I would be surprised if they don’t have a full price cash offer by now…

pemeliza | November 8th, 2009 at 6:01 am
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Yes, I agree with all that you’ve said, which is exactly why we aren’t making an offer on it. We know somebody else will gladly pay more than we’d be willing to pay, so we wait…

We’re looking for our final house, so we’re willing to wait for the right house at the right price (hat tip, JTR). That house would require about $200K worth of work to get it exactly where we want it, and $900K (all in) is too much for something like that, IMHO.

A 1031 Tax Deferred Exchange deals with an investor’s Capital Gains (income tax), and affects the tax basis for accounting purposes.

Tax Rolls deal with “Property Tax”. The Tax Assessor is not privy to one’s accounting tax basis’. They assess based on the investor’s new purchase price, therfore, exchanges can not skew the tax rolls.

There is however, a tax code for those over 55 (I think 55) which allows them a one-time property tax-base transfer of their primary residence, allowing them to move their tax basis–this may skew property tax rolls???

Lots of safe opportunities for investing if you use common sense and a rear view mirror longer than 2002 for value perspective. Investing, not speculating (very different..and this market is full of speculators claiming to be investors).

I am more positive on investing in areas where the prices are much lower relative to incomes that they are here. I also use a definition of an average house that is much more ‘mid level manager’ than the standard median priced home here in SD represents. Thus apples to apples I can get a mid level mgr house house for $200k in Phoenix (well above the median, etc) which would cost over $600k here.

Residential: We are more interested in short term lending to investors than we are in owning the assets in current market environment with very little near term investment upside (we don’t like to gamble on the speculative upside, only upside due to fundamentals). Would rather hit lots of singles and doubles than strikeout with an occasional homerun.

Commercial: GOLDMINE IS OPENING. Makes the housing market look like chump change. Buying for high yield (12% plus) in brand new bldgs that are in foreclosure but didn’t get a chance to lease-up. Hold for 3-5 years, stabilize, cash equity out and cash flow for years to come with lots of balance sheet equity and well below replacement costs and low leverage.

We typically pool investors into property funds and manage the deal on our collective behalf. Residential we pool investors into funds to handle 50+/- properties at any given time. commercial we pool funds on a property by property basis.

There are still plenty of places in and around SD where you can get a decent house for $299k. My friend just bought a 2100 sq. ft. house built in 2004 for 265k on 1/2 acre. The house sold for 600k at the peak. It can be done but you will have to give up on living a couple of blocks from the beach.

Where did you look?

As a fellow native Californian, I empathize with you. It’s a wonder that people who have no connections here are willing to move here from other places. There’s no way in heck we’d still be living here if we weren’t native with family, life-long friends, work, and “familiar places” to hold us back. I envy people who live in other states.

*Chuckle* Another classic! And that $920K cash house? Surely I can make some sense of it with the info Jim shared with his readers. Perhaps putting it down in black & white will make my (real estate) brain stop hurting. Here goes:

1. 1,658 sf on a 2/3 acre lot
2. 6/2009: On courthouse steps at $635K–no takers
3. Bank took back
4. Listed at $849K
5. 9/2009 Sold! $920K CASH *Only $80K to $1 million!*
6. *Calculator Whirling* $554/sf

Nope, that didn’t help! Add me to the “Yikes” crowd. I’m very curious. How long was it listed before it went into escrow, Jim?

*Sigh* No wonder I’m considering leaving my beloved CA (I’ve spent most of my life here and am a native). But it’s a difficult choice for me: Become a homeowner again after 7 longs years of renting but that means leaving many cherished friends. If I do make that choice, a big mahalo to the Wright Brothers.

I agreed with Jim’s advice to me, and recently hopped on a plane, and found what would be an over $1 million house (where I currently live) that’s listed for just $299K. All I ever needed (or wanted) tucked into 2,123 sf! And the LIST price is $299K or $140/sf.

The finish work mirrored my late husband’s quality of work and he was, IMO, the best finish carpenter on the planet.

I wish I could come to a decision. It could be one of the best choices of my life or one of the worst. I just don’t know. And it’s my last home, so that adds pressure to the whole dilemma.

This is why I’m taking my time to look at all worst-case scenarios. I probably won’t come to a decision until at least January 1st…