Relocating to San Diego from LA area

[USDefault]

Seriously consider eliminating the horse facility requirement. That will open up many choices within your budget.

If you stick with the horse requirement, then I think you really need to look at east El Cajon, possibly Alpine. Commute to Point Loma will suck, but that is what will be required.

Some of the other suggestions are good location-wise, but two of them (RSF and Olive) will cost way more than $1MM for something even reasonably decent.Bonita, not familiar with any ranches or estates there, but maybe that is an option if horses are a must.

[pvmom2]

We spent a bit of time looking around this weekend and it looks like we may have to consider non horse property, to keep it under budget. However, I would still prefer to keep the lot size larger as opposed to smaller. Schools and the commute to Pt Loma remain extremely important. So, if as USDefault suggests, we eliminate the horse requirement, where else should we be looking? Thanks again!

[lrmsd]

Originally Posted by pvmom2

We spent a bit of time looking around this weekend and it looks like we may have to consider non horse property, to keep it under budget. However, I would still prefer to keep the lot size larger as opposed to smaller. Schools and the commute to Pt Loma remain extremely important. So, if as USDefault suggests, we eliminate the horse requirement, where else should we be looking? Thanks again!

Hi;
I'm going to just throw out the requisite list of 'best school districts in SD county' and you can research from there as far as atmosphere, commute to Pt Loma and budget. [I live in Carmel Valley currently, and have kids.]

Top districts:
Poway
Carmel Valley/Solana Beach/Del Mar/Encinitas/Carlsbad/Rancho Santa Fe [all feed into the San Dieguito high school district; it's one of the top in the country].

Other good districts/family areas:
Penasquitos
parts of Rancho Bernardo
Scripp's Ranch
San Marcos

Point Loma may have a home that works for you, too. In this case, you might be interested in checking out public charter schools, SD city magnet schools and open enrollment [for example in La Jolla schools if living in Pt. Loma].

I'm not sure you'll find PV type neighborhoods in SD. SD is a series of spread out suburbs, most of them are newer and it's not a very cosmopolitan/sophisticated place overall. There are very few areas that qualify as that, actually. [It's not like PV or somewhere like Marin or Woodside in N. CA. tha I see as more sophisticated]. SD is great, though. I am not knocking this difference-just using it to explain that your criteria may need to change further still, based on budget, commute and school needs.

Carmel Valley schools are great; the area has great amenities such as the Del Mar Highlands shopping center [health food store, boutiques, chain places,, grocery store, luxury movie theater, etc]. And it's just a couple of miles from Torrey Pines State Beach and Del Mar Village.
Shopping Mall Stores :: Stores at Del Mar Highlands Town Center

Solana Beach and Encinitas are more artsy/vibrant coastal towns-the lower grade schools can vary somewhat in those cities. Check great schools dot org for reviews.
Carmel Valley commute to Pt Loma would be the best of all the areas mentioned (aside from Pt Loma itself, of course)-since CV is just off the 56/5.

[oddstray]

Originally Posted by lrmsd

...Top districts:
Poway/Penasquitos/parts of Rancho Bernardo (all Poway USD)
Carmel Valley/Solana Beach/Del Mar/Encinitas/Carlsbad/Rancho Santa Fe [all feed into the San Dieguito high school district; it's one of the top in the country].

Other good districts/family areas:
Penasquitos
parts of Rancho Bernardo
Scripp's Ranch
San Marcos
....

Fixed that for ya ...

[BRinSM]

I'm fairly familiar with both the LA and SD areas and I'm a bit surprised by the OP's request. Coming from PV, one of the most expensive areas in the country), they sure expect quite a bit from SD. It's as though this person is unaware that SD real estate isn't that much cheaper than in LA. $1MM is absolute entry level in PV and they should expect the same in a nice area of SD.