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My husband recently accepted a job offer for a position in San Diego. He'll be working in Mira Mesa.
We're a family of four, with a 2 year old and a 5 year old (she'll start kindergarten next Fall). We'd like to purchase a home. We'll have about 8 weeks in temporary housing as part of the relo. So, we'll be working on a tight house hunting timeline once we move out to San Diego in early June.
Our budget is $550k. We'd like to stay in relative proximity to Mira Mesa. From reading online, I think PQ, southern end of RB east (basically across the 15 from PQ), western edge of Poway, and Scripps Ranch would be our target neighborhoods for good schools and proximity to my husband's work. But, I think we are being priced out of those neighborhoods. Your real estate market appears to have jumped up a lot in price this Spring! Is it likely more homes will come on the market in June? Inventory appears low.
Wild card possibilities are Tierrasanta and Clairemont. So questions
1) how easy is it choice into a magnet, charter or non-neighborhood school? Our primary concern is the high school in Tierrasanta and the middle and high school options in Clairemont.
2) Is Clairmont bottled in by expressways? Is traffic a concern getting in and out of it?
3) how would rush hour commutes from Tierrasanta to the western edge of Mira Mesa be? How about to UCSD, golden triangle, Sorrento valley? Before staying home with the kids I used to work in biotech. Part of why we're moving to San Diego is so that I can get back into the workforce. I think most biotech is located in those areas?
4) Do Clairemont and Tierrasanta have young families? Do people tend to stay and raise a family in these areas?
If we can't find a house, how hard is it to find a month to month lease? We'd like to get settled into a home quickly to avoid taking our daughter in and out of schools. Renting for a year would not be ideal.
Hmmm sounds like maybe your moving for QC? 8 weeks in temporary housing is good but that can go by fast. We moved in August last year, tried to find a house to lease and only found 2-3 places we liked (out of many viewed) and we had major competition. Once mid August hit there wasn't much inventory available for rentals and we ended up having to push our temporary housing to 6 weeks. It was kind of a crazy experience, don't panic but just be prepared that this real estate market is a whole different animal here.
Recently I've been talking to people in our area who are selling their homes (700k-Million plus)and apparently the market has picked up considerably. One person told me they didn't even officially have their house listed and they already had someone interested and got it sold and found a new home to buy all in a span of about 3 weeks. Not only did their house sell so fast but they also got more than their asking price (only in CA!) and considerably more than their purchase price from 6 years ago! She mentioned there was not a lot of inventory out there. I would imagine as it gets closer to June there will be more but I think just in general the shortage of properties is what's already driving the prices up again so quickly.
It sounds like all of the areas you mentioned (PQ, RB, Poway) would be a good fit for you, they're very family oriented areas and from what I hear have some of the best schools. They also have a lot more conveniences nearby (shopping, costco, malls). I live closer to the coast and I feel like I drive all over town to get stuff done so that is something to think about. I personally hate driving during rush hour from the west side of Mira Mesa all the way to the 15, the traffic drives me nuts on that road (especially closer to the 15). However, my husband stayed in Poway when he first started his job here and he said the commute wasn't that bad. Yours could also take the 56, connects to the 5 and then splits into the 805 to get off on Sorrento. These areas don't have tons of inventory in your budget but there are definitely some properties in that price range. I have family (with younger kids) that live near Ted Williams/15 and they love that area.
I've only been to Tierrasanta a couple times during rush hour (from the west side of Mira Mesa) and it probably took me about 45 minutes to get there (most of the congestion being on Mira Mesa). Personally I just think you would like the north areas of town that you mentioned better than Tierrasanta and Clairemont. I haven't been here that long but I think family with younger kids is more RB, PQ, Poway than Tierrasanta & Clairemont. There does seem to be a lot of Biotech companies in and around Sorrento Valley, La Jolla, etc... You most likely can, worst case scenario, find a apartment to rent month to month but it will probably be considerably more expensive than a long lease and even more so if it's furnished. Hopefully you have a real estate agent or a good relocation company helping with your move and hope you find something quickly!
Based on what you described, I'd personally would try to find a house on the West end of Mira Mesa. MM schools is actually better than PQ's school if your budget is $550k. Now, if you say $700k, then I would say the opposite. As far as traffic, it depends on where your husband will be working in Mira Mesa. Most of the traffic starts from Parkdale all the way to the 15. From 805 to Parkdale, it probably will take you 10 minutes during peak hours. However, from Parkdale to the 15 would probably take 25-30 minutes. If you can go slightly above $550k, I'd get something like this one: 11960 Thomas Hayes Ln, San Diego, CA 92126 | MLS# 130019957 | Redfin. Something like this in PQ would be over $650k.
