I’ve rented in Rancho Penasquitos for three years now after living in an apartment in Mira Mesa, and I work along the coast just up the big hill from Torrey Pines Reserve. My kid goes to school in Poway, so we’re split the difference.
I’m paying 2300/mo for a 4/3 (rent just got raised by 100/mo. You should be able to find a small 3/2 in RP to meet your needs for your cost. It’s about a 25 minute commute for me along the 56.
We like RP, and stayed in the area when the owners decided to sell the house we were renting a little over a year ago. I’m glad I didn’t listen to the real estate agent who was managing the property and told me I could surely get a loan for the $600K they wanted on the house. We wanted to stay, but I couldn’t figure out how I could afford the payments, even if I could get the loan (loan math says 4X of your yearly salary is the an absolute MAX, right? We weren’t making $150K year, and the numbers didn’t make sense to me regardless of what the agent told me.
