San Clemente, best schools, close to 5, affordable? (San Diego, Oceanside: fit in, sales) - Orange County - California (CA) - City-Data Forum

soymabelen · 02-17-2009, 07:44 AM

We are relocating from the East Coast at the end of the school year. I have been reading the forum and I found a wealth of information, but I am still looking for some more insight and up to date advice.

My husband and I are considering San Clemente in OC as well as Carlsbad and Rancho Penasquitos in San Diego. We are looking for very good schools. We have a Preschooler and a 7th grader who will need very good Elementary and Middle/High schools, but we also want to be within a reasonable commute between my husband's job (Mira Mesa/Sorrento Valley area in San Diego) and family (Laguna Niguel and Laguna Beach OC).

We are looking for a single family home (we want to have a dog) with somewhat of a yard (not huge, just big enough to enjoy the California weather) and our budget is around $500,000. Is there anything like that in San Clemente? We would like a family friendly area. We are focused on family and education, not on fancy cars, fashion labels or keeping up. We are also a very diverse family (we are a bit like the UN!) and appreciate an accepting environment where our kids can fit in and feel valued. What would you recommend to someone like us?

80's old school · 02-17-2009, 08:04 AM

If going to great schools is very important, stick to San Clemente. My brother's kiddo goes to SC schools. They live in Talega and his child went to the Elementary school in Talega. There also is an Elementary school in "old San CLemente" but......ahhh....I dunno...

BTW, $500,000 will buy you a super nice condo in Talega. Might, and I say just MIGHT buy a single family residence in SC in a desirable area.

I don't think Oceanside would be a great place to raise a family. Too militaryish.

San Clemente is cool. It is my favorite town and i can't wait till the day we can move back!!

Charles · 02-17-2009, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by soymabelen

We are relocating from the East Coast at the end of the school year. I have been reading the forum and I found a wealth of information, but I am still looking for some more insight and up to date advice.

My husband and I are considering San Clemente in OC as well as Carlsbad and Rancho Penasquitos in San Diego. We are looking for very good schools. We have a Preschooler and a 7th grader who will need very good Elementary and Middle/High schools, but we also want to be within a reasonable commute between my husband's job (Mira Mesa/Sorrento Valley area in San Diego) and family (Laguna Niguel and Laguna Beach OC).

We are looking for a single family home (we want to have a dog) with somewhat of a yard (not huge, just big enough to enjoy the California weather) and our budget is around $500,000. Is there anything like that in San Clemente? We would like a family friendly area. We are focused on family and education, not on fancy cars, fashion labels or keeping up. We are also a very diverse family (we are a bit like the UN!) and appreciate an accepting environment where our kids can fit in and feel valued. What would you recommend to someone like us?

Check this out for schools and recent sales:

https://www.city-data.com/forum/orang...ing-tools.html

missionhome · 02-17-2009, 09:53 AM

You do realize your husband will have a 50 mile drive to work from San Clemente to the Mira Mesa area? He will likely hit traffic in San Diego also, so he is looking at a one hour commute at the minimum each way. Because of that, I highly recommend you consider San Diego County. San Diego area is close enough to Laguna Niguel to easily visit family on the weekends when their is less traffic.

Also, San Clemente is pretty expensive, with an average home price right now of around $750-800k. In the $500k range there looks to be about 15 homes on the market to pick from.

San Clemente is served by the Capistrano Unified School District. All of San Clemente attends San Clemente High School, which is a good school. Middle schools are split between Brenice Ayer Middle (the best, hear good things about it), Vista del Mar Middle (good school in Talega, but overcrowded, shares campus with elementary), and Shorecliffs (decent school, serves older parts of San Clemente).
For elementary school: Vista del Mar serves Talega and is a good school with good parents support (but is overcrowded). Truman Benedict, Concordia, Marblehead, and Palisades Elementary are all good schools as well, in upscale areas. Clarence Lobo is a decent school, serving a long established community, but not as good as the rest. I know the district was going to move some Vista del Mar students to Clarence Lobo and parents almost rioted over it.
You will want to avoid Las Palmas Elementary near the beach and downtown, it is not a good school and is watched over by the government because it doesn't meet No Child Left Behind standards. Parents living there are allowed to transfer their kids to a higher performing school (I think).

