Home › Forums › Closed Forums › Properties or Areas › Which public schools are better: Carmel Valley or La Jolla
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June 11, 2013 at 1:56 AM #762616June 12, 2013 at 11:12 AM #762691UCGalParticipant
[quote=flyer]TO THE OP:
I think many of us would enjoy knowing where you and your family “land” in San Diego and how you like it.
Hope you enjoy the same wonderful lives many of us here have enjoyed for many years and, again, welcome!![/quote]
+1June 12, 2013 at 3:48 PM #762724DaCounselorParticipantYes I can provide the link bearishgirl, here it is:
http://api.cde.ca.gov/Acnt2012/2012GrowthSch.aspx?allcds=37683383733508
I was just following up on your representation where you posted:
“I was referring to the comments made by Piggs that because a portion of these “nonresident students” at LJHS qualified for “free or reduced-price lunches,” they must somehow be inferior in intelligence or test scores to resident-students. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth.”
The test score breakdown from the DoE shows a much lower test score for the socio-economically disadvantaged, so when you said nothing could be further from the truth I was wondering what you base that on? If you could now post your link and also the link that supports your “cream of the crop” statement that would be great – I am trying to compile data on the issue and based on what you are saying I am missing something somwhere.
June 12, 2013 at 10:54 PM #762735RhettParticipantI’m sort of curious, BearishGirl, why you care about this topic. It’s about like me chiming in about what is better – Eastlake or Bonita Vista.
June 14, 2013 at 10:28 AM #762793millennialParticipantHi Nazzy:
Not sure if you’re still checking on this blog, but I hope I can help. My family and I have just moved to La Jolla from Santa Barbara about a year ago and just recently spent a lot of research into this as our first daughter was entering Kindergarten at the time. Now after just finishing her first year (Torrey Pines Elementary), I have these insights to add.
1. Well funded = More programs- The school has a lot of fundraising events. This allowed my daughter to have a music teacher, science teacher, and computer teacher. Not sure if this is available in other San Diego Unified schools, but it was a great option.
2. Parents – The majority of the parents are well-educated and related to UCSD as reseachers/teachers/doctors. Some of the families are on visas, others are here on research grants, and others are here more permanently. At first I thought this was a negative, I was thinking it would be like Beverly Hills 90210 and the kids would be made up of the upper echelon, but I think I would rather have this now. The parents are very supportive and come in weekly to teach the kids about their profession (ie. one mathmetician parent taught the kids Fibonacci series). In addition, having a makeup of parents whose lives are devoted to science and academia doesn’t hurt.
3. Diversity – Because of the student makeup, her class had 5-8 different nationalities and languages. She was able to play with kids who spoke French, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew and Indian. Personally I enjoy this, as everyone had different backgrounds and pot luck parties were fun and interesting.
4. API Scores – I guess scores don’t hurt, I believe TPES’s was 990 which placed them somewhere in the top 20 elementary schools in California.
5. Class Size and Makeup – I thought the class size was perfect, not too big not too small (around 16 kids). In terms of demographics, I would say it was around 20% asian, 20% african american/hispanic, and 60% caucasian. Asian parents were predominately researchers from Korea/Japan and a couple local professionals (which I am), caucasian parents were mixed with local researchers/doctors and some from abroad, and the hispanics/african americans were local too (not bussed in as someone was saying). In terms of socioeconomic I think it’s varied. I would say that none of the parents were in the top 1%, but I don’t think anyone was really hurting too. I think the majority lived around the area we do (UTC/La Jolla Village area) and rent or own a condo. In terms of median household income, I would say most were > $150K/yr < $600K/yr (with the exception of the researchers from abroad, since many were single income households). 6. Nice house = Big $$ - When we moved here our idea was to rent first, figure out the area and buy later. Unfortunately, now we are currently priced out of the market based on our needs and wants. We are currently looking around the same price range as you are, and like someone else alluded to, SFR in that price range will get you a 1,200 sq ft fixer upper, or a condo. In addition, as someone else mentioned, most affluent homeowners in the area send their kids to private schools (eg. La Jolla Country Day) and your kids will probably not be playing, or going to the same schools as the kids on the block. So right now we are looking at Carmel Valley and Scripps Ranch; hoping to find the 2,500 sf+ house of our dreams with a good education system. Unfortunately it's a little farther from the coast than we would like and a little cookie cutter, but at least I don't have the 45 minute-1 hour commute from Temecula and Poway like some cooworkers. If you would like to discuss further feel free to shoot me an e-mail.
