San Diego Home Prices

Today is the home opener for the San Diego Padres. So, naturally, I’m going to use a metaphor for San Diego home prices as being in the ‘ballpark’ for a good buy for a home for you and your family.

People asked JP Getty his secret for success, he said, never buy at bottom, never sell to top. Because you cannot time it perfectly, you may miss them completely.

Most people do not buy a home to make a killing, it is an emotional decision and a place to call home. If it drops a little, it is okay, if it very slowly appreciates in the years to come, 1%, 3%, 5%, that is okay too. Beats 0.1% interest from banks or risks in the stock market. If you have enough cash to buy a home today, a home that maintains its value without profit is a solid financial choice, maybe perfect to balance the wild crazy horses in your portfolio.

The primary price calculation is “Defense” as you don’t want your San Diego home to drop a lot. Your judgement is if today’s San Diego home prices wiped out 10 years of bubble, is it back to 2003? Many real estate websites show you the price history, this is not hard to find out. I’ve seen current high prices as if the crash never happened and sold at those high prices, and there are prices at early 2000 level. This may or may not be the bottom, but it should be somewhere in that neighborhood, give or take a few % or 6 months or 1-2 years, does not really matter in the long run. If you over paid a little, that is irrelevant in the long run.

Set your expectation low, all you want is a nice home to live and keep, you will not make a penny but you will not lose a penny, don’t check home values, don’t brag about it, keep a low profile. Once you bought a TV, you don’t check prices anymore. You will do very well, anything extra that comes in the next 10-20 years will come.

Sometimes one should not be too smart and calculate too much, if it is somewhere in the ball park, that is okay especially when it comes to purchasing your own home.

San Diego Home Prices