I think Sorrento Valley is out of your budget. Clairemont/Tierrasanta will have worse schools. UTC/UC area will be out of your budget, unless you're willing to live in a condo or a tiny house (those tiny houses are going for around $525-550k). Traffic getting on the 805 South sucks in the afternoon. It could easily take you 10-15 minutes just to get on the 805, unless you're being an a-hole and cut people off. I know several people who lives in Clairemont area and work in Sorrento Valley and it takes them around 25-35 minutes to get home (door to door). For Tierrasanta, I'd add another 5-10 minutes on top of that.
I'm also not sure how important new schools will matter to you, but they're building a brand new elementary school in the South West Mira Mesa, on the corner of Parkdale and Flanders. Houses in South West Mira Mesa will be slightly cheaper than the Thomas Hayes house I just showed above.
I think doc offers some great advice. I think your biggest problem you will find is that $550's doesn't buy anything too special in many of the good areas around here. It's sad to say that $500s doesn't buy too much here but as others mentioned, the inventory isn't too great (although it's getting better at the higher end) the $500s market is very tight.
Doc nailed it that many of these areas are realistically out of your budget in the $500s for a SFH.
He'll be working near Camino Santa Fe. I don't remember whether the other major cross street is Miramar or Mira Mesa blvd.
We had crossed Mira Mesa off our list since it appeared that no one in San Diego wanted to live in Mira Mesa! We really don't want to be hemmed in by horrific traffic, and it seemed (in addition to gang issues and spotty neighborhoods) that Mira Mesa would not be a good fit. We figured with a seemingly central location to a major job center, highly rated schools, and low housing prices, that there must be a lot of good reasons for why people don't want to live there. Is that a reasonable viewpoint?
The house you linked, although very nice, appears to be the most expensive house in Mira Mesa. I don't know if that would be a good thing to buy at the top of the market.
As far as space goes, we'd be ok with 1500 sq ft and up. We could go up to $650k max, but we'd have to stop saving for retirement, take an even bigger portion out of existing liquid savings, and would basically need me to find a good job. This is tenable for a year or two for me to get back
into the workforce (I have a PhD in chemcal engineering and think i will eventually make a decent amount) but not long term. We're used to saving ~$30k a year and going down to 0 is hard to come to terms with.
Our relo realtor has started sending listings for Carlsbad and San Marcos. Both seem very far North! Would the rush hour commute from those places be under 30 mins to Camino Santa Fe in Mira Mesa?
My husband will make in the mid $140s (is qc qualcom? No he won't be working there). It is kind of insane to me that we'll have to really double down to make ends meet, but I would really like to go back to work. San Diego is one of the few cities in the country that has a strong biotech cluster.
It sounds like I should take Tierrasanta and Clairemont off the table? As far as schools go, decent is acceptable. They don't have to be all 10s (great schools ratings) but 7 and up would be good. They don't have to be brand new buildings either. But, safe is necessary.
We had crossed Mira Mesa off our list since it appeared that no one in San Diego wanted to live in Mira Mesa! We really don't want to be hemmed in by horrific traffic, and it seemed (in addition to gang issues and spotty neighborhoods) that Mira Mesa would not be a good fit. We figured with a seemingly central location to a major job center, highly rated schools, and low housing prices, that there must be a lot of good reasons for why people don't want to live there. Is that a reasonable viewpoint?
The house you linked, although very nice, appears to be the most expensive house in Mira Mesa. I don't know if that would be a good thing to buy at the top of the market.
As far as space goes, we'd be ok with 1500 sq ft and up. We could go up to $650k max, but we'd have to stop saving for retirement, take an even bigger portion out of existing liquid savings, and would basically need me to find a good job. This is tenable for a year or two for me to get back
into the workforce (I have a PhD in chemcal engineering and think i will eventually make a decent amount) but not long term. We're used to saving ~$50k a year and going down to 0 is hard to come to terms with.
Our relo realtor has started sending listings for Carlsbad and San Marcos. Both seem very far North! Would the rush hour commute from those places be under 30 mins to Camino Santa Fe in Mira Mesa?
My husband will make in the mid $140s (is qc qualcom? No he won't be working there). It is kind of insane to me that we'll have to really double down to make ends meet, but I would really like to go back to work. San Diego is one of the few cities in the country that has a strong biotech cluster.
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You are correct that MANY locals aren't crazy about living in Mira Mesa. Sometimes I do think that Mira Mesa gets kind of a bad rep but then I ask myself if I would want to live there and the answer is NO. LOL. So I do understand why others might not want to live there either.
Mira Mesa seems to be the type of place that people might move to because they HAVE to move there either to be closer to work and it's in their budget vs. one of those great areas where people WANT to live. I think that is a huge difference when deciding to buy.
