It was my wife’s idea, not mine. For me, seems way too far for my commute and likely too hot during the summer. Convenience of a location is an important thing to me. My wife is a stay at home mom, so for her it is community.

I am not so concerned with reputation and appearances. Poway looks like the kind of area I would like, except that it is farther from the coast and my job than I would like. I like RSF, not because it has a certain reputation and improves my “appearence,” but because it is exactly what I am looking for, close to work and water, large private homes on large private lots, great schools, great weather. La Jolla and Del Mar have that “cache” too, but we are not looking there, other than Del Mar east of 5 on occasion. We looked in CV (Del Mar Mesa) at some 8k sf homes on multiple acres that fit our needs too.

I have a collegue who lives in Poway (the Heritage) near the area I was looking and he is giving me some pointers as he has lived in that subdivision previously as well.

SD Realtor, no not that one. There are a few in there for sale. They look nice in the pics. Apparently. I noticed one particularly nice one has been the topic of dicussion on this board before and has a sorted history. Too bad.