Relocating to the Carlsbad/San Diego Area (Vista, Encinitas: foreclosure, to rent)

[AmandaLamantia]

My husband's job is relocating our family to the Carlsbad area. We are making a trip out the first week in June and are trying to research the area to figure out where we would like to live. We are a young family (in our 30's) with one child (1 yr old). We would like to be in a family oriented area with good elementary schools. We also enjoy getting out for activities and shopping. He is willing to commute up 1 hour (less is preferred).
Any advice on areas and/or neighborhoods to target would be helpful.

[Lil Jhwk]

I teach toddlers and one of the little boys in my class, the parents and this little boy just moved to Carlsbad. I visited Carlsbad and it's a very cute little community. Seemed family oriented since I saw a lot of families walking around.

[Encinitan]

Encinitas is just next door to Carlsbad. I commute to work by Palomar Airport Road and it's only about 20 minutes door to door, so it's very doable. Nothing wrong with Carlsbad, but Encinitas has some nice points too.

[dweej]

What kind of home would you like to find on what kind of budget? If you can swing Carlsbad, then just live there. Short commute, close to the beach, lots of shopping opportunities....if we could afford it, we would totally live there.

[TamiN]

My husband is being recruited to a University in Carlsbad. I am trying to research which community/suburb is best for my two children such as schools-both Elementary and Middle school; a good sense of community; I assume living in Carlsbad will be cost prohibitive and since we will taking a major cut in pay and starting over in our business, we will be extremely budget conscious. Any advice on where to get some solid information? Also, the state is in financial trouble, what does that mean for the people long and short term? Is it affecting schools and the quality of education? Does anyone have a feel for it?

[htnspz]

My area in Shadowridge, Vista (bordering Carlsbad) has Lake Elementary and Madison Middle which appear to be decent schools and you can find more reasonable housing costs.

[lucyluc]

You can buy a condo in Tanglewood for around 200 or a little more.3 bed 2 1/2 bath(1500)....all amenities like tennis courts,poools, etc... close to beach and walk to mall. They sit on a hill and dont need AC because of continual ocean breezes.This is the cheapest area of Carlsbad to live.Stay in Carlsbad if you can help it.I lived there for 10 yrs and loved the location.Granted, its not Aviara but it is Carlsbad.Your payment would be equal to rent for one of these.

[SDrelocate]

Carlsbad is great family town, I would suggest renting in the area for a while before buying.

People tend to make big mistakes when then come in cold new to an area, and regret it big time later. Do research on school district. Carlsbad schools are very good, however parts of Carlsbad are in other school districts. I know alot of folks in situation who bought in last few years, many are now underwater and are essentially stuck, some going into foreclosure.

There are some good deals emerging in Carlsbad. Although some additional depreciation is possible, many believe that the major price drops are behind us. Housing prices will likely plod along with low single digit growth for many years, with single depreciation for couple years due to current inventory overhang. Of course, all bet off if inflation kicks in and mortgage rates jump (mortgage rates are highly correlated to the 10 year Treasury yield). Better hope the Chinese keep buying our government debt!

Check out the local piggington site for good info on neighborhoods

Here's a recent post. some tongue-in-cheek. But essential advice is rent before buy.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/san-d...san-diego.html