Need Devils Advocate for housing dilemma.

As the title states I need to get into a argument, specifically about housing.

Basic's 29 Wife 30, No kids, three cats.

My wife and I just renovated a very nice home near the water in San Diego. It was built in the 1949-51 and as such had some issues. We have been here for about 4 years now. Into it for 500K, worth about 700K on a quicker sale.

Numbers are rounded but confirmed with recent sales data and a few few unsolicited offers received lately. Its 3bd/2bth ~1700sqf on a 9000 flat sqf lot. I know the person that buys it has a good chance of knocking it to the ground for the lot.

Lately we have grown to hate the house, its built to a very high standard but their are no closets in a modern sense. The bathrooms are minuscule. I am sick of cleaning hardwood floors every other day and its a little bit smaller then we want. It also has a 1 3/4 car garage, its impossible to keep clean and we just are not happy with some of our neighbors.

So option and things to argue about

A. Keep house, deal with the failings.

Positives 1. Its cheap 2. I built it so I know it will be good for a while. 3. Its near the water and has extremely low running cost. 4. Big garden.

Negative. 1. Not laid out for modern living. 2. Dust, dirt, neighbors. 3. Everyone around me is 80+ or renters.
4. Hard to leave as something always needs to be done.

B. Buy a custom home that's much newer in a gated community. Priced around 800-900K. Has a HOA to keep out some of the riffraff

Positives. 1. Its new 2. It has a minimal HOA/Gated to keep out the weird stuff.
3. It comes with a country club membership. 4. More people near my age living there. 5. Bigger garage.

Negatives. 1. Have to live with rich (my wifes statement) 2. Its more expensive 3. Very old money area. 4. Would loudly declare my income to the people I live with.

So what would GRM do.

My thoughts

The cost will not effect my style of life. It just means more money going to the mortgage then my standard investments. But given the way they have been going and the low rates that exist its really a wash. I am definitely top bracket so any deductions are good deductions. It will not put me into AMT I double checked.

People who work with me are going to know that I am doing much better then they are, which is a double edged sword. Though the connections at the club might help in the long run with the side consultant work that I do.

I'm no help, but 1700 sq feet on a miniscule 900- sq foot flat lot for $700,000???!!!???? YIKES! Sure glad I live in Texas!!!

I am more curious about how one affords a 900k house at 29 years old.

Home Owner's Associations are always a bad idea for car enthusiasts...and what starts out "mild" could possibly get much more annoying with nothing more than a majority vote of neighbors who dislike your hobby.

Move to another state and buy a ocean front house or a 9000 square foot mansion on 5 acres? Holy crap but housing in Ca is pricey.

Personally I would stay where you are now. The horror stories I hear about HOAs would keep me from ever buying into one. I'm also cheap.

BTW I have a cousin who is a microbiologist out your way. Is that your field as well? Your name makes me think so.

jeez, how riff-raffy can the riff-raff be in a neighborhood costing that much? lots of dueling banjos at night? i feel for you buddy. devil's advocate enough?

Taiden wrote: I am more curious about how one affords a 900k house at 29 years old.

Worked at three successful little Biotechnology companies. All three purchased by big companies for lots and lots of money. Plus a very rare skill set.

nutherjrfan wrote: jeez, how riff-raffy can the riff-raff be in a neighborhood costing that much? lots of dueling banjos at night? i feel for you buddy. devil's advocate enough?

House behind us got painted black and had its eves cutoff. Across the street the family was sick of the son living at home so they stuck him in a 40 foot RV in the front yard. Both side neighbors have 30+ foot boats.

Taiden wrote: I am more curious about how one affords a 900k house at 29 years old.

By owning a home in the first place.

You work your way up. If you don't get into the housing game you'll never be able to do it in one fell swoop.

Also in his area, if you own a home then it's going to be expensive. In your area you might get the equivalent for half that amount.

Now's the perfect time to buy while prices are down.

According to Housing Wire less than 3% of the country has been hit hard in the housing industry so you can see that regardless of what you read in the papers (remember they want sensationalism so they can sell the papers/news show/etc.) housing is one of the safest places. I mean you have to live somewhere ( you're not still living at home with Mom are you?) so you might as well own. That is unless you are still one of those people who will need to move fairly often.

I hate HOAs in principle, but many times they do serve a purpose. Not so often in the city, but out in the country they replace the city with it's "little" laws that you take for granted. Such as parking cars on blocks in the front yard, home maintenance, etc.

I hate HOAs in principle, but many times they do serve a purpose. Not so often in the city, but out in the country they replace the city with it's "little" laws that you take for granted. Such as parking cars on blocks in the front yard, home maintenance, etc.

That assuming you dont want to park cars on blocks in the front yard yourself.

carguy123 wrote: Now's the perfect time to buy while prices are down.

Thats what started this, the home I am looking at were 1.3-1.4 million about two years ago.

Here is the one in Carlsbad that we like 1.04 ask should go around 925K neighbor paid 2.1 about three years ago, but he has a huge ocean view.

http://www.rwrhomes.com/pages/emeraldpointe_res2.php

Option 1. Sell house for whatever you can get out of it. 2-300K net. Buy mansion in NW Arkansas for cash. Work for wally world vendor. Have nice cars, relax and enjoy life.

Option 2. Buy another dump in SoCal.

monark192 wrote:

I hate HOAs in principle, but many times they do serve a purpose. Not so often in the city, but out in the country they replace the city with it's "little" laws that you take for granted. Such as parking cars on blocks in the front yard, home maintenance, etc.

