[Scarlett]

I appreciate very much all the inputs that BG, SD R, sdr, Russtico, Pemeliza, and others have offered. Nothing really wrong with suggesting alternative neighborhoods. It could be a real eye opener or, if nothing else, we’ll get to know better other parts of town I don’t frequent usually – UC, San Carlos. Of course I will make up my own mind of considering a neighborhood seriously only after spending a considerate time visiting them and doing other homework/legwork – by myself, or with the help of a realtor.

It’s hard sometimes to express online how important one feature or another is in terms of buying a house. I may have come across as REALLY wanting the shortest commute, though we are somewhat flexible – but I realize that there are tradeoffs. There are multiple factors contributing to selecting a desirable house and their respective weights vary with neighborhood too. Plus, sometimes I may feel stronger about certain qualities that a house should have, you know? E.g. if I had a particularly rough day driving 56 or 52 at rush hour, I may all of a sudden swear to never buy more than 20′ from work. And I may express those thoughts in my postings.

Everybody is different and values certain things differently, or simply have different tastes/preferences.

BG’s and my own experience/familiarity with neighborhoods – differ both in time and locations. In my case, my limited experience influenced the factors I want in a SD house/neighborhood that I’d buy in. If I’d have lived in South/East County I may have thought differently and may have liked those better than let’s say 56 corridor – or NOT. I don’t have the luxury/time to try too many neighborhoods around the county, like SD R pointed out, but I will sure drive thru San Carlos in next weeks and see what’s up with that.

[Scarlett]

BG,

SD R was refering to San Carlos recommendation I believe.

To recap, I am unfamiliar with UC in terms of buying a house there, since it was out of our price range, except perhaps for a couple outliers a year (that were usually tiny or fixers) – so we had little incentive to get to know UC SFRs – diminished returns and focused instead of what was affordable with a decent selection of inventory. I still think that is the case. Not many at all at low 500K in UCto CHOOSE something we LIKE. CAN it happen? Sure, I know I buy only one house, but I don’t know how likely it is. But I keep an eye on it via Realtor.com listings. It is more likely I will find something like that, that we LIKE in SR (which I know somewhat and plan to get to know better). ShortEST commute isn’t everything – I could buy a condo in LJ/UTC or an SFR in Clairemont – which I’ve considered and rejected. 30-35′ is still ok if I get a larger house with some yard in a nice neighborhood with young kids. Most PQ houses have no or very low HOAs and very few have low MRs. Same goes with Scripps Ranch.

Again, depends how each values various trade-offs.
BG, we may just value things differently that’s all.

Before, I used to live pretty much across the lake Hodges from North County Mall. That was an additional 15′-20′ at least at rush hour than Carmel Mtn Ranch or Sabre Springs (all in 92128 zipcode).
Edit: No family in town. I put commute first, before schools.

[Scarlett]

BG,

SD R was refering to San Carlos recommendation I believe.

To recap, I am unfamiliar with UC in terms of buying a house there, since it was out of our price range, except perhaps for a couple outliers a year (that were usually tiny or fixers) – so we had little incentive to get to know UC SFRs – diminished returns and focused instead of what was affordable with a decent selection of inventory. I still think that is the case. Not many at all at low 500K in UCto CHOOSE something we LIKE. CAN it happen? Sure, I know I buy only one house, but I don’t know how likely it is. But I keep an eye on it via Realtor.com listings. It is more likely I will find something like that, that we LIKE in SR (which I know somewhat and plan to get to know better). ShortEST commute isn’t everything – I could buy a condo in LJ/UTC or an SFR in Clairemont – which I’ve considered and rejected. 30-35′ is still ok if I get a larger house with some yard in a nice neighborhood with young kids. Most PQ houses have no or very low HOAs and very few have low MRs. Same goes with Scripps Ranch.

Again, depends how each values various trade-offs.
BG, we may just value things differently that’s all.

