Condo Comparison

Downtown San Diego has about a hundred condo buildings for a buyer to choose from. Its an overwhelming number of choices. As of early 2024, there are about 210 resale condos to choose from and no new condos currently under construction and all previously built new condos are all sold out. 

How is a buyer to begin searching for the condo that best meets their wish list?  Most buyers make the mistake of searching through listing by price. Sounds logical, but it’s a trap and time waster in the end. That approach does not work because the information contained in many on line databases of listings downloaded from the MLS, is very limited in terms of providing enough information for a buyer to rule out a property or keep it on their possibilities list. 

Finally there is now a way for buyers to see the downtown condo buildings all on one chart in a RELATIVE comparison of quality and pricing. The purpose of this chart is to help buyers understand that some condos are priced so low because the quality is so low. Likewise, the chart also helps buyers identify true values when shopping around for a deal. Buyers who have the ability to pay top dollar for a condo can help eliminate those buildings that are overpriced for the relative quality of some other offerings. 

The chart has four boxes, with price on the vertical axis and Quality on the horizontal axis. So the upper right corner is a combination of the highest quality and highest price. The opposite corner, the lower left, is the least expensive and the lowest relative quality. I should note these quality ratings are my own personal interpretation relative to one another. The upper left hand corner is the highest priced and lowest quality, this corner of the chart does not have any buildings in it, meaning the low quality building have not been able to command a high price, which makes sense. The lower right hand corner is ideally where you want to look. A building in this corner means it’s the highest quality and the lowest price.

Some of the not so good values are the Kettner Row Homes or Acqua Vista condominiums. Again this is a matter of personal preference , for example the Kettner Row homes to not have a monthly HOA fee and of course there are no amenities, this will appeal to some buyers, which drives up the prices there even though the physical quality is relatively low. 

An example of a good value would be the Park Laurel building and the Renaissance building. 

Use of this chart should prove very useful to the prospective downtown condo shopper as it gives them a relative education not found anywhere else except through years of experience visiting these condos, conversing with the owners and even taking surveys of the home owners to get their input on the building.