Commuting to Temecula... (San Diego, Oceanside, Escondido: real estate, rental, how much)

[rz671]

Thinking of moving to Temecula. Is commute worth it?

[skeke]

Someone in my office (Mission Valley) commutes from Temecula. She moved there so she could get a bigger home in a nice neighborhood. Within less than two weeks she was in tears about how much she hated the commute.

[cruitr]

Temecula to Escondido or San Marcos would probably be OK. Any further south and you will a very unhappy commuter.

[oddstray]

Originally Posted by cruitr

Temecula to Escondido or San Marcos would probably be OK. Any further south and you will a very unhappy commuter.

I wouldn't do it even to Escondido or San Marcos. Some of the worst traffic is on I-15 through Escondido and on I-78. One of my colleagues commutes from Temecula to Rancho Bernardo, but he rides the van pool.

[rz671]

Thanks everyone for your help. My husband would be commuting around 5:30pm to Oceanside. I'm assuming traffic wouldn't be much of a problem...???? I was just curious as to whether or not the cost of housing is worth driving nearly an hour to get to and from work.

[Clevelandgal]

People's opinions are nice, but subjective (example-to me it is horrible to commute more than 20 minutes...other people think an hour is "not bad"). I would highly recommend a trial run on a day/time he would commute. Going on priceline and spending $60 on a hotel room to try this out is better than sinking money in a 30 year mortgage. For what it is worth-kids like and need quality time with their parents more than a big house which does nothing to foster their development and help them be good people. There are probably good school districts closer to Oceanside. It may require living in a smaller space, but dad seeing them more hours in a day will mean more than a house with a pool and stressed parent they hardly know.

edit add: 15 is pretty conjested both ways well into the evening-grated I have only done this twice, but that was the case. 76....I think is 2 lanes...in the dark? not sounding real pleasant or safe.

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by skeke

Someone in my office (Mission Valley) commutes from Temecula. She moved there so she could get a bigger home in a nice neighborhood. Within less than two weeks she was in tears about how much she hated the commute.

Yikes. I would have thought she would have done some trial commutes before she decided to buy way out there. That is quite a commute.

Personally I could NEVER do a commute like that. Yeah, real estate is much cheaper out there but if you have kids you have to ask at what cost is it worth it? Because if you're working 5 days a week and you have an extra 2 hours or so of driving seems like you'll see a lot less of your kids.

I agree with the example to stay in a hotel a few nights and make the trial commute over the course of a few days and especially hitting it during rush hour to give a worst case scenario.

Definitely it would be worth it to rent first or try a short term furnished rental if you can find one on sites like VRBO.com or Homeaway.com or AirBnb.com

Temecula to Oceanside is still probably going to be about an hour or so commute each way. To some people that isn't any big deal so I guess you need to objectively see if you're the type that can deal with traffic and commuting. I've met some people that can easily do it and enjoy being in their car. Others it drives them crazy and like skeke mentioned, it will drive them to tears.

[rz671]

Definitely agree with you both. We're planning to get a bigger house only so that the kids have a yard to play in while at home. We just can't afford a house with a decent sized yard in the area we'd like to stay here in San Diego. He would only be driving 3 days a week. So four days with the kiddos.

[djxpress]

You don't have to move to Temecula, you can find housing for lower than SD prices in parts of Fallbrook, Bonsall and Valley Center. The commute won't be as long.

I have a friend who has a 3500 sf house built in the late 90s/pool/4 car garage on about 1.5 acres at the end of a cul de sac with a view (barely) of the ocean that's in Valley Center which they got for around $500k.

The commute to work isn't so bad, it's when you want to go to a store, you have to drive 20 minutes to get there (if you were to live in Valley Center)

[ontheGtrain]

I work with people who drive to the border from Temecula 5 days a week. I even know a few that drive to Pine Valley from Temecula so people do it. I would love to have a big house and a yard but I could not stomach the drive from Temecula.