Stick to the encinitas union/san deguito school district, which is basically southeast carlsbad and encinitas (ie 92024 and 92009). Carlsbad school dist. is ok too, but I still like the deguito district better. El camino creek elem, OLP elem, and Mission estancia are all particularly good elem schools. Digueno middle is good, and LCC High/San Deguito academy are also very very good. The realtor websites all pull from the mls so they all have about the same info. many of them have a map feature to zero in on the areas around the schools I mentioned. Watch out in la costa, much of it is in the san marcos school district.
Also be sure to check out Craigslist real estate section for fsbo’s etc.
Buying now doesn’t shock me (probably a near lone voice here), as long as you are doing a lateral move from primary res to primary res, and aren’t planning on flipping. Timing the market with your HOME has never interested me.
