Construction Maison

I didn’t cry while searching for a San Diego apartment , but I came close. Moving to the city on a Sunday night, I had a five-day reservation at a Motel 6 and needed to find an apartment fast . I also had my 6-year-old tabby cat with me and a new job as real estate reporter for the San Diego Union -Tribune to start the next day. I was fairly confident I’d find a place quickly because in the last decade I had managed to get apartments in London, Chicago, San Francisco, New York City, rural New Jersey, Northeast Pennsylvania and, most recently, Monterey. Not only did San Diego turn out to be the most difficult, it made me change nearly everything I thought I wanted. My criteria was a one- bedroom apartment near the beach that allows cats, a rent of no more than $1,200 and was fairly close to work. To say the least, I stayed at the Motel 6 longer than expected. Ignorance of what neighborhood I was in most of the time was exacerbated only by a rental market that has seen prices increase...

There comes a time for most San Diego couples when they get sick of renting and, for the Whites, it came around the 40th birthday mark . Shawna White, 40, spent countless hours researching a place she and her husband Nathan, 39, could afford that wouldn’t break the bank. In addition to getting away from the region’s explosive rent hikes , they saw a home as an investment. Eventually, the Navy couple landed in Otay Ranch on the eastern fringes of the county near the border with Mexico. They bought a new 1,504-square-foot townhouse for $378,000, around $200,000 less than what something similar would have cost them closer to downtown. “We were able to buy something new instead of an older home with issues,” she said. “This was a good buy.” More and more new homeowners are being drawn to Otay Ranch, the largest residential development in San Diego County history at 25,000 acres. After being hit hard in the housing crisis , it has reemerged as a viable option for homeownership in a cou...