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bearishgurl
Participant[quote=FlyerInHi]I personally would live by the freeway in a modern condo/apartment building with double pane windows and central air. A good apartment by the freeway, shopping, restaurants can be very convenient.
A house by the freeway would be annoying. What’s the point of a backyard if you can’t use it? I would also avoid backing up to a busy road.
A house on the hill overlooking a freeway would be doable. I would design it like a large apartment in a high rise to take advantage of the view, with good sound insulated windows.[/quote]
Understand, FlyerInHi. But would you offer “market price” for such a house or condo … or would you discount your offer based upon the doctrine of “economic obsolescence?”
Participant[quote=flyer]I’m sorry to see this has turned into such a negative discussion, but the OP did ask our opinions about living in a particular location. I gave various reasons why I would not live in a particular location (even though my intention was not to offend), and others have given reasons they would.
I think it’s pretty safe to say many of us will never agree on this topic, but at least we’ve given the OP much food for thought. I just hope all of this helps him or her make a good decision, based upon his or her particular needs.[/quote]
Actually, flyer, it was not my intention to turn this into a negative discussion. I’m aware that AN is naturally argumentative and I’ve heard the term “Chula Juana” for the last 40 years. Carry on. It doesn’t bother me a bit as I live amid million-dollar estates of up to 4 AC, right in the heart of Chula Juana. Let’s see if I have that last part spelled correctly … J-U-A-N-A, (rhyming with Tijuana), LOL ….
While select ignorant North City and North County residents put us down, our kids will keep winning nationwide academic decathlons and graduating dozens of IB Diploma candidates and a few Rhodes scholars every year and scoring among the top schools in the region on the STAR and CAHSEE testing. No one can take that away from them. AND, our school districts are not in danger of going bankrupt. Stick that in your hat, folks.
Sorry, but the SD North County schools aren’t the be-all and end-all. The PUSD is not the only game in SD County to buy into for families with school-age children. In fact, it is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. You must know that there IS life outside of North County and North City SD. I just wanted to put that out there.
And I just wanted to educate on the meaning of economic obsolescence and the fact of Revenue and Taxation Code section 2270 et seq on CA’s books. I don’t look at RE the way a lot of today’s buyers and sellers do. I look at it through the lens of owners’ rights and obligations and marketability as these doctrines apply to a particular property.
My posts had nothing to do with my “feelings” but everything to do with how the world works. It doesn’t matter if you are able to sleep like a rock with the SR-52 whirring by your home 24/7 and Miramar planes gunning overhead 16 hrs per day. Folks can take my posts for the info they provide or leave them at their peril. There is no cure for economic obsolescence.
Participant[quote=zk][quote=bearishgurl]flyer is right. Wise buyers who make “tradeoffs” because they can’t and won’t tolerate living near a freeway downgrade in size of home they will accept in order to be able to get accepted offers on homes which will never be affected by freeway noise and the additional traffic and air pollution it generates to the surrounding area (especially near its entrances and exits). These homes, more often than not, will NOT be new construction but will be in long-established areas. It has nothing to do with being “rich” as freeway construction occurs in areas of all socioeconomic levels. It has to do with being a smart buyer and buying right … at the right time (if possible) and certainly in as good of an area as the buyer can afford.[/quote]Wise buyers? Really? You guys say you understand the tradeoff thing, and then proceed to demonstrate that you don’t. Some people may only be able to afford that school district near a freeway, regardless of home size. Some people may have 6 kids and need the bigger house and can’t afford one not near a freeway. Some people might care more about a yard for their kids than noise and pollution, and can’t afford a big yard not near a freeway in that schoold district. Etcetera. Everybody has their own priorities, and for many, living near a freeway gets them something they otherwise wouldn’t have gotten. You not agreeing with their priorities does not make them unwise buyers. And, of course it has to do with “rich.” If you’re rich, you don’t have to make any of these tradeoffs.[/quote]
