Marston @ Del Sur versus Lennar @ The Lakes

[FlyerInHi]

Yes, merit and hardwork are oversold.

Education alone will not give you the life of your dream… but it’s sort of an insurance policy against poverty.

Yes, lots of people who don’t have much education have started business and become successful but their numbers are in the thousands vs. population of millions upon millions.

Generally speaking, with a good masters degree, or higher, from a good school, you are more likely to be living in Carmel Valley, 4S Ranch, Poway, University City, Penasquitos, Hillcrest, Mission Hills than the lesser neighborhoods of San Diego. For La Jolla, or Rancho Santa Fe, you need connections or inheritance, or luck.

[CA renter]

Agree very much with flyer and JoeC. Connections are the #1 way to get a good job, at least from what I’ve seen.

I think a lot of people are trying to find a solution without defining the problem first. The problem isn’t your kid or his/her education, but the economic system and the way in which resources are allocated in a world with a growing population, finite resources, and a handful of truly wealthy people who control those resources…almost always because of their connections, not because they “worked hard” to become successful.

If we seriously care about our children, we need to work collectively to fix the system. We, the workers, are being pitted against one another by those who own and control the system, and that includes the hyper-competitive push for everyone to get the “best” and increasingly expensive education so that we can become the best cog, with the lowest possible wages, in someone else’s machine.

People are too focused on tearing others down in order to get their kid to the top of the pyramid. IMHO, that is the wrong approach to the problem, and will only end up making these problems worse.

We have power in numbers; it is well past time we use it.

[NewBuyerConflicts]

The questions then begs to be ask. If education plays a factor but it is more of who you know and not what you know, then is it better to say buy in Del Sur where you get to meet a lot of people. Your kids makes friends from a wide range of families with different background and social economic experiences. Or go somewhere in a private /gated community where the “standard” is that most individuals there are already in an affluent time of their life? But you may be limited due to the less individual families within and also limited in other ways.

[Anonymous]

Hi,
Just read this and hope you were able to make a decision on your new home choice. We purchased a home in Marston and will be closing next month. We relocated here from Atlanta last september and started looking in areas like La Jolla to Carmel Valley to Solana beach and landed up in Del Sur to see the Sentinels one weekend. We were almost set on buying that when we chanced upon Marston. We did look at the Lakes too, loved their floorplan but as someone mentioned we wanted park/pools, etc for our kids who were 2 and 4 at the time. So, we picked Marston for the beautiful indoor/outdoor view-feel as you mentioned and for the kids. We were at a stage in life when we wanted a community feel…and always saw families with little kids in the park, etc. If it was a different time in our life, we would probably buy in some other area… So, I guess, my two cents would be that if you are looking for a long stay at a home, look for what would really matter to you – prestige, gated, community, etc…

Regarding admission to Design39 school, if you bought in Marston, you are guaranteed a seat this year in that school. My son who will start kindergarten in August got in as it belongs to CFD 15. I was also told by the teachers that my daughter shouldn’t have a problem getting in next year as they would be opening up more seats for our CFD. There were lotteries for other CFD’s like 6 which I think belong to 4s Ranch area as I believe there were like 200 seats and 800+ applications. Btw, we are from India.

[NewBuyerConflicts]

[quote=rshanbhag]Hi,
Just read this and hope you were able to make a decision on your new home choice. We purchased a home in Marston and will be closing next month. We relocated here from Atlanta last september and started looking in areas like La Jolla to Carmel Valley to Solana beach and landed up in Del Sur to see the Sentinels one weekend. We were almost set on buying that when we chanced upon Marston. We did look at the Lakes too, loved their floorplan but as someone mentioned we wanted park/pools, etc for our kids who were 2 and 4 at the time. So, we picked Marston for the beautiful indoor/outdoor view-feel as you mentioned and for the kids. We were at a stage in life when we wanted a community feel…and always saw families with little kids in the park, etc. If it was a different time in our life, we would probably buy in some other area… So, I guess, my two cents would be that if you are looking for a long stay at a home, look for what would really matter to you – prestige, gated, community, etc…

