is this realistic @ all??? (San Diego: apartments, rental, crime)

[dentalflossaddict]

My girlfriend and I are recent college graduates moving to San Diego. We know a few people from there, but we're all so busy it's hard to ask them these specific questions, and the forum seems so friendly and informative. Here goes:

After calculating what we might be making at our first jobs -- factoring that we'll have to make 3x the rent in a month -- I've realized we can spend around $900/month on a studio somewhere. We have a dog so it can't be the size of a motel room, but we don't need a huge place, either.

Having only 1 car, we also need to be in a more urban, pedestrian-friendly area. After extensive pan-Internet research, I'm thinking Hillcrest, North Park, Normal Heights, Golden Hill. I don't know much about City Heights but it seems cheap and from what I gather not too shady in some places ... the other near-downtown "urban" areas (Gaslamp, Little Italy, etc.) would probably be too expensive.

My question is: is this realistic? Is it worth the effort to drive cross country expecting a $900 studio rental in one of these areas? I mean...the situation is probably the same in many other major cities.

Thanks in advance and g'bless!

-floss

[fedfan]

Avoid city heights. Read this thread which I started some time ago which has detailed information about most of the areas you mention in this thread.

Apartments in zip code 92105

Also, I think you should be able to get a decent studio or even a 1br/iba in $900.

[kettlepot]

Also consider University Heights, (not to be confused with University City). It's located east of Hillcrest and north of North Park. You might also consider South Park which isn't really south of the park, but on the southeast side of the park. Bankers Hill, aka Park West (there seems to be a move on to rename it from BH to PW) is probably too expensive, but maybe not. Check it out. There's a lot of constuction going on there which might produce a glut and force down rents in the older buildings.

Avoid City Heights if you can. It's not awful awful, but still try to live elsewhere. I'm also not that fond of Golden Hill. Yes it has a few Victorian buildings left, but mostly the area just looks shabby and uninspired to me. Not to mention that it's near the absolute worst gang/crime areas of the city, Shelltown and Barrio Logan.

If you consider some of the older buildings, you'll definitely be able to find a one bedroom for $900 somewhere in the neighborhoods you are considering. And thank you for only having one car!