Condo in O.C. or House in RivCo: What Would You Do?
This weekend, Jon Lansner of the O.C. Register’s Lansner on Real Estate blog wrote a column in which he posed the question: Would a homebuyer be better off opting for an O.C. condo or a Riverside County house?
Thanks to a sharp reversal of pricing in Riverside County – far worse than Orange County’s slide – the percentage-point savings for a typical buyer who chooses Riverside has reached a nine-year high, according to DataQuick.
In June, DataQuick said the median selling price of a Riverside detached house was at $275,000 – that was 28 percent cheaper (or $81,000) than an Orange County condo at $366,000. Last month, the Riverside discount remained high at 22.7 percent, or $76,500.
Lansner’s point is that living in Riverside makes more economic sense than at any time in the last decade or so. But should finances be your only consideration?
Let’s be honest here. Riverside County’s true lure – other than skin-frying windstorms, of course – is cheap housing.
I feel I’m qualified to weigh in here, because I lived in Riverside for 15 years. And in that time, I cannot recall a single “skin-frying windstorm.” Oppressive heat, yes; throat-searing smog, sure. But no windstorms.
I also don’t agree that Riverside County’s only redeeming point is cheap housing. Riverside, for example, has a nice historic downtown and hotel (The Mission Inn, right), a college (UC Riverside), and some nice restaurants and decent public schools.
That being said, I probably would not have chosen Riverside as a place to live unless I worked there, which I did. To me, the decision about whether to buy in RivCo or the O.C. comes down to where you work.
There is NO WAY I would buy a RivCo house if I worked in Orange County. Not even in Corona. The only exception would be if I worked the graveyard shift and never had to deal with the 91. No house is worth the headache, the hassle, and the wasted time of sitting for hours on a freeway every day.
Life is short. If you work in Orange County, live in Orange County. Enjoy the fresh air and the amenities, even if you have to live in a smaller place. You won’t miss cleaning all those extra bathrooms.
But judging from the gridlock on the 91, there are plenty out there who disagree.
Recent Redfin posts:
The Costa Mesa Housing Report: Condo Housing Stats, August 2008
“Truths and Roses Have Thorns About Them”
Tustin Real Estate Market Report: Median Price is Up!
An Interview with a Stager
