[quote=esmith]You’re right about west MM. The bulk of houses in MM is to the east of Camino Ruiz. Getting from (say) Menkar Road to UCSD via UTC is a major pain and it can easily take half an hour. Getting there through Calle Cristobal could be faster *if* you don’t get stuck in a traffic jam at the railroad crossing for 15 min.
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Exactly. That’s another reason why I only look at NW Mira Mesa (besides its being a better neighborhood with newer homes). I stayed at a friend’s place off of Calle Cristobal for a week last summer, and I never got stuck in traffic (but I’m an academic so I don’t keep typical working hours), and I guess I was lucky because I didn’t get stopped at the railroad crossing either.

How often does it come down at the railroad crossing?

Anyway, the fact is that there isn’t anything decent in NW MM listed for under 400K (of course my definition of “decent” may be different from yours; I have no time to fix things up for instance), and new listings are coming on line very slowly. I also know that my parents made a -15% offer on what I consider a “nice” 3BR (listed for 475K, see my previous link), and they were ignored.

When these listings get below 400K then I might start hoping for sub-300K!