Relocating Family of 4 from Seattle to SD (SAN MARCOS, TEMECULA...) - Insight please (San Diego: sales, 2015)

[KapeleKrew]

Hello all,

We are a family of 4 relocating from Seattle to SD in 16 months. We are starting our savings plan now so we have plenty of time to move smartly. Currently, we are working on becoming debt free and will be before moving. We have also opened a closed savings account and are putting 10% of each paycheck into it to be used for cost of moving expenses. Our goal is to have saved a minimum of $10,000 to move with. We are trying to be as smart about this as possible because we are relocating our children and have to ensure where we move is where we settle.

A bit of background, our son will start kindergarten next year which is why we would like to move by August, 2015 so we can get settled and get him enrolled. Our daughter is 13 months currently so we will need to find a daycare provider/after school care program for them.

My husband is currently a superintendent for a general contracting company and has been with them for going on 9 years. I go to school full time and work as front desk - medical field. We are wanting some insight on where to look for work especially for my husband. Certifications are different in CA than they are in WA and we want to ensure we are finding him a great job down there. Any insight into that job field would be HIGHLY helpful. I'm not too worried about me finding work in my field.

We have fallen in love with SD and don't have any illusions on price of living and we understand it will be more expensive there for living. But all in all we love the culture, atmosphere, weather, and have friends/family there with children our children's age. Plus, we are an outdoorsy family and would love for the weather to accommodate our lifestyle.

From what we have gathered, we really like San Marcos as our #1 choice and Temecula as our #2 choice. I understand Temecula is way inland its just really cost of living and family environment there that is appealing plus school systems. My husband doesn't want to live too far inland though due to weather and he works outdoors it may be just too hot for him. San Marcos weather is more appealing and I like that we would be closer to the beach and bigger surrounding cities. I have heard that to live in San Marcos you should live south of the 78 for better areas/schools. I would LOVE more insight on those particular areas and possibly another one to consider.

When we move we will be looking to rent for a year and would like to keep our rent between $1400-$1600 a month before we buy a home. Is this realistic? We should be making (together) at the very minimum $80,000 a year and at the maximum probably $90-95,000 a year. Is this realistic for living there? We aren't looking to live like millionaires just to live comfortably within our means and have our children in a good school district.

Any help and info is greatly appreciated for our journey! And tips on relocating out of state is also helpful as this will be our first time.

Thank you in advance ~

[KapeleKrew]

Bump ^

[Think4Yourself]

You rent estimates for San Marcos are way off from what I can tell. I did a quick Zillow search and 3bd/2.5bth places (newish in the last 10-15 years) are going for ~$2200.

[NorthSDLifer]

Originally Posted by Think4Yourself

You rent estimates for San Marcos are way off from what I can tell. I did a quick Zillow search and 3bd/2.5bth places (newish in the last 10-15 years) are going for ~$2200.

That is the thing that jumped out to me. My family is in that income level, at least when I had a FT job. And our housing is $1,600 after PITI. That is doable, allowing for the fact you can't save as much as others or go on as extravagant trips, and you'll probably have to "settle" for public schools etc. But good luck on finding a suitable detached housing rental at that price. Even a solid town home in a nice area, but I haven't looked.

You have identified two quality burbs. Neither city is an embarrassment of riches in the architecture department. Neither has a "real" Main Street-kinda downtown. I'm more familiar with Temecula in a "I lived a few towns down once" way, so maybe Old Town Temecula suffices. I do know it has improved as a dining/entertainment hub. San Marcos has a long-established restaurant row -- not all chains, either; in fact, used to be very few -- some solid bars and a cinema complex thingie. It also has a very good park and trails system, good library and community program offerings. I imagine Temecula rocks it in those areas as well. Both have a lot of the typical suburban shopping choices, with T-town having an indoor mall.

San Marcos has a pretty ambitious development project brewing that would fabricate a downtown type of area. So it could be a total vanilla-flavored disaster -- or not. But it's kinda exciting, and having a community college and state university campus is pretty cool. It lets us San Marcans(?) feel educationally special or something.

