The high school choices in MH are subpar perhaps but K-8 is pretty good now that Grant has a middle school. Also, the schools in the urban areas have always been weaker and yet demand for good houses still seems decent.
If you think about it, north Mission Hills probably has fewer residences than just one of those monster tract home developments out in Rancho Bernardo on the seemingly endless supply of land. When I drive out east anymore I think I am visiting a lunar landscape with a dense bunch of strange alien looking structures attached to it. There are some exceptions like certain parts of Poway and Mt. Helix. These are very nice areas and Poway certainly has the great schools.
However, once the coast dropped down to our price range it was really a no brainer. Frankly, me and my wife didn’t go to the best schools when we were kids and we turned out fine. We spend a tremendous amount of time teaching our kid ourselves anyway.
I remember the day we first toured our new MH house (we were also touring a few houses in Poway) … it was 104 degrees in Poway and 85 degrees in MH with a steady cool ocean breeze. We were like “wow” now this is what we like about San Diego. Case closed.
I think the overall scarcity of the real estate in addition to the desirability of the location will somewhat temper the lousy school districts of the prime urban areas. In the end, many people with money will opt for private schools anyway and obviously there are many great ones to choose from in the area.
