lots o'kids moving to SD (San Diego, Temecula: big house, neighborhood, buying)

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by hitman619

My Daughter attends Henry.She's in her sophomore year and is currently taking 2 AP Classes at Patrick Henry(Kid is Crazy her choice**shrug**).
So Far we have been pretty happy with Henry. The parent teacher commutation is pretty good.But if you have a problem with big Schools,So Cal in General my be a problem for you.I think my only grip about Henry is most of the Kids Drive a better car to School than me
Edit:
Magnolia academy is not a lottery.My Nephew Attends that school and all they did was just sign up!
So Far my brother and his wife are happy.
That's what you guys have to sit down and Hammer out.
This is what 300k gets you!
31042 Rose Cir, Murrieta, CA 92563 - Zillow

We can always agree to disagree
Won't be the first time won't be the last time
At the end of the day for me,it's all about the quality of life.I have a friend that did the Murrieta commute to Miramar for 12 years.He paid 150k for His house and it will be paid off within the year.
There's is no way to buy a 300k 5 bedroom 3 bathroom house with a pool and good school system in San Diego County.It takes my friend 45 mins to get to work and 1hour 15 min to get home in rush hour. He's going to be able to retire at age 55 with his house paid off.I think it's worth it imo.

39977 Milkmaid Ln, Murrieta, CA 92562 was Recently Sold - Zillow

One thing I agree with hitman is living within your means. I do agree you have to do that. I've seen plenty of people that tried to live in San Diego and they simply couldn't afford it and were living on "borrowed time" and eventually had to move out of the area.

So definitely I agree with you that you only buy what/where you can afford.

[pandavanda]

You've given me some great options and brought to my attention places I hadn't considered.
We will be out there later this month and it will all hinge on what's available in the rental market.

Totally concur with living within your means. My husband makes a decent amount and I don't want to rely on finding a good paying job myself in order to afford our rent/mortgage-especially since I've been out of the workforce for so long.

Thank you for the replies! I may come back and update/ask for more help when we're there.

Oh, is there any way to determine the Mello-Roos in a new home community? They all have them, correct?

[Pedro2000]

Originally Posted by hitman619

My Daughter attends Henry.She's in her sophomore year and is currently taking 2 AP Classes at Patrick Henry(Kid is Crazy her choice**shrug**).
So Far we have been pretty happy with Henry. The parent teacher commutation is pretty good.But if you have a problem with big Schools,So Cal in General my be a problem for you.I think my only grip about Henry is most of the Kids Drive a better car to School than me
Edit:
Magnolia academy is not a lottery.My Nephew Attends that school and all they did was just sign up!
So Far my brother and his wife are happy.
That's what you guys have to sit down and Hammer out.
This is what 300k gets you!
31042 Rose Cir, Murrieta, CA 92563 - Zillow

We can always agree to disagree
Won't be the first time won't be the last time
At the end of the day for me,it's all about the quality of life.I have a friend that did the Murrieta commute to Miramar for 12 years.He paid 150k for His house and it will be paid off within the year.
There's is no way to buy a 300k 5 bedroom 3 bathroom house with a pool and good school system in San Diego County.It takes my friend 45 mins to get to work and 1hour 15 min to get home in rush hour. He's going to be able to retire at age 55 with his house paid off.I think it's worth it imo.

39977 Milkmaid Ln, Murrieta, CA 92562 was Recently Sold - Zillow

It depends on what "quality of life" means. I know a lot of people back east and up in the Bay Area who live far from work. THey spend the 2+ hours per day commuting. Sometimes they take a train, which is far easier and nicer, but others dont' have those options so they drive. Back in NJ, people do it because of similar reasons. Big money to be made in NYC, better schools and housing in NJ or CT or the suburbs of NY. You can also say the same thing up in the Bay Area.

But it's a sacrifice everybody has to make. If you have kids, kids usually are involved with after school activities, sports, drama, dance, clubs, etc. If you are gone from 7am till 7pm every day, somebody has to be around to take the kids to those practices and events and be there for dinner and everything else. And weekends becomes more events and games and shows or as they get older, the kids want to spend time with their own friends. That's just the way it is.

That's the part nobody likes to talk about. Either the kids are alone most of the time or somebody is taking care of them. Having a nice big house in a nice neighborhood is a good thing, but at the same time if it means you are gone an extra 2+ hours a day due to the commute, it also means somebody else is raising the kids. People can make all the excuses they want, but that is the scenario.

Everybody sacrifices in one way or another. Sometimes the kids need to go to better schools. Sometimes it's more selfish in wanting a bigger house with a bigger yard. Nothing wrong with any of that, but not realizing that is a reason a lot of people get into arguments. A mother/wife who spends all the time raising the kids while the husband is gone 12+ hours a day takes a certain kind of person. If they have their own career as well, it means the kids are spending most of their time with coaches/teachers/babysitters.

[malcorub16]

Originally Posted by unquiltom

I lived for 3 years on the western edge of Santee, right next to Mission Trails park. It's a nice area, IMO, and the schools seem to be good, although I don't have any kids, so I don't have first hand knowledge. Probably cheaper than Tierrasanta, but still close to Clairmont Mesa. Santee has a bad reputation, but I don't think that part of Santee should be included when people bad mouth Santee. Also, the businesses along Mission Gorge have most everything you could want.