zk, almost every single one of your sentences (above) has the words “school district” in it. You must know that individual school performance varies widely in a single school district. In addition, “preferred school district” is highly subjective to a homebuyer. My youngest just graduated from a “top 3” Sweetwater school (it may currently be the top ONE but the top 3 are always in very close competition with one another) whose class of 2014 had 48 graduates who stood on the stage in June to receive their IB Diplomas. (I erred here when I previously stated there were 43 candidates):
http://piggington.com/ot_teacher_tenure_ruled_unconstitutional_ca#comment-244256
. . . I was reviewing the program at the time of making that post but all of them weren’t listed there.) Can you name any other local HS’s you are aware of which can top that? How about in micro-areas you are familiar with where the average home recently sold for ~$1M?? A typical ~2400 sf home costs ~$100K+ less in the attendance area of this SUHSD school than ~2400 sf homes in most of the PUSD, has an average lot size of 14K sf and only one side of two streets (abt 35 backyards) border SR-54 and one side of one street (abt 30 backyards) have (distant) fwy noise (from the toll SR-125 connector extension to the Otay border crossing). This is out of approx 5300 total single-family housing units. However, this area is but a microcosm of the entire county. There are many South, East and North County areas as well as SD central areas in which the vast majority of their single-family housing stock is not affected by freeway noise. I don’t buy the “tradeoff” argument. SD County homebuyers have always had many choices and do not have to buy a home exposed to incessant freeway noise.
I go on … and on, listing examples located all over the county of MANY EXCELLENT school attendance areas which are free from nearly free from freeway noise. The truth is that the sun does not rise and set on the PUSD. The reality is that the PUSD is going to be forced into BK at some point in the (near?) future (or will it wait until 2033-34, when the ball drops??) solely due to its p!ss poor (and hopefully, past) leadership. This doesn’t bode well for future home values there, because Cal Taxation Code section 2270 et seq provides for an increase in property taxes which could ostensibly be used to keep a bankrupt school district running.
See: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=rtc&group=02001-03000&file=2270-2280.1
[quote=AN]Very well said zk. I agree 100%. I can understand it coming from flyer, since he can afford almost any house in San Diego, so it’s a little hard for him to understand. However, it’s hilarious coming from bearishgurl. She lives in an area that screams tradeoff.[/quote]
AN, ~35 years ago, I would have said that homebuyers were making the tradeoff from cooler weather to heat in order to buy new or newer construction in MM. Now it seems that they are trading off cooler weather to heat AND massive congestion over same-priced areas within SD, South and East County with a lot more breathing room (and parking space) in favor of living in MM (most of which is no longer “newer”) to live nearer to specific job centers. I WOULD refer to MM as M***** Mesa (as San Diegans have commonly referred to it for decades), but I’m trying to keep it classy here. FWIW, one CAN still buy an “old” house in MM (~40 yrs old). Break out your neck brace, ceiling scraper and goggles, folks, they DO exist up there … even with “glitter” mixed in the acoustical ceilings, lol ….
Given its propensity for heat combined with today’s massive congestion there, MM, to me, absolutely screams “tradeoff.”
And uh, zk, the “rich” don’t typically buy tract homes located in CA subdivisions for their personal residences. They buy custom homes (or heavily remodeled former “tract” homes) far, far away from any possible freeway noise.
I’m with flyer in that I would never purchase a property near a freeway, especially one which was subject to unrelenting freeway noise 24/7. If a property owner can’t have any peace living in his own property (or his/her tenants can’t have it and thus keep turning over), then what is the point of owning or renting the property? The size of the house doesn’t matter because the price to live there will always be too high. That price is the act of giving up daily peace and tranquility. Yes, it’s a personal preference but it is also a fact that properties with freeway noise have a built-in “economic obsolescence” that cannot be cured and this is a salability issue.
http://www.allbusiness.com/glossaries/economic-obsolescence/4964089-1.html
The affected property may have not had this issue when it was built but over the years/decades acquired it due to later nearby freeway, underpass, overpass or ramp construction. At one point when the freeway construction was nearly underway, an owner may have gotten compensated by the govm’t for that economic obsolescence but that does nothing for subsequent owners. Therefore, in my mind, there is no reason to purchase a property for residential purposes which has this problem (even for an investment).
