[temeculaguy]

I think it has huge potential and have numerous friends who own rental property there. You may have missed the boat as property there has already began going up. Is it perfect, no, but it is the cheapest beach community and the values are artificially depressed because it has a reputation for being a rough town while the truth it has quietly become the city with the lowest crime rate West of I-15. In fact it ranks lower than any other beach town, lower than Carlsbad, Solana Beach, Coronado et. al.

Look at page 20 of this sandag report issued today.

http://www.sandag.org/uploads/publicationid/publicationid_2020_20533.pdf

Truth is, only geeks and developers pay close attention to these reports but IB has another thing going for it, The navy is moving half of all the SEAL teams there and putting a billion dollars into the base adjacent to the city, giving the rental market there a strong future.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/mar/20/navy-seals-silver-star-campus-expansion/

to the south is NOLF, known as the helicopter capital of the world. The seals and the pilots are better paid than most of the military, this was also where the beach scenes from top gun were filmed.

This is by no means to say this is La Jolla, you are at the mercy of Mexico for water quality but go to Seacoast Drive, it’s not what you remember. I think of it as nicer than OB, maybe less than PB but for priced below both. But it is not an alternative to Carmel Valley yet I think it beats clairemont and OB. The pollution from Mexico is also better than it was but it is still an issue, no argument there, however it can get better, not sure it can get worse. But you get the discount for it, if it gets better, you reap the rewards.

If it were a stock, I’d rate it a “buy.” I think it has the most upside of any city in the county. I’m not a huge fan of their schools, but it depends on what you are looking for.

IB proper only covers 13 streets from the Ocean, the rest is the city of SD, don’t buy in the city, stay West of 9th street if you can. If you haven’t checked out Seacoast drive lately, it’s really changing.

http://ld.homeswing.com/photos/295/2015/3/3/Th_140026484_0_2223.jpg?size=full

[temeculaguy]

I know many residents of Meadowview, one is an original, in fact I went to a wedding 22 years ago at the clubhouse. I’m going golfing with 2 of them this weekend, including the guy who got married there. I’ll ask them about the HOA, but these are not casual friends, they are the type I talk to weekly and vacation with, I’ve never heard one complaint about the HOA from them so far, but I’ll ask. I mirror what many said, if you want a moderate amount of land without being too far out of town, meadowview is an excellent choice. Also Santiago Estates and Los Ranchitos are similar in the fact that are in town, all customs and on land.

As far as kids to play with in walking distance, it will be a bot hit and miss because of the high prices compared to tract homes, the age of the homes and the distance between homes. My friends that live there all empty nesters or grandparents. But they did raise their children there and liked it for kids at the time.

Interracial couple? I’ve been living with the same woman for 4 years here in Temecula and am marrying her this summer. I’m white and she’s Mexican. I never thought about being an interracial couple, so that should be an answer all by itself as to how it is to be one here, I’ve never encountered anything to the point I don’t even realize it. It is such a non issue I had to think about it and inventory our friends and neighbors in town. I think it’s close to 50% would qualify as interracial, never heard one mention of them complaining about being treated any different and I would think they would say something, even if just to vent, because we are in the same boat.

As far as your kids are concerned, I wouldn’t worry. Racism still exists everywhere to some extent but kids today or maybe it’s just kids here seem to not even take it into account. You’ll see groups of kids around here not divided by race, my kids hung out with kids from all different races. Mine are grown but their roommates at college that they chose are of different races and they never even think enough of it to mention it. I’m assuming their environment played a part in their color blindness.

Your kids sounds typical for the valley and coincidentally one of the valley’s favorite sons has a similar genetic make-up. It’s fitting because the Master’s starts tomorrow. Rickie Yutaka Fowler, the #5 golfer in the world was raised in this valley, just a few miles from meadowview and is white, asian and native american mixed. He’s a celebrity most places, but especially here in his hometown (he went to murrieta high). Maybe you should get your kids golf lessons perhaps they have a genetic advantage, was that racist of me to say? I wish I was more genetically similar to Rickie since I am golfing this this weekend.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickie_Fowler

[temeculaguy]

The future Mrs. TG and I recently discussed our retirement plans as they are only 6 years away and the first discussion point was do we want to stay in Temecula. We don’t need the idyllic setting to raise children or the great schools. Between us we have 6 adult children with only one still in college that comes home intermittently, the rest visit only for holidays and most have families of their own. None live here, 2 live in SD and the rest in No. Cal. So over Easter they were all here, one of the few times 3200+ sq feet came in handy. The days and nights were spent at wineries, the casino, old town, etc. and all the “kids” said they love coming to Temecula, it’s like a vacation for them and if they could, they would move here. They begged us to never leave.

