[quote=flyer]Although most points have been well covered, just thought I’d add my two cents.
Some friends of ours recently started looking for a home in San Diego with similar specs as the OP.
After considering Carmel Valley, locations East of I-15, Santa Fe Valley–near 4S, Del Sur, etc., etc., they decided on Santaluz.
As many here have mentioned, HOA and MR are high, but they wanted a larger lot, West of I-15, but East of the “Sun-Line,” (that’s why we love living in Rancho Santa Fe), so you might want to at least check out that option as well.
One resource you might consider to get a feel for what’s available and pricing in this general area, is sdlookup.com. Santaluz is in the 92127 zip code, and you can also check out other zip codes in which you might be interested.
We’ve lived many places in the world, but San Diego has always been “home.” I know you and your family will enjoy living here–Welcome![/quote]
Like Flyer’s friends, we were also looking in the same price range when we bought last year. We looked at houses in Carmel Valley, Rancho Santa Fe, 4S Ranch, Santaluz and the surrounding area and we also decided to buy in Santaluz and absolutely love it!
I posted some past posts so you can do a search if you’re interested. I’ll just give my 2 cents on some of these areas.
First of all, Rancho Santa Fe is really great but it’s sad to say but you can’t buy anything of quality there for $1 million there. You will spend much more than that. We looked at a few houses there but we just didn’t like them as much as other homes we saw in Santaluz.
Also, even getting past the more expensive prices, parts of Rancho Santa Fe just feels too rural for my tastes. I guess unless you had horses or something and wanted that kind of environment. In fact, in several parts of RSF you will see horses.
Carmel Valley we saw the most homes here. All of them were over $1 million and to be honest we were just not impressed with most of them as there was a real lack of privacy, on super tiny lots. They did have some beautiful homes but most of them had a lack of privacy.
Our friends own in Poway and they enjoy the no HOA but they bought an older home as many of the homes there are older and we don’t like the style and feel of most of the homes we see when we drive around. Plus the main reason is it’s much warmer there. Some days we can leave our house and go drive over to visit our friends and it can be a full 8 degrees warmer there.
Paying Mello Roos is not fun but I agreed with one of the posts above that spoke of looking at it almost as an investment in the area to send your kids to quality schools. It’s worth it to me to pay Mello Roos. At first it was a harder pill to swallow but honestly it is so worth it to me.
Santaluz is really amazing and they have a real sense of community here. The location is really great as you avoid the Marine layer of Del Mar. You are far enough inland where you still get the cooler weather yet you avoid the marine layer. And especially nice that you avoid the warmer temperatures once you cross I-15.
We are literally adjacent to Fairbanks Ranch and also Carmel Valley. We can take Carmel Valley road and there is almost no traffic at all and can make it to the Del Mar Heights shopping area in 5-7 minutes. When we want to go to the beach we usually just go to Del Mar and we can take the same road and be at the beach in 15 minutes.
Yes, the HOA are higher at $440/month (they actually lowered it $10 this year from last year). But you have to figure it includes 10 MB high speed internet, digital cable and garbage pick up. 24/7 Security and the grounds are impeccably maintained.
This is actually one of the few times in my life that I feel the HOA fee is good value for the money. I own many properties and most of the time I feel like I’m being ripped off with HOA but this is far from the case at Santaluz.
The security here is also really great and very secure neighborhood. Several CEO’s live here as well as sports stars like SD Charger’s QB Philip Rivers.
There are TONS of families with young kids here in Santaluz. They have several events throughout the year where you can really get a good sense of just how many kids there are. The last one, the Easter Celebration was packed with kids.
We saw several homes here before decided and liked the homes and they were much higher quality then houses we saw in other areas. And again the entire development (3,900 acres) is so well looked after.
I agree with the others that the “Keeping up with the Jones” isn’t too bad in San Diego vs. other areas. It’s NOTHING compared to Orange County.
They will never build anything like Santaluz again probably anywhere in California so close to the Coast. I really feel it’s a special place and we love living here. It’s part of the Poway Unified School District which is really amazing.
Also, it’s so convenient for us. We have easy access to I-56, I-15 and I-5 so nothing is too far. If you’re working from home you will find it very convenient. Like some others, I’m not too big of a fan of Poway just due to the style of houses and the warmer temperatures. Yes it’s more affordable but I find it’s well worth it to spend more money, especially considering that you can find some good houses in your budget if you have $1 million or a bit more to spend.
I totally agree with Flyer that you will LOVE San Diego. I’ve lived in several cities and a few different countries and moving to San Diego was the best decision of my life. It’s an amazing city! You will love it here.
