Need Devils Advocate for housing dilemma.

I'm moving to Ohio so i can hybrid Unicorns with my Pegasus. No Unicorns here. Oh wait Ohio? No way,Nohio.

Hess is right, except in Ohio, you get very special trout...

Special trout for burning river.

exsqueeze me? Baking Powder? cave city? as in Ky? Paddle faster, its dark and I hear banjo music....that whole throwing stones from a glass house bit and all...kthanksbai

Did not mean to offend, bad experience with Ohio state storm troopers on interstate. Cuyahoga burning was reference to moat. Not my intention to throw stones,I love MidOhio and a good fiddle player.Banjos notsomuch.

Seriously. I could retire on 700k cash up here. LOL

Dr. H has it right...liquidate the Cali property, find a castle/moat/groundskeeper you can afford somewhere quiet and move there. Enjoy life as fully as possible thereafter...Simple.

A couple of guys I work with did sold their houses in California before the bust moved to OK.

Our manager was able to put $200k in the bank AFTER buying 10 acres and building a 4000sq ft house on it. And a pole barn for his wife's horses.

Why you need a 4000sq ft house for two people is beyond me though.

4cylndrfury wrote: Hess is right, except in Ohio, you get very *special* trout...

I'd sell the house, but maybe avoid the gated community. Not a great time to sell, so if you KNOW you can clear $200k, do it. It's a great time to buy. Find what you like, screw what your co-workers think. Tell 'em you're a trust funder, if you don't want them to know you make more money than them.

Datsun1500 wrote: The OP is 29, lives in a $700K house. He is looking to move to another house in the same area. My assumption is he wants to stay in that area because it allows him to make enough money to buy a $700K house in the first place. I can't imagine he really wants to "sell everything, move somewhere else, and coast" Especially at 29 years old.

If I could have a job with the same income in Indiana, or the Midwest I would. The jobs for my skill set are in San Diego, New York, Bay Area. My entire family is here so leaving is not really a option. Plus my wife works in a similar field so moving would take 1/2 our income out of the equation even if I could find a job.

I did the tour of the country/golf club homes yesterday around noon. Its a amazing place, reminds me of some travel I have done in Tuscany. Main contender is a 2500 sqf home 4 car garage. No real garden though my wife is a bit upset over that.

It's 829K marked down from 1.1M vacant and the mello roo's are prepaid. 800-850$ a month in fees though for the club and HOA. The HOA club fees would get me about 160K more mortgage in a unincorporated area though. Traditional sale.

We also looked at a custom in the same area, 2900sqf three story, but need major work, appraised at about 1.4mil 5 years ago, now in foreclosure at 970k its a bank approved price through, would need a easy 100K to get it back into shape. Bought right and restored right it would be a heck of a home but only a two car garage and no off street parking. Bought right at about 899-919K it would be a clean home for resale in about 6-10 years

http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Diego/8137-Santaluz-Village-Grn-S-92127/home/6462323

Still trying to find a good middle ground, out here everything built to a level that I would want is enormous. As the homes get smaller significantly less well built or they are in gated community's with big HOA fees.

If you end up in a hood with an HOA, join. Thats how I am helping to keep mine under control

Every once in a while I remember my trip to LA in '08 and think it might be fun to move out there, but then I read a thread like this, and I remember that I own a recently renovated, 4300 sqft, 4-unit building with a 2-car garage, and my mortgage payment might just pay the rent on a 1-bedroom dump out there, and I laugh myself silly.

Somehow the idea of a $1M house needing $100k of fixing up cracks me up. Like I said in an earlier post - it's a nice problem to have.

I would go for the house in the different neighborhood, but outside of the HOA.

Since you want to stay in the same area geographically speaking: Take $100k of equity from current house, annex attached/1.75car/useless garage as additional living space, add some closets, storage, a better master suite, whatever- build separate 2.5 car garage/shop with bonus room/ office(!)/ etc above?

Neighbors, even when they are really close, can be blocked out with judicious application of landscaping, fences, hedges. I know in CA you guys have some kind of weird laws about not blocking the neighbors views of the ocean in places, so YMMV. Dust and dirt? Hire a maid.

I figure with the above plan, you wind up putting $100k or so in value back into the house, so if you ever decide to sell, you’re still in good shape. You just sell for $800k instead of $700k on a quick sale (or whatever the cost of your improvements are) and get those dollars back.