We talked for a while that we will probably never leave because this little town offers us more than most other towns or cities could ever offer us. The most important thing it has offered us is amenities without the expense that has allowed us to retire early (55) with a retirement war chest that others would envy. If I laid out the details you’d be mad but the gist of it is that at retirement our nut (housing, utilities, expenses) will be but 25% of our income. Disposable income could reach 5 figures monthly, we’ve plotted a course of a 7 days cruise and a 7 day Euro vacation on a monthly basis in retirement and at an age 10 years before most. Dying is our only enemy.

Isn’t that the goal? Lower your overhead, enjoy life and do so without moving to a place too far from grandkids or the things you enjoy.

So yes, I’m staying in Temecula, it beats Palm springs, Florida or Arizona, despite the high taxes of California. I am not surprised that the article
came to the same conclusion we did.

[temeculaguy]

I have it on my list to watch. It still sits behind The Wire, Band of Brothers, Rome, Firefly, The White Queen and the BBC version of Sherlock. But since I’ve see those twice it’s close to next, right after true detective and before Game of Thrones and Outlander start again.

[temeculaguy]

no tint on front window is allowed. There is no tint o meter at police stations, where do people get this stuff. You can tint your front windows with absolute clear UV protection, if you can see it, its not factory, not on the drivers or passenger’s front window.

Everyone thinks the cops should enforce the laws other people break, not the ones they break. Just because you got away with it for years doesn’t mean it is legal. There is no factory tint on front windows(dealers can apply it but rarely do). If it was new, not used and you bought it from the dealer that way you have grounds for a small claims case against the dealer.

http://dmvanswers.com/questions/2353/What-is-the-law-for-window-tinting-in-CA

http://codes.findlaw.com/ca/vehicle-code/veh-sect-26708.html

I got a ticket for going 65 in a 55 once, but I have driven that speed 5 days a week for ten years before and ten after. I made a choice, got caught once, it’s not the cop’s fault, it was mine.

[temeculaguy]

[quote=paramount]I do like Apple for tablets and phones – I don’t see any reason though to buy a Mac desktop.

I buy off lease PC’s off of ebay for $100 bucks or so and install a decent video card.

However, Mac Laptops even a few years old still have value. Most PC laptops have already been e-recycled.
[/quote]

I agree about Mac laptops. I have one kid who just finished college and one midway through. I bought the first one two pc laptops at about 500 each. Kid 2’s pc laptop ($500 costco hp) had a crappy hinge and had been repaired at a shop with bolts and some other repairs for $100. Now she cant move it or it craps out. I am typing this on a macbook air I bought used at DC computers (off lease, great shape) in 2013 for a 2012 model i7 for a bit under $1000. Still perfect, I never touch my Dell desktop that cost $700 about the same time. Mac is still as fast as when I got it and has a resale value on e-bay about $500. I know this because I’m thinking about buying kid #2 the same model. So if I had originally bought each kid a $1000 Mac laptop at the beginning of college, they would still have a viable laptop at the end of college with a value of 500. Instead I have a few $500 doorstops.

While its the exception to the rule, going cheap cost me in this area and I regret it.

[temeculaguy]

[quote=paramount][quote=flu]Well it looks like Cruz is going to win Iowa.[/quote]

Thankfully…

BTW, pay no attention to Iowa.

The Iowa process is ridiculous, focused on ethanol and not much more.

Does anyone even understand how the Iowa ‘voting’ process truly works?[/quote]

True that!!! And what svelte said about Iowa’s track record. Iowa has about as many people as San Diego County and does not have a demographic representation of the country as a whole. This thread was not about your personal choice nor was it about what might happen if congress gets to pick, it was a prediction thread.

