Santee, Lakeside or other places for us? Moving from South Alabama (San Diego: fit in, condo)

[Dothan Sharpshooter]

Hi we are a family of 5 (me, wife, 2 sons ages 14 and 9, and our daughter age 11) moving from Dothan Alabama to San Diego CA due to a job transfer.
After reading up it seems like Santee, Lakeside or maybe Poway would fit our family best but we want to make sure so we are asking the locals.

We are pretty conservative, but we respect that CA isn't anymore but still we would like to find somewhere we would fit in. Just looking for a safe and nice middle class burb with okay schools. We are buying and looking for a 3 bedroom with parking for 2 trucks under $400 thousand, maybe $450 if the places is great. This is our first time in public schools as most people in AL with means send their kid to private academies to keep them away from bad elements. We want good schools that we feel safe sending our kids too..,big giant plus if there is a strong football program in the high school cuz our oldest boy is a good player and generally we are a big HS/College foot ball family (go Auburn!!!)

Will be working downtown and would prefer under 45 minutes driving commute.

Also we know that CA has some pretty strict rules about firearms, is it completely impossible for us to keep our guns? Is there some sort of test or licensing process we have to pass? I don't intend to carry all day but we are sport shooters and we would like to keep one in the home for personal protection


Thanks

[ShelbyGirl1]

Welcome to Ca.! First read the very top sticky thread: GET REAL About San Diego Rental and Real Estate Prices

There are many who keep firearms in their homes for protection and gun range shooting.

[hitman619]

What part of San Diego will you be working?

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by Dothan Sharpshooter

We are buying and looking for a 3 bedroom with parking for 2 trucks under $400 thousand, maybe $450 if the places is great. This is our first time in public schools as most people in AL with means send their kid to private academies to keep them away from bad elements. We want good schools that we feel safe sending our kids too..,big giant plus if there is a strong football program in the high school cuz our oldest boy is a good player and generally we are a big HS/College foot ball family (go Auburn!!!)

Will be working downtown and would prefer under 45 minutes driving

I would say that Santee is probably your best bet. It is the most suburban so you shouldn't expect country feel. Homes are usually big enough to accommodate a family of 5. Lakeside has country feel in some of the nicer areas but a lot of run down areas too, the schools are really iffy as is El Cajon and Spring valley . Possibly La mesa near the 125 in a small home could be good as well. I think you're likely priced out of a house in Poway but you could do a condo and of all these areas its a lot nicer. Commute from all of these areas will likely push 45 mins. Your real challenge is going to find a house big enough that hasn't already been converted to a halfway house.

[Dothan Sharpshooter]

Originally Posted by hitman619

What part of San Diego will you be working?

Downtown

Originally Posted by Sassberto

I would say that Santee is probably your best bet. It is the most suburban so you shouldn't expect country feel. Homes are usually big enough to accommodate a family of 5. Lakeside has country feel in some of the nicer areas but a lot of run down areas too, the schools are really iffy as is El Cajon and Spring valley . Possibly La mesa near the 125 in a small home could be good as well. I think you're likely priced out of a house in Poway but you could do a condo and of all these areas its a lot nicer. Commute from all of these areas will likely push 45 mins. Your real challenge is going to find a house big enough that hasn't already been converted to a halfway house.

I mean, a country feel is not necessary. Me and my wife grew up in the county in the MS Delta Region (Panola County) but we have been living in the city of Dothan since college and the kids have lived in a suburban area of a mid sized city their entire lives.

As for iffy, what do you mean? Do you mean gangs and drugs? Or do you mean not the best test scores? The second one isn't really that important as long as they are safe and kept away from unsavory elements I don't csrd if the school averages B - instead of A + or some phooey such as that. As I said in my opener, one of our biggest concerns with the high school is FOOTBALL. I will definitely take a C school with an A+ team because football is a big part of what we are all about and more than anything its the team quality, not the academic quality that will get our son drafted to a good University program.

We really don't need that large of a home, biggest space thing is going to have something to do with our trucks.

