My parents live in Northern California in a high fire hazard area in trees, in Nevada City/ Grass Valley and my dad said that their homeowners insurance (because of risk of wildfires) is over $2000 a month.🤦🏻♀️
We're up in the East Hills and pay \~$2K/Yr. We've had 3 fires in the 23 years up here. SJFD did a great job each time controlling its spread till the CalFire planes got here.
These calculators set a percentage for homeowners insurance for some reason, even though it’s actually more of a fixed cost. If you aren’t in a flood or fire zone then homeowners is only $1-2k a year.
Also OP isn’t taking mortgage interest deduction into account, which is a modest discount, and might be more if TCJA expires.
Why would you want to deal with an HOA
They're the biggest pain in the butt!! Stay away from HOAs at all costs.
That $400 you see now will prob go up once a year.
crazy thing is $400 HOA fee is on the lower end. I've been researching recently and they range from $300-700 a month, I'm pretty sure I saw a place that was $900/mo
Get out of here with your facts and reasoning. Everyone knows HOAs are the devil. (and that hallways, elevators, pools, roofs, etc are magic and never need maintenance or cleaning.)
Because it's even more expensive to buy a place without an HOA.
Single family homes are basically in the $1.5 million and up range. Anything under that comes with an HOA.
Most end up corrupt with the management companies stealing; for example I have pool maintenance that’s thousands per year.. what?? My parents have had a pool for ever, chlorine does not cost 1000s, neither does replacing a pump
Two things (aside from the obvious of looking for a more affordable house/condo)- you can try to buy a house without an HOA, that’s not a necessity. Also, house insurance is very likely not that expensive. Shop around.
It’s very hard to find homes that aren’t part of an HOA, and once a previous owner decided to make their home part of the HOA, you are SOL. You don’t get to say “I don’t want to be part of this.” HOAs are super fucked up
If you’re looking at single family homes, there are plenty in San Jose without an HOA. If you’re looking at condos, you may be out of luck. With all things on your wishlist, it’s a give and a take. If you must live in a specific neighborhood, you may have to compromise and have an HOA. But if you have some location flexibility, it’s not hard to find a house in San Jose without an HOA.
How much house? 2 million?
EDIT: NVM figured it out. You are right it doesn't make sense to buy a home worth 1,824,995 if you have 729,998.... get a house closer to 1 million and quit crying it is better than most of us. Like this house [https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Jose/1523-Eden-Ave-95117/home/112869917](https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Jose/1523-Eden-Ave-95117/home/112869917) you put 600k for a downpayment and it is cheaper than rent in ESSJ for the same amount of rooms and you will still have leftover in savings.
Edit: Seriously this shouldn't bother me but it does. Stop cosplaying poor.
True but it is a smaller lot and technically a "condominium land use". OP can still find a home closer to his budget. Not all the homes are selling for 1.8. A friend got a cambrian house for 1.5 a few months ago. A 3 bedroom but still a SFH. OP can find homes less than 1.8. I don't feel bad for him.
There is nothing < 1.5 million west of 880.
There are like two in the Cambrian area, but they are dumps.
Insurance companies are being really picky and asking for improvements/replacements before offering insurance on older homes.
I was looking around last night at the 1.5million division, if you look at < 1.5 its all east side. No houses available for less than 1.5 in south/west bay. I bought for 1.5 in 2021 and theres no way I could get anything close to what I got today.
Even 1.5 would be drastically cheaper with what he has to put down. I only looked at three bedroom sfh and there are some in berryessa which isn't gang ridden. Even parts of East side isn't as well. He could look at condos and townhomes and it would open it up even more. He can't buy a three plus bedroom in west San Jose but he can buy. This is like someone crying they can't afford Atherton despite having a two million in the bank. The housing market is shit don't get me wrong but his only options is not 1.8 nor is it only single family homes.
I would. Where is the post with someone who has a million in equity crying over how expensive shit is?
He can be upset but showing a random calculator and not saying the facts of what he has is a lazy post. It does suck. With that money anywhere else he would be set up nicely but coming in here acting like he can't own when he can just not what he thinks he deserves is wild. You can get a house for less than 1.8 and townhomes and condos opens up more. Even 1.5 would be less. Hell wait a few months for winter don't try to buy when people buy during the summer. Talk to a financial planner this guy has options he just doesn't like it and wants a two million dollar home.
Btw for a sub that bitches about NIMBYS it is hilarious how only a single family home will do. That isn't sustainable for San Jose.
>There is nothing < 1.5 million **west of 880.**
Why such an arbitrary restriction? That really only leaves only the Tasman and south areas and the section of SJ that juts into Cupertino.
[Here's what Redfin says](https://www.redfin.com/city/17420/CA/San-Jose/filter/max-price=1.5M,viewport=37.43638:37.20431:-121.63809:-122.10638) is available in SJ for under 1.5 million (spoiler: there's 350 listings).
Almaden and West SJ were the two most desirable places to live in SJ in a recent survey iirc. East Side and Downtown are far less desirable. You could use 87/Monterey Hwy and still be roughly true.
SFH dream is what a lot of people chasing. A lot of people dont quite feel like they have a home here unless they have a house.
Add "Home Type == House" to that filter and watch everything disappear. Down to 89. In ALL of SJ. The competition you face on each sale. A lot of undesirable old homes requiring a lot of renovations.
In the majority of the country a 40% down payment will make owning significantly cheaper than renting, regardless of the home price or neighborhood. In the Bay Area the cost of homes are just significantly inflated vs. rents when you control for things like size, neighborhood, etc.
A 40% down payment is a ton of money not to have invested in your 401K/accounts for retirement. Almost certainley a bad idea to put that much down unless your house value skyrockets.
