“Would you mind telling me as a local what are some of the cons for PL? It looks like you can some good sqft and slices of ocean view for under a million.”
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First off I have no desire to live in the Lindbergh flight path so that takes the whole northern 1/3 of PL off the table. Based upon discussions with long-time residents I think the elementary schools are good but the quality decreases at the middle school level and high school level. It’s an area with pocket neighborhoods and streets, some great and some ratty – which is very typical of SD coastal in general. Not a fan of the northeast commercial area. Not a big fan of the beaches.
Overall for the amount of money I would have to throw down to get into one of the nicer pocket areas of PL, I just feel I can do alot better elsewhere in SD County. For instance the SB neighborhood we have discussed, where for the same money I think I can get a bigger house on a much bigger lot in an area that is not spotty IMHO. With great schools all the way up.
I will not pay a premium for a slice of ocean view, it’s just not worth it IMHO. My primary home has a panoramic ocean view which was one of the attractions. I have to tell you that these days my wife and I are working alot and raising a family and we just don’t have the time to sit there and ogle over the view much. So how much is a view worth then, and what about putting that view money into some other criteria? I think we are going to pass on the view premium in the next home and put that money elsewhere. But if you have the time to truly enjoy a view (not a “stick your head out the bathroom window and look between those houses, do you see that sliver of water?” type of view but a legitimate view) then it may be worth it to pay the premium to you.
I have also divorced myself from the “west of 5” mentality that I had for so many years. After 15 years of living in S. MB and PB, I could no longer maintain denial of SD’s dirty little secret to outsiders that the weather is better about 5 miles inland than it is on the coast. I spent too many days leaving the overcast beach to go hang in the sun at my friends’ pools in Clairemont. So I want to stay in the “sweet spot” IMHO which is just off the coast but not too far in where it can really heat up in the summer.
Anyway, if you are looking in the high 6-figure range you will have plenty of options in a wide variety of neighborhoods. If it were me, I would rent right now and get a feel for where I would be most comfortable.
