Buy or rent at Tiempo in Westpark

166 Alicante Aisle is a 2bd/2ba condo in the Tiempo tract in Westpark. Tiempo is bounded by the San Diego River Trail, Alton Parkway, Harvard Ave and San Marco Park. Click the picture below for a closer view. The streets in this tract are Alicante, Costero, Abrazio, Marbella and Giovanni.

There are a number of floorplans here and it looks like this property is a plan D. It looks like there is another Plan D listed currently at $389k: 132 Alicante. The only recent sale I found for a Plan D looks to be 164 Alicante which closed on 12/29/2011 for $300k. We'll use that price in the analysis.

166 Alicante

Purchase Price $300,000
Closing costs $9,000 3%
Total price $309,000
Down payment $69,000 20%
Loan Amount / Percentage Of Price $240,000 80%
Interest Rate / Period (months) 4.00% 360
Monthly Yearly
Mortgage Payment $1,146 $13,750
Interest Component $800 $9,600
Property Tax $258 $3,101 1.03%
Special Assessments $54 $644 0.21%
Effective Tax rate 1.25%
Insurance $50 $600
HOA 1 $185 $2,220
HOA 2 $0 $0
Cash Out $1,693 $20,315

And here are some possible adjustments that may apply to your situation. Be sure to also consider how long you may own the property (average is around 6 years), what kind of financing you actually qualify for, how much you put down, the effect of giving up the standard deduction, potential price declines, costs to sell the property, etc. The NY Times Buy or Rent calculator is a great tool that helps with some of these.

Possible Adjustments
Interest paid $9,600
Property tax $3,101
Total deductible $12,701
Tax benefit $265 $3,175 25%
Opportunity cost of down payment -$115 -$1,380 2%
Principal paid in mortgage payment $346 -$4,150

As far as rentals, 36 Marbella was listed on 12/31 and is asking $1850/month. And 86 Costero leased on 5/3/2011 at $1650/month. Similar 2 bedroom apartments at San Marco Villa rent between $1,670 and $1,825. Would you rent or buy this property?

Discuss below or on our companion thread at Talk Irvine.

5 thoughts on “Buy or rent at Tiempo in Westpark

  1. Duran

    Great analysis as usual Zovall…a minor point, but it’s actually the “San Diego River Trail”

    If it helps, San Carlo (IAC) is just across the street and currently a ~1100sq ft. 2BR, 2 1/2 BR Townhouse rents for $2200 right now. 5 years ago they were $2240.

    To answer your question, personally, I’d rent but it’s getting more of a coin toss as the months go by and prices adjust.

    1. zovall

      Thanks Duran! I’ve made the update. We’ve always called it the River trail while running but I became confused when I looked at it on Google Maps.

      I’ve purposely picked properties that are close in regards to rent/own. I’ll take a look at some larger properties in the future. I wouldn’t buy this one either.

  2. Anonymous

    A Look at Case-Shiller by Metro Areahttp://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/1/31/a-look-at-case-shiller-by-metro-area-8/tab/interactive/

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