Do NOT get into that crazy attitude of moving out of the range of what you can comfortably afford! That's the SAME mistake many here make. They have a realistic budget of what they can COMFORTABLY afford then they find themselves going up $100,000 to $200,000 to even more! Just set your budget to what you can comfortably afford at the time you are buying. ABSOLUTELY do not do this if you have to stop saving for retirement. That's crazy. Saving for retirement should be a BIG priority for everyone. You won't be young forever and money won't always be coming in.
Step back and listen to yourself for a second. Stop contributing to retirement, dipping into savings, dependent on finding a good job, etc. I'm sure with your background you will find a good job but it's better to BUY when you can COMFORTABLY afford the payments. Not the other way around of buying something more than your budget and hoping things go ok.
That is a recipe for disaster in San Diego. I've seen a lot of sob stories from people doing silly things like this. You should NEVER buy more than what you can comfortably afford. If you have to rent a few years rent until you can save up enough to comfortably afford to buy. There is NO shame in renting for a few years until you can comfortably be in a position to buy. If that takes waiting until both of you are comfortably working and already in jobs then do that.
But you aren't even in San Diego yet and you're already making the same mistake as many here. Many here are living a lifestyle that they can't afford and for those people it typically doesn't end up well. Maybe for a year or maybe longer but ultimately things can be a disaster.
Also, you only have 8 weeks in temporary housing. Inventory here is VERY tight in the budget you are looking at. Do NOT bank on finding a place in only 8 weeks! Have a good back up plan and rental lined up. In fact, renting a place for a few months will be wise to get to see the areas well and see what you do and don't like. It's impossible to try to predict what inventory will be like in the future. It's such a whacky market right now.
Finding month to month leases would NOT be desirable with 2 young kids as I'm sure you already realize. That would be a nightmare trying to line that up. I would NOT bank on finding something in only 8 weeks at your price range. It also could force you into being a situation where you are really forced to buy something that you're not comfortable buying. Rather, try to line up a 6 month lease or something which will give you plenty of time to buy and learn the areas well. And even 6 months might not be a long enough time to find a house but it's more realistic then what you're trying to do which sounds like things could go very badly. Good luck.
Last edited by earlyretirement; 05-10-2013 at 10:20 AM..
You got some great info here from the other posters.
Based on your posts, it doesnt seem like you have been to San Diego before?
I have no idea why in the world the relo Realtor would recommend those areas unless they have already ticked off many of those attributes. They are great areas for families (dont get me wrong), but based on your needs, especially commuting, sound a litle off.
That is probably one of the thickest commutes in San Diego (the 5 north/south) during commute times.
Definitely, I would advise you take a trip out here for a week. San Diego is just a different beast to many other cities I have been to or lived in. Because of the uncertainty of areas and budget range affecting your retirement savings, I would highly advise renting first for a year IF you feel you dont have a good enough beat on buying a house in an area you like.
The problem with renting is that to be comfortable, we'd need to dip into savings too. Comfortable for us is $2000/month housing budget. I don't think we could rent a sfh or a detached condo in any of those areas for that budget either. Even $2000 is $900 more than we pay now! Whether the savings is used to supplement a rental or put a bigger down payment down, it seems better to put a bigger down payment down?
I'm leaning toward Tierrasanta since it seems affordable. There are some nice 1950s homes there that would suit our needs just fine. The elementary and middle schools appear to be fine. But, it appears not to be a desirable choice either!
The problem with renting is that to be comfortable, we'd need to dip into savings too. Comfortable for us is $2000/month housing budget. I don't think we could rent a sfh or a detached condo in any of those areas for that budget either. Even $2000 is $900 more than we pay now! Whether the savings is used to supplement a rental or put a bigger down payment down, it seems better to put a bigger down payment down?
I'm leaning toward Tierrasanta since it seems affordable. There are some nice 1950s homes there that would suit our needs just fine. The elementary and middle schools appear to be fine. But, it appears not to be a desirable choice either!
Obviously with renting you will have to spend savings. But you need to do what is rational and intelligent. You can't rush something so important as a home purchase, especially with young kids involved. Take the time to get to know the areas.
Honestly, if things are so tight where you can't afford to rent for 6 months before buying it probably means you can't afford San Diego or at least can't afford to buy now. You can always work, bank up more savings and THEN buy. Don't try to fit a 'square peg' into a 'round hole' which it almost sounds like you are trying to do.
This isn't the sort of thing you want to rush into. Especially in your situation. I DO understand with two young kids you want to avoid getting into a situation where you are moving around but it makes sense to get this right on the front end.
Where do you live now? By the sounds of it, you are already figuring out COL via housing is VERY different than where you are from.
I haven't been to the residential part of San Diego before - just the downtown part.
Maybe we should rent and not buy. It's not desirable because I don't want to move my daughter in and out if schools, interest rates are low now, and the market will probably keep going up and up. But, half a million is a lot of money to make a big mistake with.
I'll just sum everything up with a Moving is Stressful!!
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