Looking for home near El Cajon

[pgrdr]

Originally Posted by moved

There are plenty of retail/office type jobs in MV. That's IF you can even get one. These days the employers don't want experience, they want young, bilingual college graduates that will work for just above minimum wage.

So there will be no interest in an articulate, middle-aged college graduate who speaks only one language but would work for just above minimum wage just to work?

[pgrdr]

Thanks to everyone for contributing to my information. I took notes!

[pgrdr]

double post

[pgrdr]

Update: I used all the tips provided on this site, and especially this thread. It was a significant help.

We ended up living in Hillcrest for two years. It was a nice, quiet, pretty, safe block and pleasant lifestyle within easy walking distance to the San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park, and a quick $7.00-$12.00 Uber ride to downtown or Point Loma. It was close to the Banker’s Hill and Mission Hills neighborhoods, which was handy for frequenting businesses in those neighborhoods. Mission Hills has a new Lazy Acres grocery store with a larger selection of vegan foods than the other stores, so Hillcrest’s next door proximity is good for vegans. I’m not a fan of Whole Foods and the one in Hillcrest is too crowded for me, with a miserable parking situation too, but there is one and Trader Joe’s and Sprouts were handy. It was also a short drive to beaches.

Downsides were the congested traffic in Hillcrest itself; morning rush hours on the highways that didn’t entirely let up until about 10:00 AM, early starting rush hours on the highways every afternoon; brazen bicycle theft rings so we weren’t willing to leave our expensive bikes outside of businesses, which meant not using them much in lieu of our cars; and a large mentally ill homeless population dumped out of the neighborhood’s hospitals, living in ravines & on blocks near University. Frankly, we think the home prices and rents are too high for how dingy the area is becoming. It seems to be sliding downhill again compared to several years ago. I suspect the frustrations with the depressing issue of the growing homeless population and the too high housing prices are the major reasons. We didn’t find the main drag University very appealing for going out, and the businesses didn’t have that community feel, so we mostly frequented Hillcrest restaurants by using delivery.

Although Hillcrest had its pluses, now that we know the area much better, if we could do it again we’d move to South Park instead. It’s a cute, pleasant little neighborhood that doesn’t feel like it’s in the middle of a major city, and the housing prices were better. People had better hurry if they want to live there though, if it isn’t too late already, because gentrification is in full swing with homes being remodeled on every block, so prices are going up.

Hope this update is helpful for anyone passing through looking for info on this topic.

[sfosyd]

Originally Posted by pgrdr

Update: I used all the tips provided on this site, and especially this thread. It was a significant help.

We ended up living in Hillcrest for two years. It was a nice, quiet, pretty, safe block and pleasant lifestyle within easy walking distance to the San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park, and a quick $7.00-$12.00 Uber ride to downtown or Point Loma. It was close to the Banker’s Hill and Mission Hills neighborhoods, which was handy for frequenting businesses in those neighborhoods. Mission Hills has a new Lazy Acres grocery store with a larger selection of vegan foods than the other stores, so Hillcrest’s next door proximity is good for vegans. I’m not a fan of Whole Foods and the one in Hillcrest is too crowded for me, with a miserable parking situation too, but there is one and Trader Joe’s and Sprouts were handy. It was also a short drive to beaches.

Downsides were the congested traffic in Hillcrest itself; morning rush hours on the highways that didn’t entirely let up until about 10:00 AM, early starting rush hours on the highways every afternoon; brazen bicycle theft rings so we weren’t willing to leave our expensive bikes outside of businesses, which meant not using them much in lieu of our cars; and a large mentally ill homeless population dumped out of the neighborhood’s hospitals, living in ravines & on blocks near University. Frankly, we think the home prices and rents are too high for how dingy the area is becoming. It seems to be sliding downhill again compared to several years ago. I suspect the frustrations with the depressing issue of the growing homeless population and the too high housing prices are the major reasons. We didn’t find the main drag University very appealing for going out, and the businesses didn’t have that community feel, so we mostly frequented Hillcrest restaurants by using delivery.

Although Hillcrest had its pluses, now that we know the area much better, if we could do it again we’d move to South Park instead. It’s a cute, pleasant little neighborhood that doesn’t feel like it’s in the middle of a major city, and the housing prices were better. People had better hurry if they want to live there though, if it isn’t too late already, because gentrification is in full swing with homes being remodeled on every block, so prices are going up.

Hope this update is helpful for anyone passing through looking for info on this topic.

Agree with all of this. I’d also say that University Heights is pretty fantastic as well as the aforementioned South Park.

[spoonman1]

Good advice.