ParticipantI think hoarding is a form of OCD. I know people who hoard stuff that they got mostly “free” or nearly “free” from taking stuff someone else sat on the curb and “marked” free on, taking stuff for free (or buying from a garage sale) items other people wanted to get off their own property. Obviously, the hoarders are never going to do anything with these items and only took them because they were offered to them for free. I even know someone who has purchased every single vehicle he ever owned (and was “totaled”) back from the insurance co for salvage (for hundreds), even though he had neither the skills nor the resources to fix them to be roadworthy. And he’s in his 60’s …. Needless to say, these people’s houses, garages and lots look like a junkyard and are very difficult to navigate.
I could never live with a junk hoarder and the ones whom I know have lost all credibility with me over the years. I personally think they’re wacky.
Hoarding food is another story and is fairly common with the 80+ yo set (who may have experienced deprivation during the great recession). The problem is that most of it gets severe freezer burn or expires long before they can possibly use it. I feel sorry for their heirs who will eventually have to take a month off work and rent a 32 ft+ rollaway to clean out their homes after they pass away.
Hoarding has gotten a lot more common in the past 30 years or so since so many goods sold in the US are imported from Asia cheaply and sold in the US cheaply, causing Joe and Suzy 6P to completely fill up their garages with junk within just 3 years of buying their first home. Easy come … easy go. Most people don’t keep many things anymore …they just dump them and buy all new stuff at the new destination if they move long distance due to the high cost of storing it and moving it … that is, unless the military or DOD is moving them … and even then the member/employee has a strict weight limit according to rank.
ParticipantHi CAR, I went back Wed to have it checked and the dr told me to use Aquaphor on it to keep it from drying out because it needed more time to heal. It is still dark. No cancer, but I wish mosquitoes didn’t love me so much. I came back from a recent road trip with dozens of bites because I wasn’t able to purchase any repellent (small towns I was in were sold out)! I now have it stored it in the car and will leave for another road trip next month armed with 3 different kinds of repellent. Summer is going great but I wish I didn’t have so much work to do and more time to spend working on my house!
Participant[quote=zk][quote=flyer] “Why would anyone want to live close to any freeway–regardless of convenience?” [/quote]
They’re not rich like you, big guy. When most people shop for a home, they have to make tradeoffs. They can’t afford a big house with a big yard and a view in a quiet neighborhood in the best school district. Each of those things comes at a price. They can’t afford all of them, so they have to give something or some things up. For some of them, the tradeoff is noise. They give up quiet and get something else that they otherwise couldn’t afford.[/quote]
In real estate parlance, a freeway running in close proximity to a residential housing development creates “economic obsolescence.” That in itself devalues all residential development which will be affected by a prospective freeway’s “tire whir” (depending on elevation of development) up to 1.5 mi away, or worse, berm and elevated road vibration at all hours of the day and night due to heavy truck traffic. This happens in developments of ALL price ranges. Since San Diego County has essentially run out of land to build subdivisions at least 15 years ago in desirable locations, today’s developers are building on whatever scraps of land they have been able to scare up in recent years or quietly take it off the hands of developers, a section at a time, who may have been holding it but left the region. Anyone (developers and prospective homebuyers alike) can find out about a planned freeway route in a particular locale by visiting their nearest CalTrans office:
It’s across the street now from where it was for decades:
http://www.clarkconstruction.com/our-work/projects/caltrans-district-11-headquarters
In addition, many planned freeway routes and new exchanges, bridges, etc, are displayed on the wall at the County Planning Dept up to 15 years before they actually come to fruition:
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/pds/
If county roads will need to be rerouted, lengthened or shortened because of impending fwy construction, maps of the new fwy route will be displayed on the wall along with their proposed adjacent projects (or they will have available handouts for the public) at County Public Works:
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/dpw/
Since a prospective nearby freeway, interchange or overpass, etc is not something developers legally must disclose, prospective homebuyers considering buying into a particular new development would do well to do their homework on this issue PRIOR to visiting the developer’s sales office.
