NJ to SD... HELP!!! (San Diego, Glendale: middle-class, apartments, rent)

[dakicka]

Hi,

I have lived in NJ my whole life (26 yrs. old) and currently live in Ocean County, NJ near the beach. I love being by the beach but also like the escapes to NYC and Atlantic City for the nightlife. It is a little boring where I live in the winter but very fun in the summer. I work at a major brokerage house managing client's investments and have a pretty good gig going, been doing it 3 yrs. I went to San Diego 2 times to check it out and I loved it. I have a few thoughts, questions, and concerns I was hoping you could address for me:
Some family live in "La Canada" near Glendale/Pasadena. They told me San Diego is great and it would be a fun place to be and work. They retired at 50 and are extremely wealthy and like living isolated in their small community. So I am questioning the validity of their statement being they are older, demand less for "fun" and haven't actually lived in SD.

I am seeking a place to live with the following requirements:
* nice quality of life (weather, people friendly)
* city w/ job opportunity
* affluent areas within close proximity to where I live (my job is to find new wealthy clients to invest with me)
* fun nightlife- clubs/bars/lounges
* nice restaurants
* professionals
* beaches
* golf
*willing to pay for quality of life (I understand SD is not cheap) I am however in a modest budget... looking to either rent the first 6 months to "experience" SD and my rent goal would be under 2000K or if I find something I like I'm looking to buy under 300K whether home, townhome, condo...
* relatively safe (all cities have high crime rates) so that does not scare me, but I have been reading a lot of posts about rampant car theft and break-ins, and that really upsets me since I drive a nice car and baby it!
* Traffic... I live in south jersey and traffic is great, not much traffic, you can drive everywhere you want to go. I lived in North Jersey for 4 yrs at college and it was a nightmare, you couldn't "run to the store and be back in 5 minutes." Everything you did as far as driving you had to add 20 minutes to it for traffic or construction. How is SD in this aspect?

I have read posts where people say "you will quickly get bored of San Diego." Is this true if I have a high demand for nightlife and entertainment being I am single and 26 yrs old? I love going out in NYC because there is always something to do. Is SD ONLY fun on the weekends? How active are the beaches for 20's/30 yr olds? What is the demographics like as far as singles/married/etc.?

Also, regarding minorities and hispanic population, well I live in South Jersey and it is 98% white where i live. It is very rare to see blacks/spanish/asian etc. I am certainly not prejudice and feel there is a need and reason for diversity... however when in North Jersey it is a shell shock for me as the 98%white goes to about 80% white and there are MANY minorities. I am reading numerous posts suggesting there are an influx of mexicans (because of border jumpers) Whether illegal or legal that is not my concern but what is life like in SD? Are there certain areas where they are more predominant? When I was downtown it seemed primarily caucasian but I DID notice a LOT of asians, is there a high asian population in downtown? Just curious as to the population and it's people in the heart of SD.

Please mention community names that you feel might suit my needs... I personally am thinking about just living in the city downtown (my office would be near 7'th/B street if I stay at the same firm.) so there would be no commute and I could walk to work which sounds fantastic!

I ate at some places in SD that I really enjoyed:
*Tin Fish- had AWESOME salmon fish tacos
*Oceanaire- real classy seafood restaurant- always fresh fish
*Ra Sushi- I will be honest the sushi was AVERAGE but the atmosphere made up for it, hip, fun, exciting.

I also went out to many bars/nightclubs. Here are some I enjoyed:
*Stingaree
*On Broadway
*Belo
*Confidential


I know this is A LONG POST, but I wanted to be very detailed and explicit with what I am looking for in a place to live. One other thing.. I am not familiar with California other than SD and LA but I certainly did not like being in LA (visited my family in the nice town of La Canada) and played golf which was fantastic--- big golfer... but I went out at night to HollyWEIRD and HATED it... extremely bizarre... even driving through LA I had the impression it was slumming, dumpy. By USC it was real bad, my aunt said it is gang infested right over there. SO reason I'm bringing this up is I know I don't want to live in the heart of LA where it is city like/slummy, and I LOVE SD so far, but what else is out there that's worth considering?

I am hearing:
Hermosa Beach, Newport Beach, Manhattan Beach, OC, Huntington Beach... any thoughts on these areas?

OK THIS WAS A LOT!!! SORRY FOR THE LENGTH! Thank You : )

[NYSD1995]

California is much more racially integrated than suburban New Jersey. Before you move here, you need to accept the fact that you are going to live in an area where Mexican and Asian people are common.

