sdr nailed it. You can never get the feel for anything online. This requires more legwork but not from your realtor, from you guys. Before we went to rent in Scripps we hung out at Jerabak and Cypress as well. We pretty much did the things he said but that was all for just renting and not even buying! We did the same for UC because my brother lives there and he really likes it. We found that to many of the neighbors had kids in high school rather then our kids age. Overall the neighborhood was a bit aged compared to what we wanted. Great location though. In the end a commute does not bother either of us compared to living where we think it is best. Now to bad we can’t find the home we really want to buy. I am okay there but my wife wants a more rural setting like some places out in Poway. Again, okay by me, longer commute but we can eventually get a bigger lot which is what we want for the kids and we can have alot of animals and stuff. Our needs and requirements are way different from the norm. Yours, from what I gather do not seem to be. Just use your instincts and trust your judgement and do the legwork. Your earlier post about knowing that a particular home is it, when you walk in, rings very true. If the neighborhood matches, then bingo you are done.
