Josh, You posted your question in May. I'm just curious to know. What happened?? Did you settle on a neighborhood?

Sarah Dupree

Hi Josh,

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All the best!

Dan

Hi Josh,
It sounds like you've already found a place if you've locked your loan rate.

I'm a little concerned about "No Points" loans. They usually have a higher rate, or become adjustables after 3, 5, or 7 years. If it's truly a no-points loan, you're 30 yr. fixed rate (locked a week or two ago) should be about 5.5%, with the Principal & Interest payment about $570 per $100k, plus tax & Insur.

Read your loan documents NOTE. Verbal explanations are negated by the written documents. So if they tell you "Yeah, sure. Its a fixed", (but only for the next 3 to 7 years), then you lose.
The market may not allow you to resell or refinance in 7 years. People who got 5 yr. ARMS in January 2004 thought they were OK, but are having a tough time quickly approaching in the next six months. If they can't handle the new payment and wish to move, they invariably must come up with $100,000 or ruin their credit in a short sale. The friendly and helpful Realtors and Loan Officers go unpunished. Buyer beware.
The worst part is, the 30/30 payment wasn't much more.

Write your Realtor and Loan Officer a memo. (You should ask both, in case one goes out of business.)

Ask point blank:
Is my loan is a 30/30 fixed, with the exact same payment for thirty years?
Could I please get a copy of my lock form?
Please respond in writing.
Thank you, Josh & ..."

While you're at it, you might ask what the payment would be if you paid one point, then compare the two.
Put their responses in a safe place.

With rates near record 40 year lows, I would avoid anything but a 30/30 fixed right now.
If your loan amount is $400k, and you pay one point, (plus escrow, title, etc.) your monthly P&I payment would be about $2,272. By contrast, if you get a "no points" loan, often the rate is 6.5% or more, or $2,528 / mo. So instead of paying 1% (1 point) in up front fees, you end up paying approx. 1% higher in interest every year, for the entire life of the loan. So if you have the loan for ten years, you pay about ten times as much in interest, than you would have in points.

Where to live is such a personal choice. The most important question might be "Are you retired?" If not, where will you be working? Unless you're retired or work from home, traffic here is tough. Temecula was suggested, but I suggest you view the 20 mile snail caravan on I-15 from 4 pm to 7 pm heading north before making that move. Same in the AM heading south.
School districts are very important to your buyers when you decide to sell, perhaps ten years from now. Most of the coastal districts are award winning, but are expensive areas, as you mentioned.
Poway is an area with lower crime and better school districts than most, and a couple of affordable neighborhoods. It also has a lot of our local sports figures as residents.
If you can afford a bit more, and patient enough for a good deal, Carmel Mountain Ranch, (Rancho Bernardo "South" or 92128), has some nicer and newer homes. Also nice shopping, and generally a better than average resale market, mostly due to all the postal employees. It has a bit more of a commute issue than Normal Heights or Clairemont.
I would choose either of those neighborhoods over Spring Valley. Spring Valley's resale market isn't as good as the other two, and is tougher to commute. Again, depending on where you'll be working.

Since the Internet, most frequent downtown stuff is now just the Padres or dining. Otherwise ask if you need to go there much. The other two areas are closer anyway, and also closer to all the other S.D. stuff. Balboa Park, Zoo, Sea World, Beaches, Old Town, Trolleys, Mission & Fashion Valley shopping, La Jolla, UTC shopping, ad infinitum. Places and Stuff you're more likely to do weekly, and use gas doing so.
If I never leave the house, and never plan to resell, I might consider Spring Valley. But even still, probably not. In today's market, you could probably find something nicer for just a bit more in La Mesa, or Santee, if you like that east county area.

Most important, what's your hurry?

Prices are still dropping by the month. (All the other responders, mostly realtors, just had heart attacks.) The risk you run is the interest rate rising. (It's up to 6.125% since you locked). But you might want to balance that with paying $40k too much.
I had two people approach me to help them find homes last year. I told them to wait a year. Neither listened. One bought a condo in Rancho Penasquitos, (Carmel Mt. Ranch's poor cousin across the freeway). They got a "great deal" for $375K. Today those sell for $280k. The other bought a house in Spring Valley for $350k. Last week his girlfriend found 3 there for $240k. She said they were all superior to his.

If you're not getting a great deal on a bank owned foreclosure, you can probably afford to wait at least a couple of months, and meanwhile, you can get to know the area better.