And...halfway houses?? What ads earth are you talking

[Drake744]

Originally Posted by Dothan Sharpshooter

Downtown


I mean, a country feel is not necessary. Me and my wife grew up in the county in the MS Delta Region (Panola County) but we have been living in the city of Dothan since college and the kids have lived in a suburban area of a mid sized city their entire lives.

As for iffy, what do you mean? Do you mean gangs and drugs? Or do you mean not the best test scores? The second one isn't really that important as long as they are safe and kept away from unsavory elements I don't csrd if the school averages B - instead of A + or some phooey such as that. As I said in my opener, one of our biggest concerns with the high school is FOOTBALL. I will definitely take a C school with an A+ team because football is a big part of what we are all about and more than anything its the team quality, not the academic quality that will get our son drafted to a good University program.

We really don't need that large of a home, biggest space thing is going to have something to do with our trucks.

And...halfway houses?? What ads earth are you talking

As a native Southerner, I love this haha

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by Dothan Sharpshooter

As for iffy, what do you mean? Do you mean gangs and drugs? Or do you mean not the best test scores?
And...halfway houses?? What ads earth are you talking

Yes gangs and drugs, moreso drugs than gangs. Halfway houses or group homes are converted residential housing where recovering addicts live, they are all over the low-income areas of east county and can be hard to spot at a cursory glance.

San Diego doesn't really have the middle-income, low-cost decent areas that other more affordable cities do. It has a lot of really nice, really expensive areas and a lot of socioeconomically mixed, but still pretty expensive areas.

[malcorub16]

^^^ Drugs are everywhere and in every school, even the more affluent areas. I have yet to see crack and meth dealers on the streets of East County.

But I agree with everything Sassberto has said, even the group./halfway house thing. We had a Christian based teen group home living down the hill from us. The house was accros the canyon from us but those people were very loud and would sometimes argue. I am glad they moved out after a year. I wonder why these group homes prefer East County, I know of another one 2 streets down.

You can get into a great house in both Santee and Lakeside, but Santee is much more suburban and consistent than Lakeside. Both are about 20-25 minute drives from downtown SD in non-traffic hours. I also agree with Sassberto in that Lakeside is a street by street basis, there are some pretty ratty neighborhoods around here usually at the bottom of the hills near the main streets. With your price range, I am not so confident that you can find something nice on a good street in Lakeside, it would definitely need to be 450K+. If you want more rural feel, buy in Northern Lakeside (Eucalyptus Hills) or Eastern Lakeside (close to the 8 near Lake Jennings). If you want more sub-urban or semi-rural feel buy in the areas closer to El Cajon.

Below are links to homes currently on the market in both towns. Notice the wide range in SFH prices in Lakeside as compared to Santee.

Lakeside 275K - 1.5 Million
Santee 300K - 700K

SDLookup.com | Santee Houses


SDLookup.com | Lakeside Houses

[malcorub16]

Oh, and regarding the high school. My kids are still very young and only one attends school, so I can't tell you much about it, but Lakeside feeds into El Capitan High School. Not sure about the football program but they have the best FFA program in the County that is for sure.

I beleive Santee has two high schools, one called Santana and one called West Hills. Along with El Cap in Lakeside, they are part of the Grossmont Union School District.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grossmo...chool_District

[1AngryTaxPayer]

El Cap went the farthest in CIF of any east county school. I've heard great things.

Being from the South you'll like the vibe in Lakeside, it won't be near a shock as a beach City. As far as your weapons, bring em. Handguns you'll have to log them at the DOJ website within a certain number of days. There ARE some rather nasty hidden things in CA law. There is a 10 round magazine limit. That means if you have a mag that's over that you'll have to leave em there. Same goes for any semi-auto rifle (dumb CA law). Do you have an AR style rifle? You'll have to attach what is called a bullet button to be legal. Take off your upper and remove the mag until you get this done.

Other than that, welcome to California! Not gonna show you my hog spots

Oh ya, for now unloaded/loaded open carry is not legal but there is a push in the court to make CCW shall issue. That may drag out for a while, we'll see.