[quote=bearishgurl]I hear you, ER. I wouldn’t spend $400K on a home with freeway noise. I can’t stand it and have to have my “quiet enjoyment.”
I won’t live in a hood full or teens or partying college students (with speakers in their car trunks and thrush mufflers), for the same reason.
I don’t even like seeing toys constantly left all over the sidewalks. I would prefer to live with my own “brethren” or senior citizens.[/quote]
Yep. I’m the same way. Different strokes for different folks. I know many people that don’t mind noise. No way I could put up with the sort of noise that goes on downtown in some areas as well.
For example, I have some friends that lived in the Gas Lamp District and they loved being down in that area EXCEPT for the loud noise. That would get old VERY quickly for me. Even without kids.
Yeah, I know that area. Convenience-wise that area is VERY nice and I really enjoy it. You avoid the marine layering of nearby Del Mar and you get LOTS of sunny weather yet you avoid the hot temperatures once you go a few more miles inland. It’s GREAT! You also have easy access to I-56, I-5 and not far from I-15 which makes things easy as well.
Ironically, I don’t recall hearing any noise from I-56 from the Pacific Highlands Ranch houses that we saw. It surprised me because Collins Ranch seems to be further away from I-56 and yet we noticed it so maybe things like wind direction, etc. matter? I’m not sure but just passing along what we noticed.
We actually looked at some houses for sale in Pacific Highlands Ranch and we liked some of the houses we saw there. The ONLY problem with many of the houses there was there was literally NO privacy at all unless you happened to have a corner lot house or a house that didn’t have any neighbors in the backyard. But many of those houses are literally on zero lot lines and you have 5 immediate neighbors that can look into your backyard.
I’m not even one of those people that have to have a huge yard. Quite the contrary. I’ll take a 7,000 to 9,000 sq. feet lot that is well positioned to maximize privacy. That just seemed to be hard to find with many of the houses over in Pacific Highlands Ranch and that general neighborhood.
I’ve purchased Lennar Homes before (not in California) and relatively pleased with them. The quality isn’t anything high end so expect to upgrade things like lighting, plumbing fixtures, etc. But I guess the same can be said for many builders these days.
It’s really tough in that $700’s range. That seems to be the big dividing line in the SD area. I know inventory is really tight now but when we were looking back in 2011, when you could go up to the $1 million range the options really opened up and the quality was much much better. (Yeah, yeah I know that’s common sense but it actually surprised me that people were willing to pay $750’s for some of the stuff that was out there at the time). God love the developers that they are able to get it.
And it seemed like many people might be pushing the envelope a bit to even afford the $700 to $800’s range. (Any unforeseen events like job loss of one of the spouses, medical illness or emergency and some can’t afford it anymore. I know several people in this situation that lost their houses).
Did you check out any of the new stuff going up near Del Sur (Camino del Norte / Rancho Bernardo Road)? I’m not sure on price range in that area but I’d guess it’s going to be in that ballpark. I’ve met a few people that bought over in Del Sur and really enjoy it.
Yeah, I’d rather be over in Carmel Valley area vs. closer to 4S Ranch area but you’ll get more “bang for your buck” over in that area and lower price per sq. foot and you have excellent schools over in the PUSD in that area.
Although one thing to compare would be the Mello Roos taxes. I’m not sure how this new development is priced on Mello Roos taxes. Several we looked at in Carmel Valley didn’t have much of a Mello Roos tax compared to other areas so that’s one thing to compare as well.
