I have lived in MB/PB/BayHo for 20 yrs. The western slope of Clairemont (BayHo, Bay Park and Morena) is a good middle ground as far as offering great access to PB/Mission Bay but being outside the jungle so to speak. Geographically I think it’s perhaps the best central location you can find in San Diego.
It is definitely a diverse area with your quality of home, upkeep, and type of person inhabiting said home varying greatly. There are some sweet pockets to be found but also many areas where quality swings wildly not just street to street but lot to lot. I have great friends in a beautiful remodeled canyon home on a Mt. Street with an increasingly run down home next door and a 50 year old drug addict living in a camper in the driveway of the home across the street. That is Clairemont.
BPE is a very good school, I have a close friend who teaches there and she does not BS. It has a very good rep. The fall-off in quality from BPE to public middle and high school is extremely steep by every account. If this is your 20 yr house than get comfortable with sending your kids to these schools or get ready to start writing some big checks if you know what I mean.
The freeway noise hitting that house will at least double in volume at night and maybe even more depending on cloud cover. Trust me I live on a hillside in Bay Ho.
Regarding CV and the like, I have always been anti-cookie-cutter myself until I faced the fact that I grew up in the planned community/subdivision environment and it was a great childhood. The typical slam against the stucco-box tracts is that they lack character and soul. It’s actually a pretty shallow and almost comical argument in some ways. I figure I would look like an idiot getting down on one knee and telling my kids about this neighborhood designed for families, with the best schools, parks, lots of kids running around the neighborhood, etc – but hey kids we’re not going to move there because you see those houses don’t have any soul…
Now I’m not saying every family should run up to CV or SR and buy a house, there are pros and cons with every area, I’m just saying the cons espoused by the ant-tract crowd of which I used to belong may merit some deeper thought.
Anyway I think there is no reason why you and your family can’t have a great life in that house – sounds like you really like it and the area works for you. I agree with whoever said the price may be a little high for the neighborhood, the freeway noise and no view, but it doesn’t look to be wildly over-priced. Keep us posted how it turns out!