Best of luck, and welcome to San Diego.

Thank you for your answers. This is a very helpful website. These guys (baywest) also helped with the mortgage loan. No points!! We were so scared of the process. Now we have locked in a great loan for 30 years with a payment that is similar to our rent up north. It looks like we are neighbors to all of you now.

Hi Josh. Try University City. It is right next to Claremont and a really beautiful city. UC is holding it's value well because of it's proximity to UCSD and La Jolla. The neighborhood is terrific. Histoically it has been much more expensive than Claremont (and more desirable) but because of market conditions THERE ARE SOME BARGAINS right now. Zip is 92122.
Try my website for free mls searching. No registration is required.

Thanks,

Sarah

Hi Josh,
I'm sure by now, you have looked at several of the agents properties in and around the city of San Diego. If you are willing to commute about 30 miles you will find that the prices drop quite a bit. There are still a lot of areas that are nice country areas, where you don't live on top of one another and have to fight for a parking spot every day. I like the Fallbrook area. I've lived here for the past 25 years even while I was in the Marine Corp. It's as close to country living as you are going to find this close to San Diego: to see more of this area the Chamber of Commerce web site is http://www.fallbrookca.org
I am also one of the few agents that not only works as an agent in San Diego county but I also know and cover the south Riverside county. If you are looking for an up and coming area still close enough to commute to San Diego where you can get a nicer and a lot newer home then what you could purchase in San Diego you really chould check out Temecula their web site is http://www.cityoftemecula.org I'm sure that you know that Temecula is the Napa Valley of southern California and have some of the best wines in this area. My web page will show you the MLS listings of the homes in both areas as well as school information on both counties. My web page is http://www.seeray4homes.com Please take the time to at least look at my web site and compare the prices of the homes in both areas. You will not be sorry.
I'll be looking forward to hearing from you soon. If you have any questions feel free to call me at 760-525-3875. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.

Hi Josh
As a Native San Diegan welcome to beautiful San Diego! I'm sure you have heard the phrase Location, location, location! Somethings to consider would be demographics, if you have children you would want to know where the best schools are. You can go to my website to Community Info: and click on San Diego County Schools for information. Good Luck to you and if you have any other questions, feel free to give me a call.

Howdy Josh

Each of those areas can be nice, but within them are better parts and worse parts. There are clues you can use. Is the street filled with cars in the evening? You might want to avoid high density areas. Are the cars in good condition or just junkers? Is there graffiti? Are the lawns cared for?

I'm kinda partial to East County including Spring Valley, Lemon Grove, La Mesa and El Cajon. Lemon Grove claims to have the 'Best Climate on Earth' and I tend to agree. I do a blog at Redfin about this area (see link below).

If I was young and single, I would prefer Normal Heights for the coffee houses and bookstores nearby. A young family might prefer certain parts of Clairemont (nice shopping center) or Spring Valley (more of a rural environment). All allow easy access to downtown compared to the horrible commute from North county.

enjoy San Diego
Tom

Hi,

An important aspect to keep in mind is the amount of traveling you will require for your employment & general lifestyle. Travel in many areas of San Diego can be an absolute "zoo" . With the costs of gas exploding upward & the ever increasing amount of traffic & travel time required in many areas of San Diego, it would very wise to keep this aspect closely in mind when considering a particular property for your family. Unfortunately, this situation can only get more difficult so try to "get it right" while you have options available to you now.

The current S.D.market has multiple opportunites for an excellent residential purchase at an outstanding price, so don't feel pressured or hurried in taking whatever time you need to find the home that is excellent for your family.

As a buyer, in today's San Diego market you are completely in the "driver's seat" - don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Nearly all of Normal Heights & most of Spring Valley have been around for at least 80+ years. The development of Clairemont began in the early 1950s & continued into the early 1990s. What brought your strongest attention to these areas? Be aware that both Spring Valley & Clairemont are very large & quite diverse in several ways, and a majority of homes in North Park & Normal Heights are relatively small in square footage.

As real estate investors, (along with the price) perhaps an aspect which Linda & I find important is the overall condition of the whole neighborhood in each direction.

Regardless of which part of town the house is located. It's much easier to retain the future value of a specific property if the rest of the area is neat & clean & in good shape.

I don't know every answer (San Diego is a big, growing place) but we've both been San Diego residents since we were kids, so if you've only been here twice & have some questions, feel free to give me a call.

Mark Hibbert ................(619) 561-4615