Is Vista an affordable and "nice" area to live? (San Diego: mortgage, houses)

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by patryuji

I'm not sure how underpriced the results I pulled up were, I just found many results at under $500K. I was looking at smaller homes (under 2200 sq ft) with at least 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

but you don't know the area and what you see on Zillow or realtor.com can be deceiving. I take what people in the area have to say more seriously than what I find on the web. The websites are just a starting point, but often somewhat misleading.

[MarciaMarshaMarcia]

Originally Posted by nmnita

I was thinking something very similar. I grew up in So.Cal and lived there 40 years. It has a lot of offer. Vista is one of my favorite smaller cities, but when people come on the forum and say they have always wanted to live in California but want the best of all worlds I just want to tell them: stay where you are or be prepared to pay the price.

OP: as for earthquakes, no matter where you live there is a possibility of a natural disaster. We had a minor earthquake here in AR a couple of months ago. No damage to speak of but people who were not accustom to them were scared. Those us from places like CA thought it was pretty cool.

Bugs; same thing: you are going to get some type of creatures no matter where you live. I think in AZ you have some don't you? Vista would not have as many as some places.

SoCal for over half a century & Vista for 20+ years...it was a peaceful, pleasant, semi-rural community for quite awhile...that is just a memory.

Looks like Vista88 was growing up in Vista at about the same time I was growing my career & family there...accurate portrayal of Vista.

Traffic in Seattle is bad...but believe it or not, not as bad as San Diego County (or OC, LA, Bay Area, you pick).

Regarding bugs...no, not as many as other areas. However, when we left, the climate was already changing quite a bit...hotter, more humid summers, many more hot days all year long, rain had disappeared. If you spent nearly your entire life, as I did, in SoCal, you know this is a major, long-term shift.

And as I previously stated, realistically, in California, wildfires are a much larger concern than earthquakes.

Finally, while the websites that advertise real estate are helpful tools, there is no way that they can accurately represent the true value of real estate, or the true nature of a neighborhood, or a community.

[Arizona89A]

Originally Posted by USDefault

It's interesting, I've been in Seattle traffic and thought it equal to the evening commute north on the I-15. I think Seattle is great. Oceanfront city, overlooking the beautiful Puget Sound, the juxtaposition of older areas and architecture with new buildings going up at a rapid clip, lots of tech industry all around, it's a great mix. Superior food (especially seafood and steaks) in Seattle compared with southern California.

If your choice was either Vista or Seattle, it's simply no contest, Seattle is superior on every single metric except winter weather. But if you're talking about San Diego's coastal cities, or even downtown itself, that's a tougher comparison. Every San Diego town west of the I-5 has a lot to offer, if you can scale the Mt. Everest of the fourth-most expensive real estate in the lower 48. If you can afford to buy into Carlsbad, Encinitas, Del Mar, La Jolla, Solana Beach, Pacific or Ocean Beach, location-wise you are living very well.

I don't know where they live in Seattle, but homes in the cities you mention are affordable if they live in rich areas of Seattle, like Bellevue.

Earthquakes? The La Jolla and Lake Elsinore faults do make the reason susceptible and also the Newport Englewood fault. They could go off in 7 days, or, 700 years. Damage, would be very severe and localized to smaller areas compared to if the entire San Andreas ruptured. I don't know if UCSD and UCI have upgraded. I'm moving over there to rent, and would only rent newer construction or a properly retrofitted one story building. All the round rocks where the 15 crosses into Temecula are due to the Elsinore fault

[pacific2]

Originally Posted by Arizona89A

They're similar in terms of being along water, with expensive homes, fashion conscious yuppies, low crime, lots of trees, nice parks, lots of HOAs, so if the op likes that pattern, then they'll love Carlsbad, Encinitas, and many other master planned areas from Newport Beach and southward.

Huh??? When did Newport Beach start to resemble Carlsbad? Carlsbad is fine, but come on....Are you sure you are not just lumping cities together and ignoring their unique characteristics? Have you ever been to Newport Beach? Have you ever been to Orange County?

BTW, your description doesn't fit any of coastal OC "from Newport Beach and southward."

[oddstray]

Originally Posted by Arizona89A

I don't know where they live in Seattle, but homes in the cities you mention are affordable if they live in rich areas of Seattle, like Bellevue.