June 15, 2013 at 9:21 PM #762823earlyretirementParticipant[quote=yamashi1]Hi Nazzy:
Not sure if you’re still checking on this blog, but I hope I can help. My family and I have just moved to La Jolla from Santa Barbara about a year ago and just recently spent a lot of research into this as our first daughter was entering Kindergarten at the time. Now after just finishing her first year (Torrey Pines Elementary), I have these insights to add.
1. Well funded = More programs- The school has a lot of fundraising events. This allowed my daughter to have a music teacher, science teacher, and computer teacher. Not sure if this is available in other San Diego Unified schools, but it was a great option.
2. Parents – The majority of the parents are well-educated and related to UCSD as reseachers/teachers/doctors. Some of the families are on visas, others are here on research grants, and others are here more permanently. At first I thought this was a negative, I was thinking it would be like Beverly Hills 90210 and the kids would be made up of the upper echelon, but I think I would rather have this now. The parents are very supportive and come in weekly to teach the kids about their profession (ie. one mathmetician parent taught the kids Fibonacci series). In addition, having a makeup of parents whose lives are devoted to science and academia doesn’t hurt.
3. Diversity – Because of the student makeup, her class had 5-8 different nationalities and languages. She was able to play with kids who spoke French, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew and Indian. Personally I enjoy this, as everyone had different backgrounds and pot luck parties were fun and interesting.
4. API Scores – I guess scores don’t hurt, I believe TPES’s was 990 which placed them somewhere in the top 20 elementary schools in California.
5. Class Size and Makeup – I thought the class size was perfect, not too big not too small (around 16 kids). In terms of demographics, I would say it was around 20% asian, 20% african american/hispanic, and 60% caucasian. Asian parents were predominately researchers from Korea/Japan and a couple local professionals (which I am), caucasian parents were mixed with local researchers/doctors and some from abroad, and the hispanics/african americans were local too (not bussed in as someone was saying). In terms of socioeconomic I think it’s varied. I would say that none of the parents were in the top 1%, but I don’t think anyone was really hurting too. I think the majority lived around the area we do (UTC/La Jolla Village area) and rent or own a condo. In terms of median household income, I would say most were > $150K/yr < $600K/yr (with the exception of the researchers from abroad, since many were single income households). 6. Nice house = Big $$ - When we moved here our idea was to rent first, figure out the area and buy later. Unfortunately, now we are currently priced out of the market based on our needs and wants. We are currently looking around the same price range as you are, and like someone else alluded to, SFR in that price range will get you a 1,200 sq ft fixer upper, or a condo. In addition, as someone else mentioned, most affluent homeowners in the area send their kids to private schools (eg. La Jolla Country Day) and your kids will probably not be playing, or going to the same schools as the kids on the block. So right now we are looking at Carmel Valley and Scripps Ranch; hoping to find the 2,500 sf+ house of our dreams with a good education system. Unfortunately it's a little farther from the coast than we would like and a little cookie cutter, but at least I don't have the 45 minute-1 hour commute from Temecula and Poway like some cooworkers. If you would like to discuss further feel free to shoot me an e-mail.[/quote] Yamashi, Thanks so much for posting about your personal experiences. I think that is the BEST and MOST informative way to keep abreast of things is current information from actual parents with kids in the school system there. I think there are some great points made. Especially about the fundraising events. I also posted about this before on this and other forums. Many of the schools in the PUSD have parents that contribute directly to the schools. Our daughter went to preschool last year at a PUSD school and we saw first hand just how much parents contributed. Often times, the school would send a list of items in the classroom they needed or were low on. By the following week, they would be fully stocked on most items they asked about. I think this is great and really goes a long way. I'm not sure how much of this is done in other school