You can find attendance boundaries here on the CUSD website: Attendance Boundary Maps

-----I would look at Carlsbad. You should get more for your money, have good schools, and be closer to work.

soymabelen · 02-17-2009, 12:23 PM

Thank you to for your input.

80's, Oceanside is definitely out of the question, it is San Clemente, Carlsbad/Encinitas or Rancho Penasquitos.

Charles, wow! I will explore those tools. I have used some of them, but I spotted a few I didn't know about, thank you.

Missionhome, regarding the drive. I agree with you. My husband started his job in January and is staying with relatives in Laguna Niguel, so he is already doing the commute. He is the one who actually suggested a a closer to relatives location vs closer to work. I am staying with our girls on the East Coast so that my oldest can finish 7th grade at her current school. While I would love to be so close to relatives (after all we have never lived closer to relatives than a 6 hour flight), I am concerned he will burn up after a while; well, that and gas prices too! My husband also would love to be closer to the beach, whereas I think schools and work are more important and anywhere we pick we will be close enough to the beach to drive there when we want to. I guess we are right now in the fact finding stage so we can proceed to the negotiating stage as well informed as possible.

NewportBorn · 02-17-2009, 07:22 PM

Schools in CAPO are poor compared to schools in many other states, I attended San Clemente High last year... It was crowded, dirty, few computers, and a lot of students per teacher! Now that has nothing to do with the staff, they were all nice people we just did not have the funds to run a 3000 student school. That was built in the 1960's!

soymabelen · 02-17-2009, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewportBorn

Schools in CAPO are poor compared to schools in many other states, I attended San Clemente High last year... It was crowded, dirty, few computers, and a lot of students per teacher! Now that has nothing to do with the staff, they were all nice people we just did not have the funds to run a 3000 student school. That was built in the 1960's!

NewportBorn, I am sorry to hear about the overcrowded state of the school. Do you think it affected your performance and or well being?

Thank you for your sharing your personal experience.

80's old school · 02-17-2009, 08:32 PM

I would not rule out Fallbrook, Temecula, and Murietta. A little inland, but nice. Prolly the same commute to SD as it would be to South OC. There are probably some buys to be had given the downturn of home sales inland.

soymabelen · 02-17-2009, 08:51 PM

80s, thank you for your suggestions, but looking at them on a map I see they are way too far inland for us. One of the positive points of this relocation is the San Diego weather, we are looking forward to getting away from our current extreme temperatures.

leens514 · 02-22-2009, 11:43 AM

San clemente is alot better than los angeles and other places in california. It does have its ups and downs though. I use to take a class up in the mira mesa area and would drive from San clemente twice a week and the traffic can get pretty bad especially if he is going through the rush hour. Depending on where he is working in san clemente it might be possible to take the train. I used to take it to go visit my friend in San Diego and my sister worked in L.A and used the train instead of driving.

The only thing i see that might be hard is your price range for san clemente. You might be able to get a home in Talega or more inland san clemente for your price but generally anything on the beach side your looking close to a million. (San clemente people usually generally split the area by either you live on the freeway side or the beach side). And if you go beach side you are defintely not going to get a yard unless your in the million range.

My sister sold her townhome close to over half a million. I was stubborn and wanted to live beach side and wanted a yard in your price range. So i actually bought a duplex for more than my original price. It had a nice small yard and that each apartment was more like a townhome. I rented out the other side to make up the additional costs and upgraded the other unit i lived in.

I know this might not work if you really want a single family home. But this is quite common in san clemente for those who really want to live there and can't afford the price tag of a house. Actually alot of the places around me did this as well. Or there is still alot of nice places more inland san clemente and lots of families there.