I think it has huge potential and have numerous friends who own rental property there. You may have missed the boat as property there has already began going up. Is it perfect, no, but it is the cheapest beach community and the values are artificially depressed because it has a reputation for being a rough town while the truth it has quietly become the city with the lowest crime rate West of I-15. In fact it ranks lower than any other beach town, lower than Carlsbad, Solana Beach, Coronado et. al.
Look at page 20 of this sandag report issued today.
Truth is, only geeks and developers pay close attention to these reports but IB has another thing going for it, The navy is moving half of all the SEAL teams there and putting a billion dollars into the base adjacent to the city, giving the rental market there a strong future.
to the south is NOLF, known as the helicopter capital of the world. The seals and the pilots are better paid than most of the military, this was also where the beach scenes from top gun were filmed.
This is by no means to say this is La Jolla, you are at the mercy of Mexico for water quality but go to Seacoast Drive, it’s not what you remember. I think of it as nicer than OB, maybe less than PB but for priced below both. But it is not an alternative to Carmel Valley yet I think it beats clairemont and OB. The pollution from Mexico is also better than it was but it is still an issue, no argument there, however it can get better, not sure it can get worse. But you get the discount for it, if it gets better, you reap the rewards.
If it were a stock, I’d rate it a “buy.” I think it has the most upside of any city in the county. I’m not a huge fan of their schools, but it depends on what you are looking for.
IB proper only covers 13 streets from the Ocean, the rest is the city of SD, don’t buy in the city, stay West of 9th street if you can. If you haven’t checked out Seacoast drive lately, it’s really changing.
