Reviews & Comments
Tucson, AZ
What to rent a house with land? -
5/9/2006Hi All!
But yes, another person looking to move from California (San Diego/Los Angeles). Ack! <:-) Don't worry, we're not looking to invest and raise housing prices, but just looking for a place and life that's affordable where maybe we can open up a little store of our own instead of killing ourselves with overtime in cubicles and living check to check. (If anybody thinks that everyone coming from California has money, well, there are thousands if not millions of us who would beg to differ, and college degrees aside!)
We've both lived in the desert before and heat doesn't frighten us off. :-) We love the desert and a smaller town feel. We did drive through Scottsdale and Phoenix on the way back but they're simply too crowded for our taste.
NOW.. during an extended weekend visit, we really enjoyed this area called Oro Valley (near that amazing Sprouts grocery, you all are so lucky!), and basically wherever the houses actually have land rather than playpen size backyards. (It actually saddened us to see that builders have been so pathetic as to start doing that out there too.)
Question for you all:
The prices in Oro and Catalina for homes was reeeeally high. So we were wondering what other areas still have homes that have a decent amount of land, and aren't a hideously long commute from your basic needs?
Can you rent houses out there for under $900 a month? If so, could you please suggest the names of the communities?
Thank you all so much. :-)
BTW, the one thing that struck us as remarkable was how many car accidents we saw in just our short visit! Weird. :-)
Poway, CA
It's nice but too costly -
5/9/2006My fiance and I are in our 30's and rent in the Sabre Springs area of Poway near Carmel Mountain and Rancho Bernardo off I-15, specifically. While it's a nice suberb, quiet, pretty safe and near a little river, the going rent here for a nice 2 bedroom is $1600, no garage but parking is always available, and utilities are not included. A positive about San Diego in general is that move-in costs are very low.. the deposit is often around the $2-400 range on approved credit (vs. 1st and last month rent/deposit in Los Angeles which can run a person $3000+ easily).
For those who aren't aware, the San Diego area is the most expensive in perhaps the entire US continent when it comes to gasoline.
Together, we make over $100K per year and not too much in bills, but live very much check to check as the cost of living here is disproportionately high. Unless you bought into the market or acquired a rent-controlled apt years ago (if they have that here anywhere), then it's unreasonable. A college degree with experience doesn't make any difference as quite a few people still have 2nd jobs or some other form of extra income.