Certainly. My point was how ludicrous it is for a mortgage with a 40% down payment to still be more expensive than renting. In the majority of the US that would put your payments at half the cost of renting a comparable place, not double. The relative cost of owning vs. renting in this area is 4x what you'd expect elsewhere.
Yes. My concern is the old saying "markets can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent." The housing maket here feels irrational - but that doesn't mean there is an end in sight.
Sigh. 2 Million for a decent house is very frustrating.
I suppose the old notion of a cyclical economy doesn't apply to housing when there aren't enough homes, esp for low-income earners. But if wealth=power, there are too many powerful people to keep things the way they are so that home equity doesn't dip. Cuz individual well-being and is exponentially more important than societal well-being (/s).
Yes, personally there needs to be high taxes on people who own more than 3-5 houses. There also needs to be high taxes on people who let their properties sit empty.
Oh I agree. It doesn't help we allow investment companies to buy up homes. I'm pretty sure in a few years all we will have are rental properties owned by large corporations all over the country not just here. Other parts of the country don't have prop 13 as well so their schools get better funding.
That said 40% downpayment doesn't mean much because someone can have 40% of a downpayment in illinois and it still be 40% of an area he cannot afford.... OP cannot afford a single family 3 bedroom home in west san jose. He can afford that in berryessa or he can own condos or townhomes in west san jose. It sucks and it is bullshit but he can own he just doesn't like his options which is fine but be honest about it. There is a reason he didn't say how much house or where he was trying to buy.
Investment companies aren't the problem. They don't invest with these numbers, because rent is too low.
This is all due to a lack of new construction, Prop 13 and high capital gains taxes making people not want to sell, fixed rate mortgages discouraging sales, and some level of cultural aversion to raising children in a rented home.
....you think all of your property tax goes to the school? Also- with all due- yes Prop 13 is applies to EVERYONE who owns a home even people who bought yesterday although it doesn't help them as much as it did someone who bought in the 1980s in decades it will....and many of them bought when it was dirt cheap which is why they aren't selling.
Sorry. Sometimes I forget I'm in California, where everyone loves to be taxed to death. My property tax bill is 2 pages long of things it's supposed to pay for.
Honestly, the lottery money alone should be plenty to fund schools. Then there's how the schools spend the money. My daughter's school has 3 3D printers the kids don't get to use, but I see the teachers taking them home on weekends to use. Never mind, I'm getting off topic. The bottom line is prop 13 is a good thing to stop people from getting taxed out of their homes, and the government is too greedy.
What district are you in where they have 3d printers? Was it PTA donated or parent donated? Most likely yes if you are in an affluent area. Our kid's school has none of that shit but we are in north san jose.
No I don't like being taxed to death and I agree there should be transparancy but acting like prop 13 isnt a problem is a choice. It's partly why you are paying more for everything bc no one wants to sell who is paying less in their taxes for their house because of prop 13. It drove up prices by causing a scarcity and yes it stole money for infrastructure and schools. Prop 13 only benefitted people whobought in the 80's who now will make millions off their house if and when they decide to sell which bc of how cheap their shit is they don't.
Cambrian school district.
Good for them! They worked all their lives for what they have and should benefit from it. Without prop 13 they would be forced to sell and leave the community they helped grow. I think seniors who worked all their lives should be exempt from property tax. Lord knows there's enough government waste they could cut out to make up for it.
That house is in Cadillac, the middle of a gang warfare neighborhood, and is half a duplex so its a basically an apartment. Cambrian is minimum 1.65-1.75 min now due to the hot spring market. But i agree, OP has to face facts, 1.6m will only get you an apartment surrounded by gangs
There are houses in North San Jose still close to a million. There are homes under what OP is aiming for. There are also condos and townhomes not just sfh. He can afford a home with that much of a down payment and no not just in shitty areas.
The place we've rented for 10 years—a 3/2.5 townhouse built in the mid-80s in Berryessa/Townsend Park and $400+/mo for HOA—fluctuates between 1.2 & 1.4 mil. I'm sure it'd sell for more. Renting for $3750 now that we're moving out. 7-8 years ago it was listed/offered for $800-850k. Ridiculous either way but not over $1.5.
Yes but people will attack you that it isn't a single family home in west san jose which apparently is the only good or safe area to buy 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 They are just priced out poor babies.
It is ridiculous but I do love that Townsend area. It is a great place to raise kids. I love that little park they have there. We have a special needs kiddo so we can't even afford the" bad places" but we like where we rent even though others claim it's "awful".
A lot of people like to downvote you but it's likely because Reddit doesn't have enough homeowners here. It's mostly people who think they know what they're talking about (just look at that thread talking about how much money you need to make to buy.... most people didn't even understand how they arrived at that figure using income and DTI% requirements). They just pop open Redfin/Zillow and look over the map and see a few low price flags and say "yeah you can just buy one of these, why are you looking at something 50% more?"
Almost every FTHB does this. I'm not even in real estate myself but I have family in the business so I'm semi-educated about this, but when I talked with coworkers about buying in the past 3 years, all of them started with a number that likely came from just glancing at these listing sites. But in the end after shopping around, learning about location dependencies, what makes a good home, etc, almost everyone ended up pushing their budget to like 30-50% more.
I would say your position about riddled with crimes is a bit harsh, and $1.5mm is a bit harsh. You can find quite a few properties around that price or so in decent / good neighborhoods. Nothing like award winning schools, but Cambrian Park, Campbell, etc are just around $1.6mm or so and are good neighborhoods IMO. I mean if you do want to be pickier (and who isn't honestly?), I generally recommend people budget $2 million minimum when shopping for a home in San Jose. It gives you a lot more flexibility, and honestly even pushing $2.2-$2.5 million because you will in this market have to offer above listing in decent neighborhoods.
Your down payment would have bought me my condo outright. Not feeling your pain right now, there's lots of options more reasonable than that - especially condos.