Santee is perfectly fine and safe. Santee gets a bad rap by people who like to live in their bubbles and not ever come out of their comfort zone. The Klantee moniker was probably accurate 20 years ago, but these days I see it as being diverse as Clairemont or Tierrasanta and any other suburb. Its basically just another suburb of San Diego in my opinion. Trolley Square shopping center is quite nice and convenient for your big box stores. Sky Ranch is a VERY NICE new sub-division up on the hills. There are even a few trailer parks that are quite impressive perched up on hills with great views. There is even a Pho Cadao on Mission Gorge!!!

Believe me, I was one of those that used to bad mouth the East County and now that I actually live there, I've learned to love it.

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by malcorub16

Santee is perfectly fine and safe. Santee gets a bad rap by people who like to live in their bubbles and not ever come out of their comfort zone. The Klantee moniker was probably accurate 20 years ago, but these days I see it as being diverse as Clairemont or Tierrasanta and any other suburb. Its basically just another suburb of San Diego in my opinion. Trolley Square shopping center is quite nice and convenient for your big box stores. Sky Ranch is a VERY NICE new sub-division up on the hills. There are even a few trailer parks that are quite impressive perched up on hills with great views. There is even a Pho Cadao on Mission Gorge!!!

Believe me, I was one of those that used to bad mouth the East County and now that I actually live there, I've learned to love it.

I've never bad mouthed East County because I don't know it too well at all. I've driven around a bit just out of curiosity and in reality really almost ALL of San Diego is really quite safe generally speaking.

I'd imagine the demographics are going to continue to change in all of these areas. Gentrification will take hold as more and more of the older die off and their kids sell their houses. Many of these areas even 10 years from now will probably be substantially different vs. today.

[bluespanishsky]

Originally Posted by earlyretirement

The development was something like you'd see in 4S Ranch or even Carmel Valley! Quiet, nice houses, density looked even better than some developments in Carmel Valley, good views, much more affordable with the good weather to boot.
s!

Do you have names of any of the developments in San Marcos? Ive Been doing some research on Craigslist for a SFH to rent. 4S ranch and carmel valley have been on the list; however if you have any specific names of developments/communities in San Marcos I'd love to look into them as well.

Doing just a general search on Craig's List for San Marcos wasn't very effective! It's always nice to narrow down the search a bit.

Thank you!

[charlie_paige]

What about Bonita? That's where we decided to settle. Good schools, HUGE lots and you get a lot of bang for your buck down there. Most neighborhoods do not have mello-roos, either, and it is not a sea of beige cookie cutter homes and nosey HOA's. If you have a lot of kids (we have 4 as well), you can get a larger home and yard in Bonita, and a decent commute.

Commute was major for us. We've done the 45 min to an hour each way commute before, and it's a killer. Bonita is a 15 minute commute to downtown. Maybe 25 if traffic is bad.

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by bluespanishsky

Do you have names of any of the developments in San Marcos? Ive Been doing some research on Craigslist for a SFH to rent. 4S ranch and carmel valley have been on the list; however if you have any specific names of developments/communities in San Marcos I'd love to look into them as well.

Doing just a general search on Craig's List for San Marcos wasn't very effective! It's always nice to narrow down the search a bit.

Thank you!

Send a PM to AZ2SD....he will steer you in the right direction..... I'm not sure what the name of the developments there are. Or the name of the one I was in but it was nice. AZ2SD can help you. Good luck.

[malcorub16]

Originally Posted by charlie_paige

What about Bonita? That's where we decided to settle. Good schools, HUGE lots and you get a lot of bang for your buck down there. Most neighborhoods do not have mello-roos, either, and it is not a sea of beige cookie cutter homes and nosey HOA's. If you have a lot of kids (we have 4 as well), you can get a larger home and yard in Bonita, and a decent commute.

Commute was major for us. We've done the 45 min to an hour each way commute before, and it's a killer. Bonita is a 15 minute commute to downtown. Maybe 25 if traffic is bad.

Bonita is as the name indicates, bonita. The small town tucked away into the canyons. We considered buying here as well. The one home we toured in Bonita when we were buying 3 years ago was beautiful, but it was sad because it was a short sale so the current owner was still living in the house when we took the tour. The poor guy was literally in tears as he gave us a tour of his house for sell. He told us he had planned to retire in that home but that he couldn't justify paying the mortgage on the 850K loan when the house was only valued at 350K at the time.
We just couldn't buy that guys house after that.

The story of the previous owners of our current home is much happier though, if anything it is worse. We truly did benefit in the wake of others sorrows, but that is the housing market I guess.

[sdurbanite]

Originally Posted by charlie_paige

What about Bonita? That's where we decided to settle. Good schools, HUGE lots and you get a lot of bang for your buck down there. Most neighborhoods do not have mello-roos, either, and it is not a sea of beige cookie cutter homes and nosey HOA's. If you have a lot of kids (we have 4 as well), you can get a larger home and yard in Bonita, and a decent commute.

Commute was major for us. We've done the 45 min to an hour each way commute before, and it's a killer. Bonita is a 15 minute commute to downtown. Maybe 25 if traffic is bad.

Bonita is great. Love the country feeling around the golf course. And what about those fish tacos at TJ Oyster Bar? Yum