districts. Our daughter went to a PUSD school this year as well and when they needed ipads for the class, they only had money for one and the parents put money together to buy more. As well they have fundraisers throughout the year at most of these schools that seems like it raises quite a bit of money to use for aids and other employees. Parent Participation: Another good point is parent participation. I think this makes a HUGE difference in how the schools do. There were so many parents that volunteered to help out. An eye opener was going to the Tb skin testing for the PUSD. (Parents that want to volunteer have to do a Tb Skin test). Wow, they had to have tons of employees helping out with reading the tests and there were LONG lines. There were so many parents that volunteer to help and stay so very involved with the schools. It's great! Diversity: Last year at our daughter's class, white kids were the clear minority in her class. They had 2 black kids, MANY Asian or Indian or biracial kids of Asian descent. There were a few Mexican/Hispanics as well. It was GREAT for our daughter to be around so many different cultures and ethic backgrounds. This year at another PUSD school in a more affluent area the kids are mostly white kids but several Asian kids as well. I was surprised to hear the class sizes are good at your school. That's great! 16 kids per teacher is VERY GOOD. At the Kindergarten classes at her school it's more like 26 kids per teacher! Granted the classes have room moms and assistants but wow that is a big difference! Housing prices: We looked all over the place. Originally we thought we'd buy a place in La Jolla. But it was impossible to find something big enough that we liked. We could have gone up with our comfort zone to buy in La Jolla but ultimately we are VERY happy to buy where we did. In La Jolla most of the places were VERY dated and would have involved extensive renovations. We looked at many houses in Carmel Valley as well and we did see some nice places but ultimately we bought in Santaluz which we are THRILLED about. If you are looking at the Carmel Valley and Scripps Ranch you might want to also check out Santaluz. Prices are on the move up and things are going quickly but I MUCH preferred it over Carmel Valley as far as the communities, housing and just the general community. If your budget is $1.2 million you can still get a nice house here now. This just sold: http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Diego/7575-Delfina-92127/home/6482881
You mentioned 2,500 sq. feet. This was is 2,958 sq. feet and I believe is going for around $915,000 (it's in Escrow now). It went into escrow within days of being listed.
Here is one slightly over your price range.
http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Diego/14422-Caminito-Lazanja-92127/home/6462570
It went into escrow within 12 hours of being listed. You probably don't need anything that big but you can see it's a gorgeous house with 5 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms. Good sized yard, nice interior courtyard and gorgeous community.
Here is one that sold a few months ago for $906,000 a few short months ago and it was over 3,500 sq. feet.
http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Diego/14418-Caminito-Lazanja-92127/home/6462575
We looked at many homes over in Carmel Valley and all were over $1 million and many of them had like 4 or 5 houses directly looking into their backyard.
There seems to be more and more houses hitting the market now that inventory is so low and prices are on the rise.
There ARE Mello Roos taxes over here but quite honestly even with them we felt it was well worth it. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. At that $1.2 million or so range, I just feel it's GREAT value for the money compared to many other areas.
June 16, 2013 at 12:50 AM #762825zkParticipant[quote=earlyretirement]
There ARE Mello Roos taxes over here but quite honestly even with them we felt it was well worth it. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. At that $1.2 million or so range, I just feel it’s GREAT value for the money compared to many other areas.[/quote]Nazzy,
I can’t speak to much about Santa Luz besides the weather. The weather there is really hard to beat. Less marine layer than the coast and not as hot as Scripps Ranch. Although Scripps Ranch really isn’t that hot.
earlyretirement,
We looked in Santa Luz, and we liked it. But we thought that the HOA fees were out of line with what you got for them. Quite possibly we overlooked something. Can you shed some light on what that $440/mo gets you? Or where it goes? Thanks.
