N San Diego Has Changed – Where to put Down Roots???

[jmrrobbie1]

I have been following this site for the past 3 months and I am amazed at the amount of information presented on real estate in N. San Diego … great insight – an excellent example and power of the internet and open forums such as this.

I would appreciate any thoughts on my search to finally put down roots for my family. My wife & I are 35-45 yrs old with three children under the age of 7. We will both retire from government service (Navy Medicine) in the next few years and both plan to continue working part time. Camp Pendleton Calf. or Bremerton Wash. will be our last tour in military service. Originally from Colo. Springs, I lived in SD briefly in the late 70s followed by a ten year stretch from 1988-98 renting properties in IB, Sunset Cliffs, and Coronado. N. San Diego has changed significantly with concerns of future traffic & water issues but always high on our list as places to “end up”! We feel N. San Diego is where we want to live and will finally put down roots!

Our price range is $750 – 1.1K for at least 4 bedrooms and a little “space” both inside & outside in N. San Diego. We are looking at late summer 2010 to purchase. As other family members on this site have indicated priorities include schools, community feel, safe location, commute to Pendleton – either front (I-5) or back gate (I-15) are important but should be looked at as a whole (fire tracts) …. We want not so much the “most” (sq ft) house but the best house for our $. On-line we noted the newer communities built during the boom (San Elijo Hills) around San Marcos, those built 2-10 years prior in Avaira – Carlsbad – Carmel Valley, and also newer & older established homes in Fallbrook.

Commute weighs heavy in the decision combined with schools but we also want an area our kids can ride bikes. The tract homes closer to the coast seem to offer more community type of services but with tiny yards. The homes in N Fallbrook appear to offer much more for the money (Malabar Ranch). We plan on being in this home at least until the kids are thru high school and hopefully permanently.

Your thoughts & insight are appreciated.

[dharmagirl]

You could buy a very nice house in Temecula’s wine country on that budget – it wouldn’t be a cookie-cutter tract home.

It’s not San Diego but, if I had kids and a commute to Pendleton, it might be worth considering.

[dharmagirl]

You could buy a very nice house in Temecula’s wine country on that budget – it wouldn’t be a cookie-cutter tract home.

It’s not San Diego but, if I had kids and a commute to Pendleton, it might be worth considering.

[dharmagirl]

You could buy a very nice house in Temecula’s wine country on that budget – it wouldn’t be a cookie-cutter tract home.

It’s not San Diego but, if I had kids and a commute to Pendleton, it might be worth considering.

[dharmagirl]

You could buy a very nice house in Temecula’s wine country on that budget – it wouldn’t be a cookie-cutter tract home.

It’s not San Diego but, if I had kids and a commute to Pendleton, it might be worth considering.

[dharmagirl]

You could buy a very nice house in Temecula’s wine country on that budget – it wouldn’t be a cookie-cutter tract home.

It’s not San Diego but, if I had kids and a commute to Pendleton, it might be worth considering.

[jmrrobbie1]

JMR
Thanks for the input. We had not considered Temecula… you are right, after viewing a few of the MLS listings several great homes are noted. I will research the commute, average temp, community infrastructure, and as much as we can take in from this region. Anyone living in Temecula with strong opinions one way or the other? Is Temecula more like Riverside compared to San Marcos… to Fallbrook? What about home owner fees in this area … school district? We are in the early process of gathering information and do not want to limit anything. We will spend a week in N. San Diego region this fall to get a feel for things and changes since we departed & will spend a month next fall doing the same before our summer transition in 2010. I read this site daily – feedback like yours is priceless… Thanks!

[jmrrobbie1]

JMR
Thanks for the input. We had not considered Temecula… you are right, after viewing a few of the MLS listings several great homes are noted. I will research the commute, average temp, community infrastructure, and as much as we can take in from this region. Anyone living in Temecula with strong opinions one way or the other? Is Temecula more like Riverside compared to San Marcos… to Fallbrook? What about home owner fees in this area … school district? We are in the early process of gathering information and do not want to limit anything. We will spend a week in N. San Diego region this fall to get a feel for things and changes since we departed & will spend a month next fall doing the same before our summer transition in 2010. I read this site daily – feedback like yours is priceless… Thanks!