I've lived in San Marcos since 2006, half on the north and the latter half on the south side. There are some very nice homes in the north side, and some attractive rural-ish sections. I do believe it's accurate to say the south side has a better rep for schools: elementary to HS. I haven't checked scores in a while. Our kids go to Discovery Elementary and we're pretty happy with it. Middle school is San Elijo Middle School, which most presume is really good cuz it serves the fancy-pants in the San Elijo Hills neighborhood. And IIRC, it's API score is pretty sweet. (I'm pro-fancy-pants, BTW. Generally. Sometimes. ) Both high schools in San Marcos are pretty new. In fact, San Marcos High is so fresh that I'm pretty sure the students aren't in the new buildings yet. Attractive campuses only count for so much, of course. On that note, though, San Marcos High -- probably thanks to students coming from well-to-do San Elijo Hills 'hood -- has enjoyed a much-improved reputation since when I was in HS (early '90s).

People have fled areas of San Diego's North County for Temecula for decades in search of better schools, cheaper housing and, in some cases, to escape gang-infested areas. If you both can work up there and stand the heat, it's probably a good choice. And if you're not looking at the sea of tract homes, it's a pretty area. Places like Pechanga have pretty good entertainment, plus the wineries, if you're into wine. I used to rag on the place when I was a stuck-up teen to 20something San Diegan, but I'm too old now to be such a snoot. I do prefer being closer to north coast and SD. (I lived kinda closed to T-town for a few years, in Fallbrook, right off I-15.)

San Marcos is cooler (the weather), closer to the beach (I'm 8 or 9 miles from Carlsbad shore) and to San Diego. We are partial to visiting Carlsbad and Encinitas for the beach and simple pleasures. If you can figure out the housing cost, I imagine schools would be at least a wash vs. Temecula. If not, rents are probably cheaper up there, but I have not ever looked into it.

Temecula is closer to skiing (to/from, about an hour less, which means something if you do it a fair amount). Outdoor options are different but attractive. Temecula is closer to Idyllwild and the San Jacinto mountains. It's closer to Big Bear (see skiing). It's closer to Palm Springs and that part of the desert, which is great when it's winter and early spring. I'd dare say I'd rather be closer to those mountains than San Diego's, as much as I love Laguna and Cuyamaca areas.

Edit: My comment about schools being a wash referred to the better schools in San Marcos vs. ones in Temecula.

[Pedro2000]

Temecula isn't in San Diego and if you're coming from Seattle and lived close enough to the city, are you going to like living in places that really aren't close to many things you're used to ?

[KapeleKrew]

Thank you for the insight! It wasn't letting me respond last night for whatever reason. Anyways, The $1400-1600 price range is for renting an apartment not a home. We are looking to rent a home for a year and we are currently leaning heavily towards Temecula.

We actually live about an hr from Seattle and prefer a smaller city that we can choose to drive to a larger city for all of our fun and adventures. We like a country feel more than a city feel and also enjoy a bigger yard, etc. So Temecula appeals greatly in that sense because we will have the quiet and peace that we enjoy and on weekends be able to do beach trips, adventure parks, zoos...I also like that it is close to big bear! I had no idea! My husband is an avid snowboarder so that is great news that he will be able to do that.

It looks like as beautiful as San Marcos is, it isn't in our price range currently. We want to live healthily and not be penny pinching and have a feeling that is what we would be doing in San Marcos.

When we visit in December to scope out areas we will spend time in both areas to be sure but so far it's looking like Temecula is it for us.

[USDefault]

Temecula - hot in summer, and some would say a sea of tract homes. Even in February I could feel the warmer temperatures in Temecula versus central San Diego. Also keep in mind California is definitely more expensive than Washington state, including California's punishing income tax, sales tax, gas prices and taxes, fees, etc.

[AADAD]

I don't recommend Temmecula. Traffic density is high, health care is not as good (especially for kids) and the dusty heat is harsh.

Rent here and look around.Take a look at the borders in Poway. If you want pro help send me a pm and I can give you a solid referral.

[Red Chili]

Temecula is beautiful and the cost of housing there is pretty decent. But living there in my opinion, would feel like living in Arizona. The wineries are wonderful though and it is highly family orientated. It is too hot for me personally, but unlike AZ it is only an hour to the beach. But it is nothing like living in San Diego in my opinion.

[Pedro2000]

Temecula has it's charm, but it's in Riverside County for one, and it's really not close to most things people in San Diego do.

You live in Seattle, so think about it in terms of living in Olympia and visiting downtown Seattle. I don't know anybody who lives in Olympia that visited Seattle all the time. Or vice versa. It's a long drive. Same thing goes for Temecula. You're talking about an hour drive to go to most places people in San Diego are known to go to on a normal basis.

How many times are you really going to do that with a young child and jobs? You either fall in love with Temecula and visit San Diego as often as you would visit seaworld, the zoo and LegoLand, or you hate living up there and want to move.