Serra Mesa

[mixxalot]

I want to buy a SFH in a central area fairly close to the beach but cannot afford 5-10MM for a La Jolla or Point Loma home. So looking at Serra Mesa, Claremont, Tierrasanta and La Mesa. Thoughts? I work from home so don’t have to commute to a job in San Diego. Budget 400-700K.

[livinincali]

Tiersanta as a whole would probably be considered the nicest community. It’s newer construction (i.e. 1980’s instead of 50’s and 60’s), probably has the best rated schools, lowest crime etc. It’s also probably the most expensive as a whole. La Mesa and Clairemont have pockets of nice areas and ares that are not as nice. Serra Mesa is probably most similar to Clairemont. Linda Vista which is south of Clairemont and West of Serra Mesa might be the best gamble for appreciation/value because it has a reputation of being ghetto You could see it revitalized over the next 5-10 years like North Park/Golden Hills and the central location is good.

[bearishgurl]

mixxalot, my understanding from your previous posts re: your home searches was that you needed room to park a sailboat. Is that still an issue?

And my understanding was that you didn’t have kids (correct me if I’m wrong, here) but Tierrasanta and Serra Mesa both share a HS. ALL the public schools which serve those areas are very transient, due to Serra Mesa’s huge “Lincoln” Navy housing project (fka “Cabrillo”) and Tierrasanta’s “Murphy Canyon” Navy housing project, which is among the largest in the state.

In addition, Tierrasanta was originally built in the ’70’s, with (later tracts added in the ’80’s and ’90’s). All of the buried ordinance in its hills and HOA “common areas” (from when Camp Elliot was active) has NOT been located and detonated. In addition, parts of a few of its tracts are located in designated fire-prone areas on SD County insurance maps and thus TS parcels located on them require an extra fire insurance rider or require the extra fire coverage (for out-of-area helicopters, etc) built into the cost of the policy.

TS wouldn’t be my first choice, mixxalot. Why don’t you tell us exactly what you are now looking for in a house, ie house size, lot size, location, lot configuration, temperature of area (i.e. warm, sunny, cool), etc?

[flyer]

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[mixxalot]

I put off the boat purchase for the time being since its cheaper renting from the local sailing club and I need more room. I am single and looking for 3-4 bedroom SFH 2000 square foot on large sized lot with privacy, decent sized garage and yard. Ideal location close to beach and job centers even though right now I work from home. So Oceanside/Carlsbad/Encinitas way too far for me. Would like best weather and I do know that Santee/El Cajon/La Mesa can get HOT in summer time.

At the same time, I don’t want to live in a bad ghetto area where I have to worry about my home being robbed and my car stolen.

[Essbee]

[quote=bearishgurl]…Tierrasanta and Serra Mesa both share a HS…[/quote]

No, not true. Serra Mesa goes to Kearny HS in Linda Vista.
https://www.sandiegounified.org/node/219

However, the HS for Tierrasanta is (Junipero) Serra HS, perhaps contributing to the confusion here.

[mixxalot]

So is Serra Mesa a decent area of San Diego to live and buy a home? Or is it a ghetto? I notice that Point Loma portal area on W Point Loma Blvd has been going downhill with a flood of crazy homeless people in the area.

[spdrun]

I thought Loma Portal was always a bit skelly.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=mixxalot]I put off the boat purchase for the time being since its cheaper renting from the local sailing club and I need more room. I am single and looking for 3-4 bedroom SFH 2000 square foot on large sized lot with privacy, decent sized garage and yard. Ideal location close to beach and job centers even though right now I work from home. So Oceanside/Carlsbad/Encinitas way too far for me. Would like best weather and I do know that Santee/El Cajon/La Mesa can get HOT in summer time.