When I make predictions, I try to take my emotions out of it and make observations. I have an advantage, I have a mother who has voted in every election she was eligible to and she has never not voted for the winner in the presidential election, can’t say the same about myself or my father. She’s nearing 70 so that’s 50 years of a perfect record. Dad and I both picked Ross Perot and pops liked Ron Paul. But mom is a flip flopper, changing her party affiliation before primaries and for 50 years she’s picked correctly. I’ll let you know who she picks, but thus far she has issues with Hillary so I’m doubting that will be her pick. My suspicion is Bernie if he holds up. She’s lucky because she has lived in California her whole life and our primary is like picking the Superbowl winner in the 4th quarter.

But my new observation is the future Mrs. TG, she’s the opposite of mom in that she is in her late 40’s and this will be her first time voting despite being born in California. She watched the 1st republican debate and registered as a republican because she loved it and fell for some of the candidates. She had seen debates in the past but this one inspired her and scared her at the same time. I just watched, knowing I had another person to observe and learn from. I know what I think, but I’m smart enough to know I am not the majority. Observing others helped me time the real estate market and make other financial choices, mostly to my benefit. Observing without judging will help you make predictions.

But the night of the Iowa caucus she began to fully understand the primary process and she started to get angry. She got angry that Cali goes near the end and places like Iowa and New Hampshire have undue influence. I believe she said “screw it, by the time I get to vote, my favorite might already be out, that’s crap, we should all vote at the same time.”

After an hour of explanation, her was response was “It’s still crap.” To which I have no argument, it is crap. An hour later my daughter called from college to brag about Bernie’s results, enter woman # three for my non scientific observational experiment. She’s volunteering to sign up voters and will probably campaign for Bernie.

Here are the informal results, Fiance likes Trump, Rubio, Christie and Kasich on the repub side, Bernie on the Dem side. Daughter is Bernie all the way and mom is still deliberating (but she is key, the other two are rookies). Daughter hates everyone not named Bernie, Fiance hates Rand Paul, Huckabee, Fiorina and Hillary. Mom has issues with Hillary, but she keeps her opinion quiet until almost post time.

All 3 were disgusted by Cruz’ shady tactics in Iowa.

My predictions, Cruz gets some serious backlash and Hillary falters as time goes on, the more people hear her, the less they trust her or like her.

My wager-Bernie vs. Rubio or Trump, yet I think hillary’s machine may get her the nomination. so I would hold back any real wager.

What I want, that doesn’t matter and I do not need to tell you because I do not live in Iowa so I do not caucus. I would love to see trump and bernie go head to head or on the same ticket so we can try an experiment in either direction and see if it works. But I’ll wait for mom to weigh in since she has a better track record than the state of Iowa.

[temeculaguy]

[quote=outtamojo]

Yeah who needs science when we’ve got reality tv and the khardashians and big butts that don’t need no explainin.[/quote]

Hold it right there! Admittedly I have never watched an episode of the Khardashians and can probably only name three (one being Bruce) but big butts I will defend with my last breath. The Brazilian Butt Lift fat transfer (not implants) along with yoga pants has made the world a better place. Whoever perfected the surgery that transfers love handles to big butts deserves a medal!!! Men decry plastic surgery in public but as soon as someone perfects a safe and reliable male augmentation surgery, I’m going into the surgery loan business.

Bernie would get my vote if butt augmentation surgery was part of his universal health care, strictly from a spectator’s point of view.

On that note, my low 20’s kids freaking love Bernie, as do all their college aged or recent graduate friends. Hillary does not resonate with the young people, her voice annoys the shit out of me and deja vu, she’s starting to lose her lead like she did against Obama at this same spot 8 years ago. I was working on my taxes today and all this Bernie talk forced me to evaluate how bad of a hit I’m going to take of he wins. It turns out, probably not too bad, so the world won’t end if he wins and as a heathen, I like that he doesn’t go to church.

