I actually reside in the Carmel Valley Del Mar Highlands area and thought I could share a little information. I only have info on Pell Place, since that is where I live. I can not provide positive or negative feedback on any other condos/townhomes in Del Mar Highlands or Carmel Valley.

Pell Place has a total of 316 condos in 3 buildings. Some condos face other buildings, which might be considered a negative. Some condos face “outward” (as ours does) so we have a wonderful view and often see the hot-air balloons.

As for the location of the Pell Place community, we could not ask for more. I’d give positives and negatives however the location is all positive. It seems we are always against traffic so daily commute to work is ideal. We can walk to the Luxury Movie Theater, Bagel Shop, Jamba, Starbucks, Jimbos, Ralphs, Rubios, Quiznos, Sammys, Barnes and Noble, and more. Also, Torrey Pines State Beach is 2 miles away. The location is wonderful.

As for the community of Pell Place, I’ll share what I believe to be the positives and negatives for Pell Place:

HOA: The HOA is anywhere between 250 and 300 (based on the size of your condo). We pay 300 as we are in the largest Pell Place condo of 1250 square feet. I would consider this a negative as 300/month is high. However, we don’t have to pay gym fees (saving us $60/month), water (saving us $50/month) or trash (saving us $40/month). So that helps.

Here is what the HOA covers:
– water
– trash
– gym
– BBQs
– water fountains (really no benefit to us other than ambiance)
– landscape maintenance
– Community maintenance

There is no pool and some may consider that a negative. We don’t mind because we just hit the beach and Torrey Pines State Beach is so close. We love it.

Construction: I have rented my fair share of rentals including apartments, townhomes, houses, etc. I am no expert but sound quality seems better here. I can not hear other people “talking” in the condos above or next to me. However, if someone is in the courtyard, I can hear them. I assume if I owned a home and someone was in the front yard or at the park across the street, I would hear them. So I consider this neither positive nor negative. It is not sound-proof; I do sometimes hear sounds from the condo above me.

Layout: We live in the largest condo and it is 1,250 square feet. We love it. The great room and kitchen are the same size you would see in a single family detached home. However, I do believe the family/great room in the other condos may be smaller. We have a few arches in our condo so the architecture is quite nice considering it is a condo. Walk in closets. Laundry room. Granite counters. I’d go as far as to say Pell Place offers Luxury condos.

All in all, we enjoy living here. And yes, we are underwater right now because we purchased years ago when the market all over San Diego county was hot. Since we were looking for a “home to live in” and we were not “trying to flip a home and make a quick buck” it does not bother us at all that we are underwater because the house prices will always go up and down, but in the long run (10 years from now when we plan to move) prices in the long run will always go up if you are in a great location and I hear that 92130 is the best location for schools. I can’t comment because I have not looked into that.

Hope this helps anyone out there wanting information on Pell. If I had to say anything bad, it would be the HOA seems high but I guess if you break down what it covers (if you happen to be gym members) that helps because you’ll have a free gym.