At the same time, I don’t want to live in a bad ghetto area where I have to worry about my home being robbed and my car stolen.[/quote]

mixxalot, you are wanting too much for few zip codes you have listed here (92120, 92111 and 92124) all which have a dearth of inventory with the first two zip codes full of 50+ year-old one-story tracts and 92120 and the LV portion of 92111 having mostly 5K sf lots (city “standard” for SD). 2000 sf homes are more prevalent in 92124 (TS) but there are plenty of drawbacks to living there, including what I’ve previously mentioned as well as heat. If you’re going to live in heat, you may as well get exactly what you want for the same or less $$ in EC or Lakeside.

I agree with livinincali that the southern part of 92111 (Linda Vista, which has the huge Chesterton duplex-type Navy housing complex) is still fairly “affordable” but is a candidate for gentrification due to its superior location. However, the vast majority of LV’s homes are small (<1400 sf) and of the WWII era ('40's) and have been rented for decades so if one should come on the market, it wouldn't likely be in very good shape unless it had been recently rehabbed prior to sale or flipped. "Clairemont" (northern 92111) isn't likely to ever have too many listings at any one time in your price range due to it being a very stable community, and, in any case, the average size 1-story tract home there is ~1600 sf. Serra Mesa is a nice family-oriented community with a lot of public services (Y, pool, library, parks, kids sports) and its homes are built better and are generally lighter and brighter inside than early '60's Clairemont (92111/mtn st) tract homes, imho, which were thrown up in a hurry to accomodate Convair's incoming out-of-state workers. Some of Serra Mesa's subdivisions were built with red oak floors and knotty pine entryways and kitchen cabinets as opposed to carpet on slab and small, high windows in Clairemont. Serra Mesa sits up high, getting an unobstructed breeze from Mission Bay and is a bit cooler than Tierrasanta.

mixxalot, I feel the coveted parts of LM (75-90 year-old LM Village/Windsor Hill - 91941) are going to be priced well above your budget unless you can find a very heavy fixer and pay all cash for it.

As an alternative, I would suggest that you try to find a home on a double-deep lot in the flat part of LM (91941) which is closer to the 94 fwy (directly under the fwy from LG). Yes, a lot of these houses need work (avg 1500 sf) BUT having a double-deep lot would allow you to expand in the backyard and also may allow you an alley or rear-street entrance to your lot or the ability to pour or gravel a long driveway (if not there already) to store a large boat as you have previously stated you wanted to eventually slip a sailboat (an expensive proposition on the CA coast). It's much cheaper to trailer it into your property for free after a day/wknd jaunt in the water. A lot of South and East SD County residents with large lots and adequate side clearances trailer their large "toys" to the back of their lots to save a bundle on slipping. I think if you can still find a home with one of these lots at the lower end of your price and with the double-deep lot and can get an accepted offer on it, you’re not going to care if that area goes up as much as LV does because all those other areas we just discussed here don’t have lots like these. This part of LM is only 12-13 miles from the public boat launches at Shelter and Harbor Island.

I would also suggest to you 91910 (CV north/dtn (~14 mi from Shelter Island boat rentals) and 91902 (Bonita – partly annexed to CV and partly unincorporated county and ~18 mi from Shelter Island boat rentals). What you are looking for is abundant and standard in Bonita but its $600K – $700K stock (2000+ sf SFR 1950’s to 1970’s with an avg 15K sf lot) is fast disappearing. There are scattered large, flat residential lots (1/2 AC – 4 AC) in 91910 mixed with homes on smaller lots as well as plenty of corner-lot homes on 1/4 AC+ and the houses on them tend to be 40-70 years old with a good portion of them >2000 sf. The trick is to find one which is listed asking ~$700K, which likely wouldn’t be too common today, unless it is a fixer. In that case, flippers would have scooped it up by now for all cash. I live in 91910 and even though my house isn’t “flipper material” (not a fixer but ~2200 sf), I get constant mailers offering to buy my house for “all cash, ten day closing, we’ll move all your junk out that you don’t want and you just walk away with a check,” blah, blah. Some of the mailers say the individual, REIT or flipper/rehab team has dozens of buyers waiting for a family-sized home to become available in my area and they are desperate to buy single-family homes …. any homes, conditioned be damned.

