I think the gap is getting smaller, but at the moment we have not found a place we both agreed on. The main criteria are there, but we still have some challenging areas.
In general, the mortgage rate is supposed to be lower now. But that is misleading, the lower mortgage rate applies to loan amount up to $417K. Any loan amount between $417K and $625K is the new conforming jumbo; the rate is normally 1 point higher than the conforming. The highest is the regular jumbo, meaning anything higher than $625K. Well, the $417K may buy a 1B/1Ba condo in LA. And in the south bay area of LA, an average home will be at least $1MM at the minimum. Basically, it means we would fall in the jumbo loan category. Bottom line, the rate is going at the right direction for us, but not as much as the general media advertise it to be.
Price of the house in this area hasn’t come down as quickly or as much as other areas in the country. The average $/sq ft is still between $550 to $600 in general. Anything with an ocean view or ocean front will have a price tag of >$900/sq ft. Crazy. In the Palos Verdes area (where I had the wedding), it is a bit higher at $650+/sq ft. So these pricing hasn’t help us in a quick decision.
Then there are personal preference differences between us. Example, being close to the water is important to Tom, whereas having space and yard between neighbors is more important for me. And the definition of “close to water” is relative. For me, 5 miles away is still considered as “close to the water”. For Tom, one block away is probably stretching the envelop already…
Then there is the style of the home…He is into Mediterranean, Spanish style. I like that too, but I also like many other styles. One of them is the modern contemporarily. Tom thinks of it as too industrial, too much like work location rather than home. The good thing is we cannot afford anything in the contemporarily style anyway, so not much to discuss about it after all.
Anyway, here are the top 3 I like (independent of price), just in terms of the house and the area. We started to name them (like pets) so we can remember which one we like!!!
(1) The white house – love this remodeled ranch style home in a big yard lot. The lot is zoned for two horses!!! Yes, this one is in the ranch area of Palos Verdes. Then there is a small studio building in the back that I can see so many possibilities for; one being a “studio” for my scrapbooking/craft/creative outlets. The down side is no direct access from the garage to the house, but it can be done with some minor renovation as the garage is actually attached to the home. There is a swimming pool in the backyard. That is a maintenance issue for us. I didn’t hear the busy street noise, but Tom said he did, as the backyard is facing one of the major roads.
(2) The little house - This home is in a beautiful area of Palos Verdes. It has NO ocean view, but about a block from the bluff. The whole house has been totally remodeled. The down side is being too small. It is only ~1400 sq ft. My existing home is ~1500 sq ft, so I don’t know how we can merge our two lives into such a small area. And the price/sq ft is outrageous.
(3) There are a few contestants for my 3rd place.
(a) The OZ house – This is the contemporarily style new attached condo I like. Of course, we are not talking about money here, as it is definitely way out there. But I love the layout and the quality of the materials used here. When I walked in, I felt like I am in Australia. Maybe that is one of the reason I love this place.
(b) Three kitchen island house – This attached condo probably fit a lot of our criteria except it has an additional kitchen island that we have no idea how the designer comes up with. So we called this house the 3 kitchen island house. The fireplace in this place is a white marble front and it is UGLY.
(c) The salmon house – This attached condo is probably a 2 minute walk down from
where Tom lives now. So location wise, it is on Tom’s top list, but the house is small and for the price they want, it is crazy!!!
(d) Esplanade – This attached condo is beach front. No way at all when it comes to price. But since we are day dreaming, no problem. I just found out it is going into builder default. So it will be up for auction soon. But even at minimum bidding price, it is still >$2MM. What do people think here???
Before we both left US, we picked our top 3. I think Tom’s is #3d, #2, #3c. As you can see, they are all very close to the water. And my top 3 are more mixed, and the top 2 are SFR rather than condo.
So when I return home from OZ, we will pick up the project again, and by then may be the market landscape has improved a bit.
No comments:
Post a Comment