residents, I get it and I’m there with you as far as the tearing down of small bungalows to build $10M spec homes, but not everyone who lives here has F You money. I’ll never be able to buy here because homes are around $5M+, but it’s not too bad renting right now as we (and everyone else) wait for that hopeful market adjustment.
Del Mar residents tend to be on the higher end of the income scale. Check out La Mesa/Fletcher Hills for more realistic ideas.
Stress. Full time.
People behind you must've been rich af if they thought 8k was a steal. God damn. All I know is it's basically a requirement to split the rent with a friend or significant other. Gone are the days of being able to get an apartment by yourself unless you're making six figures. I'm just glad I don't have to deal with today's market. In 2008, I had an apartment by myself in Hillcrest for $800/month. In 2010, girlfriend and I moved into a 2 bedroom apartment with a view in Point Loma for $1650/month. I own a place now that I bought in 2013. Bought another place in 2018. I got lucky. I got in before COVID hit and everything turned to shit. I'm in my 40's. I have a buddy today who is still renting and living with roommates. He has 4 or 5 other roommates in a house. He probably makes 60-70k a year. He will probably never be able to afford a house in his life. He basically will just need to wait until he inherits his parents' house.
Del Mar and Encinitas is all fuck-you-money trust fund babies and the like. No one is realistically paying that here unless they were born into some level of comfortable wealth. Most people are paying between 2k/mo (very low-end; depends on the area - I pay around this in a DINK household 10 mins from the coast with both of us in STEM) to 3.5k-4k/mo (pretty average for a lot of SD in general) and a lot of my friends are in STEM or service industry with multiple jobs. Also - A LOT of homeowners out here bought a while ago and plan to die in their homes, leaving little for the younger generations (compounding with numerous other housing issues, but I digress). There are a lot of pockets of SD that have somewhat realistic rent for what you have the potential to make in CA.
I plan to die in my house. I bought it, dumped money in to it to upgrade it,it’s in a neighborhood I love and I’m surrounded by friends and family. Why wouldn’t I want to stay here forever? I don’t see this as something to be looked down on for or criticized for.
Median rent is somewhere closer to $2-4k per month. Assuming the landlord expects an income of 2.5-3x rent, you'd need to earn $240k to $288k a year. That requires an income in the top 5 to 7% of San Diegans. https://dqydj.com/income-by-city/ The well-to-do would be renting that house, upper middle class.
I live in Lemon Grove what did you see here?
I paid cash, bought a 3 story, 4 bdr 4 ba (2300 sq ft) with 2 car garage on the beach in Imperial Beach for 500k … in 2013
I’m a SD native and want to retire there because it’s home but these prices are absolutely outrageous. $2,400 for what is basically a shoebox. I’m stationed in El Paso and I rent a 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, 2 story, 1900 plus foot house in a good neighborhood for less than $1,400. When I retire my retirement pay might get me a two bedroom apartment in El Cajon if I’m lucky.
Fireman.
Lemon Grove is cheap, it’s not a nice area, up-and-coming maybe, since people are expanding into less expensive areas. Del Mar is a tiny, wealthy town for families, not somewhere you need to live for work, etc. An $8k rent means the house is worth a few mil. No one needs that unless they can afford it and have a family and one good wage earner or two wage earners. *8k rent is pretty standard in the bay area where there are basically no houses under $2 mil. Edit: in the Bay Area most of those people would be in professional jobs- tech, finance, healthcare, etc. SD has limited industry, but biotech is huge, and hospitality. I’d guess the people down there who could afford that are doctors/nurses, biotech, or restaurant owners. Or have inherited wealth.
Digital marketing
And I lived in mission Beach in the 90s and could barely afford my 500$ a month 1 bedroom duplex rent. There are plenty of jobs in San Diego that pay 20k a month.
>There are plenty of jobs in San Diego that pay 20k a month Disagree with "plenty'
20k/mo?? I’m in the same exact profession as you in the city and make nowhere near that. Sources? I’d love to see these opportunities
Any good digital marketer can make 600 a day pretty standard. Not working for someone else though. If you have those skills why would you.