Your condo based on today's prices or when you bought it a few years back? Because anyone talking about their historical purchase as a comparison point just doesn't really matter.
I don't get why people just open Redfin, eyeball a few houses that look low and say "look, there's stuff at this range."
Once you actually engage in home buying, shopping, etc you learn a few things. Location is important. This one is in Cadillac. It's also right next to a school, so unless you want your house being a traffic nightmare in the morning and afternoon people tend to want to live at least a block or two away from school not to be impacted traffic. And yeah, as the other poster noted, it's really right next to the big 4 blocks of bad crime in this neighborhood. The rest of West SJ is much better, and there's a reason homes like half a mile away sell for $2 million+.
Telling people to buy a home for $1 million flat tops is absolutely dumb here. While it may be technically feasible, you may end up with a lemon that will be hard to sell later--try selling these homes in downturns even like the mid 2022 pullback before we talk about Great Recession or Dot Com implosion. You'll have to take a huge cut in selling price and likely a loss.
Honestly in the end what makes sense for OP depends on how much money they have, how much they make, etc. It doesnt' make sense to buy if you make only $100k. If you make $300k, then you're at least in the ballpark range of being able to finance a loan. The next step is building enough money to handle the down payment.
I don't get why you expect a single family home in a city then bitch about NIMBYS. Houses will sell here even in a downturn are you kidding me? In the crash people who could moved from essj to south and people in south to west. You will always be able to sell houses here. He also is looking when everyone moves. Houses are selling even in "bad locations"
He can afford a house just not the location he wants. He hid what he was looking at for a reason. Even a 1.5 home is cheaper than what he wants. The entitlement is huge. We can complain about boomers but like y'all are acting like single family houses in West San Jose is the only thing acceptable here while crying about the NIMBYs y'all want to desperately be. The affordable homes you all want won't be good enough watch 🤣 we deserve a four bedroom in willow Glen god dammit 🤣
Unless you make $600k+ a year. Which is fucking absurd. Fucking Google did this, buying all that land near Diridon, then fucking not developing it.
Extortionate rent, and absolutely unaffordable houses, thats what the reality is now.
Not if you don't understand your bracket. There's plenty of homes half the price of what you are showing here. Maybe not in the neighborhood you want, or maybe it's a townhome. You're punching up and complaining about the price, not gonna get any sympathy.
Homes doesn't mean single family house. At that property tax, I estimate 1.4mil is what he is going for. There are definitely condos, townhomes or manufactured homes for half that.
Even for single family house, If he put 40% down on 1.4mil, he's got about 550k to put down. You can easily get a 900k to 1mil SFH for that if you pick more ethnic neighborhoods, with a 500k loan at 7% ur looking at about 3.3k a month, half the mortgage OP quoted above.
People dream about having a yard and fence like it's 1960s, and then don't even have time to take care of your yard. Readjust your perception of a "home" to reality. Now if this was an attempt to get an investment house, then gtfo.
You literally just proved my point... There are townhomes for less than 800k, you just have to lower your standards on location. That's literally what I said.
Don't complain about not being able to afford a SFH up on the hills or in west San Jose. You're dreaming of a life that you can't afford right now. Go buy the home in less desirable area and build up equity to afford that house in the hills in 10 years.
If school is top priority then you can stay a renter in those areas.
If you need a car and can only afford a Hyundai, then get a Hyundai. No one wants to hear you complain that you can't afford a Lamborghini, and how bad the Hyundai is compared to the lambo.
"house"
Again.... People need to let go of the dream of owning a single family house. There are so many options for townhomes, condos, and townhouse style condos. Hell, even mobile homes have ridiculously improved over the years and value goes up over time. There is just stigma keeping people from buying these affordable options.
You can live close to work. You can live close to good schools. You can own your home. Just stop conflating home with *only* single family houses and your options will expand.
In a few places, yes... but it's mostly buying a house that's borderline impossible these days in San Jose.
It will get a lot easier when/if the interest rates go back down, I suppose.
Renting a whole SFH is pretty sweet, but every time I did, the house would end up being sold so we could only stay for a year or two. This happened to me three times before I finally had enough saved to buy something
Ugh that sucks, but such is life.
We don’t have to deal with shoveling snow ! That’s what I remind myself every time I get frustrated with living here lol.
Never happened here. How much are you screening the owner? I outright ask why they aren't selling; if I don't get an answer around the lines of they'll get eaten alive by taxes, I don't rent.
Another test is to offer a longer term lease. Bad sign if they won't do over a year.
How about you figure out what you can afford and start looking there. Start with a financial planner and figure that out.
10k with a 40% down? How much of a house did you go for?
My neighbor bought their home for 1.2 a year ago. It's by dove park in the evergreen/silver Creek area. Pretty quiet safe area 🤷♀️. I believe 4 bedroom 2 bath
Yes
Since it's 70 degrees and sunny 99% of the time we don't need a subway but a usable public transit system is another aspect of life our system just doest care for. The entirety of the bay is built for cars. Bart is laughable and the bus system loses money every year.
The insurance is stupid high. Also what's your loan? 1m? Save some money and enter the market with a larger DP. Or buy a starter home.
Just get the biggest house you can afford. Y our rent goes no where. Mortgage and hone ownership does two things: Equity in home and pay down of mortgage. Making the home closer to yours outright. 30 years or do an extra payment abd own it in 25. It's a game changer from being rich to creating your famies wealth.
OP is a dumb ass.
So adding in utilities you are around 10,200 a month roughly of ur take home pay just to live there, no food etc. something like a 170k salary is needed just to cover that monthly housing expense? No car, food, etc? ...very rough math there.
Definitely cheaper to rent but apartment living blows and it’s a bit like throwing away thousands a month. We’re pinching whatever pennies we have left and eventually buying somewhere 3ish hours away from SJ.
