This is the kind of scoop I am after – great stuff and excellent insight!!!
Things have changed significantly … all the more reason for the in-depth research 2 yrs prior to our move. Our timing should be decent – the market and the housing “fall-out” may not be finalized but the brunt of the current environment will settle by late summer of 2010. We are fortunate that we will not need to commute down to San Diego… although we do enjoy the infrastructure that a “city” offers such as restaurants, events, quantity of services. We have friends that can enjoy the best of both worlds – they have lived in Carmel Valley for the past 15 yrs and when they spend time/evenings in San Diego all they have to do is walk out to their boat slip and have a place to sleep. They do not have kids nor do we have this kind of money.
As with most of the others that post here we do not expect a utopia but we surely want what is best for us as a family. The “community feel” is crucial. We want a home – not a house; one we expect to put roots down in. We view our home not so much as an investment but a part of our lives. All of the “pieces” are important but a give & take is inevitable. After considerable thought we choose N. San Diego as our future… 2nd place was Colo (Ft Collins), 3rd Arizona (Flagstaff or Tucson), 4th was Seattle. San Diego won our hearts for numerous reasons. The areas we are currently looking at are Carlsbad, San Elijo Hills, Fallbrook, and Temecula. This said our priorities are:
– community
– schools/school district
– house for the money (4-5 bdrms, a little space inside & out, less than 1.1M, quality of construction)
– surrounding area & infrastructure (safety, restaurants, convenience, progressive –active-attentive city government, places for the kids to do what kids do …swim, bike, play sports, and see other kids
– commute/traffic
Additional concerns but lower on the priority list:
-Association fees
-Taxes
-Fire issues & weather
-Water (I think as yrs past this may be significant)
As we note other comments from this site we see issues such as traffic, airports, summer heat, June gloom, strip malls, crime, cultural diversity, quarry mining, and poorly developed communities. So our search has started… we are excited about the possibilities & we are trying to keep an open mind and all options open. Some of the homes in Temecula are incredible – seems like good sized lots & lot’s of sq footage … what is with these 1.5M houses built in the “Reserve” and not completed/finished but on the market? San Elijo Hills looks good on paper – a “designed” community… we see numerous homes on the market here that are obviously a result of the market bust. Carlsbad has the infrastructure, proximity to the coast, and the weather… although these seemed to be the most overpriced. Fallbrook makes our commute easy. As we filter down our search and actually start looking at homes we are past the point of things like granite counters, custom window treatments, designer tile & wood floors – these are things that caught our eye when we purchased previous homes… and are only fluff, when purchasing a house for K$ only eye-candy. Now we look at $ per sq ft, functionality & space use, layout, location (cul-de-sac vs hill/slope) …
This site is the best resource for an inside view … any other thoughts on “communities” in N San Diego are appreciated. We had not considered Temecula before posting on this site but this has moved into one of favorites. I plan on visiting this Fall & next and will rent a vacation rental in each area for 1-2 weeks … no better or quicker way to get a sense of the area than a daily bicycle tour and to commute in rush hr.