There has never been any excuse to buy into a residential development and then later be surprised to hear of a new nearby fwy or fwy overpass, underpass, interchange, or a new nearby entrance or exit or both. The information has always been out there.
flyer is right. Wise buyers who make “tradeoffs” because they can’t and won’t tolerate living near a freeway downgrade in size of home they will accept in order to be able to get accepted offers on homes which will never be affected by freeway noise and the additional traffic and air pollution it generates to the surrounding area (especially near its entrances and exits). These homes, more often than not, will NOT be new construction but will be in long-established areas. It has nothing to do with being “rich” as freeway construction occurs in areas of all socioeconomic levels. It has to do with being a smart buyer and buying right … at the right time (if possible) and certainly in as good of an area as the buyer can afford.
ParticipantFederal officials and water administrators in metro areas such as Las Vegas and Phoenix say they’re committed to finding new ways to make every drop of river water count – from cloud seeding to pipelines to new reservoirs to desalination plants.
They point to agreements to leave surpluses unused in wet years, share pain in dry years and buy water designated for farms for city use.
But they’re all watching Lake Mead, the biggest in a Colorado River basin that supplies water to California, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and part of Mexico. The states get annual allotments dating to the Colorado River Compact of 1922.
Over the years, the amount hasn’t kept pace with a post-World War II development boom in the Southwest, and pressure has increased with drought gripping the region for almost 15 years.
The effect of increased demand and diminished supply is visible on Lake Mead’s canyon walls. A white mineral band often compared with a bathtub ring marks the depleted water level.
The lake is expected to drop to 1,080 feet above sea level this year – down almost the width of a football field from a high of 1,225 feet in 1983. A projected level of 1,075 feet in January 2016 would trigger cuts in water deliveries to Arizona and Nevada.
At 1,000 feet, drinking water intakes would go dry to Las Vegas, a city of 2 million residents and a destination for 40 million tourists per year that is almost completely dependent on the reservoir.
That has the Southern Nevada Water Authority spending more than $800 million to build a 20-foot-diameter pipe so it can keep getting water.The region is also stressing water conservation, prohibiting grass lawns for new homes and fountains at businesses. Officials say the overall effort has reduced consumption 33 percent in recent years while the Las Vegas area added 400,000 residents.
But severely restricting water use for swimming pools or lawns in a city like Phoenix wouldn’t make much difference, said Kathryn Sorensen, the city’s Water Services Department director, because conservation efforts need to be applied across the western U.S.
“The solution can’t come just from municipal conservation; there isn’t enough water there,” she said.
If cuts do come, they’ll test the agreements forged in recent years between big, growing cities and farmers.
In California, home to 38 million residents, farmers in the sparsely populated Imperial Valley in southeast California have senior water rights ensuring that they get water regardless of the condition.
Kevin Kelley, general manager of the Imperial Irrigation District, defends his agency’s position at the head of the line and dismisses the idea that water should go to those who can pay the most or make the most compelling economic argument.
Imperial Valley farmers grow some 200 crops, Kelley said, from alfalfa to cotton and celery to zucchini. “There has to be a place in a diverse economy and a diverse Southwest for a place like this that grows food and fiber year-round,” he said.
In Arizona, reduced deliveries of Colorado River water would largely affect the Central Arizona Project, which manages canals supplying 80 percent of the state’s population. A tiered system means farmers would face cuts first, shielding Native American tribes and big cities.
Bagnall, who owns Morningstar Farms in Coolidge, Arizona, worries about the future of farming in the region. Tighter supplies mean there will be less farming and fewer dollars going to agricultural services like fertilizer suppliers.
“Eventually,” he said, “the prices are going to hit the consumer. Sooner or later, it’s got to go up. So it’s just a domino effect.”
Just saw this and was shocked at the current water levels at Lake Mead, having had a close relative who lived in Boulder City and having waterskied on it myself for years. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Yeah, it’s scary, especially since Cali cannot possibly build desalination plants fast enough in advance of need (assuming they are already “in the pipeline”).