I’ll modify my prediction, Sanders vs Trump. Not sure who wins but their debates will be must see TV. I’m cool with either winning. Just anyone other than Hillary will make me happy, or Ted Cruz, he annoys me as well. BTW it’s not because she is a woman, in fact any other woman would be fine, just not her. Even Amy Pohler pretending to be Hillary works for me. Actually Tina Fey pretending to be Palin is better than Palin as a VP choice. I’m going to research the person someone called “just like Palin with a brain.” It boggles my mind, I’m ready for a female president, I’ve had awesome female bosses/leaders in the last decade, I think it’s time. But the only two either party has sent out are these two, really!!!

Lets say Trump wins nomination as does Hillary, or it’s Bernie and Cruz, if I were Trump or Bernie, my VP choice would be Trump/Bernie and the reverse is true. Neither are beholden to their chosen party and they would each assuage the fears of the other side of the spectrum. If this happens, I demand full credit, plus I’ll be emailing them if either of them win the nomination.

[temeculaguy]

Oregon? Really, the list seems like a group of haters because their team got beat.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_University_of_Oregon_alumni

I went to a party school, SDSU, and proud of it. But to claim Oregon is about football and parties is inaccurate. Nike, readers digest, Columbia Sportswear, Intel, Palm, Gucci, MySpace-All invented by or the Ceo went to Oregon.

Look I hate how Bama wins all the time, but there would be no Wikipedia without the University of Alabama. Also the CEO of Lockheed/Martin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_University_of_Alabama_people

Football and sports excite the Alumni and promote donations, which lead to academic and research achievements. My fraternity brothers who donate the most, the 5, 6 and 7 digit donors only do so because they like attending vip athletic events. To lack a D-1 athletic program with some achievements is to lack the money to achieve. Don’t hate the way it is, capitalize on it.

[temeculaguy]

Kinda early for predictions but i say trump wins primary and election based on the current situation. He is in the lead and has the experts baffled without spending much.

Here’s the rub fellow piggs, most Americans hate politicians and know they are being lied to. Trump may say offensive or even stupid things but even the stupid things feel more genuine than the others. I liked Kasich for his healthcare, Christie for numerous reasons and Rubio for many other reasons. But honestly my favorites were Fiorina and the Doc because they weren’t politicians. Trump is another animal altogether, he says what people think, but afraid to say it. Voting is private, polls aren’t. My thoughts are Trump beats the polls and the polls are in his favor.

Evil as it may seem, after San Bernadino, I saw cair on TV and was sick to my stomach, then saw Obama (who I voted for twice) and was sick again. Cair should be on TV snitching off anyone who even looks radicalized.

This site is a collections of intellectuals and economics geeks, but do not for a minute think we are a majority. Plus Hillary will lose the female vote, I know no women who like her. She stayed with a man that cheated more than a professional cyclist just for public opinion, that will bite her. Funny thing is, I voted for him too, twice, but I have no respect for a woman who stayed with him, he deserved to be an alimony payer despite his attributes.

[temeculaguy]

phaster the OP was about SD county from 2014, your rant is about SD city, two separate systems. FWIW SD county spent the last few years renegotiating employee contracts shifting the pension burden to the employees,changing formulas for new employees and eliminating health benefits to pensioners. I know first hand some county employees retiring and taking state jobs for the retiree health benefits for life after 5 years (and age 50) for no reason other than health benefits drying up at the county level. SD county is fiscally conservative and has an excellent bond rating because they like to pay cash and avoid debt. My friends with the county planned on lifetime medical and had to change plans once that went away. As far as the OP on county pensions, now fully funded and derivative playing advisers all fired. Its back to boring and reduced benefits, meaning no local impact from the county at least as far as the county goes, the city is another story and i do not have any inside information as far as the city goes. I’d imagine they will follow suit at some point. The trend is towards the elimination of the traditional pension, hopefully that makes you sleep better.

[temeculaguy]

And the battery references are just one example. BMW is notorious for “fixes” like this. In my car they decided the battery only lasts 3 years, so if you give them $800 they will install a replacement battery and reprogram the car so the battery lasts 4-5 years. I got a an OEM battery for 150 and didn’t reprogram. $800 for a battery, they can go EABOD. I gt a kid through4 years of college on less total maintenance costs for his infiniti than they wanted for a battery.

[temeculaguy]

As an owner of an out of warranty 5 series, my advice is stay the hell away. Mine is 10 years newer and is not my daily driver, plus I do most my own maintenance and my advice is the same. It’s similar to an aging 50 year old divorced and unemployed former trophy wife, high cost to maintain and unrealistic expectations of maintenance to value ratio.