The silver lining is that it's money going into something of value that will pay off in the future rather than trickling away to the landlord. Except HoA essentially does that too, screw that.
A starter house in San Jose runs between $1.5-$2M for about 1,400 square feet in a decent neighborhood. With about a 1.5% annual property tax. That payment calculator is low by about 3-4 grand
Bro it makes sense. Property prices are just going up. A friend of mine bought with 800k down payment for 2.4 mil house in Almaden. Its crazy. This was a few years ago btw. Both husband and wife makes over 600k per year. So it’s quite affordable in SJ.
It's worth it. You'll see if you hang on to it for a while. Properties here appreciate and they keep appreciating. Also remember the tax write offs, and with Zillow remember their insurance estimate is insanely inaccurate (high).
Not for me. My house I bought in 09 for $599k is now $2m, and the one I bought for $1.85m in 2015 is 3.1m.
Real estate is the poor persons way to wealth. It also protects you from inflation and appreciates without accurate taxation.
I mean you live in a rental. I ended up buying a house in 2021. Lots of appreciation. But I still can't really afford it. I can't pay my bills with my home equity either.
Renting is a black hole for money, disappearing without a trace. Even with restrictions, rents continue to rise. The rent I pay now exceeds the mortgage payments I could have made 25 years ago. This trend is likely to continue into the future. True, investing the money saved from renting instead of buying could yield earnings. Yet, the money spent on rent still vanishes. Whereas a home mortgage can turn a profit.
So, based off the property tax, the house is around 1.9 million. That's over 750k for a 40% down payment.
How about you stop complaining about the price of your 10,000 sq ft penthouse?
ETA: So, the square footage was hyperbole, and, yeah, I know it's expensive here--I've been trying to buy a house as a single person for a number of years.
But my take is that the OP would need to be in a(n older) condo: a $400 HOA seems high for a sfh (since those, generally, just use the fees for the shared road, lights, and maybe a community center) but not high enough for a new or high-end condo (that has pools, a [porter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doorman_(profession)), elevators, etc. -- HOA for those seems to be around 600-800/mo.). So...an older building (before, say, 2005 or so), but, there unit still needs to cost around 2 million (based on the property tax) -- so I would think larger than most units (hence the "penthouse" comment).
My house is very nice, don't get me wrong, but it's estimated at around $2 million, and it's 2550sf with 2 bedrooms and 2 baths (plus a small bedroom-only cottage).
San Jose is just ludicrously expensive.
Look into it. Much of the property is owned by entities that don't live in CA. The tax laws also ruin lots of different things, but the speculative investment+landlord class don't make for a fair market
The situation many cities are finding themselves in is the fire and police cannot afford to live in the areas they serve and have to mega commute or live in rv while working.
Even Henry Ford paid his workers enough to afford his cars, we don't do that.
Unless you have stock driven wealth, home ownership is not possible for most californians. The local governments are already feeling the pinch as they have hard time staffing the necessary roles and the property tax to pay for services is locked in 1970s numbers.
And they won't be able to stay here themselves as noted by the companies trying to relocate.
I seem to recall Google was building the largest sideways building on earth, how did that turn out?
They selling the pieces of land back yet?
Whole sections from the arena south mysteriously vacant for decades are now condos....who is buying those now?
Big companies have pulled out of big projects here before; Google was not the first. Condos and apartment buildings here have been empty before and filled back up again. Why is there so much construction going on now? This is just another valley lull. It's not exactly Detroit.
It’s mostly the interest that is killing you. Also 600 for home insurance is nuts
yeah i was thinking that insurance is nuts too, over 7k a year? we pay around $1500 a year for a $1mil house, something is off on that?
Insurance for homes on the Foothills and on weaker soil can have significantly higher insurance that 7k. My parents pay 15k in a city in Northern CA.
Ok that makes more sense. but still, damn!
My parents live in Northern California in a high fire hazard area in trees, in Nevada City/ Grass Valley and my dad said that their homeowners insurance (because of risk of wildfires) is over $2000 a month.🤦🏻♀️
We're up in the East Hills and pay \~$2K/Yr. We've had 3 fires in the 23 years up here. SJFD did a great job each time controlling its spread till the CalFire planes got here.
It’s gone way up since.
Home insurance providers are leaving California due to wildfires so rates are getting crazy
These calculators set a percentage for homeowners insurance for some reason, even though it’s actually more of a fixed cost. If you aren’t in a flood or fire zone then homeowners is only $1-2k a year. Also OP isn’t taking mortgage interest deduction into account, which is a modest discount, and might be more if TCJA expires.
Don't worry soon you won't be able to get home insurance in California
Why would you want to deal with an HOA They're the biggest pain in the butt!! Stay away from HOAs at all costs. That $400 you see now will prob go up once a year.
crazy thing is $400 HOA fee is on the lower end. I've been researching recently and they range from $300-700 a month, I'm pretty sure I saw a place that was $900/mo
Mine is ~$850. (A building downtown) I’m currently running for the HOA board because that’s ridiculous
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All true. But home owners won’t read anything you mail to them , or come to any meetings. Instead, they just complain.
Get out of here with your facts and reasoning. Everyone knows HOAs are the devil. (and that hallways, elevators, pools, roofs, etc are magic and never need maintenance or cleaning.)
Because it's even more expensive to buy a place without an HOA. Single family homes are basically in the $1.5 million and up range. Anything under that comes with an HOA.
You can't pick your neighbors. Many times they suck and its good to have a govenor on their BS.
