Carlsbad Village is great especially if you work from your house and don’t have kids (schools not great). You can walk everywhere and hardly need a car. I have friends that live right on Ocean Ave. and they love it (send their kids to Encinitas schools via another mailing address). It gets pretty loud on the weekends near the bars and the traffic in the summer on Carlsbad Blvd is extremely hevy but that’s because it’s a desirable tourist area.
As for renting a place there are plenyy of newer townhomes there where speculators who bought are looking for renters. Village By the Sea is one such development.