San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

I love La Mesa's antique shops. Their summer car shows are great:
http://www.lmvma.com/lmv_car_show.html

If you don't get the answers you're looking for on this forum, try this one:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/san-diego/

It seems ideal for a young family.It would be extremely convenient. I like the way you can come down the hill on various surface streets and hit very good points from which to access, or head off, to most other parts of the city and neighboring cities too.

Some of the properties catch a lot of freeway noise and/or surface street traffic. If it were me I would focus on properties not on double yellow lined streets and in from the periphery to avoid freeway noise and on properties that have in some way mitigated these negatives. Other than that there are a lot of options to work with,such as, lot size and situation , house size, views ect. I would be careful about the lots most prone to erosion.

There are also nice homes and lots inthe area East of Avocado on and around Fuerte, which while in El Cajon are very much are like some of the nice parts of Mt Helix. So the zip code is 92020. This is around Thomas Bros. Map page 1271 H2 and surrounding sections.

I agree with Russ. The noise on Fuerte Dr. and the speed have caused problems for residents. There has been a lot of discussion about the number of accidents there. If you live off one of the main streets on one of the numerous side streets, there should be less noise and more safety. I would also check the crime stats and see what kind of neighborhood it is. Lastly, if it is on Helix water, they are just about ready to hammer their water users with a huge fee increase, so if you like a nice yard, factor that in. If you are working with a realtor, be sure and get accurate information from him/her about what it costs to take care of the landscape. Many of the homes are on large lots.... Good luck to you.

I lived on Grandview Dr. a fairly main street for most of my life and was not bothered by the noise. Occasionally, there would be a loud car with a sub-woofer late at night, but it was generally ok.

There are some very nice homes on Mt. Helix and it is very convenient to downtown via the 94. Growing up there, I will say that many of the surrounding areas are not the best. Casa de Oro for example where one of the closest grocery stores and starbucks is is moderately ghetto. It is not uncommon to notice someone who looks strung out on one thing or another.

However, Rancho San Diego is generally nice and nearby as is the Avocado area. Also, much of La Mesa before you hit University is not bad. The plays in the Mt. Helix amphitheater in the summer are great as well as the hike up the hill.

Also, my zip was 91941.

I've lived a good deal of my life around the area, and it's great overall if you like the semi-rural suburbia thing. Definitely pay attention to the amount of traffic on some of the streets as mentioned above. Fuerte, Grandview, Calavo, Lemon Ave., Conrad, and a few others are NOT kid-friendly: no curbs/sidewalks, blind corners, and people drive faster than they should.

Since you have kids and no one has talked about the schools yet, here's a quick summary:

My wife teaches in the area's elementary/middle school district (La Mesa-Spring Valley School District, which is also where I went to elementary and junior high), and it's a pretty solid and stable group of teachers & administrators. The schools themselves vary a surprising amount: Murdock Elementary serves a middle-upper class clientele, but Spring Valley Middle School a couple of long blocks down the street has some mild gang problems. La Mesa Middle is about the same as SVMS. If you go north of I-8 to Fletcher hills, the schools are about as good as public schools get (Fletcher Hills Elementary and Parkway Middle; Northmont Elementary is said to be just a small step behind).

Parts of Fletcher Hills deserve a look if you're thinking about Mt. Helix. Streets/areas to consider include Hacienda; the area enclosed by the loop formed by Murray Dr. along with some of the adjacent neighborhood north of the eastern end of Amaya; and Tyrone plus connected cul de sacs and dead end streets on the western slope of the El Cajon valley.

Take a leisurely drive around and see for yourself. I'd take Mt. Helix or Fletcher Hills over anything on the I-15 corridor. I like older neighborhoods, so YMMV.

High schools are all in the Grossmont Union High School District. Helix serves La Mesa proper and some of western Mt. Helix. It has traditionally had a rougher group of kids than Grossmont HS (which serves Mt. Helix proper and Fletcher Hills); Monte Vista HS (serves Casa de Oro and south to Jamacha Rd.) is traditionally on a par with Helix.

Don't let the "rougher" schools scare you, however--all things are relative. A friend of mine went to Murdock, Spring Valley Elementary (now closed), Spring Valley Middle (Junior High in those days) and Monte Vista HS. He went on to Stanford and then law school, so it's not like any of the schools I'm talking about are in the ghetto.

I can ask my wife for more specifics if you need them. Anything for a fellow pigg. :-)

The funny thing is that we're homeschooling our kids so this topic isn't all that relevant to me.

Thanks for the info! Very helpful. We're definitely STUCK to the fence right now considering the shape of our economy and where I think it's headed. When I do think we hit bottom and the time is right, I'll likely pounce on something in Mt. Helix area - assuming we stay in San Diego and agree to continue to pay the 'sunshine tax'.