affordable but safe areas in San Diego? (Los Angeles, Chula Vista: sale, rentals)

[Shabba Dabba]

Stay away from Spring Valley and Lemon Grove. They are low income areas, rife with violent crime. Anywhere south of La Mesa should be avoided. I advise you to google areas that are close to Mission Valley so your husband doesn't have to drive for hours to work. All the stories you've heard about Cali highway in rush hour are true. Good luck getting a shack in SoCal for $250.00. Seriously! You're probably looking at a condo or apartment. Houses here start at a minimum of $350.00 for something basic and decent. Good Luck! (btw. I've lived in San Diego for the past five years so have a little bit of insider knowledge and experience with house hunting, good residental areas, etc

[Shabba Dabba]

*good luck getting shack in SoCal for $250,000.00*

[esmith143]

Of all the places mentioned, I'd only agree on Santee as the place that (1) fits the requirements, and (2) can be had for $250,000.

[sdhkshdcny09]

Originally Posted by Oerdin

There are no gangs in Mira Mesa. What we get here on CDF is that some racist idiots notice there are more Asian people then white people so they declare it to be all things bad when in fact it is none of those things.

I wouldn't go as far as saying there arent any gangs at all. There are gangs in every community, even Carlsbad and Encinitas have gangs, so I highly doubt there isn't at least one in mira mesa.

Like my post said, the crime in Mira Mesa is for the most part exaggerated. I personally really like the diversity of the community, but others think minority and automatically assume crime. Mira Mesa is especially vulnerable to this association because it is surrounded by the wealthiest, whitest communities in San Diego (Scripps Ranch, Carmel Valley, UTC/La Jolla, Rancho PQ).

[esmith143]

Originally Posted by rhanifin

.. it is surrounded by the wealthiest, whitest communities in San Diego (Scripps Ranch, Carmel Valley, UTC/La Jolla, Rancho PQ).

All of which (except La Jolla) happen to have highest concentrations of Asians in the county.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

I live in Lemon Grove, just bought a house here in November. Personally, I really like the community and access to freeways and the downtown area. It is made up of only a few major thruways and I would say at least 90% of it is full of cul de sac type streets. I think its great and offers a feeling of privacy.
My wife and I travel quite a bit for work so it was really important to be fairly close to the airport and its literally 15 mins away.
My neighbors are all long time owners (former Navy and the younger ones are small business owners) and couldnt have been nicer when we moved in. Most of my street the homes are modest and well kept. As far as dangerous? I really cant speak for all of it. What I can say is that there are neighbors on nearby streets that let their kids walk the dog at night etc. Most kids around say hi as well as neighbors. Lots of weekend yard sales. Its a 'normal' town by any measure.

On the flip side the one thing that I have noticed is how detached the downtown is from the residential areas. The main drag here is Broadway and its a bit of an eyesore. Lots of check cashing places, nail salons and fast food joints (mile of meals). There are homeless problems as well. If you were to look at a crime map, anything crime comes in the form of burglaries and stolen cars along Broadway. So no sugar coating here when it comes to the downtown, but it does stay mostly isolated in this area.

While the quality of house I bought was an exception to some other parts of Lemon Grove, its really hit or miss here. The southern part of Lemon Grove near Encanto sees some lower prices vs the eastern portion and anywhere that is on top of a hill.
There are homes here for 250kish, but its really a place that you literally have to go to see each house and street.

Lemon Grove is a nice place, its straight up middle class San Diego. Not San Diego on a postcard nor is it a place that you need to carry a gun in. Its right down the middle and if you are looking for place to buy a home to live in and not see if you will triple your investment in 5 years, its worth taking a look at. Overlooked and undervalued.

Here are some homes that recently closed to give you an idea.

http://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-11000237...Grove_CA_91945
http://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-10006817...Grove_CA_91945
http://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-10006625...Grove_CA_91945

[novabrite]

Thanks for all the the information. From the sound of it, Spring Valley is a lot like the city where I live now (which is Decatur, IL, for the record). Decatur has a bad reputation too, at least in other cities such as Champaign-Urbana, where I went to school. Most of it is the terrible public schools in the DPS district, and we have a lot of crime and gang problems in much of the city. However, where I live is in a different school district, and we live in a really great, safe neighborhood - the kind of place where you can literally leave your doors unlocked.

