North County Areas (San Diego, Oceanside, Escondido: hardwood floors, for rent, HOA)

[CHILTON_TOM]

How livable would the areas of Econdido, San Marco, Vista, etc. be? More affordable???

We have elementary age kids and looking for a good safe school district.

[smu7070]

Unfortunately, in the San Diego area (and probably California in general...) you can't really get away with both safety/good schools and cheap housing at the same time. My advise to you would be to move into a nicer area (Carlsbad, Del Mar, Encinitas, Poway, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Carmel Valley, etc.) and just buy a condo/apt. or something. You won't live in a huge house, granted, but you will get the schools and safety that you want, along with a much more beautiful area. Personally, I recommend Carmel Valley if you can afford. Do also check out South Orange County to see if that meets your needs as well. The schools there are of uniformly good quality mostly and the crime there is uniformly low, unlike San Diego which can have more questionable areas.

[KimS.]

The schools in these areas are not good at all. If you are looking for saftey you will have to pick an area that the other member mentioned. I also hate to tell you this but living is not affordable anywhere around here.

[Roman11]

Originally Posted by KimS.

The schools in these areas are not good at all. If you are looking for saftey you will have to pick an area that the other member mentioned. I also hate to tell you this but living is not affordable anywhere around here.

OK, sorry but you've got to be kidding, I lived is Escondido as a kid and young adult. I still have friends in Escondido. If you live on either the North or South end it's very safe and family oriented. The South end has LR Green school which is an great school as is San Pasqual High school. Granted it doesn't rank as high as the Poway School district but it's no where near the bottom, more average then low as far as State averages go. You can still find older but nice homes between the upper $400,000 to mid $500,000. Yes a bit pricey but still under the medium price for San Diego county.

I can't speak for Vista or San Marcos but I know they are both lower in housing prices and I know San Marcos have pretty low school scores due to the large minority population.

Carlsbad is very nice and has some good schools but it is pricey as far as housing goes. I live in the Poway, Carmel Mountain, Rancho Bernardo area which is in the best school district and extremely family oriented, very safe. The housing prices are high but not as high as the coast. The medium price is $636,000 according to last Sunday's paper.

Hope that helps...Good Luck

[SanMarcosLover]

I live in San Marcos currently. As a city, I love it. Most of the people are phenomonal. One of the firemen is my step-father, and through him, I know most of the fire-department and some of the poilice personelle. They are great, and good at what they do. However, the school system is absoloutly horrendous, and as a result, I must go to charter schools. Even in the honors classes, "minorities" rule the class, and make it intimidating for any non-Latino student. The guidance conselours and teachers also leave alot to be desired, in the middle schools and high schools. The elemntary school are mostly very nice, Twin Oaks, and Paloma being great. BE careful of where you send your kids.

[jyobaccio]

I had heard that the San Marcos school district was excellent and I'm a realtor. I just bought a place in San Elijo Hills and they have a new elementary school. It's a very American town. Their website is sanelijohills.com. My place is for rent or equity share if anyone is interested. It's a 4br/3ba townhome with hardwood floors and plantation shutters. I'll share more if anyone is interested.

Joe

[BENZBOY15]

Encinitas has a great school district as does Del Mar/Carmel Valley, Poway/RB (really good), Carlsbad and most other coastal North communites (excluding Oceanside). Housing is not cheap along the coast getting more expensive as one moves from Encinitas, to Solana Beach and then to Del Mar. Carmel Valley is expensive, but you might find a deal on an older tract home that's close to the beach and close to great schools. Poway is the same with cheaper home prices but great schools.

North County is a great place. Wealthy parents mostly send their kids to public schools which means that there's a lot of money geting pumped into renovations/upgrades and equipment and other such areas.

http://www.annbrizolis.com/Consumer/Listing/ListingDetail.aspx?Search=50aac541-ec43-4b4a-86a6-66b10c9f8e32&Listing=17644807&IRPAgentID=55180&Ima ge=1&First=11&Last=20&pagesize=10&SearchType=map&L istingDistrictTypeID=&FirstLetter=&Sort=6&Cookies= (broken link)

That's a link to a 4Br/3BA 2100 Sqft home in Carmel Valley for 750-825K but in today's market, you might to be able to get 700. Just keep looking and good luck! I would rather live in a 2000 sqft condo in coastal north county and have my kids go to good schools than live in a 5000 home in Escondido.

PS: It's a lot less hot and cold on the coast too!

[ProudMexican-American]

wow I am really shocked to read some of the posts. I can't believe that people actually have the guts to try to blame minorities for a school being "bad". So let me guess a school is "good" as long as the student population is white right?! Please, maybe school are doing poorly because of the lack of funding, overcrowding, not enough teachers. On the other hand what this good school have to their advantage is the fact that they are in well-to-do neighborhoods and many times parents have the means to supplements some of the cost so that their children don't have to suffer from the budget cuts. Also not to mention that property taxes are higher in these areas which means more money for schools. It just seems that the system in place is design to benefit others while keeping others in the bottom. Oh final though I am Mexican (minority) was in honors classes and I last recall whites students were the majority with very few other minorities so I wonder who controls what?! If it had not being for the fact that I proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that I deserved to be in honors I would have not being accepted, while some white kids where automatically enroll into honors. Why because being white automatically makes you smart. I was an A student meaning that I was smart right?

[htnspz]

Check out the Shadowridge area of Vista. You can buy a reasonable priced house and the area is highly maintained and borders Carlsbad. Make sure, though, that you get Lake elem and Madison Middle school as your schools.
Cons: you don't get the charm of a non HOA neighborhood. It's pretty but it is a little generic looking.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by ProudMexican-American

Also not to mention that property taxes are higher in these areas which means more money for schools.

Is this actually true? Is (significantly) more tax money spent on schools in wealthier neighborhoods?

Also, schools with lots of ESL kids understandably have lower test scores.