The Colo rockies actually had a banner year for runoff, leading to a horrible mosquito problem from the western slope to the front range and beyond to the plains (Weld County, where the mosquitos are actually worse than anywhere). The runoff from the highest peaks is causing some mountain streams and rivers to bulge. I just got back from there a couple of weeks ago where I was bitten dozens of times through repellent and also through my clothing. Hopefully, Colo’s banner snowfall for winter 2013/14 will stave off Lake Mead from getting below the 1000 feet level in the near future.
This phenomenon doesn’t bode well for many (grossly overbuilt) CA counties’ continuing water supplies.
Participant[quote=nla][quote=bearishgurl]
FYI folks: SDSU rec’d ~78K freshman and transfer apps for fall 2014 and only admitted ~7700 (<10%).
[/quote]SDSU’s acceptance rate is way higher than 10%. Not even UCLA/Berkeley has that acceptance rate.
The 7700 figure that you quoted are the total number of students that will enroll out of the admitted students. Not all admitted students will enroll. The yield rate (enrolled/admitted) for SDSU is pretty low. Last year there are 50K+ applied, 20K+ accepted but only 3.6K enrolled as freshmen. The figure for Fall 2014 s/b not be that far off from last year.
http://www.calstate.edu/as/stat_reports/2013-2014/apps_f2013_all.htm
[/quote]Thanks for that report, nla (although it doesn’t print correctly for me). Yes, my bad. You are correct. ~7700 is the total number of accepted undergraduates who will enroll at SDSU for Fall 2014. 78K undergrad applications for Fall 2014 is a record number for SDSU!
nla, isn’t your student a 2014 graduate of a Sweetwater school? What are you hearing from Compact for Success-eligible students and parents who applied to SDSU but were rejected after satisfying all the terms of their compact by the end of their junior year? I’ve heard from several of my kid’s friends and/or their parent as well as several parents at the gym that their compact-eligible seniors were turned down for freshman admission to SDSU. Not only for fall 2014 but for the last three academic years.
My own 2014 graduate was rejected for admission to SDSU, was compact-eligible and declared a major. In our case, SDSU was not my kid’s 1st or even 2nd choice school so it turned out okay. But what about all those Sweetwater graduates whose parents can’t afford housing in another county?
Keep in mind that Compact-eligible students being accepted on that premise to SDSU must have attended grades 7 through 12 in the Sweetwater District (submit a senior transcript from same district as a condition of their eventual matriculation into SDSU after admission and acceptance).
I’m just failing to see what all the brouhaha was about when all the parents were invited to an awards assembly at the end of junior year and ~300 “compact eligible” juniors came up on stage to get their “Guaranteed Admission” certificates to SDSU. What’s the point of all this if SDSU has no intention in honoring but a small percentage of them??
In addition, I’ve had neighbors who were having trouble getting into SDSU/UCSD from CC after successfully satisfying all of their GE’s (60 units) for university admission as a junior. There are currently two that I’m aware of still living at home and I have to check to see if they finally got into SDSU/UCSD for fall 2014. One of them has taken two years off to work so far waiting to get admitted to a local public university. It’s tough these days for a college student who can’t afford to pay for housing and won’t take out a student loan.
This is another reason why I preferred my kids didn’t start college at CC. Once admitted to a university as a freshman, the student is allowed to stay and continue as long as they keep their grades up. For a solid “B” student, getting admitted to university in CA is more than half the battle. If I’m to “go away” to hole myself up in the mtns in “retirement,” I would rather do that knowing my kid is already enrolled in a school they can get a Bachelor degree from. If they want to later apply to transfer to another CSU as a junior, more power to them! But if they get turned down for admission again, they can stay. No harm done.
Severe impaction of degree programs at the CSUs makes it a jungle out there, folks, and you and your student will need to spray on more and more bug repellant as the years roll by. GOOD LUCK to all Pigg parents and their students!
