Oceanside – good areas?

[arenter]

Just a newbie here, but have been checking the site out for a while. My company moved me out here with my family earlier this year and we have thus far been renting a house in Oceanside. I commute to Irvine, all of my extended family lives in the National City/Spring Valley area and my husband has a job prospect in Carlsbad. We decided to rent(instead of using my co’s relo package to help buy a house) due to sticker shock having come from Denver. I like Oceanside b/c I can hop on the Amtrak (w/out having to switch trains) to get to work at the station down the road and it gives us just enough distance away from the family, but we’re close enough that mom can come up to babysit when we need her (we have two young children). We’re been looking to buy in maybe 1-2 yrs, but we’ve started scouting areas. Does anyone know anything about the Arrowood division (they have a lot of new housing – Bellingham, Breakaway, Parkside), how good is the Bonsall school district (I know Oceanside is not very good)? We also like the San Luis Rey area, specifically a division called Cardona. Any information on these homes? Otherwise, any suggestions as to what areas (if any) we could look at that would be convenient to our situation(we’re in the $150K salary range)? Thanks so much!

[Bugs]

I’d avoid renting anything up by the back gate of Camp Pendleton. Sure, those subdivisions are all nice and new but there’s a lot of gang activity in the older neighborhoods right across the street. Last year an Oceanside Police Officer was murdered in that neighborhood by a wanna-be gangsta. You are who you shop with.

The Rancho Del Oro area over by Mira Costa College is really convenient in terms of access, and there’s lots of reasonable sized homes over there. Another reasonable area is the Fire Mountain area north of the Wal-Mart center and south of Oceanside Blvd, east of I-5. If you’re commuting you don’t want to have to spend 20 minutes just to get to the train station.

[arenter]

Thanks Bugs. We looked at Rancho Del Oro and while some of the homes are nice, they still felt kind of old and outdated. Are there any newer division there? Alternatively, we love San Clemente (just getting rid of that 20-minute drive past Pendleton would cut my commute to a sane level), but housing prices don’t seem to be going down at all. What do you think are the prospects there?

[Bugs]

If you’d call a 1990s home dated then your options are going to be bit limited. I fear the stability factor is also going to be limited with a newer home – the reason they’re renting it out is because they couldn’t flip it.

Anyways, SC is in the O.C. and it is that much closer to those employment centers. You’re probably not going to see as much price movement there as you will in N. SD County. The whole reason the outlying areas are most affected by deteriorating economic conditions is because they are less desirable due to their greater distance from employment.

[SD Realtor]

I would suggest that you check out Ivey Glenn. It is not to far from Rancho Del Oro but you may find it a little bit more to your liking. I had listings in both Ivey Glenn and Rancho Del Oro this past summer and while the Rancho Del Oro got better activity, the Ivey Glenn subdivision seemed a bit more desireable to me personally. Also you may want to check out Emerald Estates.. **Disclosure I do have an active listing there** There are a few other homes for sale there as well. The homes are a bit newer there but to be honest if I would compare that to Ivey Glenn I think I like Ivey Glenn better. It is in a better location as it is right next to all of the schools.

Note in ALL of these subdivisions there is pretty strong depreciation. Also to echo other sentiment I would steer clear of Arrowood and other back gate subdivisions.

SD Realtor

[Bloat]

Might consider the Shadowridge area of Vista where I’m located. IMO Shadowridge is the only part of Vista worth looking at & beats O’side. Good Elementary (Lake) & Middle School (Madison), marginal High School (RBV). Borders with more expensive Carlsbad. Also, for commuters, two new streets have just opened up to the freeway, one near the Carlsbad Amtrak. No Mello Roos and very low HOA. San Marcos has nice areas too, but with Mello Roos and maybe too far for your liking. San Clem is very nice, but with some rough spots and much more $$$.