Before, I used to live pretty much across the lake Hodges from North County Mall. That was an additional 15′-20′ at least at rush hour than Carmel Mtn Ranch or Sabre Springs (all in 92128 zipcode).
Edit: No family in town. I put commute first, before schools.

[Scarlett]

BG,

SD R was refering to San Carlos recommendation I believe.

To recap, I am unfamiliar with UC in terms of buying a house there, since it was out of our price range, except perhaps for a couple outliers a year (that were usually tiny or fixers) – so we had little incentive to get to know UC SFRs – diminished returns and focused instead of what was affordable with a decent selection of inventory. I still think that is the case. Not many at all at low 500K in UCto CHOOSE something we LIKE. CAN it happen? Sure, I know I buy only one house, but I don’t know how likely it is. But I keep an eye on it via Realtor.com listings. It is more likely I will find something like that, that we LIKE in SR (which I know somewhat and plan to get to know better). ShortEST commute isn’t everything – I could buy a condo in LJ/UTC or an SFR in Clairemont – which I’ve considered and rejected. 30-35′ is still ok if I get a larger house with some yard in a nice neighborhood with young kids. Most PQ houses have no or very low HOAs and very few have low MRs. Same goes with Scripps Ranch.

Again, depends how each values various trade-offs.
BG, we may just value things differently that’s all.

Before, I used to live pretty much across the lake Hodges from North County Mall. That was an additional 15′-20′ at least at rush hour than Carmel Mtn Ranch or Sabre Springs (all in 92128 zipcode).
Edit: No family in town. I put commute first, before schools.

[Scarlett]

BG,

SD R was refering to San Carlos recommendation I believe.

To recap, I am unfamiliar with UC in terms of buying a house there, since it was out of our price range, except perhaps for a couple outliers a year (that were usually tiny or fixers) – so we had little incentive to get to know UC SFRs – diminished returns and focused instead of what was affordable with a decent selection of inventory. I still think that is the case. Not many at all at low 500K in UCto CHOOSE something we LIKE. CAN it happen? Sure, I know I buy only one house, but I don’t know how likely it is. But I keep an eye on it via Realtor.com listings. It is more likely I will find something like that, that we LIKE in SR (which I know somewhat and plan to get to know better). ShortEST commute isn’t everything – I could buy a condo in LJ/UTC or an SFR in Clairemont – which I’ve considered and rejected. 30-35′ is still ok if I get a larger house with some yard in a nice neighborhood with young kids. Most PQ houses have no or very low HOAs and very few have low MRs. Same goes with Scripps Ranch.

Again, depends how each values various trade-offs.
BG, we may just value things differently that’s all.

Before, I used to live pretty much across the lake Hodges from North County Mall. That was an additional 15′-20′ at least at rush hour than Carmel Mtn Ranch or Sabre Springs (all in 92128 zipcode).
Edit: No family in town. I put commute first, before schools.

[Scarlett]

BG,

SD R was refering to San Carlos recommendation I believe.

To recap, I am unfamiliar with UC in terms of buying a house there, since it was out of our price range, except perhaps for a couple outliers a year (that were usually tiny or fixers) – so we had little incentive to get to know UC SFRs – diminished returns and focused instead of what was affordable with a decent selection of inventory. I still think that is the case. Not many at all at low 500K in UCto CHOOSE something we LIKE. CAN it happen? Sure, I know I buy only one house, but I don’t know how likely it is. But I keep an eye on it via Realtor.com listings. It is more likely I will find something like that, that we LIKE in SR (which I know somewhat and plan to get to know better). ShortEST commute isn’t everything – I could buy a condo in LJ/UTC or an SFR in Clairemont – which I’ve considered and rejected. 30-35′ is still ok if I get a larger house with some yard in a nice neighborhood with young kids. Most PQ houses have no or very low HOAs and very few have low MRs. Same goes with Scripps Ranch.

Again, depends how each values various trade-offs.
BG, we may just value things differently that’s all.

