This area abuts the “backgate” entrance to Camp Pendleton. The training areas are to the north, so there will be artillery noice from time to time. The proximity to that gate is a plus for buyers who work on base, but those folks mostly can’t afford those prices.

When the sentries are checking IDs at the gates the traffic can back up on Vandergrift; maybe not enough to create ingress/egress problems at this project, but it is noticeable.

This area of Oceanside was originally built out in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The older neighborhoods in the area are home to several gangs. Lots of problems in the neighborhoods and at the parks, and lots of problems in the schools (particularly the high school).

If you’re going to spend $700k or more on an average quality tract home I’d say that almost any other planned community in San Diego County would be a better bet.

I think this area is going to get hit a lot harder than most in terms of price declines. Access to the Interstate-5 corridor is marginal (via Hwy 76), and access to the other major freeways (Hwy-78 and I-15) is a nightmare. It’s convenient to Camp Pendleton and the industrial parks in Oceanside but it’s very inconvenient to all other employment centers.

There are several areas in Oceanside that bear watching; the Crown Heights area over by I-5/Mission; the older neighborhoods north/west of Mission/El Camino Real; and this area. I wouldn’t choose to move into any of these neighborhoods. If I am working in these areas I usually try to get in and out before noon. That’s when the members of the local social clubs get up and start downing their 40s.

The older neighborhood on either side of North River Road between College and Douglas is pretty active. The 3 hotspots are the little retail center at N. River Rd/Redondo, Melba Bishop Park and Libby Lake Park. The Oceanside PD Officer who just got killed a few months ago got shot in this area. He was backing up another officer on a car stop and a 17-year old Samoan gangsta kid shot him with a rifle from inside a house that is a block or so away from the car stop.

Let me put it this way; if you decide to buy over in this area you probably won’t want to be stopping off at the fast food joints after 9:00 PM.

There’s lots of other areas in Oceanside that are a better bet. I’d rather buy a 10-year old home in Rancho Del Oro (for $200k less) than buy one of the new homes in the backgate area.

Bugs,

Thank for the info. So this part of Oceanside is called the backgate area.

“The good news, said Oceanside Police Chief Frank McCoy, is that gang crime was down 18 percent last year, and overall crime was down 12.5 percent.”

If gang crimes go down about another 50%, I might re-think about buying there. The drive to these new homes didn’t reveal the usual signs of a bad neighborhood. Not that much spray paint, only one liquor store. I’m usually very keen on these things.