I have a friend who live in Santee and works downtown. He doesn’t worry about the morning commute as he is a very early bird. He takes the 94 East to the 125 North to get home.His wife works in Mission Valley. So far so good.He and his wife are happy with Santee but not looking forward to Fanita Ranch developement. They got a good deal on a big new house right before the run up. They are perfectly happy with no cultural type ammenities to speak of because when they have free time they travel the world.
As a contractor I love the industrial area on the border between El Cajon and Santee. Those shops and light manufacturers supply the stuff a guy really needs and most of them are good at it and a pleasure to work with . We need places like that.