There are a few pie-shaped (~1/4 AC) lots in 91910 in subdivisions with two-story houses which are only ~25 years old. These properties, if listed, would likely sell for $575K+. Unfortunately, since these lots are pie shaped, they have huge backyards but not enough clearance on either side of the house to drive a vehicle through to the backyard, and, in any case, parking a boat/RV or other toy on the front of your lot would be prohibited by the HOA.

Your plan would have been a lot more doable 3-4 years ago but even then, you still would have had to put $$ into the property before fully moving in, imho. Now, you’re just going to have to stop beating your head against a brick wall (as you have been doing in recent years) and change your preferred zip codes to 91910, 91902, 92019, 91942/92021 (Fletcher Hills) and 92040 and keep searching IF you can’t lower your square footage for your desired house and lot. You’re not likely going to find what you want in the zip codes you’ve listed here in your price range unless you’re willing to go down in dwelling size at least 400 sf or find a (costly) fixer in TS which may need (expensive) remediation before you will be able to obtain a fire insurance binder in escrow. Even if you could find a property like this, its lot may not be what you want. There ARE closer-in zip codes than what I’ve suggested here that may have perfectly decent available inventory which is exactly what you want in your price range (ex 92114, 92139, 91977 and 91945), but based upon what you posted about not wanting to live in a (perceived) “ghetto,” I feel you may not be “comfortable” living there. I have personally lived in two of those zip codes (SD) and do not feel you would be robbed, vandalized or have your vehicle stolen if you moved into one of those areas today. Just my .02.

In short, you are likely stuck with South or East SD County for what you want in your price range if you want to buy in SD County and live ~20 minutes from Harbor/Shelter Island or Mission Bay. South County is closer and also has 2 local public boat launches/docks if you ever end up buying your own boat and trailering it home.

Chin up, mixxalot! It’s much worse in western LA County/OC and there is even less available inventory there than here (in many zip codes, there are zero SFRs listed on the MLS). I just spent the weekend there, with Mother’s Day on Balboa Island, Newport Beach. Asking prices for 60++ year old homes (many with just one bath and a 1-car garage) are absolutely thru the stratosphere on the westside! Yes, even in “working class” East Costa Mesa, Buena Park, Culver City and South LA neighborhoods bordering Long Beach. If you were interested in considering East LA Co/SGV cities, what you are looking for is abundant and currently in your price range but rising fast! Again, it’s hot out there 2/3 to 3/4 of the year and 30-45 miles due east from the ocean (SM Pier). Just a suggestion since you work from home.

San Diego County is still a relative bargain by West LA/OC and Bay Area standards but hasn’t been planned as well (too many subdivisions were allowed in SD Co). This and the dearth of living-wage jobs in SD County explain its lower RE prices.

Yes, Serra Mesa may have ~2000 sf homes with (hopefully, permitted) room additions. The vast majority of them are situated on 5-6K sf lots, however, which, with a room addition built into the backyard, doesn’t afford very much lot space. This post assumes you want a >8000 sf lot.

It’s time to drill down to your absolute “requirements” or get busy exploring alternative areas … and the sooner, the better, mixxalot. A lot of prospective homebuyers in SD County have the same (unrealistic) expectations that you do and that’s why they are still tenants after 7-8 “years of buying opportunity” has now passed them by :=0

[bewildering]

I like north clairemont in 92117.

https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Diego/3528-Merrimac-Ave-92117/home/6238096

Is a little smaller than you wanted but might tick some of your other boxes. I think this area is good value for the location.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=Essbee][quote=bearishgurl]…Tierrasanta and Serra Mesa both share a HS…[/quote]

No, not true. Serra Mesa goes to Kearny HS in Linda Vista.
https://www.sandiegounified.org/node/219

However, the HS for Tierrasanta is (Junipero) Serra HS, perhaps contributing to the confusion here.[/quote]My bad, Essbee. I DO know a family residing in SM who is sending their kid to Serra but that may very well be because Kearny is on the NCLB list so they have a choice.

