Allright, enoough Santee bashing. Although I personally woudn’t choose to buy a house in Santee, I agree with littlelady that it certainly isn’t the worst place to live. Given the choice, I might also choose it over Mira Mesa.
The main problem is with the cost of new houses in Santee. Santee is historically a relatively lower income, lower housing cost part of town. Right or wrong this stigma is not going away. For that reason overpaying for a house there is an unwise investment.
However, Santee is nothing compared to ChulaJuana. If you want to talk about historically stimatized areas with overpriced tract homes, ChulaJuana takes the cake, especially Otay area. Also the commute from Santee to SD is nothing compared to Otay/Eastlake.