Before, I used to live pretty much across the lake Hodges from North County Mall. That was an additional 15′-20′ at least at rush hour than Carmel Mtn Ranch or Sabre Springs (all in 92128 zipcode).
Edit: No family in town. I put commute first, before schools.

[Scarlett]

It’s true that on MANY work days, especially with kids activities, I don’t feel like hanging out and or leave the kids on the street to play (yet).

However, there are the weekends in which is nice to meet with other parents, perhaps of similar situation, or just other neighbors even without kids; it’s nice to have neighborhood activities/events organized in nearby parks, etc.

I also haven’t even seen THAT many kids around the streets to be annoying even in WEEKENDS when we go to open houses – in most areas we’ve been(most of RB, PQ, CarmelMtnRd, Carmel Valley, SabreSprings, Scripps R). And certainly didn’t feel like tripping over 2-4 wheeled kids vehicles If it were like that during weekdays, then Yes, I’d probably start feel like BG. Weekends are different IMO. I’d like my kids to have friends in the neighborhoods that they can get to their houses without worry.

In which neighborhoods did you experience that, BG?

Edit – I said most. Occasionally I may have seen in earlier house searches 7 years ago some streets with lots of teenagers that could have been problematic – I think some were in PQ and in MM. But for the most, that was not the case.

[Scarlett]

It’s true that on MANY work days, especially with kids activities, I don’t feel like hanging out and or leave the kids on the street to play (yet).

However, there are the weekends in which is nice to meet with other parents, perhaps of similar situation, or just other neighbors even without kids; it’s nice to have neighborhood activities/events organized in nearby parks, etc.

I also haven’t even seen THAT many kids around the streets to be annoying even in WEEKENDS when we go to open houses – in most areas we’ve been(most of RB, PQ, CarmelMtnRd, Carmel Valley, SabreSprings, Scripps R). And certainly didn’t feel like tripping over 2-4 wheeled kids vehicles If it were like that during weekdays, then Yes, I’d probably start feel like BG. Weekends are different IMO. I’d like my kids to have friends in the neighborhoods that they can get to their houses without worry.

In which neighborhoods did you experience that, BG?

Edit – I said most. Occasionally I may have seen in earlier house searches 7 years ago some streets with lots of teenagers that could have been problematic – I think some were in PQ and in MM. But for the most, that was not the case.

[Scarlett]

It’s true that on MANY work days, especially with kids activities, I don’t feel like hanging out and or leave the kids on the street to play (yet).

However, there are the weekends in which is nice to meet with other parents, perhaps of similar situation, or just other neighbors even without kids; it’s nice to have neighborhood activities/events organized in nearby parks, etc.

I also haven’t even seen THAT many kids around the streets to be annoying even in WEEKENDS when we go to open houses – in most areas we’ve been(most of RB, PQ, CarmelMtnRd, Carmel Valley, SabreSprings, Scripps R). And certainly didn’t feel like tripping over 2-4 wheeled kids vehicles If it were like that during weekdays, then Yes, I’d probably start feel like BG. Weekends are different IMO. I’d like my kids to have friends in the neighborhoods that they can get to their houses without worry.

In which neighborhoods did you experience that, BG?

Edit – I said most. Occasionally I may have seen in earlier house searches 7 years ago some streets with lots of teenagers that could have been problematic – I think some were in PQ and in MM. But for the most, that was not the case.

[Scarlett]

It’s true that on MANY work days, especially with kids activities, I don’t feel like hanging out and or leave the kids on the street to play (yet).

However, there are the weekends in which is nice to meet with other parents, perhaps of similar situation, or just other neighbors even without kids; it’s nice to have neighborhood activities/events organized in nearby parks, etc.

I also haven’t even seen THAT many kids around the streets to be annoying even in WEEKENDS when we go to open houses – in most areas we’ve been(most of RB, PQ, CarmelMtnRd, Carmel Valley, SabreSprings, Scripps R). And certainly didn’t feel like tripping over 2-4 wheeled kids vehicles If it were like that during weekdays, then Yes, I’d probably start feel like BG. Weekends are different IMO. I’d like my kids to have friends in the neighborhoods that they can get to their houses without worry.

