I used to live in CV some years ago, off Carmel Creek and Carmel Country. I also lived in Del Mar 50yds from the water. I went there from here, the Bay Area. Now Del Mar was the nicest place I have ever lived in my life, full stop.
Ok, I also loved CV. I had never lived in an area of mostly newer homes of a general style I prefer to the all too common ranch and Eichler’s in the parts of the Bay Area I came from.
Funny thing about perspective. People up here can in some areas be very very stuffy and aloof. Soccer mom’s up here in some places really do think they own the road, the town, the school, and that you are benieth them. I have found that if you start to make a little money, just enough to leverage debt to lease/buy nice things, like german cars, and nicer houses, but not enough money to be truly financially comfortable, independent, secure, you push a sense of entitlement and privilage ahead of your means and project it on others as a sense of superiority. As you go up that income ladder and find folks with real money, you tend to find humility once again, like you did in the true middle class.
Ok, so I say that because you no doubt find that in CV. Many people there are upwardly moble professionals and junior executives and have worked hard to get there, and some want the world to know that. But compared to where I came from, I found the CV folk to be just fine. Yes I did encounter lots of those “get out of my way I’m important” soccer mom types, but I also found many nice people just trying to raise families in a nice community. Go to the Soup Plantation any Friday night and ask yourself are these people mean and rude, or just trying to live their family lives.
CV is just fine. Perhaps 4s has a few more modest folk, but you should try up here if you really want to find arrogance.
As for the homes, well, tract homes yes. There are plusses and minuses to living in areas where your house is the exact same as 25% of your neighbors, but at least everybody’s house is pretty nice. Is CV worth the premium, for schools, probably; commute, probably; anything else, up to you.
As for 4S, there is a resident on this board named 4Ssomething or other who loves the area and can give you some info.
Overall, most of the advice you got on this thread from others is spot on. Take it all in and consider your options.
Either way, as a Bay Area resident I can tell you that you have a win-win situation, because you will still be in SD!