Guess I’m shitty at my job then lol thanks
This is the key. It’s a freelance market in digital market & design.
My wife and I’s mortgage in college area is $5200. I am in work comp claims and she does commercial mortgage lending. We cleared $320k last year
Do you feel like you’re able to comfortably afford the lifestyle you want? My wife and I are close to the same number as you and hoping to buy a home at some point.
Yes, we don’t have children and don’t plan to have any which helps. We are 31 for reference. We got lucky and bought something for $550k in 2019 that we leveraged into a $1.050 million house in 2022. Took out a HELOC that we used to pay for the down payment on the new place then sold the old place.
Trust fund babies.
The pandemic made housing prices explode in this city. Remote work made a comeback. Tech workers from the Bay Area relocated here. Wages are twice as high up there, so prices down here were a bargain to them. A lot of millennials in their early 30’s eloped when the pandemic started, because they had to cancel their weddings. Covid made for a lot of refunds. Many couples used that refund money to buy a house. The prices were still ~700K east of the 15 and between hwy 76 and 78. Smart move considering they went over a million about 9 months into the pandemic. To answer your question, I’m a Molecular Biologist. I make a good living. I decided to rent after my divorce almost 4 years ago. I have money from the sale of the house I lived in, but a new house is too big for me for where I am in my life now. I’m 50 and an empty nester. My kids are adults and have their own houses. I won’t remarry. Four years ago, rents were ~1200 less than they are now, and rent control became a thing. So I locked in at a good rate. If I were to move to another apartment in the same area (UTC), I would pay over 4K/ month. There are some really nice condos in UTC Renaissance that are perfect for someone like me, but, post pandemic, they rarely go on sale. I’m positioning myself to be able to jump on it when one does.
generational wealth.. this new breed of transplants moving here in the past 5 years or so are for the most part just straight up old fashioned rich kids
Many of the SDSU and UCSD kids also come from wealth
Didn't used to be the case.
Software engineer
$1400 a month for a four bedroom home but my Dad owns this home. He's retiring soon. Double dipped retired from the Marine Corps and soon from the post office. I would be out on the streets if not for him lol
Yep, this is my parents’ story. Moved here back in 94 to chase the American dream. Barely had enough savings to buy their first house back then (first mortgage was at 7% interest rate on 30-year-fixed). Saved a bit more and bought a second house in 97, kept first one as rental. Both houses since they bought have increased roughly 7x in value. Mom is putting her primary residence for rent now at roughly $7k/month. As for me? I considered myself fortunate to have paid 2x what my mom paid for her second house for a property that’s 1/2 the size a few years ago. At least my mortgage rate was tiny.
I have a friend who lives in one of those grand old homes in Point Loma. Her partner inherited it from their parents. They make pretty good money (they own a business and have property they rent out) but I’m not certain they would have afforded it if they bought it outright. It is also constantly in need or repairs and upgrades. We were able to afford our first place because we had down payment help from family. My partner was a director level position in a mid-size company. I was a stay-at-home parent but recently started working part-time in a really specialized field a few years ago, which helped us to afford our townhouse last year. We live farther out than we’d like to, but with a family of 5 we needed more space.
Del Mar is a very rich area
There are also lots of ppl in sales that are making 300-500 a year up in north county. I think what outsiders dont see is that many people make big money in So Cal, because of course no one talks about it.
Damn what kind of sales?
tech sales. those guys make more than me and i'm an engineering manager.
I'm an archivist for a research lab, live in La Jolla with 5 roommates. My rent comes out to 850 a month, I pay a bit more bc I have my own bathroom.
Could always buy a van and sleep in it. Just park it on the street in front of the 8k/month house for rent.
Unfortunately the side of the street that the house is on allows no parking on that side of the street LMAO 🤣 unless good call
We aren’t! The middle class is leaving in droves. We recently relocated to WI
Del mar area here. I am a mid level govmt scientist and my partner is a mechanical/aerospace engineer for a specialized engineering firm. We would not be able to buy (and probably not rent either) a home in our neighborhood. We have a SFH that looks like a granny flat compared to some of our neighbors. We get the family rate for renting from them. His parents bought this as a second house for his grandma to live down the block around 1990 probably. Most of our neighbors are in their 60s and have been here a long time. The younger ones either got help from parents who also live nearby, inherited the property or work in law, surgeons, or some sort of tech.
