Escondido – Harmony Grove Village – Cavalli?

[bryan995]

Visited the Cavalli grand opening within Harmony Grove Village (escondido) today.

Houses seem quite nice, and these seem to be the only new construction detached homes < 800K in the greater SD area ... Quite a few 4/3 2800sqft homes for ~$670. We are renting now, since 2016. paying $2600 for a 2/2 in UTC. Love the UTC location but want to find something larger. Young family with 1 child (1yr old, planning for 2nd. We've also looked at PHR up in carmel valley and love the area, but prices are now 1.2+, and just too much of a stretch for comfort. Any insights / thoughts on the HGV area of escondido? HGV in particular? We've be coming down to both downtown and UTC area (quite the drive I suspect). Thanks!

[gzz]

Congratulations on the babies and saving up the down payment.

If you have a 700k budget and have La Jolla/Downtown commutes, Claremont seems a much better option. Here’s a 1700sf 4/2:

https://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-180038635-5243_Dante_St_San_Diego_CA_92117

Here’s a newer 2000sf 4/3 for $829k:

https://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-180037506-4904_Cannington_Dr_San_Diego_CA_92117

Escondido may have mello roos and HOA so $829 in claremont might have the same payments as $729 in new developments.

[flyer]

With pricing so relatively reasonable compared to other locations in San Diego, I can definitely see why you’d be considering HGV, but, based upon what you’ve mentioned regarding your commutes, imo, finding something further south might also be a consideration.

Also, even though your children are very young, you will want to think about school districts, so that’s another important consideration when deciding on a home, and here’s a great resource for that:

https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/2018-Parents-Guide-to-San-Diego-Schools-English-updated.pdf

For young families, purchasing a home in San Diego is definitely a challenge on many fronts, so, you’ll just have to prioritize your needs/wants, and decide what makes the most sense.

Best of luck!

[Myriad]

After looking at some 1800-2200 sq ft townhomes in Del Sur that are $700k and $4-6k in mello roos, and $400 in HOA, those prices in HGV look great.
But as other posters mentioned, HGV is tough commute to UTC. At least with DT, you can take the express bus.

[Ribbles]

If it helps, I can tell you that my wife did the Temecula to UTC commute for many years. At 10am with fastpass it was one hour. I know that’s very different from 8am, so it’s probably worth your time to test it from Escondido one morning.

Having small kids with a long commute is not easy. Now that ours are older and she works locally, there’s a lot less stressing on schedules. I think of my Carlsbad commute (work 6-3) to be downtime and even fun for a good portion. Lots of twisties.

Also consider the cost of gas, maintenance, wear items, and depreciation on your cars. Wow does it add up. A 20-minute commute instead of an hour commute is the equivalent of giving yourself a $10-15k+ raise, depending on how much additional child care you need and what kind of cars you buy.

[bryan995]

dupe, sorry.

[bryan995]

Thanks for all of the comments.

Agreed that HGV is just a too much of a hike given our current work commutes.
We appreciate the insights and advice. It looked as if it would be 1 hour+ for each of us..

As of now, HGV is out. We also disliked the fact that the development is in what seems to be a a wildfire hotspot? Not much to do in the surrounding area. And that the schools are average to sub-par. We also disliked the obvious climate differences, moving from semi-coastal to inland and HOT would be a difficult adjustment.

If only there was newer construction right where we are now, priced at 800k 😉

We took a look at the Weston in Santee as well. Pardee & Tri-point homes. Again very nice, lots of amenities we would enjoy. Priced right around $700K for a 4/3 2600sqft (+20k for required solar). The commute to work doesn’t seem all that bad, 20 mins and 33 mins. But going back home looks to be 45mins and 45 mins (unless we can negotiate some creative work hours + 1 day working at home – very possible). Again same issues as HGV, high hoa, mello-roos, much hotter climate etc. But we’d get the style of home that we are looking for, modern/open/spanish style.

Decisions decisions …

[gzz]

Ahhh the young generation with their high sq footage requirements!

My childhood homes were all 4/2.5 2000sf and seemed like plenty of space for 2 adults and 3 kids.

TVs and PCs are also smaller now, making living rooms and study areas less bulky. Those first PCs had 60 lb CRT monitors, external disk drives, external modem, space around everything to ventilate the heat, cords everywhere.

[spdrun]

Yes, but sproglets stay inside yappin’ on Snapchat and gaming instead of actually playing outside. And idiot American neighbors would likely call the pigs on someone who lets their kids (zOMG) play outside, unsupervised.

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=gzz]Ahhh the young generation with their high sq footage requirements!

My childhood homes were all 4/2.5 2000sf and seemed like plenty of space for 2 adults and 3 kids.

TVs and PCs are also smaller now, making living rooms and study areas less bulky. Those first PCs had 60 lb CRT monitors, external disk drives, external modem, space around everything to ventilate the heat, cords everywhere.[/quote]

Big is nice. But good design is better. I appreciate nice design and location, location, location.

[ucodegen]

[quote=spdrun]Yes, but sproglets stay inside yappin’ on Snapchat and gaming instead of actually playing outside. And idiot American neighbors would likely call the pigs on someone who lets their kids (zOMG) play outside, unsupervised.[/quote]
For those who think it doesn’t happen, or that it is far fetched;
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-child-neglect-citation-reversed-met-20151215-story.html
more info on the prev noted case:
https://www.thenation.com/article/has-child-protective-services-gone-too-far/

Canada:
https://www.scarymommy.com/mom-child-services-investigation-kids-play-backyard/

http://insider.foxnews.com/2015/06/14/florida-parents-charged-felony-neglect-after-11-year-old-son-plays-backyard-90-minutes
http://time.com/3728832/child-neglect-maryland-park/

Notes on consequences of kids not having ‘unstructured’ time;
https://inhabitat.com/inhabitots/the-convincing-case-for-sending-your-kids-outside-to-play-alone/

[FlyerInHi]

A condo association where I am a board member sends letters and fines people for letting play unsupervised. I’m ok with that because kids destroy property.

[spdrun]

Yep — people (and the assholes in authority) in the so-called “land of the free” have an extremely hard time minding their own damn business and keeping their traps zipped when something doesn’t concern them.

Though I suspect there was more to some of those stories, like a bad blood between neighbors and someone looking for an excuse to make their neighbor’s life difficult. Also, Ukrainian Village in Chicago is relatively white, and the mom in question just so happened to be of Afro-Latina heritage…

[spdrun]

I’d be OK with some of the board members responsible for this policy being hit with a discrimination suit. Or just being kicked in the junque repeatedly by an irate parent.

Want total peace and quiet? Buy yourself a nice big trailer somewhere out in the desert. String some barbed wire around it and keep a junkyard dog if it pleases you. Don’t snitch on your neighbors because they have a family and you were too miserable for anyone to breed with you.

[FlyerInHi]

Ouch, that was hard.
I used to play unsupervised and even took bus and subway as a child when we lived in different countries. Even in US, we played unsupervised, but we didn’t venture in the city.

But kids these days are little monsters and I care more about my property values.

[Author]

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