[jmrrobbie1]

JMR
Thanks for the input. We had not considered Temecula… you are right, after viewing a few of the MLS listings several great homes are noted. I will research the commute, average temp, community infrastructure, and as much as we can take in from this region. Anyone living in Temecula with strong opinions one way or the other? Is Temecula more like Riverside compared to San Marcos… to Fallbrook? What about home owner fees in this area … school district? We are in the early process of gathering information and do not want to limit anything. We will spend a week in N. San Diego region this fall to get a feel for things and changes since we departed & will spend a month next fall doing the same before our summer transition in 2010. I read this site daily – feedback like yours is priceless… Thanks!

[jmrrobbie1]

JMR
Thanks for the input. We had not considered Temecula… you are right, after viewing a few of the MLS listings several great homes are noted. I will research the commute, average temp, community infrastructure, and as much as we can take in from this region. Anyone living in Temecula with strong opinions one way or the other? Is Temecula more like Riverside compared to San Marcos… to Fallbrook? What about home owner fees in this area … school district? We are in the early process of gathering information and do not want to limit anything. We will spend a week in N. San Diego region this fall to get a feel for things and changes since we departed & will spend a month next fall doing the same before our summer transition in 2010. I read this site daily – feedback like yours is priceless… Thanks!

[jmrrobbie1]

JMR
Thanks for the input. We had not considered Temecula… you are right, after viewing a few of the MLS listings several great homes are noted. I will research the commute, average temp, community infrastructure, and as much as we can take in from this region. Anyone living in Temecula with strong opinions one way or the other? Is Temecula more like Riverside compared to San Marcos… to Fallbrook? What about home owner fees in this area … school district? We are in the early process of gathering information and do not want to limit anything. We will spend a week in N. San Diego region this fall to get a feel for things and changes since we departed & will spend a month next fall doing the same before our summer transition in 2010. I read this site daily – feedback like yours is priceless… Thanks!

[SD Realtor]

Hi JMR –

I saw this post but I didn’t respond to it because it is hard to try to answer these kinds of posts. I say that because it is so much of a matter of personal preference you know what I am saying?

I mean, all I can really say is that if it were me and I worked at Camp P, I think I would go for a Carlsbad/Encinitas home. Why? Well for one thing I grew up on the coast and have been along the coast most of my life. The past few years living in PQ, Mira Mesa, and now Scripps have been the furthest east I have ever been and am none to thrilled about it… Yet once you have kids I have found that pretty much everything I do is to help promote a thier development. So a decent size house but with a big lot in decent school districts is my goal. Not being happy with MR fees and homes that are close together has all but eliminated Carmel Valley… 4S is to far out for me and again, MR fees are a nogo for me. Ideally Solana Beach and some of the older properties near Del Mar Heights would work for me but I don’t have the coin. University City is okay but the lots are to small for me. Poway works for my wife but I am not thrilled about it… Encinitas or Carlsbad may work for me but I work in Sorrento Valley for engineering and service the entire county for real estate so I need to kind of be somewhat central… So there ya go… Yet what I need and want has nothing to do with you right? If I did work in Camp P though I think I would be partial to Encinitas and Carlsbad like I said before. Could your money stretch like 2-3 times as far being out in Temecula? Yepp… for sure. Even Fallbrook is kind of cool. I have a listing up there right now… Very nice comunity but again, not for me… a little to far out there. I REALLY like Cardiff, specially the west of 5 part but again… cannot afford it… There is just SO much for you to choose from up in north county. Maybe when you transfer down here you can rent for a year and feel it out?

Anyways there are alot of Temecula posters here and everyone seems to speak well of it so it may work for ya…not for me though. Like you the next purchase I make will be for the kids so I will be there for about 18 years…. then it will be wifey and I heading west…

SD Realtor

[SD Realtor]

Hi JMR –

I saw this post but I didn’t respond to it because it is hard to try to answer these kinds of posts. I say that because it is so much of a matter of personal preference you know what I am saying?

I mean, all I can really say is that if it were me and I worked at Camp P, I think I would go for a Carlsbad/Encinitas home. Why? Well for one thing I grew up on the coast and have been along the coast most of my life. The past few years living in PQ, Mira Mesa, and now Scripps have been the furthest east I have ever been and am none to thrilled about it… Yet once you have kids I have found that pretty much everything I do is to help promote a thier development. So a decent size house but with a big lot in decent school districts is my goal. Not being happy with MR fees and homes that are close together has all but eliminated Carmel Valley… 4S is to far out for me and again, MR fees are a nogo for me. Ideally Solana Beach and some of the older properties near Del Mar Heights would work for me but I don’t have the coin. University City is okay but the lots are to small for me. Poway works for my wife but I am not thrilled about it… Encinitas or Carlsbad may work for me but I work in Sorrento Valley for engineering and service the entire county for real estate so I need to kind of be somewhat central… So there ya go… Yet what I need and want has nothing to do with you right? If I did work in Camp P though I think I would be partial to Encinitas and Carlsbad like I said before. Could your money stretch like 2-3 times as far being out in Temecula? Yepp… for sure. Even Fallbrook is kind of cool. I have a listing up there right now… Very nice comunity but again, not for me… a little to far out there. I REALLY like Cardiff, specially the west of 5 part but again… cannot afford it… There is just SO much for you to choose from up in north county. Maybe when you transfer down here you can rent for a year and feel it out?