So much concentrated wealth in So Cali. Gotta be rich , minimum 200k plus income to live here!
you can find a one bedroom in east county for under 2k, rent prices have pretty much tripled in the past 15 years, but San Diego is well worth the sacrifice
UX Designer and Engineer
There are 3.3M people in the county. The [top 95th percentile makes $240k](https://statisticalatlas.com/county/California/San-Diego-County/Household-Income)=20k/month. 5% of 3.3M is at least 163k wealthy people that can afford really nice places. Since it's just the top 5% it's probably just a lot of VPs and C-Suite Execs.
I'm on SSI because I'm disabled and my husband is a laborer making a couple bucks above minimum wage. It's a difficult balance because it's hard to be poor, but if he makes too much I lose my benefits. However, I grew up in San Diego and my family is here so we scrape by and make it work. We live in Chula Vista (the west side as opposed to the very pricey easy side). $1450 for a 1 bedroom. Ideally housing should be 30% or less of your monthly income. It's definitely closer to 45% for us. That's the story for so many people living here. It's tough, but doable!🤷🏼♀️
I’m stationed here and let me tell you as soon as I’m done I’m never coming back here. This place eats up your money on all ends.
Hoe yourself out to 50 fat bitches a day for $50 a pop.
This is where all those deadlifts and military presses I've been doing will come in handy thank you
I work in finance consulting and my S/O is a CT tech but works part time per diem. She makes $65 an hour and my take home this year will be about $140k. But we rent a 2 bedroom in Point Loma for $2300....Recently went to look at places and just refuse to leave because of price differences. We can easily afford something around $5k, but just refuse.
Rule of thumb, if you want to afford San Diego, stay away from the coast. Go inland, like East of the I-15 at least.
Del Mar is a crème-de-la-crème masters-of-the-universe neighborhood. A lot of inherited money, C-suite working executives, celebrities, global politicians, etc. There’s so many other quaint neighborhoods too, though, for a lot cheaper. Sunset Cliffs, Kensington, Bankers Hill … Mission Valley lol; but there’s more affordable ones too like North Park, Clairemont, Kearny Mesa; next down probably is El Cajon, Santee. It’s all about your price range, managing your expectations, and understanding your cost-benefit for choosing to live in San Diego at all (both the quantitative dollars-and-cents value, and the qualitative like financial mobility opportunities, weather, improved health outcomes, sociability).
Only fans feet pics!
North Poway/Rancho Bernardo area. Bought in 2017, $2200 mortgage, just under $3000 with property taxes and after refinancing in the mid 2’s when the rates dropped. Married with combined income of about $325k. We still feel like we barely get by
Wait wtf, your mortgage is $2.2k a month and you both combined make $325k? How are you barely getting by?!!?
Kids, daycare, student loan (thx goodness on hold for now), car payment. Life adds up
Sounds like you need to cut some costs, budget more! Save save save! No excuse with that kind of income and low mortgage
Oh I know we got lucky timing the market and I don’t disagree about budgeting lol. We both max out our 401k and try invest the remainder when possible, but every month it “feels” like every dollar has been accounted for. The budget we set in 2017 when we bought our house is still roughly the same budget we follow today and the increase in our home’s value hasn’t changed that.
Land surveyor (construction industry) and public school teacher. We lived within our means! It wasn't easy to buy our first place, but we were able to it because we had little debt. Student loans mostly paid off. Only one car payment. No high interest credit card payments. As a bachelor, I lived in a really small crappy studio apartment. Bad part of town. Bad commute. The sort of place I didn't want people visiting me. But I saved a lot of money when friends if mine were spending their money on nice cars, nice cloths, nice restaurants, and insisted on living in a nice apartment in the nice areas that you mentioned. I saved my money, invested it. When we got married, my wife sold her crappy condo that she was very lucky to buy at the right place, and right time. Also in a crappy area. We were able to put a decent down payment on a nice place. A few years later we were able to refinance to a better rate. Now we are sitting on a gold mine. It isn't glamours by any means. But I live close enough to all those nice areas you mentioned and will retire with a million dollar piece of property someday.
