It’s always nice to get a different perspective on the events of the last couple of years, and one that I respect is that of my CPA, Jim Vander Spek. Jim has written columns for the North County Times for years, and recently posted an article about some of the benefits that have come out of the current market conditions.  So, with permission from the author, here is Jim’s take on the Escondido real estate markets courtesy of Jim and the North County Times…

The ongoing real estate bust with its foreclosures and drop in home values has created difficult problems for many. These have been discussed a great deal with the hope frequently expressed that prices will again rise. However, the news is not all bad. Let’s consider some benefits from the real estate bust:

Prices are down for newcomers. People are picking North County over other places in the country because it has again become affordable. My parents moved into a foreclosed Escondido home in 1965 during a similar bust. This allowed us to escape from Canada to paradise, for which I have been thankful ever since. San Diego County is a great place to live. Of course, we now have a much more diversified economy than way back then. I know of two young professional families who picked Escondido over many options because it looked like a great town and was affordable as well.

Prices are down for young families. They don’t have to move to Arizona anymore. Stopping the outward migration of young families is vital for the long-term health of our economy. We are seeing young families buying homes and setting up their lives here instead of some far away place. Let’s keep the grand kids here. Other places don’t look all that great anymore. Staying here, they can help us become even better.

Unqualified buyers no longer qualify. People are not creating impossible and inappropriate debt obligations. Further, homes are no longer being purchased with the intent to create vastly overcrowded communal habitats. Those which were purchased with this intent are rapidly being foreclosed upon and vacated.

This is great for neighborhoods and gives relief to community services as well.

Few recent massive tracts were built in North County. These are a bane elsewhere. Our healthy inventory of suddenly affordable housing stock is spread around and represents a tremendous economic asset for North County. It’ s not as though we are talking about boarded up neighborhoods.

Foreclosures provide an economic boost. Many are choosing to skip house payments for eight months or more and then end up paying half as much for rent going forward. What about the poor banks that are hurt by this? Oh well, they have good friends in Uncle Sam. Besides, they should never have made those loans to start with. Maybe they will be more careful next time.

California is a non-recourse state for purchase money mortgages, so the legal and tax consequences of such “strategic foreclosures” are often minimal. A recent Wall Street Journal article said that households abandoning mortgages are adding $5 billion a month to their cash flow, representing a “stealth stimulus.” North County is sharing in that.

McMansions lose appeal. Who needs a 3,500 square feet house to live in any way? Excess living rooms and bathrooms you could park your car in never made any sense. Who wants to pay the taxes, upkeep and utilities? People are again properly starting to look at houses as places to live instead of as unreliable, highly leveraged investments. Hard earned cash can be spent on more useful things and to accomplish important life cycle goals.

Jim Vander Spek is a certified public accountant and Escondido resident.