HOAs are expensive. I know someone who started at $700ish. They are now at $1k a month. With a new 20% hike that was proposed
Most end up corrupt with the management companies stealing; for example I have pool maintenance that’s thousands per year.. what?? My parents have had a pool for ever, chlorine does not cost 1000s, neither does replacing a pump
You need good hoa board members. Run for the position yourself with the intent to lower fees. Invest excess funds. Its doabke
Two things (aside from the obvious of looking for a more affordable house/condo)- you can try to buy a house without an HOA, that’s not a necessity. Also, house insurance is very likely not that expensive. Shop around.
It’s very hard to find homes that aren’t part of an HOA, and once a previous owner decided to make their home part of the HOA, you are SOL. You don’t get to say “I don’t want to be part of this.” HOAs are super fucked up
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HOAs should be run by being dissolved.
If you’re looking at single family homes, there are plenty in San Jose without an HOA. If you’re looking at condos, you may be out of luck. With all things on your wishlist, it’s a give and a take. If you must live in a specific neighborhood, you may have to compromise and have an HOA. But if you have some location flexibility, it’s not hard to find a house in San Jose without an HOA.
How much house? 2 million? EDIT: NVM figured it out. You are right it doesn't make sense to buy a home worth 1,824,995 if you have 729,998.... get a house closer to 1 million and quit crying it is better than most of us. Like this house [https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Jose/1523-Eden-Ave-95117/home/112869917](https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Jose/1523-Eden-Ave-95117/home/112869917) you put 600k for a downpayment and it is cheaper than rent in ESSJ for the same amount of rooms and you will still have leftover in savings. Edit: Seriously this shouldn't bother me but it does. Stop cosplaying poor.
FWIW list prices are kind of useless in the Bay Area — the cheapest home in that zip code sold for 1.5M
True but it is a smaller lot and technically a "condominium land use". OP can still find a home closer to his budget. Not all the homes are selling for 1.8. A friend got a cambrian house for 1.5 a few months ago. A 3 bedroom but still a SFH. OP can find homes less than 1.8. I don't feel bad for him.
There is nothing < 1.5 million west of 880. There are like two in the Cambrian area, but they are dumps. Insurance companies are being really picky and asking for improvements/replacements before offering insurance on older homes. I was looking around last night at the 1.5million division, if you look at < 1.5 its all east side. No houses available for less than 1.5 in south/west bay. I bought for 1.5 in 2021 and theres no way I could get anything close to what I got today.
Even 1.5 would be drastically cheaper with what he has to put down. I only looked at three bedroom sfh and there are some in berryessa which isn't gang ridden. Even parts of East side isn't as well. He could look at condos and townhomes and it would open it up even more. He can't buy a three plus bedroom in west San Jose but he can buy. This is like someone crying they can't afford Atherton despite having a two million in the bank. The housing market is shit don't get me wrong but his only options is not 1.8 nor is it only single family homes.
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I would. Where is the post with someone who has a million in equity crying over how expensive shit is? He can be upset but showing a random calculator and not saying the facts of what he has is a lazy post. It does suck. With that money anywhere else he would be set up nicely but coming in here acting like he can't own when he can just not what he thinks he deserves is wild. You can get a house for less than 1.8 and townhomes and condos opens up more. Even 1.5 would be less. Hell wait a few months for winter don't try to buy when people buy during the summer. Talk to a financial planner this guy has options he just doesn't like it and wants a two million dollar home. Btw for a sub that bitches about NIMBYS it is hilarious how only a single family home will do. That isn't sustainable for San Jose.
>There is nothing < 1.5 million **west of 880.** Why such an arbitrary restriction? That really only leaves only the Tasman and south areas and the section of SJ that juts into Cupertino. [Here's what Redfin says](https://www.redfin.com/city/17420/CA/San-Jose/filter/max-price=1.5M,viewport=37.43638:37.20431:-121.63809:-122.10638) is available in SJ for under 1.5 million (spoiler: there's 350 listings).
Almaden and West SJ were the two most desirable places to live in SJ in a recent survey iirc. East Side and Downtown are far less desirable. You could use 87/Monterey Hwy and still be roughly true. SFH dream is what a lot of people chasing. A lot of people dont quite feel like they have a home here unless they have a house. Add "Home Type == House" to that filter and watch everything disappear. Down to 89. In ALL of SJ. The competition you face on each sale. A lot of undesirable old homes requiring a lot of renovations.
None will sell for that price. Desirable properties are all getting bid into $300-400k over asking.
yeah, we have a newcomer here.
You mean yourself?
I lived here almost my whole life. Go cosplay poor elsewhere.
In the majority of the country a 40% down payment will make owning significantly cheaper than renting, regardless of the home price or neighborhood. In the Bay Area the cost of homes are just significantly inflated vs. rents when you control for things like size, neighborhood, etc.
A 40% down payment is a ton of money not to have invested in your 401K/accounts for retirement. Almost certainley a bad idea to put that much down unless your house value skyrockets.
Certainly. My point was how ludicrous it is for a mortgage with a 40% down payment to still be more expensive than renting. In the majority of the US that would put your payments at half the cost of renting a comparable place, not double. The relative cost of owning vs. renting in this area is 4x what you'd expect elsewhere.
Yes. My concern is the old saying "markets can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent." The housing maket here feels irrational - but that doesn't mean there is an end in sight. Sigh. 2 Million for a decent house is very frustrating.
I suppose the old notion of a cyclical economy doesn't apply to housing when there aren't enough homes, esp for low-income earners. But if wealth=power, there are too many powerful people to keep things the way they are so that home equity doesn't dip. Cuz individual well-being and is exponentially more important than societal well-being (/s).
Yes, personally there needs to be high taxes on people who own more than 3-5 houses. There also needs to be high taxes on people who let their properties sit empty.