I guess I am just saying this because I realize that there are often hidden gems of neighborhoods in any city, but it can be hard to know which schools are bad, etc., when you're moving cross-country.

You may not think that in the middle of central IL, which is surrounded by cornfields and rural areas, that there would be hoods and gang problems either, but there is a lot of that in many parts of the city where I am from. I am not scared of it; I just won't live in those areas or send my kids to the associated schools. Working in an Emergency Room on the 3rd shift is a great way to figure out which areas you want to avoid; all the stabbings and shootings come from the same area! Of course, having lived here a long time, I've been able to ferret out the bad neighborhoods from the good. There are some places here even that have deceptively attractive houses, but share a school district map with the worst $12,000 flop houses in the city.

That's the kind of information that I am hoping someone here can share. I've been to San Marcos and thought it seemed nice. Carlsbad, I really liked, but I know it's out of our price range right now, at least until I get my student loans paid off and we could afford a higher monthly house payment. We have some acquaintances who live in Oceanside, and while they live in a nice area, I got the impression that many surrounding neighborhoods were not so good. Regardless, it's probably a moot point, because the commute would be killer.

Just to reiterate, I don't even care if most of the neighborhood is Asian, Hispanic, Black, whatever. It doesn't bother me if I am the only white person in the whole neighborhood, so long as people are nice and welcoming, and the area is not dangerous. The neighborhood where I live now is mostly white, but I really don't care. I used to live on a street where literally every other family on my block was black, and you know what? My neighbors were friendlier than some of the others I've had. I don't necessarily associate minority-heavy areas with something I want to avoid. I pretty much like everybody. Plus, I love Korean barbecue, Indian, and Mexican, so access to that stuff is more of a plus for me than a Starbucks and a Whole Foods.

[novabrite]

shmoov_groovzsd, I also wanted to thank you for the information on Lemon Grove. I had heard very mixed things about it; even the Wikipedia page for Lemon Grove is a little less than enthusiastic. It's good to know that you feel positively about it. The closed listings are exactly the kind of thing that I am looking for. Those houses are similar to the size and feel of our house here, and is what I would like to find again. I really don't need a 2,500+ sq. foot McMansion like I've seen in some of the "more desirable" areas of SD county; I just want something modest but respectable and most importantly, where my kids can thrive.

[novabrite]

OK, I think I may be leaning toward Lemon Grove, Spring Valley, or some areas of Chula Vista. To be honest, we are not rich - we are middle class. I see little appeal in living in the wealthiest areas of SD county. Yes, the schools will probably be good, but then again, we'll never be able to "keep up with the Joneses" and that sort of thing rubs off on kids too. I would rather live around humble, hard-working people. No, I have nothing against the wealthy or the poor...and with the middle class shrinking, it's hard not to fall into one category or the other. But we work hard to have a nice home, and by nice, I mean 1500 square feet of clean, contemporary home with a fenced, maintained yard. Yes, we have 2 new cars, but they are a Prius and a Camry. You know what I mean? My husband works hard and so do I, we're involved with the kids' schools, and we take pride in ourselves and our homes, but I have no interest in living beyond our means and spending hours in gridlock everyday so that we can live in an area with "prestige." I just don't want our cars getting stolen or our home getting vandalized. Surely there is a happy medium...

[NYSD1995]

"middle class" in San Diego is disappearing - many of San Diego's most stolid middle class areas have declined into poverty in recent decades. Spring Valley, is no longer a middle class area. Lemon Grove is somewhat more middle class but still at the lower-end of the spectrum. Much El Cajon too has declined. La Mesa, Santee, have clung to their middle-class roots, as has Chula Vista, which has successfully reinvented itself.

As an outsider - comparisons to your midwestern hometown are not valid. Spring Valley, for example, has much more in common with much of Mexico than it does America at this point - in the flats, modest, but derelict homes and neighborhoods, decaying, with inadequate infrastructure, impoverished residential areas, and relative wealth and stability in the adjacent hills. Escondido, Vista, many exurbs follow this pattern in some form or another. As the old saying goes - "***** flows downhill"