We’ve lived in the San Marcos area for about 20 years, and we agree with Bugs that you get a lot of bang for the buck in this city. Also like bugs, I’m not as much a fan of SEH but some people love it – more power to them. The high M-R and narrower streets do this area in for me. I’m not bashing it, it’s very nice.
We tend to like newer areas, so we think DH and Stone Canyon(s of 78) are great, and several developments n of 78 (Santa Fe Hills, Olive Hills, Twin Oaks Ranch, Sage Canyon Ranch) are all good choices. We have friends in each of those areas so we visit them fairly frequently. San Marcos Farms is also pretty nice if you like older homes, and if we wanted to spend well over a mil we’d probably be living on La Plaza Drive (take a drive there one day – it’s something else). As for other newer areas in San Marcos, I’ve left them off for a reason – I don’t think they are worth considering for one reason or another.
Though I used to abhor HOAs, I now favor them in order to keep the neighborhood looking decent, so I would give SFH a demerit for not having one. I would also give a demerit to Stone Canyon for having private roads and tight parking restrictions (no overnight street parking).
I have noticed that in DH, Poppy/Applewilde/Honeysuckle is used as a short-cut to Twin Oaks Valley Road for those living in the Stone Canyon area. You may want to walk the street you are considering at rush hour to ensure it is not too busy for you. Another word of caution about DH: as universities grow, students usually end up renting housing nearby so they can walk to class. Think about those implications on the long-term makeup of the DH area. Not that college students are bad, but they tend to like late night activities – beginning on Thursday eve and going through the w/e (we know – we’ve visited the condos along Twin Oaks Valley Road).
All of the areas I mentioned in paragraph 2 have very easy access to the freeway, Restaurant Row, the movie theater, Lowes and Home Depot, gyms (24 hr fitness and LA fitness), and most importantly Frys. 🙂 There is not a great deal of nightlife in San Marcos, but there are a couple of places and it has easy access to the rest of north county for other spots. The latest ‘in’ spot appears to be the bar at the new Elephant Bar on Las Posas, since it’s the newest place in town.
Contrary to the feelings of those on this board, the schools are actually quite good…a well kept secret IMHO.
We’ve also had little problem with crime. In those 20 years, my sons car was broken into once (he left CDs visible on the seat – duh!) and that’s it.
Take care and (hopefully) welcome to the neighborhood.