[VoZangre]

Do the Zippety Doo…

if the preferable zips could be listed I reckon I’d be mos’ obliged to y’all…

Voz

[arenter]

Thanks all! And yes, zip codes would be very nice indeed. I will definitely check out the areas you suggested. SD Realtor, do you know anything about this Cardona area? I’ve seen some really nice houses there, but I’m not too sure about the area (being near the swapmeet and “supposed” shopping center that’s going up there). We’re renting a house just behind this division and the quality is not very good at all (Bad design, bad plumbing, so glad we didn’t buy!). The two divisions are right next to each other so I’m not sure if they were put up by the same builders or not.

[SD Realtor]

Have to be honest arenter and say no I don’t know a whole lot about that subdivision. That is out off of 76 as you head east. At least it is relatively to the west which is good. I have had listings in the condo land out off of Douglas. The homes look okay on the MLS but yeah the proximity of less desireable homes is something to always be concerned about. The demographics of Oceanside is going to play out like that.

A few things to note. I believe areas like this will get hit pretty darn hard and relatively soon because while they are not far out like Temecula, they are out there pretty far. For instance, 3372 Toopal is listed right now at 575k-599k. Well it had just sold for 660k on 1/27/06. It has been on the market 44 days.

Now I believe pretty much all of the Oceanside homes will take a pretty good hit (and they already have taken a hit) but more to come in the next 1-2 years due to the outlying proximity of them and the fast runup they had.

If you can stretch another year or two I think you will find some fabulous deals up there.

SD Realtor

[arenter]

Yes, I have to agree with you. We were looking at the new divisions out in Arrowood (Breakaway and Bellingham) when we first moved out here in June and the 3000K+ sq ft homes were running in the $600K’s. We went by there last week and they were in the high $500k’s with $50-80K in incentives being offered. I think we’ve put ourselves in a pretty good position by renting for the next year or two. We don’t love the house but it’s got adequate space for our growing family and a huge yard. I don’t look forward to living here for another 3+ years, but I think I can deal with another year or two. We had relocated from the Washington DC area to Denver 3 years ago and made the mistake of buying a place on the house-hunting trip my husband’s company paid for. When we decided to relocate to San Diego (via my company this time) we vowed not to make the same mistake, especially when we were in a total panic when trying to sell our home in the much, much more depressed housing market of Denver. Luckily we had an excellent RE agent and sold our house in 8 days!

[novice1027]

Arenter,
My husband & I have always liked the Montemar homes in the Arrowood developement, although we would never spend that kind of money, espcecially given the surrounding area.
But when we first started looking at those homes about a year ago, they started in the $900k range with no upgrades. Now they are going in the mid $700’s with all of the upgrades, including backyard landscaping!
Amazing!
Kind of fun to watch the thing unravel.
My husband and I could never understand why someone would spend a million dollars on a home and the nearist shopping is K-mart, Wal-Mart, and Big lots!

[novice1027]

Arenter,
My husband & I have always liked the Montemar homes in the Arrowood developement, although we would never spend that kind of money, espcecially given the surrounding area.
But when we first started looking at those homes about a year ago, they started in the $900k range with no upgrades. Now they are going in the mid $700’s with all of the upgrades, including backyard landscaping!
Amazing!
Kind of fun to watch the thing unravel.
My husband and I could never understand why someone would spend a million dollars on a home and the nearist shopping is K-mart, Wal-Mart, and Big lots!

[arenter]

Yes, I have to agree with you. We were looking at the new divisions out in Arrowood (Breakaway and Bellingham) when we first moved out here in June and the 3000K+ sq ft homes were running in the $600K’s. We went by there last week and they were in the high $500k’s with $50-80K in incentives being offered. I think we’ve put ourselves in a pretty good position by renting for the next year or two. We don’t love the house but it’s got adequate space for our growing family and a huge yard. I don’t look forward to living here for another 3+ years, but I think I can deal with another year or two. We had relocated from the Washington DC area to Denver 3 years ago and made the mistake of buying a place on the house-hunting trip my husband’s company paid for. When we decided to relocate to San Diego (via my company this time) we vowed not to make the same mistake, especially when we were in a total panic when trying to sell our home in the much, much more depressed housing market of Denver. Luckily we had an excellent RE agent and sold our house in 8 days!

