Welcome. My girlfriend relocated here for Biogen Idec, and they have some deal for her to buy house/condo. Unfortuntely what she has found out is that prices pretty much are unaffordable even with the money B/I is making available. Additionally, she would have horrible comutes from the areas she has considered buying. So she continues to rent even though the time limit to use the money from her employer is running out.
If you’re single you’re better off close to work so you can hang with the single people instead of spending time driving to communties with mostly families with kids. You’d be close to beach communities; learn how to surf!
If you like older communities, check out South Park/North Park/Normal Heights. For 1800 bucks you can rent a not-to funky little house. The I 5 commute kind of sucks but it’s better than some other commute times from North County. Some parts of Pacific Beach are nice but lots of drunk frat boys and it’s real congested.
Don’t let any time limit on using your company’s money push you into a purchase you might regret. Take time to look around. Spend your weekends discovering what CA has to offer; National Prks etc. You might decide in a year you absolutely hate San Diego and end up in San Francisco like a lot of my friends in biotech. Good luck