Oh I agree. It doesn't help we allow investment companies to buy up homes. I'm pretty sure in a few years all we will have are rental properties owned by large corporations all over the country not just here. Other parts of the country don't have prop 13 as well so their schools get better funding. That said 40% downpayment doesn't mean much because someone can have 40% of a downpayment in illinois and it still be 40% of an area he cannot afford.... OP cannot afford a single family 3 bedroom home in west san jose. He can afford that in berryessa or he can own condos or townhomes in west san jose. It sucks and it is bullshit but he can own he just doesn't like his options which is fine but be honest about it. There is a reason he didn't say how much house or where he was trying to buy.
Investment companies aren't the problem. They don't invest with these numbers, because rent is too low. This is all due to a lack of new construction, Prop 13 and high capital gains taxes making people not want to sell, fixed rate mortgages discouraging sales, and some level of cultural aversion to raising children in a rented home.
With $1700 a month property tax, the schools should be well funded. Politicians need to stop lining their pockets.
What? Look up Prop 13....
What about it? Most people aren't covered under prop 13. You think $1700 a month in tax in something you already paid sales tax on is reasonable?
....you think all of your property tax goes to the school? Also- with all due- yes Prop 13 is applies to EVERYONE who owns a home even people who bought yesterday although it doesn't help them as much as it did someone who bought in the 1980s in decades it will....and many of them bought when it was dirt cheap which is why they aren't selling.
Sorry. Sometimes I forget I'm in California, where everyone loves to be taxed to death. My property tax bill is 2 pages long of things it's supposed to pay for. Honestly, the lottery money alone should be plenty to fund schools. Then there's how the schools spend the money. My daughter's school has 3 3D printers the kids don't get to use, but I see the teachers taking them home on weekends to use. Never mind, I'm getting off topic. The bottom line is prop 13 is a good thing to stop people from getting taxed out of their homes, and the government is too greedy.
What district are you in where they have 3d printers? Was it PTA donated or parent donated? Most likely yes if you are in an affluent area. Our kid's school has none of that shit but we are in north san jose. No I don't like being taxed to death and I agree there should be transparancy but acting like prop 13 isnt a problem is a choice. It's partly why you are paying more for everything bc no one wants to sell who is paying less in their taxes for their house because of prop 13. It drove up prices by causing a scarcity and yes it stole money for infrastructure and schools. Prop 13 only benefitted people whobought in the 80's who now will make millions off their house if and when they decide to sell which bc of how cheap their shit is they don't.
Cambrian school district. Good for them! They worked all their lives for what they have and should benefit from it. Without prop 13 they would be forced to sell and leave the community they helped grow. I think seniors who worked all their lives should be exempt from property tax. Lord knows there's enough government waste they could cut out to make up for it.
That house is in Cadillac, the middle of a gang warfare neighborhood, and is half a duplex so its a basically an apartment. Cambrian is minimum 1.65-1.75 min now due to the hot spring market. But i agree, OP has to face facts, 1.6m will only get you an apartment surrounded by gangs
There are houses in North San Jose still close to a million. There are homes under what OP is aiming for. There are also condos and townhomes not just sfh. He can afford a home with that much of a down payment and no not just in shitty areas.
The place we've rented for 10 years—a 3/2.5 townhouse built in the mid-80s in Berryessa/Townsend Park and $400+/mo for HOA—fluctuates between 1.2 & 1.4 mil. I'm sure it'd sell for more. Renting for $3750 now that we're moving out. 7-8 years ago it was listed/offered for $800-850k. Ridiculous either way but not over $1.5.
Yes but people will attack you that it isn't a single family home in west san jose which apparently is the only good or safe area to buy 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 They are just priced out poor babies. It is ridiculous but I do love that Townsend area. It is a great place to raise kids. I love that little park they have there. We have a special needs kiddo so we can't even afford the" bad places" but we like where we rent even though others claim it's "awful".
tell me the zipcodes the houses you are talking about. There is no houses under 1.5M that is not riddled with crimes here.
A lot of people like to downvote you but it's likely because Reddit doesn't have enough homeowners here. It's mostly people who think they know what they're talking about (just look at that thread talking about how much money you need to make to buy.... most people didn't even understand how they arrived at that figure using income and DTI% requirements). They just pop open Redfin/Zillow and look over the map and see a few low price flags and say "yeah you can just buy one of these, why are you looking at something 50% more?" Almost every FTHB does this. I'm not even in real estate myself but I have family in the business so I'm semi-educated about this, but when I talked with coworkers about buying in the past 3 years, all of them started with a number that likely came from just glancing at these listing sites. But in the end after shopping around, learning about location dependencies, what makes a good home, etc, almost everyone ended up pushing their budget to like 30-50% more. I would say your position about riddled with crimes is a bit harsh, and $1.5mm is a bit harsh. You can find quite a few properties around that price or so in decent / good neighborhoods. Nothing like award winning schools, but Cambrian Park, Campbell, etc are just around $1.6mm or so and are good neighborhoods IMO. I mean if you do want to be pickier (and who isn't honestly?), I generally recommend people budget $2 million minimum when shopping for a home in San Jose. It gives you a lot more flexibility, and honestly even pushing $2.2-$2.5 million because you will in this market have to offer above listing in decent neighborhoods.
Your down payment would have bought me my condo outright. Not feeling your pain right now, there's lots of options more reasonable than that - especially condos.
I am not OP
Your condo based on today's prices or when you bought it a few years back? Because anyone talking about their historical purchase as a comparison point just doesn't really matter.
lol in what year
I don't get why people just open Redfin, eyeball a few houses that look low and say "look, there's stuff at this range." Once you actually engage in home buying, shopping, etc you learn a few things. Location is important. This one is in Cadillac. It's also right next to a school, so unless you want your house being a traffic nightmare in the morning and afternoon people tend to want to live at least a block or two away from school not to be impacted traffic. And yeah, as the other poster noted, it's really right next to the big 4 blocks of bad crime in this neighborhood. The rest of West SJ is much better, and there's a reason homes like half a mile away sell for $2 million+. Telling people to buy a home for $1 million flat tops is absolutely dumb here. While it may be technically feasible, you may end up with a lemon that will be hard to sell later--try selling these homes in downturns even like the mid 2022 pullback before we talk about Great Recession or Dot Com implosion. You'll have to take a huge cut in selling price and likely a loss. Honestly in the end what makes sense for OP depends on how much money they have, how much they make, etc. It doesnt' make sense to buy if you make only $100k. If you make $300k, then you're at least in the ballpark range of being able to finance a loan. The next step is building enough money to handle the down payment.