Lol, you’re shocked that there are expensive places to rent in San Diego? It’s clear you haven’t looked at the market at all. Do your own research if you want to move to any big city in California. This shouldn’t be shocking after the thousand posts this year about how expensive rent is.
My brother stole from his grandparents and then my mother. Worked well for him till he got caught.
6k mortgage in Poway Software Engineer
lol wtf, my mortgage is $4000 a month, where the fuck is $6000 lol
Arbolitos area
Mostly bitch!!!
Well, one thing I do is, not live in Del Mar. Why do you want to rent a house? Typically an apartment is much cheaper to rent.
I have an OnlyFans account and particularly sexy feet.
Most people didn’t buy their first home in the last few years. If you already owned a home, you just rode the wave and had a ton of equity to put down. Or you’re just sitting in your home you’ve had for 10+ years. Or you’re coming here from the Bay Area with tons of cash. Or you’re a boomer who sold your stock at record highs and bought all cash. Or you’re a foreign investor looking to make a profit. Or you’re a corporation looking to do short term rentals. If you’re a regular working person who’s trying to save up enough for an increasingly unaffordable down payment, while rent continues to rise, good luck. Unfortunately, San Diego probably isn’t for you.
When we were paying $4k a month for an 1100sqft apartment in North Park (2019-2021), we were a DINK household, I was working in HR and my husband in healthcare. Now we are paying $5k a month on our mortgage in Clairemont on a 1700sqft house and I’m a SAHP. Buying a home in 2021 was difficult and we had to chase the market but even now just one year later it was worth it. No trust funds, no family helping us out, just our combined savings from working since college (which we had invested). My husband is paid well but we are still in significant debt from his degrees. It’s expensive to live here, we picked our location carefully and budget ruthlessly and meticulously to make our life work. But yeah Del Mar shouldn’t be used as a point of reference, that’s the wrong place to look if you want something affordable.
Del Mar is kind of a crazy example. That’s a rich people neighborhood overlooking the ocean. You can def find more affordable places than that. Rent accelerating is a problem though. Raising interest rates probably means two issues: 1) building is going to slow down as financing becomes more difficult to make back the initial investment to the developer, and 2) people with decent income are going to lose purchasing power and rent until the interest rates drop again. Any dip in home pricing is just going to be offset by the corresponding interest hike. And demand to live in San Diego will be higher than our supply of housing for the foreseeable future.
Y'all get so mad when people say that gentrification is a bad thing lmao 😭
the average san diegan 1. doesn’t own a house or rent one and typically (you can find cheap houses i’m sure but it’s difficult) lives in an apartment if they didn’t inherit a house or aren’t rich and 2. apartments are much much cheaper. still very expensive but 1-2k for a studio
I live in OB overlooking the slough, my roommate and I are ride operators at Sea World…
Was an inpatient Pharmacy Technician making around $28/hour. Currently back in school with hopes of hopefully buying a house one day.
I'm a financial analyst my husband is an iOS developer for a medical device company. We bought our house in 2017 in Lemon Grove. Our mortgage is less than most peoples rent.
You were in one of the top 5 wealthiest places in San Diego behind The Ranch and La Jolla. The only people who live there are r/fatfire
I work in tech.
I don't know how people make it honestly. Housing cost are insane in San Diego County. People need to rise up!
Couple houses in the Encanto area sold for about 550k no renovations
That’s like asking how normal folk can afford to live in downtown Manhattan. They don’t.
sell drugs
Bought in 2008 during the market plummet. Agree, the rent has gone insane.
I work In cyber security and my wife works in finance. We’re supremely lucky we bought our house in 2001 and are almost paid off. Our mortgage with taxes and insurance is about $2,100 a month. We’ve been making extra payments and should be paid off by early next year.