Earthquakes? The La Jolla and Lake Elsinore faults do make the reason susceptible and also the Newport Englewood fault. They could go off in 7 days, or, 700 years. Damage, would be very severe and localized to smaller areas compared to if the entire San Andreas ruptured. I don't know if UCSD and UCI have upgraded. I'm moving over there to rent, and would only rent newer construction or a properly retrofitted one story building. All the round rocks where the 15 crosses into Temecula are due to the Elsinore fault

It may very well be that the Elsinore fault is located where the 15 crosses into Temecula. But it is not the cause of the round rocks. The round rocks, same as the area east of Poway, are due to uplift and erosion - not earthquake.

[JakeDog]

To the original post- vista has some nice pockets, but not that desirable unless you are putting kids in private school.
Also Seattle traffic is far worse than San Diego traffic. It's not even close.

[Axxlrod]

Originally Posted by patryuji

My spouse has always had dreams of living in California and I felt it was too expensive for us. Additionally, I am leary of owning a home in an earthquake prone area.

After having visited San Diego and Vista a few times in the past few months, I'm warming to the idea of moving to California.

--Earthquake damage in Vista: Is this a problem? Large quakes seem to be rare, do the rare occurrences cause major damage to homes in Vista?
--Walkability / Bike-friendliness: How bike and walking friendly is the area? With the weather in Southern California, it seems like a no-brainer to have a bicycle with a trailer for doing all my grocery shopping.
--Affordability: I see homes for under $500,000 listed on Zillow, will these be normal neighborhoods, or are these the prices for homes in "bad areas"?
--Utilities: Are the electric companies playing games with consumers who go solar? In Arizona, they are pulling all their political strings to slap us with $50 per month fees for having solar and limiting net metering (either they don't allow it and your excess electricity disappears into the ether or you get wholesale electricity rates such as $0.02 per kWhr and then have to buy electricity at $0.13 per kWhr)
--Can anyone comment on the San Diego County Library? I really miss the library system they had in King County Washington ($100+ Million annual spending). DC libraries, Denver libraries and Phoenix libraries have all been huge disappointments in comparison to the King County Library System.
--I'd like to know what newspapers best represent Vista, so I can begin reading the local news happenings
--What are the worst elements I must be prepared to accept in order to have a happy life in Vista?

Our details:
Both Husband and Wife work from home anywhere in the USA.
We each earn low six figure salaries.
Try to live a frugal lifestyle (we own one 5 year old sub-compact and pay less than $1500 per month in rent for our house) and would like to be as frugal as possible while living in a nice area (area where people have a little pride in the appearance of their homes and neighborhoods, say hi or greet you if greeted, lower pollution, walkable area).
We enjoy riding our bikes (mtn biking or just cruising around town, especially on dedicated bike trails), hiking in the wilderness, light camping, beach excursions, snorkeling, unique dining, Asian food.

You have a combined household income of approx $250K. You can afford to live in an area much better than Vista. Just saying.

[Czechsix]

Originally Posted by JakeDog

To the original post- vista has some nice pockets.....

And that's exactly what's making us move.

I was born in Bonsall, 54 years ago. Lived almost 40 of those years in Bonsall and Vista, with a few periods overseas, San Diego, and Santa Barbara, plus a couple of other states.

We're in one of those "pockets", on a few acres. But we're surrounded by way too much crap to want to stay here any more. It's just not worth it to us to stay.

Vista, and the surrounding environs, was a wonderful place for many years.

Progress though...progress.

[Arizona89A]

Originally Posted by oddstray

It may very well be that the Elsinore fault is located where the 15 crosses into Temecula. But it is not the cause of the round rocks. The round rocks, same as the area east of Poway, are due to uplift and erosion - not earthquake.

Uplift of the Santa Rosa mountains is found in conjunction with the round rocks and Elsinore Fault. Same with Joshua Tree Ntl park.

[Arizona89A]

Originally Posted by pacific2

Huh??? When did Newport Beach start to resemble Carlsbad? Carlsbad is fine, but come on....Are you sure you are not just lumping cities together and ignoring their unique characteristics? Have you ever been to Newport Beach? Have you ever been to Orange County?

BTW, your description doesn't fit any of coastal OC "from Newport Beach and southward."

Don't know what post this is from but much of south OC and northern San Diego counties have HOAs.

Of course I've been to the oc and to San Diego. Many times.