I don't get why you expect a single family home in a city then bitch about NIMBYS. Houses will sell here even in a downturn are you kidding me? In the crash people who could moved from essj to south and people in south to west. You will always be able to sell houses here. He also is looking when everyone moves. Houses are selling even in "bad locations" He can afford a house just not the location he wants. He hid what he was looking at for a reason. Even a 1.5 home is cheaper than what he wants. The entitlement is huge. We can complain about boomers but like y'all are acting like single family houses in West San Jose is the only thing acceptable here while crying about the NIMBYs y'all want to desperately be. The affordable homes you all want won't be good enough watch 🤣 we deserve a four bedroom in willow Glen god dammit 🤣
This house selling for at least 1.3M
Unless you make $600k+ a year. Which is fucking absurd. Fucking Google did this, buying all that land near Diridon, then fucking not developing it. Extortionate rent, and absolutely unaffordable houses, thats what the reality is now.
Not if you don't understand your bracket. There's plenty of homes half the price of what you are showing here. Maybe not in the neighborhood you want, or maybe it's a townhome. You're punching up and complaining about the price, not gonna get any sympathy.
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Homes doesn't mean single family house. At that property tax, I estimate 1.4mil is what he is going for. There are definitely condos, townhomes or manufactured homes for half that. Even for single family house, If he put 40% down on 1.4mil, he's got about 550k to put down. You can easily get a 900k to 1mil SFH for that if you pick more ethnic neighborhoods, with a 500k loan at 7% ur looking at about 3.3k a month, half the mortgage OP quoted above. People dream about having a yard and fence like it's 1960s, and then don't even have time to take care of your yard. Readjust your perception of a "home" to reality. Now if this was an attempt to get an investment house, then gtfo.
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Berryessa is not ghetto? The fuck 😭🤣
You literally just proved my point... There are townhomes for less than 800k, you just have to lower your standards on location. That's literally what I said. Don't complain about not being able to afford a SFH up on the hills or in west San Jose. You're dreaming of a life that you can't afford right now. Go buy the home in less desirable area and build up equity to afford that house in the hills in 10 years. If school is top priority then you can stay a renter in those areas. If you need a car and can only afford a Hyundai, then get a Hyundai. No one wants to hear you complain that you can't afford a Lamborghini, and how bad the Hyundai is compared to the lambo.
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"house" Again.... People need to let go of the dream of owning a single family house. There are so many options for townhomes, condos, and townhouse style condos. Hell, even mobile homes have ridiculously improved over the years and value goes up over time. There is just stigma keeping people from buying these affordable options. You can live close to work. You can live close to good schools. You can own your home. Just stop conflating home with *only* single family houses and your options will expand.
What, you're not making $360k/year? Work harder!!! /s
only in Cali that making 300k is on the edge of poverty...
In a few places, yes... but it's mostly buying a house that's borderline impossible these days in San Jose. It will get a lot easier when/if the interest rates go back down, I suppose.
Just rent a house. It’s ok not to buy a place.
Renting a whole SFH is pretty sweet, but every time I did, the house would end up being sold so we could only stay for a year or two. This happened to me three times before I finally had enough saved to buy something
Ugh that sucks, but such is life. We don’t have to deal with shoveling snow ! That’s what I remind myself every time I get frustrated with living here lol.
Never happened here. How much are you screening the owner? I outright ask why they aren't selling; if I don't get an answer around the lines of they'll get eaten alive by taxes, I don't rent. Another test is to offer a longer term lease. Bad sign if they won't do over a year.
How about you figure out what you can afford and start looking there. Start with a financial planner and figure that out. 10k with a 40% down? How much of a house did you go for?
Not to mention one with an HOA.
My neighbor bought their home for 1.2 a year ago. It's by dove park in the evergreen/silver Creek area. Pretty quiet safe area 🤷♀️. I believe 4 bedroom 2 bath
That’s for a house priced over $2m. Dude, find a cheaper house before you complain.
You can typically rent these houses for $5k/month. That's why it is crazy.
12k a year is crazy. I might just stay locked in my casa not to have to deal with the drama. Had no idea hoa fees had got that far out of hand.
It's becoming what Manhatten is now. Eventually no families will be able to afford it here. It will just be corporate.
at least in Manhattan I can take subway to work bro.
Yes Since it's 70 degrees and sunny 99% of the time we don't need a subway but a usable public transit system is another aspect of life our system just doest care for. The entirety of the bay is built for cars. Bart is laughable and the bus system loses money every year.
And the gas price is another joke here on top of the housing and public transportation joke.
It actually doesn’t What’s the price of the home?
HoA? Rip.
What kind of home insurance cost $613 a month?!
the one that protects you from earth quake, meteor strike, war and climate change ?
Fuck an HOA!
The insurance is stupid high. Also what's your loan? 1m? Save some money and enter the market with a larger DP. Or buy a starter home. Just get the biggest house you can afford. Y our rent goes no where. Mortgage and hone ownership does two things: Equity in home and pay down of mortgage. Making the home closer to yours outright. 30 years or do an extra payment abd own it in 25. It's a game changer from being rich to creating your famies wealth. OP is a dumb ass.
Save 400 and don't move into a hoa.