Anyways there are alot of Temecula posters here and everyone seems to speak well of it so it may work for ya…not for me though. Like you the next purchase I make will be for the kids so I will be there for about 18 years…. then it will be wifey and I heading west…

SD Realtor

[SD Realtor]

Hi JMR –

I saw this post but I didn’t respond to it because it is hard to try to answer these kinds of posts. I say that because it is so much of a matter of personal preference you know what I am saying?

I mean, all I can really say is that if it were me and I worked at Camp P, I think I would go for a Carlsbad/Encinitas home. Why? Well for one thing I grew up on the coast and have been along the coast most of my life. The past few years living in PQ, Mira Mesa, and now Scripps have been the furthest east I have ever been and am none to thrilled about it… Yet once you have kids I have found that pretty much everything I do is to help promote a thier development. So a decent size house but with a big lot in decent school districts is my goal. Not being happy with MR fees and homes that are close together has all but eliminated Carmel Valley… 4S is to far out for me and again, MR fees are a nogo for me. Ideally Solana Beach and some of the older properties near Del Mar Heights would work for me but I don’t have the coin. University City is okay but the lots are to small for me. Poway works for my wife but I am not thrilled about it… Encinitas or Carlsbad may work for me but I work in Sorrento Valley for engineering and service the entire county for real estate so I need to kind of be somewhat central… So there ya go… Yet what I need and want has nothing to do with you right? If I did work in Camp P though I think I would be partial to Encinitas and Carlsbad like I said before. Could your money stretch like 2-3 times as far being out in Temecula? Yepp… for sure. Even Fallbrook is kind of cool. I have a listing up there right now… Very nice comunity but again, not for me… a little to far out there. I REALLY like Cardiff, specially the west of 5 part but again… cannot afford it… There is just SO much for you to choose from up in north county. Maybe when you transfer down here you can rent for a year and feel it out?

Anyways there are alot of Temecula posters here and everyone seems to speak well of it so it may work for ya…not for me though. Like you the next purchase I make will be for the kids so I will be there for about 18 years…. then it will be wifey and I heading west…

SD Realtor

[SD Realtor]

Hi JMR –

I saw this post but I didn’t respond to it because it is hard to try to answer these kinds of posts. I say that because it is so much of a matter of personal preference you know what I am saying?

I mean, all I can really say is that if it were me and I worked at Camp P, I think I would go for a Carlsbad/Encinitas home. Why? Well for one thing I grew up on the coast and have been along the coast most of my life. The past few years living in PQ, Mira Mesa, and now Scripps have been the furthest east I have ever been and am none to thrilled about it… Yet once you have kids I have found that pretty much everything I do is to help promote a thier development. So a decent size house but with a big lot in decent school districts is my goal. Not being happy with MR fees and homes that are close together has all but eliminated Carmel Valley… 4S is to far out for me and again, MR fees are a nogo for me. Ideally Solana Beach and some of the older properties near Del Mar Heights would work for me but I don’t have the coin. University City is okay but the lots are to small for me. Poway works for my wife but I am not thrilled about it… Encinitas or Carlsbad may work for me but I work in Sorrento Valley for engineering and service the entire county for real estate so I need to kind of be somewhat central… So there ya go… Yet what I need and want has nothing to do with you right? If I did work in Camp P though I think I would be partial to Encinitas and Carlsbad like I said before. Could your money stretch like 2-3 times as far being out in Temecula? Yepp… for sure. Even Fallbrook is kind of cool. I have a listing up there right now… Very nice comunity but again, not for me… a little to far out there. I REALLY like Cardiff, specially the west of 5 part but again… cannot afford it… There is just SO much for you to choose from up in north county. Maybe when you transfer down here you can rent for a year and feel it out?

Anyways there are alot of Temecula posters here and everyone seems to speak well of it so it may work for ya…not for me though. Like you the next purchase I make will be for the kids so I will be there for about 18 years…. then it will be wifey and I heading west…

SD Realtor

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