That assuming you dont want to park cars on blocks in the front yard yourself.

That's exactly what I meant when I said:

JoeyM wrote: Home Owner's Associations are always a bad idea for car enthusiasts...

I was working on the (possibly erroneous) assumption that the OP would have a race trailer in the drive way, or a donor on blocks that's supplying parts for a project in the garage, or a couple race tires stacked out side the garage, or......whatever. HOA's don't like racers.

JoeyM wrote: I was working on the (possibly erroneous) assumption that the OP would have a race trailer in the drive way, or a donor on blocks that's supplying parts for a project in the garage, or a couple race tires stacked out side the garage, or......whatever. HOA's don't like racers.

You're close, but HOA's don't like people that actually live in their houses. They just want them to come around and mow the grass regularly.

Indeed. Whenever I hear about HOA's I think of the X-Files episode Arcadia

We actually keep my dad's trailer at my house so his HOA won't hassle him....

wearymicrobe wrote:

nutherjrfan wrote: jeez, how riff-raffy can the riff-raff be in a neighborhood costing that much? lots of dueling banjos at night? i feel for you buddy. devil's advocate enough?

House behind us got painted black and had its eves cutoff. Across the street the family was sick of the son living at home so they stuck him in a 40 foot RV in the front yard. Both side neighbors have 30+ foot boats.

Funny...none of that would particularly bother me. Honestly, I would probably never notice.

The problem with moving because of neighbors is, you can never tell exactly what you're getting into. Things could go from bad to worse.

Interesting place, California, where the riff-raff lives in $3/4-million dollar homes.

A gated community would not appeal to me. I like a little land around my home. An acre or two at least. Five or ten would be great. I imagine that could be a tad pricey in the SD area.

What would GRM do? Buy a 40 foot motorhome and 2 40 foot boats and park em on the yard, The neighbors got stuff right? Downsize all stuff that goes in closets that isn't racing related. Buy race car to go in trailer behind motorhome. Hire cleaning company to come in twice a week. When something needs repaired hire handyman and go racing, come back when hardwood floors are clean and house is repaired. If the neighbors complain buy em out and turn the lot into a garage. Devilish enough for you?

Dr. Hess wrote: Option 1. Sell house for whatever you can get out of it. 2-300K net. Buy mansion in NW Arkansas for cash. Work for wally world vendor. Have nice cars, relax and enjoy life. Option 2. Buy another dump in SoCal.

Plus more than I can count on the first option.

You can fix the casa but you can't fix the neighborhood. I'd buy a new place and avoid the HOAs at all costs. They don't help resale and they will you off with silly rules and hidden fees/fines.

It sounds like cash flow/credit isn't too a big an issue for you. In this economy, already owning a house near the water in So CA... I would probably do some idiot proofing and rent it out vs selling in this market if I could swing the initial deal on credit. It will give you a way to keep the equity you have in the place and generate some offset income toward the new place while you wait for the market to recover enough.

Having owned, remodeled and paid to upkeep 2 homes - given a do-over - I might be tempted to buy a pile of pretty acres somewhere remote and cheap, put up a cottage + toy car storage and rent a place to sleep near work that someone else cares for.

All I know is that your problems sounds like pretty good ones to have wearymicrobe. I like the weather in San Diego, but would never want to live there myself. If I were you I'd stay in your current house and stay far far away from any gated communities with HOAs. The floors will still get dirty and need cleaning where ever you live. Older neighbors can be good, you are close to the ocean, and you are not upside down. Build a bigger garage and call it a day. Maybe hire someone to come in a clean your floors a couple times a week to keep the wife happy..

a. who gives a E36 M3 what the coworkers/neighbors think. Do whats best for you and your family first. if they dont understand that part, than their opinion isnt worth anything to you anyway, or shouldn't be at least.

b. If your not happy in your current place, and have the option to rectify that situation, then do so. life is to short to compromise when you dont need too... Though I love NY, I was miserable there due to high taxes, traffic, and other daily BS. I moved almost as far south as you can get without treading water and my quality of life improved drastically. im allot poorer now, but since i dont equate money with quality of life (at least not in the big picture) thats okay, I have a much happier life overall.

c. Home owners associations are the devils spawn...they empower individuals to create an illusion of control and those people are relentless when they decide they dont like something. I think people are crazy to pay to be part of something that regulates how high their lawn can get and what color they can paint thier house..nuts i tell you...

d. as in all things, sit down with the family, put all the options on the table, and decide together what the happiest course is...

e. i dont see a dilemma here, just a decision. a dilemma would be "will we get arrested if we sleep in the park tonight, or should we sleep under the bridge instead..." now thats a dilemma....

HOA:

SERIOUSLY!!!

How important is oceanfront living to you? I love the beach, and S.D. had some of the prettiest public beaches Ive ever been to...but given the problems in Cali right now with the bankruptcy of the state, unless Im tied there by work and cannot find that work elsewhere, Id sell the home for a profit, and take all that cash and move east! $700k in cash will buy you a fortress with 2 moats, zav parking, a 81 car garage, a stocked unicorn stable and a mid resto millenium falcon in Ohio right now. I loved my vacation in LA/SD, but I really would not want to live there.

4cylndrfury wrote: $700k in cash will buy you a fortress with 2 moats, zav parking, a 81 car garage, a stocked unicorn stable and a mid resto millenium falcon in Ohio right now.

No WAY! 2 Moats? Sweet.

Yeah, you get an inner and an outer moat. An extra ten large gets you a boat dock, trout stocking and management for the inner moat and a remote control set of draw bridges.