Regarding admission to Design39 school, if you bought in Marston, you are guaranteed a seat this year in that school. My son who will start kindergarten in August got in as it belongs to CFD 15. I was also told by the teachers that my daughter shouldn’t have a problem getting in next year as they would be opening up more seats for our CFD. There were lotteries for other CFD’s like 6 which I think belong to 4s Ranch area as I believe there were like 200 seats and 800+ applications. Btw, we are from India.[/quote]

rshanbhag,

Thank you for your insight and it is great to hear that you son got in. Del Sur’s main appeal is that it is in CFD 15. Now like you said your daughter shouldn’t have a problem getting in b/c more seats will open up, but our concern is our first one is arriving this year and hopefully another one soon after that. So, by the time our son is ready for kindergarten we are looking at 5 years from now then 6 or more for our second. The fact alone that only the first year are they willing to guarantee spots for Del Sur residents says they realize as time progress it will get harder and harder for later entering children. Now, it is just a question of whether or not it will be as competitive as say 4S or the other CFD. Who knows…maybe not but it will still end up being more a numbers game and not a sure thing.

That said, I do love Marston. Did you buy in the power line side or non? If you did buy on the power line side does it bother you? WE are not concern but are worry about resale and more of the “general” negative perception most people and agents have against them. If you got the non power line side, was it b/c of your concerns with them or you just happened to like the lot or that they were the ones available during that release?

Thanks for sharing. It seems we are on the same boat but just a few months behind in regards to home buying and a few years behind in regards to school age.

[joec]

Thanks for sharing the info rshanbhag. At least it’s more clear to me now how the lottery was done.

From the numbers, there are probably less people in CFD 15 so that’s probably why everyone in that district got in. I’m guessing that as 4S is fully built out now (with about 4k? in homes and no more new construction) there were probably more people in the lottery like you say vs. none in Del Sur due to allocation of spots.

It’s hard to say what will it be like 5 years from now. I do believe 5 years ago, no school around PUSD had a lottery so they even allowed NON-MR residents in all the neighborhood schools.

That has obviously changed now.

I don’t know, but wonder if Del Sur Elementary is pretty full already since I’ve heard that people would rather go to that then Design39 since Del Sur Elementary is regularly (constantly) advertised as the “BEST” school in the PUSD (from test scores I believe). I doubt it makes that much difference for the kids, but I see the ads all the time in the newspaper.

I guess another option is to wait for the next housing development without the power lines…I see something called Descanso is coming this Summer 2014 so you might want to look into that as well.

http://northcountynewhomes.com/north-san-diego-county-new-home-communities/inland/del-sur-new-homes/

[Anonymous]

We are on the Potomac ridge road, so away from the power lines, I think. I liked the lot next to the restroom area there on Tanner ridge, they mentioned last week that it is around 1.2m. Did you look at that? That didn’t look close to the power line.

Regarding schools for your kids, as you said it is too early to think of it now. But that may be a good thing too. In 4 years when your first child is ready for the pre-k, you would have a better sense of which school is good as they would have got seasoned a bit..:). We are technically in the del sur elementary, so you will have an option for 2 schools. I don’t think the entire del sur is under CFD 15. I think the houses close to the design 39, am guessing marston, the new tow homes coming up, etc belong to this CFD.

You asked me if I bought elsewhere and if it was because the power lines bothered us. Actually, when we looked, there were 3-4 lots available and this was the least expensive one and the floor plan 3 which was the desired one for us, so it wasn’t a difficult choice to make. Btw, we had made an offer on a house prior to this in a neighborhood closer to rancho Santa Fe which had a power grid line right behind but the house had a killer backyard. So, resale-wise, I would say to always expect little lesser than what a similar house in the neighborhood would sell for. This has been the case with our previous homes where the location was not the most desirable.

[scaredyclassic]

TEach kids to be enlightened.

[cato1974]

Hi NewBuyerConflicts,

Hopefully our experience can be of use to you in your decision making process. You have already received a lot of excellent advice here but thought adding to it a bit might help.