In which neighborhoods did you experience that, BG?

Edit – I said most. Occasionally I may have seen in earlier house searches 7 years ago some streets with lots of teenagers that could have been problematic – I think some were in PQ and in MM. But for the most, that was not the case.

[Scarlett]

It’s true that on MANY work days, especially with kids activities, I don’t feel like hanging out and or leave the kids on the street to play (yet).

However, there are the weekends in which is nice to meet with other parents, perhaps of similar situation, or just other neighbors even without kids; it’s nice to have neighborhood activities/events organized in nearby parks, etc.

I also haven’t even seen THAT many kids around the streets to be annoying even in WEEKENDS when we go to open houses – in most areas we’ve been(most of RB, PQ, CarmelMtnRd, Carmel Valley, SabreSprings, Scripps R). And certainly didn’t feel like tripping over 2-4 wheeled kids vehicles If it were like that during weekdays, then Yes, I’d probably start feel like BG. Weekends are different IMO. I’d like my kids to have friends in the neighborhoods that they can get to their houses without worry.

In which neighborhoods did you experience that, BG?

Edit – I said most. Occasionally I may have seen in earlier house searches 7 years ago some streets with lots of teenagers that could have been problematic – I think some were in PQ and in MM. But for the most, that was not the case.

[Scarlett]

[quote=sdrealtor]Its not that hard you just have to spend the time. Go to the target neighborhoods after school hours during the week and see what is going on (its tough this time of year as it gets dark at 5). Head over on a weekend late morning/early afternoon with your family, park your car and walk around. Talk to people you see on the streets (if there are any). If you see people out and about that is a good sign. If you dont see anyone out and about you’ll know people keep more to themselves. Even though neighbors change the general population of a neighborhood is more consistent.[/quote]

true, one can get that vibe when visting open houses in the weekends – early afternoons. We’ll pay more attention in the future and try to talk to people. Thanks!

[Scarlett]

[quote=sdrealtor]Its not that hard you just have to spend the time. Go to the target neighborhoods after school hours during the week and see what is going on (its tough this time of year as it gets dark at 5). Head over on a weekend late morning/early afternoon with your family, park your car and walk around. Talk to people you see on the streets (if there are any). If you see people out and about that is a good sign. If you dont see anyone out and about you’ll know people keep more to themselves. Even though neighbors change the general population of a neighborhood is more consistent.[/quote]

true, one can get that vibe when visting open houses in the weekends – early afternoons. We’ll pay more attention in the future and try to talk to people. Thanks!

[Scarlett]

[quote=sdrealtor]Its not that hard you just have to spend the time. Go to the target neighborhoods after school hours during the week and see what is going on (its tough this time of year as it gets dark at 5). Head over on a weekend late morning/early afternoon with your family, park your car and walk around. Talk to people you see on the streets (if there are any). If you see people out and about that is a good sign. If you dont see anyone out and about you’ll know people keep more to themselves. Even though neighbors change the general population of a neighborhood is more consistent.[/quote]

true, one can get that vibe when visting open houses in the weekends – early afternoons. We’ll pay more attention in the future and try to talk to people. Thanks!

[Scarlett]

[quote=sdrealtor]Its not that hard you just have to spend the time. Go to the target neighborhoods after school hours during the week and see what is going on (its tough this time of year as it gets dark at 5). Head over on a weekend late morning/early afternoon with your family, park your car and walk around. Talk to people you see on the streets (if there are any). If you see people out and about that is a good sign. If you dont see anyone out and about you’ll know people keep more to themselves. Even though neighbors change the general population of a neighborhood is more consistent.[/quote]

true, one can get that vibe when visting open houses in the weekends – early afternoons. We’ll pay more attention in the future and try to talk to people. Thanks!

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