June 16, 2013 at 2:42 AM #762826ocrenterParticipant[quote=zk][quote=earlyretirement]
There ARE Mello Roos taxes over here but quite honestly even with them we felt it was well worth it. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. At that $1.2 million or so range, I just feel it’s GREAT value for the money compared to many other areas.[/quote]Nazzy,
I can’t speak to much about Santa Luz besides the weather. The weather there is really hard to beat. Less marine layer than the coast and not as hot as Scripps Ranch. Although Scripps Ranch really isn’t that hot.
earlyretirement,
We looked in Santa Luz, and we liked it. But we thought that the HOA fees were out of line with what you got for them. Quite possibly we overlooked something. Can you shed some light on what that $440/mo gets you? Or where it goes? Thanks.[/quote]
what’s not to like about santaluz? except for the $1k HOA/MR monthly. but of course, that does keep the riff-raff out :).
my colleagues who have been long time residents of Scripps Ranch would never consider themselves “inland,” they actually think they are coastal. They do have a point, as most of SR is above 600 feet in elevation with the coastal breeze coming through completely unobstructed. Stonebridge is more “inland” but then it gets to 1000 feet in elevation, so the “coastal feel” continues. Don’t get fooled by the “east of I-15” location of SR/SB, the elevation makes up for it.
June 16, 2013 at 10:41 AM #762829earlyretirementParticipant[quote=ocrenter][quote=zk][quote=earlyretirement]
There ARE Mello Roos taxes over here but quite honestly even with them we felt it was well worth it. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. At that $1.2 million or so range, I just feel it’s GREAT value for the money compared to many other areas.[/quote]Nazzy,
I can’t speak to much about Santa Luz besides the weather. The weather there is really hard to beat. Less marine layer than the coast and not as hot as Scripps Ranch. Although Scripps Ranch really isn’t that hot.
earlyretirement,
We looked in Santa Luz, and we liked it. But we thought that the HOA fees were out of line with what you got for them. Quite possibly we overlooked something. Can you shed some light on what that $440/mo gets you? Or where it goes? Thanks.[/quote]
what’s not to like about santaluz? except for the $1k HOA/MR monthly. but of course, that does keep the riff-raff out :).
my colleagues who have been long time residents of Scripps Ranch would never consider themselves “inland,” they actually think they are coastal. They do have a point, as most of SR is above 600 feet in elevation with the coastal breeze coming through completely unobstructed. Stonebridge is more “inland” but then it gets to 1000 feet in elevation, so the “coastal feel” continues. Don’t get fooled by the “east of I-15” location of SR/SB, the elevation makes up for it.[/quote]
Hi zk & ocrenter,
I 100% totally agree with you on the weather. It’s AMAZING!! This was one of those things that we didn’t even think about as a benefit when we bought where we did vs. La Jolla, Del Mar or some other areas like further inland in Carmel Valley.
It’s just unbeatable, IMHO. Not just in the morning/early afternoon before the marine layer burns off (if it does at all), at night as well or dusk you can also see the difference looking West towards the ocean. It’s just amazing here and doesn’t get too hot and you have constant breezes from the ocean being just 5 or 6 miles from the ocean.
zk, I actually think the HOA fees here are VERY reasonable for everything that you get. For example, I’m not sure why but most realtors don’t explain to buyers that the HOA fees include garbage pick up, high speed-Internet access (I get 30 MB download speeds all throughout my house, digital cable with one converter box. It includes the guard gated 24/7 security, the roving security patrols and of course all the maintenance and landscaping to maintain the 3,800 acres out here.
People often forget about the high speed internet and cable and garbage pick up. You can’t forget to back out these expenses. When you do, it’s quite reasonable, IMHO. I own several other properties where they don’t include these things nor have the guard gated community and it’s much more. Plus they don’t maintain the grounds anywhere near what Santaluz does. They take immaculate care of the grounds.
As to your question where the rest of this money goes, they are VERY transparent here and very well managed. Trust me. I’ve purchased literally hundreds of properties over the years. So I’ve seen how many HOA’s are run. They are extremely organized here. I’ve never lived in a community where my HOA fees went DOWN 2 years in a row. Well here in Santaluz since I’ve purchased, both of the past 2 years the HOA fees have been reduced.
