SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — For those seeking to buy a home for the first time in San Diego, Mortgage Adviser Craig Brock advises customers to cut back on spending and debt.
But he also admits that buying a home is much more complex than it was in previous decades, even when interest rates peaked at 18% in the 1980's.
"The home affordability [in that time] was much better. Today, if we look at the numbers you're looking at seven times the average income to buy a house," Brock said.
According to Zillow, the average price of a home sits just under one million dollars in San Diego.
Of course, there are ways to get around the high price of entry for first-time home buyers. Brock mentioned down payment assistance programs, three percent down programs, VA loans for active-duty service members or, of course, a co-signer.
"That's one of the things that has changed over the last 40 or 50 years," Brock said. "Most of the borrowers that we see today are co-borrowers, we see two borrowers in a household. Sometimes even more than that."
New homes could also be a "bright spot" in a relatively dire market, Brock explained.
"We just had a recent report where some of these incentives are massive to get into new homes; we've seen what Lennar's done the last quarter and even, you know, many other home builders. They're incentivizing new buyers with interest rate buy downs," Brock said.
