lots o'kids moving to SD (San Diego, Riverside: for sale, rentals, HOA fees)

[pandavanda]

OK. I've been lurking for a few months now. I feel relatively well informed on the areas surrounding San Diego (thank you C-D), but I have been re-thinking my original decision to settle in Temecula.

We are a family of 6, mom, dad and kids from 6-14 plus two small dogs. My husband will be working in the Kearny-Mesa area. I want to pick a particular neighborhood and rent for a year and then buy a house in the same school attendance zone. I really don't want to move the kids into another school. Sharing rooms is fine so we only need a 3 bedroom. We don't want to spend over $550000.

Every time I find a close to work area with good elementary schools, the middle and/or high school are not so great (ie, Mt. Helix, San Carlos, Clairemont). In the areas with good schools, affordable rentals (under $2500/mo) are few and far between (Scripps Ranch, Carmel Valley). Sometimes the areas I'm finding have relatively affordable rentals, but to buy a house is completely out of the range (Encinitas, Carlsbad). Mira Mesa? Will $500000 get me more than 1200sq. ft?

My 14 year old will be fine in any high school, but in a couple of years his sister will start and she has some learning issues. We've been in Miami for the past year and before that suburban Arizona so anywhere in California will be a welcome change, climate-wise. This is why Temecula seemed to be an OK option. Lots of houses for sale and rent in our range, plus good schools and a little more room. That commute however, is giving me second thoughts.

I was thinking San Marcos and Rancho Bernardo but there's not much for rent. Any ideas? Am I missing anything?

[oddstray]

Have you looked at Rancho Penasquitos? It's in the Poway school district, so schools are good. I don't know what rentals are like, but they'll probably be less than Carmel Valley or Scripps Ranch or Rancho Bernardo (because RP is older than those three areas).

Have you looked at Tierrasanta? It's San Diego school district, so you need to check out the schools closely. But it's not horribly expensive to live, and it's close to Kearny Mesa.

[sschibuola]

You mentioned Mount Helix as a possibility . . . you have to go block by block, but if you look on the eastern slope of Mt. Helix (east of Avocado) and into the Rancho San Diego area ... most of those neighborhoods feed into Hillsdale Middle, Valhalla HS or some of the other HS's in that area, which are all good schools.

[malcorub16]

I don't think too many people on this forum will encourage you to move up to the land of the big beige box houses in Temecula (including myself) considering the distance especially to Kearny Mesa. That is an hour and a half drive one way on a daily basis for total of 3 hours of driving a day. For a true unbiased takes, I would also post this on the Riverside forum to see what people who actually do the commute daily down to San Diego have to say about it.

$550K won't get her much in Tierrasanta or Mt Helix, not for the size family she has. Plus in one more year the prices of homes will likely have an upward trend. She'll definitely be able to rent in the areas though at under $2500 monthly.

Did you look down in Otay/Eastlake area yet, there are good schools down there and the houses are along the same lines as the Temecula houses, maybe a tad bit more costly, and the commute is not the drive is not that terrible, except for maybe the 805 in rush hour.

[NYSD1995]

I would focus on the Eastlake area for home size, price point and schools mix.

[earlyretirement]

Talk to AZ2SD on this forum. He moved over to San Marcos and really I was blown away by his community. I was pleasantly surprised what you get for the prices compared to other areas. It could very well be the best value for the money and what you get (house size, lot size, schools, etc) in the entire San Diego area.

[hitman619]

Sorry!
But you're going to get more bang for your Buck living in Temecula.Good Schools plus low housing.The question is,does your husband mind the commute?

San Carlos Has really good schools.The jr High's takes a slight dip(Pershing,Lewis)But the Magnolia Academy is a really good junior high.Green and Benchley Weinberger Elementary are some of the top Elementary schools in The State.Patrick Henry is a National ranked High School.
What's wrong with San Carlos and the schools?

[pandavanda]

Thanks for the replies!
Does Eastlake /Otay have an area with no Mello-Roos? Those just go against my grain. HOA fees are bad enough. I was told that the commute from out there could easily take an hour. Was that wrong?

The schools in San Carlos are the big unknown to me. Henry has a "6" on greatschools and pretty critical reviews. I am not a big believer in school ratings however. The high school I went to in Seattle is, IMO, the best school in the city but it rates a 4 or something. For my oldest it wouldn't be a problem but I'm concerned for the next kid. With 2500 kids it's easy to fall through the cracks. Are all the high schools so big? Magnolia Academy looks interesting but I don't want to rely on a lottery. Been there done that.

The "land of the big beige box house" doesn't scare me (LOL, have you ever been to the East Valley in Phoenix? Lived there for the past 10 years). I guess it all boils down to the same old question... Does my husband want to live close to work, yet spend all his spare time making our tiny, old house livable or does he want to commute a long distance and not have the house projects?

[AZ2SD]

Originally Posted by earlyretirement

Talk to AZ2SD on this forum. He moved over to San Marcos and really I was blown away by his community. I was pleasantly surprised what you get for the prices compared to other areas. It could very well be the best value for the money and what you get (house size, lot size, schools, etc) in the entire San Diego area.

For what San Marcos offers; its hard to beat;

Your 550K budget will get you a very nice house and then some...in my area KB home is busy building the last few lots and the homes there start from the low 500s.

Schools in San Marcos are really good, although, I will caution against a few if you go purely by API test scores and ratings .

San Marcos borders Escondido and Carlsbad, your budget will get you a nice SFH in many parts of SM including my neighborhood. For additional insights, here's a related thread you may find helpful.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/san-d...-marcos-2.html

PM me if you need additional information.

Good Luck!

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by hitman619

Sorry!
But you're going to get more bang for your Buck living in Temecula.Good Schools plus low housing.The question is,does your husband mind the commute?

Sorry but I have to disagree with you hitman619. Part of my "bang for the buck" includes NOT having monster commutes. Nothing for nothing but that commute from Temecula back and forth would be BRUTAL each day, IMHO.

I made it from my house to AZ2SD's house in 25 MINUTES. So it's really doable for people that work in North County or even near Sorrento Valley. It's not bad at all the commute. I've gone over to San Marcos many times and unless there is a horrible accident or it's raining I do it in 20 minutes or so.

That is AWESOME! No way with young kids I'd want to spend the time commuting to/from Temecula. And I saw the neighborhood was full of young kids and awesome families. I met some of AZ2SD's neighbors and just wonderful people and through it's a small world I couldn't believe that I even knew some of the same people. Small world!

And also I mistakenly thought that the weather would be much hotter there. I guess it might depend where exactly you live. But the temperature was almost the same as when I left my house. 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.

Sounds good to me!

Plus AZ2SD has to be the best chef in San Marcos! I'm talking master grill type guy! I think part of why so many neighbors were coming over is they could smell the amazing BBQ! LOL. Making excuses to come over and try some great food! I'm still dreaming of those BBQ ribs and slow cooked in a crock pot beans!