Essbee, you grew up in San Carlos (92119), no? Can you suggest any streets there to the OP which have ~8000 sf lots and/or lots with rear access which would likely sell for <$700K today? What about around Cowles Mtn? I'm only vaguely familiar with this area and know it a little better east of Lake Murray Blvd (bordering on LM).

[mixxalot]

Thank you bearishgurl for the great insights! I have a dumb question what do some of the acronyms mean like LM, LV, CV, and LG?

Fortunately I have time to look and find what I want in terms of location and quality construction. While having a pool and spa is nice, I’d rather have real wood floors, high end kitchen with nice granite tops and wood cabinets not the crap I see in a lot of places and nice big bathroom with a nice sunken tub! Views are important to me since I work from home and the quality of life working from home is increased by a nice office view from out the home windows! I would love to own a coastal property like La Jolla, Del Mar or Solana Beach but unless I win the Powerball that won’t happen anytime soon.

Since I am a single guy, any size between 1500-2000 square foot with big garage is fine. I live in a tiny crowded 600 square foot apartment and need room for my workshop and toys. I was just in Bonita this morning and had never been there before and was surprised at how nice it is. However, I am a pilot and do fly planes out of Montgomery and Gillespie field for fun besides sailing and scuba diving so a good strategic location as home base is important. I also want my real estate to eventually increase in value so a good growth potential is key besides living in a safe and walkable community.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=bewildering]I like north clairemont in 92117.

https://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Diego/3528-Merrimac-Ave-92117/home/6238096

Is a little smaller than you wanted but might tick some of your other boxes. I think this area is good value for the location.[/quote]

Although slightly smaller, this is the typical listing (1330 sf/no side vehicle access with quarter-turn driveway) for Clairemont 92111 as well.

It’s just breathtaking to me how much the owners of these small houses/lots are asking these days.

Thanks for sharing, bewildering.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=mixxalot]Thank you bearishgurl for the great insights! I have a dumb question what do some of the acronyms mean like LM, LV, CV, and LG?

Fortunately I have time to look and find what I want in terms of location and quality construction. While having a pool and spa is nice, I’d rather have real wood floors, high end kitchen with nice granite tops and wood cabinets not the crap I see in a lot of places and nice big bathroom with a nice sunken tub! Views are important to me since I work from home and the quality of life working from home is increased by a nice office view from out the home windows! I would love to own a coastal property like La Jolla, Del Mar or Solana Beach but unless I win the Powerball that won’t happen anytime soon.

Since I am a single guy, any size between 1500-2000 square foot with big garage is fine. I live in a tiny crowded 600 square foot apartment and need room for my workshop and toys. I was just in Bonita this morning and had never been there before and was surprised at how nice it is. However, I am a pilot and do fly planes out of Montgomery and Gillespie field for fun besides sailing and scuba diving so a good strategic location as home base is important. I also want my real estate to eventually increase in value so a good growth potential is key besides living in a safe and walkable community.[/quote]Bonita isn’t that far from Montgomery (805 to SR-163) and Gillespie Fields (SR-54 to SR-125). It’s about 20-25 minutes to both.

My study is facing my backyard which is nice to look at and where I can watch my little dog chasing neighborhood cats off “her” property all day. All you need is a decent backyard with a nice garden. A pool/spa is a PITA for a single person who is gone a lot (akin to having a pet to take care of). It’s wa-a-a-a-y cheaper to go to the gym and use their facilities.

It sounds to me from this post like you really don’t want a fixer, mixxalot. I almost sounds like you might actually want a “turnkey property” … or close to it …. a taller order if you want the big lot AND oversized 2-3 car garage.

[bearishgurl]

Lakeside would be an awesome location for your airport access, mixxalot (easy access to SR-52). It has everything you want well within your price range. Of course, it’s further from Shelter Island and hot 6-7 months year but that’s the tradeoff.

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