[quote=Aecetia]Face it, just about everyone thinks El Cajon is a dump, and yet I bought a house there and continue to live happily ever after. I could never afford my house in La Jolla or Coronado, so I have a nice house in El Cajon and I would have had a condo. in La Jolla. . . . It works for me.[/quote]
Acetia, I love the properties in 92019, esp. Hidden Mesa and Vista Grande areas. Vista Grande Elem. is top notch and feeds into Valhalla HS, a VERY GOOD school. I looked into buying out there back in ’90 when a spec home builder who built a property for his family decided he didn’t want to occupy and had just finished a beautiful and very well-built 2350 sf ranch on 1/2 AC on Vista Grande w/central A/C and pool. He was willing to sell the property for $232K because he was behind in his take-out loan payments and just wanted to unload. It was BRAND NEW construction with stamped concrete portico d/w, clay tile roof, etc.
I even drove out there at 6:30 a.m. and tried to line up on the “Willow St.” ramp (2 cars per green lt) to commute to dtn. SD on Hwy 94 and it took 47 mins. to get dtn. with all the traffic and then I still had to park. I was used to getting downtown in 11-17 mins. and also would have had to p/u kids in daycare so vetoed buying it for that reason.
I would have withstood the heat for THAT PARTICULAR PROPERTY AT THAT PRICE and for THOSE SCHOOLS, but I simply couldn’t hang with the commute hassles. It was just too much for me.
I love the knotty pine ski-lodge look of A-frames and other unusual homey “lodge-style” homes on Mt. Helix (reminds me of Hwy 89 on the west side of Lake Tahoe). I just can’t go up and down those narrow roads with hairpin turns as a passenger because my vertigo would make me sick and I wouldn’t want to drive them in the dark. And I love the big boulders in the middle of the portico driveways (often partially covered) in Hidden Mesa 🙂 It’s like the homeowner just went out to Ocotillo, plucked them off, brought them back and sat them there!
Certainly, utilities all year round would be higher there, but parts of East County have a lot to offer.
