I’d avoid renting anything up by the back gate of Camp Pendleton. Sure, those subdivisions are all nice and new but there’s a lot of gang activity in the older neighborhoods right across the street. Last year an Oceanside Police Officer was murdered in that neighborhood by a wanna-be gangsta. You are who you shop with.
The Rancho Del Oro area over by Mira Costa College is really convenient in terms of access, and there’s lots of reasonable sized homes over there. Another reasonable area is the Fire Mountain area north of the Wal-Mart center and south of Oceanside Blvd, east of I-5. If you’re commuting you don’t want to have to spend 20 minutes just to get to the train station.