Fairfield, CT to San Diego? (Redding, Encinitas: condos, big house, neighborhoods)

[webbarrow]

We're considering moving to San Diego to get away from the real (not imagined) danger of Lyme disease here. We loved San Diego when we visited and have family in LA.
Is there a neighborhood that's walkable, with older houses, and a bohemian feel? We're both designers and our idea of heaven is Bilboa Park. We have a school aged daughter, so we need a good school district.
I know that we can't get as much for our money there, but a small house or condo would do.
Anyone out there who moved from New England and would like to share your experience?

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by webbarrow

We're considering moving to San Diego to get away from the real (not imagined) danger of Lyme disease here. We loved San Diego when we visited and have family in LA.
Is there a neighborhood that's walkable, with older houses, and a bohemian feel? We're both designers and our idea of heaven is Bilboa Park. We have a school aged daughter, so we need a good school district.

Take a look at Mission Hills in San Diego, that has a good K-8 school and is a very exclusive area with both condos and historic craftsman homes and spanish mansions.

The problem you will quickly find is that there are really few good elementaries and no good high schools in the inner, walkable, bohemian areas of San Diego, despite the 700k+ price tags for homes. Good schools are primarily the domain of mass produced tract home suburbia, and even then, it is very spotty. Be prepared for major shock when you see what a home costs in an area with schools comparable to what you are accustomed to.

[loveautumn]

Faifield isn't exactly cheap to live...that part of CT might even be more expensive than SD. Do you go hiking alot that you would be afraid of getting Lyme disease? Schools here are not as good as those in CT, from all the info I've seen, CT has some of the best schools in the country.

Leucadia is kind of bohemian, you might like it there...in North County, right near the beach. Somewhat walkable area, older homes, art galleries. That's an area you might want to check out...

[kettlepot]

As someone who has lived in both Fairfield County and now San Diego, I have some perspective on this. San Diego is cheaper than New Canaan, Darien, and Greenwich, and parts of cities like Westport, Ridgefield and Redding. You can certainly get a nice Craftsman bungalow style 2/1 house on a small 4000 or 5000 sq foot lot in parts of North Park and South Park for 450k to 600k. I'm not sure if that is within your price range as you didn't give one. A two bedroom California Cottage might be had for 300k to 325k, but those are quite small, probably 600-700 square feet and you will be living on a lot with 6 to 8 more cottages. Many of these are available along 30th Street in South/North Park, directly to the east of Balboa Park.

I can't vouch for the schools in these neighborhoods. As with most schools in California, school reputation has more to do with the quality of the students than the quality of the teaching. Poorer, ESL students, or EFL students with poor grammar skills beget a reputation of poor quality and low expectations that may or may not create a negative social environment with poor role models for your daughter. However, there is always the option of the charter school. Many of them have been created to provide options for people like yourselves who want to live in an urban environment yet still shield your child from some of its negative influences.

Edit: Make those California Cottages in the 500 square foot range.

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by kettlepot

As someone who has lived in both Fairfield County and now San Diego, I have some perspective on this. San Diego is cheaper than New Canaan, Darien, and Greenwich, and parts of cities like Westport, Ridgefield and Redding.

CT is not cheap but you probably get a lot more house on a lot more land in those areas than you would in San Diego. Even in tony areas of Westchester County 800k will get you a big house on at least a half acre. That type of property barely even exists here. In CA you could be looking at 2000sf or even less on a tiny city lot in Encinitas. Property taxes and heating costs will get you in CT and NY though.

Originally Posted by kettlepot

Many of these are available along 30th Street in South/North Park, directly to the east of Balboa Park.
I can't vouch for the schools in these neighborhoods. As with most schools in California, school reputation has more to do with the quality of the students than the quality of the teaching. Poorer, ESL students, or EFL students with poor grammar skills beget a reputation of poor quality and low expectations that may or may not create a negative social environment with poor role models for your daughter.

South Park has Albert Einstein academy which is a great school. Most of the schools in that area (north park / south park) are not bad because of ESL/EFL. They are bad because of the "negative social environment" and most of those kids are US born... And there are MANY bad teachers in bad schools in San Diego.... when good teachers don't want to teach in the school and the union contracts are so ironclad you can't be fired...

[webbarrow]

Thanks for all your input... We love CT, even the snow! It's just that it feels like one huge deer tick at the moment, all you have to do is walk out in your yard, and you have lyme disease (except in the winter). We love to be outside and garden, but don't know if we can survive the getting sick all the time.

The rub is: the schools are good/great, we have an acre of property (granted, it's tick infested!) and a little run down but fixable bungalow, 2400 sf, that we got for under 400,000. Yes, the taxes are more than the mortgage, and we spent $600 for 6 weeks of oil. But the beauty, we're in Easton, down the road from farms and open country.

That said, I love what I saw of San Diego, but maybe I need to think of a smaller town, would that get me better schools?

California dreaming!

[cmdreset]

Hi Webbarrow, I've lived in both CT and San Diego as well. FYI, Lyme disease is everywhere, including SD: County of San Diego: Lyme Disease. And you can get hepatitis from surfing. And lot of folks get skin cancer here. You have to adjust to every place you live. There are certainly reasons to move here, but it may not be the Nirvana you think.

One thing that is very different from CT: most people don't have the roots like they do back East. Just about everyone we meet is either a transplant or an immigrant. This isn't necessarily bad, but there is definitely more of a feeling of transience here. The good part of this is the feeling of opportunity - it's easier to start over or find new acquaintances here.

The bad part of this is that at times it can feel artificial, shallow, and impersonal.

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by webbarrow

That said, I love what I saw of San Diego, but maybe I need to think of a smaller town, would that get me better schools?

You are either going to be looking at coastal cities (Del Mar, Encinitas, etc) which are probably more of what you loved when you saw San Diego but are big $$$ (400k is 1BR condo territory). Inland communities (Poway, Rancho Bernardo) are not really "towns" but massive sprawling housing developments, some with an older, organic town center but mostly new tract housing. These areas have excellent schools, a more conservative population, and are much more affordable from a housing costs perspective.

It will take some adjustment to get out of the Northeastern mindset of small towns and cities, close-knit communities, open space, country roads, and village atmosphere to the more intermingled, sprawling, and highly devloped nature of Southern California. You sort of have to take it for what it is, because there is really no comparing the two areas.

[sdurbanite]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

CT is not cheap but you probably get a lot more house on a lot more land in those areas than you would in San Diego. Even in tony areas of Westchester County 800k will get you a big house on at least a half acre.

The same applies to Fairfax Co. in the DC area. For about the same price of a house in 4S Ranch or Carmel Valley, they have a 1/4 acre lot with a 3,000 sqft house, circular driveway, stream in the backyard, etc. I'm like.....WTF..

[loveautumn]

If you like winter, why not consider Denver...I've never heard of that area having a major tick problem, in fact not alot of bugs in general (mosquitoes, etc.) And their winter isn't all that severe.