Blue Collar Family- can we make it? (San Diego, Vista: real estate, apartment complex) - California (CA) - City-Data Forum

hellosd · 11-10-2007, 06:55 AM

My husband and I are thinking of moving to San Diego (from NY) with our 2 daughters (1st & 3rd grade). We love the North County area and are looking for a safe area with good schools, near the beach. Encinitas or Carlsbad look like our best bet, but we are open to any other suggestions.

Our problem is that it looks like we'll both be taking huge pay cuts (union worker in construction industry & part-time admin assist). Can we pull this off? We're only looking to rent, not buy, in a decent area. Based on what I think we'll be making there, our budget will probably only be about $1500/mo.

Do schools typically offer after-school sports, art, or music programs? Their school here offers an extended day program for $100/week. Is there anything like that there? Since we don't know anyone that we are comfortable leaving them with yet, we would prefer to have them stay at school until until we get home from work.

We are looking any guidance you can offer. Thank you!

NYSD1995 · 11-10-2007, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hellosd

Our problem is that it looks like we'll both be taking huge pay cuts (union worker in construction industry & part-time admin assist). Can we pull this off? We're only looking to rent, not buy, in a decent area. Based on what I think we'll be making there, our budget will probably only be about $1500/mo.

1500/mo is not going to go very far in North County San Diego. By NY standards this is like the Port Washington or Roslyn of the area.

Rickers · 11-10-2007, 09:18 AM

You could live on that if you lived in a garage or on a boat. I am on a limited income and that's why I had to move from San Diego to Montana. It's just too expensive for me there anymore. Now when I hear some thing rattling my trash cans and look out the window, what I see is a bear or a fox trying to get something to eat instead of some filthy drunken dirt bag eating out of garbage cans. When I hear something running through my backyard you can bet it's a deer and not the cops chasing some criminal down. Homeless figures for the city proper are well over 4,000 and the county figures are approaching 10,000. The only homeless person in our town doesn't spend much time in town at all. Most of the time he is tooling around up in the Cabinet Mountains with his three pack horses. He sleeps outdoors pretty much all year long. I think he's prospecting or trapping, maybe both ! The dude is highly educated, polite and substance free. That's the profile of our only homeless person. I grew up in San Diego and I don't care if I ever go back ! One of the last things I saw in San Diego before we "got out of dodge" was in ocean beach right in broad daylight a young skinhead on a skateboard skated up to an old timer, whopped the old man on the head and took his wallet. Everyone just watched and did nothing. I have a friend that lives in OB, he got jumped and stabbed 17 times by some skinhead punks and they just laughed and left without robbing him. I was burglarized three times in the last year that we lived there. And I was jumped and beat up by two fully tattooed prison lifer types once, also in OB.

sassyaztec · 11-11-2007, 01:52 PM

I moved from SD years ago because quite frankly, I wouldn't be able to make it work down the road as a real grown-up, much less with a family. the pay is significantly less in many fields, real estate is crazy and cost of living is out of control. Your competition is obscene since everyone wants to move there and are willing to take pay cuts. You will have a very tough time trying to make it on that. You might want to look to northern cal. southern cal. is just sooo expensive.

thelostsouls · 11-11-2007, 03:05 PM

Shadowridge area of Vista/Carlsbad.

RBV High School, Madison middle school, plenty of good apartments and townhouses around the area. I rented a 2bd/2bth for 1290/month.

Good luck.

CEO · 11-11-2007, 07:03 PM

San Diego rent is about your 1,500 for a two bedroom. Granted you might find some places cheaper, but it would be a nice place for your children.

You can make it work probably in Northern California if you stay away from the Bay Area and might make ends meet in other counties of southern california.

jksouthbay88 · 11-11-2007, 11:00 PM

Um blue collar and North County don't mix too well.

hellosd · 11-12-2007, 12:28 PM

Thanks for the input everyone. We realize its not much of a budget and we hope that we end up making more than I've estimated. I have seen a few rentals in Encinitas & Carlsbad in that range but don't know if they're real apartments or in good areas or not. Are there bad areas there? It all seemed so nice.

Does anyone know any more about the afterschool programs? They go to Catholic school here and it offers more activities than our public schools do, but the tuition also comes at a price that I don't think we can swing there. I may need to check the individual schools but was just wondering if there's a standard program we can expect?

We love San Diego and think it would be so much better for our kids than to have them grow up here in NY. We spend most of our free time at the beach and aren't really concerned with buying luxury cars and clothes and all that.

Donna7 · 11-12-2007, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hellosd

Thanks for the input everyone. We realize its not much of a budget and we hope that we end up making more than I've estimated. I have seen a few rentals in Encinitas & Carlsbad in that range but don't know if they're real apartments or in good areas or not. Are there bad areas there? It all seemed so nice.

Does anyone know any more about the afterschool programs? They go to Catholic school here and it offers more activities than our public schools do, but the tuition also comes at a price that I don't think we can swing there. I may need to check the individual schools but was just wondering if there's a standard program we can expect?

We love San Diego and think it would be so much better for our kids than to have them grow up here in NY. We spend most of our free time at the beach and aren't really concerned with buying luxury cars and clothes and all that.

Hi HelloSD, I have good friends that moved from Queens, New York to San Diego about 3 years ago. They have one son; he was around age 7-8 when they moved. They rented a 2 bedroom in an area that was not so good and had their car stolen right in front of them practically as it was parked in front of the kitchen. We were on a conference call, in fact, when it happened; the husband was in the livingroom, my friend was on the phone in the kitchen, and all of a sudden, they heard their car started and heading out of the parking lot (they were living in an apartment complex). The car was found a few days later and it looks like whoever stole it used it to joyride. Nothing was damaged. They moved to a better place and they've not had any trouble since. They really love the diversity that SD offers; she is Brazilian, her husband is from India. In the 3 1/2 years that they've been there, they've settled in nicely and are doing fine. It was a rough start, but she said that it was worth the move. As far as their occupations, she is a stay-at-home mom who works as a distributor for a health & wellness company; her husband is a restaurant manager. I say if you have the desire, a way will always be found.

Best to you and your family.

jfromvista · 11-19-2007, 01:06 PM

$1500.00 in Encinitas or Carlsbad is going to get you a 2 bedroom apartment at best. If you're looking for a house you're looking to double that. As far as after school programs, both Encinitas and Carlsbad have a boys and girls club. You could also check the Magdalena Ecke YMCA on Saxony Rd. in Encinitas. Not sure of the cost but it's a popular place for kids. Good luck