For me, personally, I wouldn’t want to overextend myself, buy into a HOA-controlled community, or live in Stepford with the golf/tennis set. All of those sound terrible. At least with the black house with no eaves and the motorhome across the way, there’s a little character in the neighborhood.

TRoglodyte wrote: Did not mean to offend, bad experience with Ohio state storm troopers on interstate. Cuyahoga burning was reference to moat. Not my intention to throw stones,I love MidOhio and a good fiddle player.Banjos notsomuch.

apology accepted...I was having a turdtastic day, so I was probably snappy anyway - apologies!

And to the OP, I +1 the idea of annexing if possible if staying in Cali is a priority. I repeat, unless youre able to become an instant say-so in one, a HOA is a great way to learn to hate your home.

That sort of price range should get you plenty to look at in Carlsbad without an HOA. There is a nice ocean view home on Highland Drive for $1.3 mil that boasts of parking for 10 cars on the driveway!

monark192 wrote: That sort of price range should get you plenty to look at in Carlsbad without an HOA. There is a nice ocean view home on Highland Drive for $1.3 mil that boasts of parking for 10 cars on the driveway!

We have been working our way north on looking at houses, next weekend is the romp through Carlsbad. I like the area off of palomar airport road just past the animal shelter to the south. There are some great homes up there, its a bit further out from where i want to be but dollar for dollar its a huge benefit.

Devils Advocate, as requested

I've owned a small rancher, a large townhouse and a large custom home. Over the past ten years of payments, maintenance, renovations and commissions to agents and brokers, my advice is this:

Don't confuse your wants with your needs. Buy the most affordable home you can be safe and comfortable in. Pay it off as soon as you can then save, or spend your money on the more important things in life.

wearymicrobe wrote: It's 829K marked down from 1.1M vacant and the mello roo's are prepaid. 800-850$ a month in fees though for the club and HOA.

We don't have HOA fee's in my 'hood. But we do have high Will County, Illinois Property taxes to deal with.

A house this price in Chicago 'burbs would pay about $18,000 a year in property taxes or $1,500 a month.

So are your property taxes lower due to services provided by your HOA fee? What services are provided for the $850 HOA fee?

wearymicrobe wrote:

monark192 wrote: That sort of price range should get you plenty to look at in Carlsbad without an HOA. There is a nice ocean view home on Highland Drive for $1.3 mil that boasts of parking for 10 cars on the driveway!

We have been working our way north on looking at houses, next weekend is the romp through Carlsbad. I like the area off of palomar airport road just past the animal shelter to the south. There are some great homes up there, its a bit further out from where i want to be but dollar for dollar its a huge benefit.

Hi wearymicrobe,

Small world…I live in Ventura County and took my family to Lego Land two weeks ago.

My wife and I drove all around the Palomar Airport area (I learned to fly when I was a kid and plan to eventually live at or at least very close to an airport). Anyway, we were very impressed with the overall area as it had the modern layout of say Irvine without out the sense of forced pretention.

Good luck...it’s on my short list of places to consider.

Brett

nderwater wrote: Devils Advocate, as requested Don't confuse your wants with your needs. Buy the most affordable home you can be safe and comfortable in. Pay it off as soon as you can then save, or spend your money on the more important things in life.

Showed this quote to the wife, this is definitely a WANT house; not a need.

The real push that started with this is I think some of these have better investment upside then our current place. But that's not a given as with all investments. Plus the devil you do know, drummer's, black house's, RV's might be better then a over zealous HOA. I will keep you guys up to date. I need to sleep on this for a week.

While the numbers for us were much smaller, we ended up adding on to our house in 2005, rather than move. Housing prices had shot up at that point and, while we could have stretched and afforded to buy the footprint we wanted, it felt uncomfortable. We ended up doing an addition on our current house, as much as anything because we loved the lot (cul-de-sac, wooded common area on two sides) and our cost basis was much lower going that route rather than moving. It was also cheaper to add on from a property tax perspective.

If I were in your shoes, I would hold on to your discretionary income rather than tie it up in housing. Consider investing in some alternative vehicles, like small business, venture investing, rental property, etc.

Regardless of your decision, congrats on great success thus far professionally. You and your wife are in an enviable position, even more so in light of the current economic situation.