We are relocating to the North County area from S.Florida and have two young girls aged 6 and 8 who will be entering 1st and 3rd grades. School considerations and a ‘community’ feel were paramount concerns for us and when combined with my commute, Del Sur soon became our most attractive option. We have very close friends who have recently purchased an Estrella Plan 3 Lennar home at the Lakes and their experience thus far has been consistent with many of your concerns, particularly that of a less ‘neighborhoodly’ feel than hoped for. Indeed you are afforded the luxury of a gate, yet as others have mentioned, there are no parks, pools and I believe one trail.

When touring Del Sur we were particularly impressed with the number of kids we saw playing outside, walkability to Del Sur Elementary and the extensive network of trails, parks and pools. It was just more of what we were looking for. Our goal has always been to have our kids be able to grow up in a ‘community’ rather than be sequestered away in what might be the most luxurious house for us. We were rather disappointed in the lot sizes available in Del Sur compared to the Lakes but felt the ‘community ‘ tradeoff was well worth it.

We initially scoped out both the Marston development and Presidio and Sentinels but after considering the power lines and the fact that the Marston development was further away from the entrance to the hiking trails, parks and school we opted for the Presidio development. Our lot size is marginally smaller than the equivalent house we were evaluating at Marston, but will end up in a section that I am hoping will have more kids running around. We are facing the East canyon directly opposite Marston and have a power tower off in the distance, but plan to plant some trees to ameliorate that issue.

With options and upgrades , of which we purchased many, we are still well below any comparably sized house we could purchase in Cielo, RSH, Crosby or Santaluz. Inventory is that tight now.

In regards to the schools. There is a great thread on Facebook explaining the selection criteria and lottery system for the new K-8 DC39 school.
Essentially enrollment will be closed for 4s ( CFD 6 ) going forward unless someone leaves.
CFD 15 ( Del Sur East which comprises Presidio and Marston and the soon to be built Descanso) is only at 40% capacity and those that applied from this CFD this year got in. Those that apply in the coming years from 15 will likely be granted admission. This is because spots were reserved for this CFD understanding that build out is not yet complete.

I think with what we got on our Presidio Plan 3 ( 3950 sq feet) with decent view and backyard ( 60×50) we got a fair deal compared to what else is out there.

This was not an easy process as I had to fly back and forth twice and make a decision remotely but I’ve studied all pros/cons up the wazoo and hope my analysis helps you a bit too.

Best of luck in your decision!

[NewBuyerConflicts]

Dear Cato1974,

Thank you for your shared insight and I can’t imagine having to make such a decision from afar. I know my husband and I have the luxury of visiting all the new builds within Del Sur and the surrounding areas.

For those who are interested here is the link regarding the final numbers for Design 39. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9YxRGceO414M04xYXBubnk3azg/edit

The numbers look like what we were thinking of and again if it was the situation where we had school age children this would be a slammed dunk decision. I am wondering where is CFD 14 seeing it has the most allocated spots even compared to Del Sur.

Overall,

I want to thank everyone. It wasn’t more of a choice between gated versus non-gated but what was the best choice for us and our kids’ future education. We didn’t want to be swayed with the sales pitch of guarantee spot placement just because of Del Sur without hard numbers and knowing that for us it would be 5-6 years.

We want to thank everyone for their thoughts, experiences and comments. It takes a lot of time and we truly appreciated it. In the end, we decided on going with the Lakes. For us, it was because the home was already built out and we could move in before our little one comes along. In addition, knowing that we can’t place our kids until after Del Sur is fully built out that at that point we would most likely be playing the numbers/lottery game with either CFD. We do love the sense of community Del Sur offers but we admittedly are more the type to take our kids out hiking, to the beach or play dates. Both of us will be working and won’t be able to just have one of us go and enjoy the parks and pools much. So a combination of the home, the lot (without power lines), the lateness in when we will be placing our kids, and the final number we did chose the Lakes.

Thank you again,
NewHomeOwner and expected Mama 🙂

[Author]

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