or you can lived in a 1100 SQFT apartment in Carmel Valley for bargain basement price of $2300+ a month.

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/apa/5207560411.html

or you can spend almost $2800 to live in a nicer apartment in CV.

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/apa/5207917731.html

so ~$2,700 for a 3 br condo is not so bad IMHO. But if you ask rockingtime and his mysterious apartment unit in Mira Mesa, then the rent has not really gone up by much. I mean what do I know?