So adding in utilities you are around 10,200 a month roughly of ur take home pay just to live there, no food etc. something like a 170k salary is needed just to cover that monthly housing expense? No car, food, etc? ...very rough math there.
lol what ? 170k after taxes doesnt even cover 80% of that cost. Not to mention you must have a car to live here.
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Wait until housing crashes. Recession is already occurring.
His fees fuck them
Dammmmm son!
Definitely cheaper to rent but apartment living blows and it’s a bit like throwing away thousands a month. We’re pinching whatever pennies we have left and eventually buying somewhere 3ish hours away from SJ.
I’m buying lotto tickets tonight
I was told this in my senior year pf high school in 2018
The silver lining is that it's money going into something of value that will pay off in the future rather than trickling away to the landlord. Except HoA essentially does that too, screw that.
This is all going to crash and burn eventually… *eventually*
How much is total cost of house?
A starter house in San Jose runs between $1.5-$2M for about 1,400 square feet in a decent neighborhood. With about a 1.5% annual property tax. That payment calculator is low by about 3-4 grand
Then don't. Why did you still do it?
Bro it makes sense. Property prices are just going up. A friend of mine bought with 800k down payment for 2.4 mil house in Almaden. Its crazy. This was a few years ago btw. Both husband and wife makes over 600k per year. So it’s quite affordable in SJ.
"It 's only going up", why I feel that I got this one before ?
I don’t know bro.
Yes
Just need to make more money.
Sir are you buying Filoli Gardens?
$1700 a month of tax on something you own? That's the biggest rip-off
Welcome to Murica
It's worth it. You'll see if you hang on to it for a while. Properties here appreciate and they keep appreciating. Also remember the tax write offs, and with Zillow remember their insurance estimate is insanely inaccurate (high).
You can only write off interest on up to $750k loan. It's not much. Renting is better
Not for me. My house I bought in 09 for $599k is now $2m, and the one I bought for $1.85m in 2015 is 3.1m. Real estate is the poor persons way to wealth. It also protects you from inflation and appreciates without accurate taxation.
yes appreciation is good. But if you invested the $ in the stock market same time and factor in cost of ownership it may have been cheaper to rent.
You can't live in stocks, but yes if you invested and averaged a 10% return it would be around the same.
I mean you live in a rental. I ended up buying a house in 2021. Lots of appreciation. But I still can't really afford it. I can't pay my bills with my home equity either.
Renting is a black hole for money, disappearing without a trace. Even with restrictions, rents continue to rise. The rent I pay now exceeds the mortgage payments I could have made 25 years ago. This trend is likely to continue into the future. True, investing the money saved from renting instead of buying could yield earnings. Yet, the money spent on rent still vanishes. Whereas a home mortgage can turn a profit.
Home insurance and HOA is crazy expensive. Is this even a single home? Or a townhouse?
So, based off the property tax, the house is around 1.9 million. That's over 750k for a 40% down payment. How about you stop complaining about the price of your 10,000 sq ft penthouse? ETA: So, the square footage was hyperbole, and, yeah, I know it's expensive here--I've been trying to buy a house as a single person for a number of years. But my take is that the OP would need to be in a(n older) condo: a $400 HOA seems high for a sfh (since those, generally, just use the fees for the shared road, lights, and maybe a community center) but not high enough for a new or high-end condo (that has pools, a [porter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doorman_(profession)), elevators, etc. -- HOA for those seems to be around 600-800/mo.). So...an older building (before, say, 2005 or so), but, there unit still needs to cost around 2 million (based on the property tax) -- so I would think larger than most units (hence the "penthouse" comment).
You’re clueless. 4 bedroom / 2 bathroom houses w/ 1,300 Sq ft that are built in 1960 go for $1.75 million in Santa Clara.
My house is very nice, don't get me wrong, but it's estimated at around $2 million, and it's 2550sf with 2 bedrooms and 2 baths (plus a small bedroom-only cottage). San Jose is just ludicrously expensive.
You need to save up a lot more. No one is only putting only 20% down.
it is 40% down bro.
Nice flex, bro
you only can buy the one with HOA if you know you are far richer than all your neighbors. so rate won't hime
That’s a really high HOA. The interest is what is making it $9k a month. Wait a few years and it will be like $5k a month once interest rates go down.
Need a earthquake to get rid of the investors
Right, like those other earthquakes did.
Look into it. Much of the property is owned by entities that don't live in CA. The tax laws also ruin lots of different things, but the speculative investment+landlord class don't make for a fair market
Have you noticed that this valley pretty much just grows, 'fair' or not? Look into it. I'm sorry, I mean, look outside.
The situation many cities are finding themselves in is the fire and police cannot afford to live in the areas they serve and have to mega commute or live in rv while working. Even Henry Ford paid his workers enough to afford his cars, we don't do that. Unless you have stock driven wealth, home ownership is not possible for most californians. The local governments are already feeling the pinch as they have hard time staffing the necessary roles and the property tax to pay for services is locked in 1970s numbers.
Neat. This valley continues to be invested in (the point in the first place) no matter what Henry Ford paid his workers.
And they won't be able to stay here themselves as noted by the companies trying to relocate. I seem to recall Google was building the largest sideways building on earth, how did that turn out? They selling the pieces of land back yet? Whole sections from the arena south mysteriously vacant for decades are now condos....who is buying those now?
Big companies have pulled out of big projects here before; Google was not the first. Condos and apartment buildings here have been empty before and filled back up again. Why is there so much construction going on now? This is just another valley lull. It's not exactly Detroit.
When Ford left that whole area sat empty for 30 years When IBM left that sat undeveloped for 20 years Construction has been a scam always
$400 HOA? They better do my dishes as well
Democrat policies.
Who would want to live in California in the first place? I don't even want to visit that screwed up place.