real estate question

So we are moving to California this summer (Fairfield/Vacaville area: midway b/n San Fran & Sacramento). We will be there for 2 years. Would you rent or buy?

(We have 2 pets)

oh, and 2 young kids!

[madeintaiwan]

I don't own a home in CA but I remember my parents and ILs who do talking about taxes and a two-year residency requirement.

[SuzySunshine]

After living in CA I would buy if you can afford it. First off, you'll have a hard time finding a good place to rent with two pets. We found VERY few rentals that would allow pets and the ones that did were dumps.

I have a friend that lives in Sacramento still and they found a nice house for the $350K range, if I remember corectly its in the 4 bedroom/2 bath range. The housing market around the bay area hasn't slowed down markedly so you should be able to buy and still turn a profit regardless of how long you decide to live there.

A good site for getting an idea of values, sale prices, etc especially in that area is http://www.zillow.com

Another thing to think about is that the Fairfeld/Vacaville is a good bedroom community, crazy people live there and commute to SF or Sacramento for jobs, so houses are probably a bit more expensive, then again its CA everything is a bit more expensive - good luck!

Really--you would buy for just two years?

Gosh, I wouldn't buy unless I was going to be somewhere for at least 4-5 years. We are still renting for this reason. We moved here this July and thought we'd rent for a year since we didn't know the area but now it looks like we'll be renting for at least another year. To me, it would be too nervewracking to buy a place when you're unfamiliar with the area/would only be there a short time. Because what happens if you can't sell it? That seems like it would be a huge headache to deal with. I think renting for just two years makes better sense because you have so much less to deal with for just those two years--i.e. the landlord takes care of maintenance--and you have more flexibility with renting.

[Ravenclaw]

The other day I read on some financial website that you shouldn't buy unless you plan on being there for at least 5 years. (I can't remember where I read it though.) However, CA's housing market is not typical; that area in particular has experienced double digit appreciation over the recent years.
And I also think the slowdown that started last year is going to turn around sometime this year so buying now might be a good option.

[SuzySunshine]

Ok, I missed the part where you'll only be there for two years. But I think you'll have a hard time finding a good rental with the pets so you may not have a choice or may be paying just as much to rent as you could with a mortgage payment.

[DCJenn]

If you're going with a military assignment, then I'd check base housing as they'll have plenty of rental available. To answer the question?

Two years, California, no- I'd rent.

Jenn

The base housing waiting list seems long. It seems to hover around 20 people for our category but you're only "active" on the list 30 days prior to actually starting at that base, right? I would *LOVE* base housing as long as it is available when we arrive there. I don't want to move twice.

After looking at some of the listings last night, I am leaning towards buying a house (or townhome). We did buy in New Mexico (we were only there for 2 years) and actually turned a profit of 50K. I know that was luck, though.

[DCJenn]

Actually, the base housing office will also have listings of rentals off-base as well. We listed our previous rental and found someone to take the lease that way.

Jenn

FairQueen, I sent you a PM.

[Cumberland]

I would check to see what the average annual appreciation is there. It may be worth it to buy. I dont think making 50k is luck, esp in the real estate market of a few years ago, it was probably the norm.

[houseelf]

CNN has a link to a "Money" section where I recently read an article that sited almost all of California as having a deteriorating housing market.

As someone who is in the same dilemna in a two year market, we have made an uneasy peace with becoming renters again.

Kelly