Unlike the East Coast where neighborhoods are separated by race, in California neighborhoods are separated by class and income. If you want to live in a primarily white area, you will be looking at places like coastal North County (La Jolla, Del Mar, Encinitas, Carlsbad) and Inland North County (Tierrasanta, Poway, Scripps Ranch, Rancho Bernardo)

Be prepared for some of the highest housing costs in the country in these areas.

Downtown San Diego still has plenty of crackheads and homeless. In SD metro there are upscale enclaves like Coronado, Mission Hills, Burlingame, and Kensington which are racially mixed but wealthy.

[metaljaybird]

I love SD County too. Stuck here in NJ for the time. Hopefully moving by October. 27 years old, with a wife and 7 mo old. Family and friends out there too.

[dakicka]

Yea San Diego was awesome when I was out there... I am a 26 male, single. So looking to continue my professional career and start becoming real successful. Def. looking for a change of scenery from traffic, snotty people, pollution & cold to clean air, palm trees, warm weather and a "cleaner and smaller city" than nyc. keep posting your replies please. thanks for your help.

[metaljaybird]

Unfortunately, SD has a ton of traffic, so that will have to become a reality. I think I'll move to north county though. A bit more family friendly. I love Balboa Park in SD!

[dakicka]

i looked at a few places when i was out there 2 months ago. did you see over hear of the one "stonemark at golden hills" ? www.stonemarkatgoldenhills.com (broken link) it is a condo village which was originally apartments... Apparently condo conversions are big in Cali. If anyone knows about this complex please fill me in, seems very reasonably priced- 225K for a really nice upscale condo. it is less than 1 mile from down but from my research it is sort of close to logan heights which I understand to be ghetto-ville.

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by dakicka

i looked at a few places when i was out there 2 months ago. did you see over hear of the one "stonemark at golden hills" ? www.stonemarkatgoldenhills.com it is a condo village which was originally apartments... Apparently condo conversions are big in Cali. If anyone knows about this complex please fill me in, seems very reasonably priced- 225K for a really nice upscale condo. it is less than 1 mile from down but from my research it is sort of close to logan heights which I understand to be ghetto-ville.

Golden Hill is a cool neighborhood. Very close to downtown, some great Victorian houses, a nice mix of people in the area.

It's an urban neighborhood that has seen a lot of revitalization in recent years. That said, the corner of 28th and B is not necessarily the *best* corner in Golden Hill. The 30th corridor is a little sketchy, it's better to be more west or north. That particular block if I remember offhand has a lot of apartments on it.

You will get a little bit of spillover from Logan Heights, but remember that Logan is at the bottom of the hill across 2 freeways.

That said, last week a navy guy was shot and killed a few blocks away when they stopped to fight with some cholos on 30th and A street. I wouldn't take too much from that as the navy guys actually stopped their car and got out to fight with these dudes, so it looks like a meathead vs meathead incident to me.

In an urban neighborhood like this you can be blocks away from a bad area and have a great neighborhood. Just like how 85th street and lex is a great area but 106th street and lex is not so great :-)

Condo conversions are all over the place in SD. Some range from utterly depressing to pretty decent. The only caveat I would offer is that many of these conversions took shabby 1960's era crap-artments, slapped some paint and granite down and called them condos. Make sure the project you look at has had any necessary structural and plumbing work done.

[dakicka]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

It's an urban neighborhood that has seen a lot of revitalization in recent years. That said, the corner of 28th and B is not necessarily the *best* corner in Golden Hill.

Thanks for your feedback, I have heard this from a few people in SD. What parts of SD WOULD you recommend for a 26 yr old male looking to continue his professional career, have good proximity to beaches, nightlife, and downtown work? thanks

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by dakicka

Thanks for your feedback, I have heard this from a few people in SD. What parts of SD WOULD you recommend for a 26 yr old male looking to continue his professional career, have good proximity to beaches, nightlife, and downtown work? thanks

Really depends on what you like to do, I like OB, it's a fun spot. Lots of girls, lots of bars, lots of partying. I did the OB thing for some years and definitely got into some trouble and had some fun times. If you want to party and get laid, OB or PB is the place to be.

I am not really a beach guy, so I like the City of SD more, preferably North Park, Normal Heights, University Heights, South Park, Golden Hill, etc.

I live in the College Area now but that is really just because I bought a house here (couldn't afford a house in the areas above). If I was single and looking at condos I would be looking at some of the conversions and new construction anywhere reasonably close to Balboa Park or Downtown. My most favorite areas of all in SD are Mission Hills, Kensington, Talmadge, Point Loma, and Coronado, but thats more from a homeowner's perspective than that of a young buck.

I also like Encinitas a lot, it's just too richy-rich for my middle-class blood and too far away from all the things I do. Nice place though

[dakicka]

sounds great. what about just living downtown? i'm sure i would be in the action if i got a place right in the city, right?