Participant[quote=scaredyclassic][quote=CA renter]…It sucks that some of us sound like Debbie Downers, but it’s this sort of gut-wrenching truth that can (hopefully) help people make fully informed decisions.[/quote]yeah, donald downers too. it’s not just women who can be downers. guys can be downers…
this would freak me out. i would not expect anyone to be happier post move than premove, and if he’s unhappy now, it’s not inconceivable he’ll b e unhappier later. maybe the problem isn’t the location, he reasons later, once he’s in the new location and finds himself no happier, maybe it’s this woman. then you’re the one trapped, just like he was “trapped” in NY. on the other hand, it really is terrible to emotionally negotiate and navigate witha legal compass such matters in what is theoretically at leasta completely 100% committed relationship. plotting and thinking about your next move within a legal framework ofrights and remedies sheesh. what kind of way is that to be married? you might as well be a litigant.
on the other ahnd, you’d be a fool not to think this through.
please dont take anything im saying as legal advice. consult with your own attorney versed in NY and CA family law in particular.
screw RE websites. go on one of those divorce chat groups and see if any alarm bells go off…[/quote]
Yeah, ditto for me and make sure that chat room is a CA-based one!
I apologize here in that I DID likely sound like a “Debbie Downer.” I’ve just seen a LOT in my day, including one local domestic case that was litigated from 1999 thru 2012 and concluded two months before the subject child’s 18th birthday. One parent wanted another hearing but the judge dismissed the child’s court-appointed attorney (minor’s counsel) effective his 18th birthday. And these particular parents/parties were never married!
The truth about the CA domestic “justice” system is that it is based upon money, plain and simple. Whichever parent/party has the most earning capacity (meaning the most wherewithal to provide a stable home for their children over the long term and thus keep the children off government aid) “wins” (if one can call getting a higher percentage of child-custody timeshare away from the other parent “winning”). The higher earning party (payor of child support) is typically heavily counseled by their attorney to fight tooth and nail for as much child custody timeshare as they can get in order to avoid being ripped a new a$$hole (pardon the pun) in long-term child support obligations. This “counseling” will occur by the payor’s attorney even if the higher-earning party has never taken on any childcare duties thus far and/or travels for business regularly. The court may opine that he/she said payor is allowed to designate someone else to watch the children while he/she is away. This is more preferable to the payor than agreeing that the other parent/party can have more timeshare while they’re away because hiring temporary paid child care is much cheaper than having a higher long-term CS obligation which could be difficult and lengthy to get reduced unless their circumstances change dramatically (they lose their job, retire, become too ill to work, etc).
In short, CA child support awards are based upon the difference in the parents’ incomes in combination with the percentages awarded each parent of child-custody timeshare of the minor child(ren).
If one parent tells the court they have no income and are otherwise able-bodied, the court could very well impute an income to them and then set their CS award based upon the amount imputed against the payor’s income. More often than not, the higher-earning payor-party moves for such a ruling. In the court’s eyes, the presence of kids are NEVER an excuse for a parent not to work to bring in income if they have none of their own unless any of those kids are severely disabled and thus require constant care.
And I don’t know your state’s laws, NYMom, but CA has “no-fault dissolution” and after residing in CA just six months, your entire family will be under the jurisdiction of CA laws and CA will be considered the legal domicile of your children. In CA, either party can leave a marriage for any reason and the court will not ask and does not care. Therefore, there is no “injured party” who would be able to petition for (punitive) higher support due to the “fault” of the other party for disintegration of the marriage.
Based upon your posts, all of the above is why I think you and your spouse should both get on the exact same page and be able to stay there regarding housing choices and location before attempting to make a move anywhere.
Participant+1 on your diatribe, scaredy.
You have a way of discussing this “elephant in the room” much more eloquently than I would be able to :=0
NYMom, being a self-professed “expert” on the conduct of passive aggressive people, I ALSO believe that it’s too much responsibility for you to take on in choosing a location in SoCal for your family to move over 3000 miles to when you know very little about it and your spouse is actually FROM SoCal. He should be having his brother (and his mom, if she is able) scouting out listings for him (or rental ads) and doing drive-bys for you. He should be coming here on interviews and getting hired so he knows where he will work first. Especially since you say he is “between jobs” and thus has time on his hands. You appear to be trying to “shoot from the hip” in search of something in four very populous counties that cannot be found (exactly as you envision it) in your price range.