At that price point, go American or Asian purely for the maintenance costs. If you dislike Lexus, look at Infiniti, costs less and performs better. In a totally different price range, the future Mrs. TG just got a 1 year old Cadillac ATS and I’m envious. While it’s 3 series in size and too small for my over sized body, I’m totally impressed and 5 years from now when I’m undoubtedly fixing something, I love the ease and cost of repairs. Now I’m not a fan of caddies pre-2012, their latest stuff feels underrated. A few years from now, when I finally get angry enough to part with the beemer, I’ll look at at a 1 to 2 year old caddy, but maybe that’s just because I’m getting old.

[temeculaguy]

[quote=flu][quote=joec]I read that if he wins, we’ll have the best looking 1st lady.[/quote]

Yeah, but it’s pretty hard to beat Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, especially if Hillary wins….[/quote]

Luckily we don’t have laws that allow the 1st lady to assume their late husband’s office, sans Mary Bono. And Christina is smoking hot for her age, but like all of my theorems end up being proven correct, Christina was a disaster for Argentina. Avoid extremely hot women for two positions,your wife and your leader. Attractive-yes, sexy-yes, voluptuous-yes-yes. But supermodel hot-no! She’s crazy!!

I hate politics, but the CFK reference reminds me of some of the parallels of this election and one of the most dysfunctional governments of the modern age, Argentina. Isabel Peron and CFK were both first lady’s who ended up succeeding their dead husbands. All smoking hot, all had a hand in taking a country with incredible potential and stature at one point to a comedic demise. Their greatest export is the lessons on how not to run a country into the ground. It’s just odd that we may be voting for a former first lady in the next election. Now Hillary is not Peron or CFK, so the super model hot theorem doesn’t actually apply here. But I’d like to see a woman be the president, just not a smoking hot one and I’m nervous about former first ladies just because of the history. But Hillary is attractive without being a super hot so I feel better that if say Christina Hendricks was running, cause I’d do whatever she said until we were were banging pots in the street because there was no food and inflation was 40%.

Oh and don’t hate on trumps wife for having plastic surgery, she looks good in both pictures. She probably feels better in the second picture and believe me, a woman who looks pretty but feels ugly is miserable and crazy and she will make you that way. You are better off with one that looks pretty and feels pretty, so I’m in support of whatever it takes to make that happen.

[temeculaguy]

The posts about passport cards not being different from regular passports are inaccurate. They are absolutely different as they allow you into the ready lane which is usually a fraction of the regular lanes when crossing on foot. For park and walk, I’ve never waited more than 10 minutes to come back. I have crossed probably a dozen or more times in the last 12 months, probably 9 on foot and 3 by car and also 3 by sea but those 3 weren’t TJ. In the last few months they changed the lanes and gave more preference to redi lanes, but once I took the wrong street and ended up in the regular lanes and it took 45 minutes. Passport books are worthless for land/sea travel in North America and the Caribbean. They are the equivalent of a drivers license and a good story and you will wait hours at any time of day.

There are websites that give average wait times and they vary wildly, just like traffic stateside. Plan your next trip, just like you would not choose to traverse Los Angeles freeways at 4pm on a Friday. Border “rush hour”is not the same as our traffic “rush hour.”

It’s another country, a foreigner stuck in chargers traffic on friars could say the same thing. Always check the soccer schedule and the Mexican holidays as well.

I’m a big fan of the passport card if sentri isn’t warranted based on your trip count. I used my passport card in the Caribbean, Yucatan peninsula of Mexico and for TJ crossings all in the last year and it was a breeze because your info is read and run before you walk up to the customs official, due to the chip. The analog passport book is still the only thing used for air travel internationally and it is much slower (card only works for land and sea travel in north america, caribbean and some other islands like the bahamas). BG was right, at renewal of the book, the card is only $30 more, applied for by itself it’s a little more.

One note, if you go with other people in a car and 1 person is without a card, none of you can use that lane. On foot you are stuck waiting for the one without a card. My policy, if you don’t have the card you aint going with me!

[Author]

Posts