[SD Realtor]

Have to be honest arenter and say no I don’t know a whole lot about that subdivision. That is out off of 76 as you head east. At least it is relatively to the west which is good. I have had listings in the condo land out off of Douglas. The homes look okay on the MLS but yeah the proximity of less desireable homes is something to always be concerned about. The demographics of Oceanside is going to play out like that.

A few things to note. I believe areas like this will get hit pretty darn hard and relatively soon because while they are not far out like Temecula, they are out there pretty far. For instance, 3372 Toopal is listed right now at 575k-599k. Well it had just sold for 660k on 1/27/06. It has been on the market 44 days.

Now I believe pretty much all of the Oceanside homes will take a pretty good hit (and they already have taken a hit) but more to come in the next 1-2 years due to the outlying proximity of them and the fast runup they had.

If you can stretch another year or two I think you will find some fabulous deals up there.

SD Realtor

[arenter]

Thanks all! And yes, zip codes would be very nice indeed. I will definitely check out the areas you suggested. SD Realtor, do you know anything about this Cardona area? I’ve seen some really nice houses there, but I’m not too sure about the area (being near the swapmeet and “supposed” shopping center that’s going up there). We’re renting a house just behind this division and the quality is not very good at all (Bad design, bad plumbing, so glad we didn’t buy!). The two divisions are right next to each other so I’m not sure if they were put up by the same builders or not.

[VoZangre]

Do the Zippety Doo…

if the preferable zips could be listed I reckon I’d be mos’ obliged to y’all…

Voz

[Bloat]

Might consider the Shadowridge area of Vista where I’m located. IMO Shadowridge is the only part of Vista worth looking at & beats O’side. Good Elementary (Lake) & Middle School (Madison), marginal High School (RBV). Borders with more expensive Carlsbad. Also, for commuters, two new streets have just opened up to the freeway, one near the Carlsbad Amtrak. No Mello Roos and very low HOA. San Marcos has nice areas too, but with Mello Roos and maybe too far for your liking. San Clem is very nice, but with some rough spots and much more $$$.

[SD Realtor]

I would suggest that you check out Ivey Glenn. It is not to far from Rancho Del Oro but you may find it a little bit more to your liking. I had listings in both Ivey Glenn and Rancho Del Oro this past summer and while the Rancho Del Oro got better activity, the Ivey Glenn subdivision seemed a bit more desireable to me personally. Also you may want to check out Emerald Estates.. **Disclosure I do have an active listing there** There are a few other homes for sale there as well. The homes are a bit newer there but to be honest if I would compare that to Ivey Glenn I think I like Ivey Glenn better. It is in a better location as it is right next to all of the schools.

Note in ALL of these subdivisions there is pretty strong depreciation. Also to echo other sentiment I would steer clear of Arrowood and other back gate subdivisions.

SD Realtor

[Bugs]

If you’d call a 1990s home dated then your options are going to be bit limited. I fear the stability factor is also going to be limited with a newer home – the reason they’re renting it out is because they couldn’t flip it.

Anyways, SC is in the O.C. and it is that much closer to those employment centers. You’re probably not going to see as much price movement there as you will in N. SD County. The whole reason the outlying areas are most affected by deteriorating economic conditions is because they are less desirable due to their greater distance from employment.

[arenter]

Thanks Bugs. We looked at Rancho Del Oro and while some of the homes are nice, they still felt kind of old and outdated. Are there any newer division there? Alternatively, we love San Clemente (just getting rid of that 20-minute drive past Pendleton would cut my commute to a sane level), but housing prices don’t seem to be going down at all. What do you think are the prospects there?

[Bugs]

I’d avoid renting anything up by the back gate of Camp Pendleton. Sure, those subdivisions are all nice and new but there’s a lot of gang activity in the older neighborhoods right across the street. Last year an Oceanside Police Officer was murdered in that neighborhood by a wanna-be gangsta. You are who you shop with.

The Rancho Del Oro area over by Mira Costa College is really convenient in terms of access, and there’s lots of reasonable sized homes over there. Another reasonable area is the Fire Mountain area north of the Wal-Mart center and south of Oceanside Blvd, east of I-5. If you’re commuting you don’t want to have to spend 20 minutes just to get to the train station.

[Author]

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