They are always looking for ways to save money here. Communication is excellent with the owners and the property management team is great. Anytime I need anything I call or email and have an answer that same day typically within hours instead of days like other properties where I’ve bought or currently own.
As mentioned, they keep the entire development extremely well maintained. They spend over $1 million a year just maintaining the grounds which they do an immaculate job of. As well the security here is VERY good. I’ve done tons of renovations on my house since I bought so I had a constant stream of contractors and workers and they are very good about not letting in anyone that is NOT on the list. They have a great system where you can either call, fax or enter guests name on a website.
As well they are VERY smart about how they set up things. There is a purpose for everything. For example, the HOA fees include gate access stickers so the gate automatically opens. Well for those deadbeats that get behind on their HOA fees, they will deactivate the tickets so they have to manually go through the security guard (“drive of shame” type of thing). Plus they will turn off the Internet and Cable in your house. So delinquency rates stay VERY low. Everything is well thought out to protect the homeowners which I appreciated.
As far as the Mello Roos, sure that isn’t fun paying it but many other communities have them in the area (Del Sur, 4S Ranch, parts of Carmel Valley). I was NOT a fan of paying them but quite honestly it was well worth it for me to pay it to buy here. Plus, you can prepay off the Mello Roos here and not have to worry about it. We pre-paid ours off at around $61,000. (Even if you add on that pay off quote of CFD taxes, it still easily beats the value for the money in other areas like Carmel Valley, IMHO…. the housing stock is MUCH nicer overall and higher quality with many owners putting in six figures in upgrades in the homes).
I’ve owned properties in other upscale neighborhoods/communities/developments in several countries and NONE of them compare to where we live now. I’ve bought a lot of real estate but I consider this by far the best purchase I ever made. We absolutely LOVE our decision to buy here and raise our kids here.
As well, there is a big sense of community here that I’ve not experienced anywhere else. In a lot of affluent communities people just keep to themselves for the most part. Here our first year living here not having met any of our neighbors, they ALL bought us Christmas gifts. I was blown away! We have annual block parties and several events throughout the year.
There are young kids EVERYWHERE! They originally designed this community for empty nesters but so many families with young kids moved in. Now about 50% of the residents have kids under 14.
The developers were geniuses with how they developed and planned this community. I have NO skin in the game or care where you buy. I’m not selling my house and probably never will. I’m NOT a realtor either. I’m just mentioning this because you sound similar to us with your search and I think you should at least check out the community before you plop down over $1 million on a house somewhere else. I’m telling you the type of stuff that I’d want to hear as a homeowner that was going to sink down that kind of money on a house.
I’ve been going to La Jolla on vacations with my family since I was a kid. Many decades and I never imagined I would live in North County. But I can tell you I absolutely am thrilled with my decision to buy here.
Many people that have lived in San Diego all their lives have never been out here. That’s why I’m mentioning it as an option.
Check out these videos: http://www.santaluz.com/Video
Take the time to actually watch those 4 videos. As cheesy as some of them come off, honestly, I have the same opinion as those homeowners. I have almost the SAME feeling as what most of them say in the videos. Things like “every time I drive through those gates I’m happy to be home”…kind of thing. Really you do get that sense. This is easily the best place I’ve ever lived.
I honestly believe this is the best value for the money on house prices here at Santaluz compared to almost all the other affluent communities in the San Diego area. And a community like this will never be duplicated in Southern California again. In the next few decades I truly believe these developers that created Santaluz will be hailed as geniuses for planning the community the way they did.
Like I said, feel free to PM me if you have any questions or even if you want to have a coffee I’d be more than happy to share my experiences with you.
You will find people here EXTREMELY open and friendly. I was truly amazed by this. We have made SO MANY great friends here in our community. We have met so many families with kids our children’s ages.
For me, I knew I wouldn’t have a hard time making new friends as I’m very social and open. My wife is the opposite as she is very private and a bit shy. But I joke she has more friends living here for 2 years than she had in the last city we lived for 8 years. She made TONS of friends here. The quality of people living here in the community is truly amazing.
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