Earlier today, I watched a promo video for Westchester County, NY, to get a “feel” for the environment there:
NYMom, I really can’t think of ANYPLACE in CA that is quite like the above video.
I agree with scaredy and CAR that you should hash this move out with your spouse (in front of a counselor if necessary) and get on the same page, by hook or crook, no matter what you decide to do. In your case, divorce would be much, much more expensive than an interstate move and our domestic courts in CA urban coastal counties have a minimum two-year wait for trial. In any case, CA law favors a 50/50 child custody timeshare between parents (if contested) and the courts prefer both parents working and filing income and expense declarations before they will issue permanent support orders. Suffice to say your life will change 180 degrees if you split up after moving here due to you both not being on the same page with one another. If this happens, you could lose your freedom to move back home (unless you want to go back alone) and your case could easily get drawn out for YEARS. Trust me when I say that you don’t want to go there!
‘Nuff scare tactics. You get the picture. Now, go make an appt with a counselor first thing tomorrow morning in your spouse’s presence and then have your spouse get on speakerphone with his LA-area relatives to talk to them about their ability to scout out your various housing options there. You can’t really do this very well from where you are.
If they have lived all their lives in SoCal, they’ll likely tell it to you straight what is available in the context of your “requirements.”
Participant[quote=CA renter]Yep, I figured you would like those since we tend to have the same taste in housing. 🙂
How about having your kid go to one of the local community colleges and then transferring to CSUN?
There are lots of jobs up there, especially when compared to SD County, so they could work their way through college and get that incredibly valuable work experience while they go through college (that work experience ended up being more valuable to me than my college education).[/quote]
Transferring into CSU/UC as a junior is nowhere near as easy as it used to be, CAR, as the CSU/UC are “picky” about the associate degree earned at CC. It now should be one of just two:
AA-T – Associate of Arts
AS-T – Associate of Sciencehttp://adegreewithaguarantee.com/
These degrees have strictly prescribed list of classes needed for CSU/UC admission as a junior, depending on university major applying for.
If your student wants to major in say, accounting clerk or medical transcribing in CC (so they can get work skills) and expects their CC credits to someday transfer to CSU/UC, as they did in the past, they will find that the vast majority of them will not.
Did you happen to graduate from CSUN, CAR? I’m really impressed by the faculty there.
My kid will be attending another CSU campus this fall which offers almost the same major as CSUN and has the same Gen Ed requirements as CSUN’s program. They will also be able to obtain a ~13 hr week campus gig (likely fast food) at $10 hr. That’s just enough gas money with their leftover annual scholarship proceeds and fee waiver (for classes only). My kid also wanted to rush and join some of their HS predecessors at CSUN in a Greek organization there but I think they’re going to have to have a minimum 3.6 – 3.7 GPA their first two years in college in order to get accepted as a junior into CSUN’s program so we’ll see what happens. The CSU is getting much, much pickier than they used to be and CSUN is no exception.
FYI folks: SDSU rec’d ~78K freshman and transfer apps for fall 2014 and only admitted ~7700 (<10%).
http://go.sdsu.edu/sdsu_newscenter/news.aspx?s=74654
And every single major at SDSU (along with CSUF, CSULB, SJSU and CPSLO) is currently “impacted,” making it next to impossible for an incoming freshman to declare a major.
http://www.calstate.edu/sas/documents/impactedprogramsmatrix.pdf
In 2014, SDSU ended up reneging on 75% of the promises they made to Sweetwater students (SUHSD) who have been working towards their “Guaranteed Admission” goal since the 7th grade.
http://compactforsuccess.sdsu.edu/compact/
SDSU is (shamefully) still making these promises to a population where many of the students in the pipeline won’t be able to attend university out-of-county due to housing cost and so are relying on SDSU’s CFS promise of guaranteed admission. Believe it or not, they’re still speaking to SUHSD 7th grade students and parents and parading them thru the CFS program and guided campus tour!
Out of over 300 CFS Guaranteed Admission certificates issued May of 2013 to my kid’s class of about 530, I believe only about 125 were admitted and 100 or so will attend (some were admitted too late … in April and thus already made other arrangements).
CC has never been an option for us as my kids are/were eligible for a (classes only) CSU/UC fee waiver plus have a small annual scholarship and they stay much more focused out-of-county where they can be “on their own” (since they won’t be attending CC right across the street from their HS, lol). Trust me when I say that “out of county” is the better option for us 😀
If any Piggs out there have HS-age kids, please keep them focused as much as possible. Applying to public universities in CA has turned into a crapshoot, at best, especially if your student has under a 3.65 GPA the end of their junior year. By April 2014, the only campuses that still had slots available were CSU Bakersfield and UC Merced (very few slots). These two campuses in armpit-land were filling up fast with last minute apps from the thousands of scrambling seniors who were rejected from every single campus they applied to. Many of my kid’s classmates applied to 8-12 campuses and were rejected by all! (Yes, they successfully completed all their A-G reqs and all the other prereqs to applying). I would surmise that a very large portion of the Class of 2014 HS seniors in CA who never expected to will now be attending CC this fall. And a handful of my kid’s class (dozen?) are fleeing to AZ State, where they accept SoCal HS graduates as in-state students in select degree programs.
Folks, always remember that out-of-state and out-of-country applicants are very attractive to the CSU/UC because they “pay the full freight.”
And if you have a HS senior in the class of 2015, make sure they are declaring a major in their app this fall and not attempting to get admitted as “undeclared!” And don’t let them be “picky” (only want campus x miles from the beach, etc). Those days are gone and they can’t afford to (unless they have a GPA over 4.0). Encourage them to apply to a variety of campuses in diverse locations in which they have a reasonably good chance of being accepted to.
My kid applied in early November and got accepted into their 2nd choice campus for their 2nd choice major and their 3rd choice campus for their 1st choice major (out of 4 apps). With a 3.14 GPA (now a 3.41), they were very, very fortunate, so much so that they know they would be a fool to mess this oppt’y up.
Sorry for the hijack, NYMom … just offering some more bureaucratic CA info you might want to file away for future reference :=0
Participant[quote=scaredyclassic]If he’s looking for lifestyle diamond bar won’t cut it. I’m afraid we have to let the kids go and move into a really nice condo on laguna beach.[/quote]
Thanks for revealing your “retirement plans” here, scaredy 🙂
I’m uncertain WHO is actually looking for “lifestyle” here. (No disrespect intended to you, NYMom :)) I’m not sure either of them are. I was just thinking:
– Big lot – even pano view lot of countryside;
– Reasonable proximity to relatives (~1 hr); and,
– Proximity to OC finance centers (30 mins to 1 hr).East LA County corridor has a HUGE swath of preserved open space … every bit as expansive as those in the Silicon Valley.
Of course, the west SF Valley (much more developed) is a also a major “finance center,” but NYMom stated they didn’t like it there. It can be very hot there as well. WOW, I am very impressed by the housing stock in there and bordering there, though! I really can’t think of anything to compare CAR’s links to in SD County … not even Muirlands (LJ).
edit: Ohhhh, I take that back …. Pt Loma Woods (92106) …. ma-a-a-ybe (w/o the resident paparazzi, of course :)).
Participant[quote=bewildering]The most village feel place I know in San Diego is Bird Rock. But Bird Rock is not near the freeways, and you would not get a large lot. However, the schools are excellent, you are also right by the ocean.
Good luck. It will be exciting for your kids to be near the beach.[/quote]
Agree and I thought of this also, but what is available there for $1.25 – 1.75M? Square footage??
ParticipantNYMom, if your spouse wants to live in LA, there are big beautiful private lots with views which are cheaper than Pasadena (more in line with Poway’s prices and even below) in Diamond Bar and Chino Hills. Only problem is heat and necessity of AC (93-103 at least 6 mos yr) and distance to relatives (over 40 mi to N. Hollywood). But that’s not as far as Poway.
No villagey feel up there, though, but nice modern shopping available and good access to Fullerton, Anaheim, Brea and even as far as Irvine (since your spouse is a finance guy).
It feels like the country out there (due to hundreds of acres of dedicated open space) but is city-close.
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