Moving to Temecula, Murrieta - De Luz area or San Marcos/ SD? (San Diego: lease)

[Dbazan1]

We are looking for a rural property to purchase, budget up to $850,000, and preferably zoned for horses and good size lot. We're coming from Palos Verdes, and would like to move South, but not too far inland as air quality is important (we all have asthma). We like the Marietta and Temecula areas, but understand traffic, population growth and air quality are problematic...? We fell in love with the rural/agricultural feel in De Luz area, and loved the lot sizes, but we read some previous posts here indicating there are "strange/odd folks" living there, and that it's infested with rattlesnakes, tarantulas and scorpions...?? Also that floods and fires are problematic each year...? Any truth to this or is it a nice area to live for a small family? Hubby needs to lease a small warehouse to work from, but if home property is big enough, or has extra large garage or shop area, he might be able to work from there.

We have a 12 year old son who desperately wants to live in a community with lots of kids to play with. We're considering private Christian school for him, so school district might not have to be a deciding factor for us. We were also told to look in San Marcos and Escondido as a nice family area with a rural feel/potential horse property to it. We just don't want to go too far inland. Any recommendations you can make on a good, safe rural area to focus our attention on would be great.

[Captjob]

Hi Dbazan,

I may be able to help with many of your questions here.

First the Murrieta/Temecula valley are beautiful areas to live in and some of the best Southern California communities around. Murrieta was recently listed as the second safest city in California behind Irvine by the FBI.

Deluz is a rural location to the West of Temecula and does have that rural feel with horse properties etc. The commute into town, depending on the location; however, can be upwards of 30 minutes. Just depends on what your comfortable with. With your budget, La Cresta (West of Murrieta) would also be an option for you to consider.

As far as air quality, there are no issues with air quality in the Temecula valley. Most of the air issues are in the LA basin and inland to the moutain passes. Generally only in the summer and during the hottest months will you notice the air issues in that area. Fires are here, as in all of California, and yes you will occasionally see them in the foothills and the grasslands etc. Its part of life in Southern California; however, the last destructive fire season we had was in 2007 and that was driven by extreme Santa Ana winds. I cant think of any floods to speak of down here and I have been in the area since 1971.

If your son is seeking a community feel with the sports parks, teams, schools, neighborhood parks and friends etc. then you would probably want to check out areas closer to the two towns. If you are looking for in-town properties with horse zoning then the Meadowview area of Temecula would probably fit the bill. There are many options.

As far as San Marcos/Escondido, generally only the outskirts of these towns would work for the horse property types. North Twin Oaks Valley in San Marcos and Hidden Meadows/Valley Center would also work in this area.

Also keep in mind, San Diego County adds significant increase in price over a similar property in Southwest Riverside County. Just depends on what your priorities are.

Good Luck!

I hope this helps with some of your questions...

CJOB

[shunt4]

I second what CJOB says. Ive lived in Temecula 15 years and raised my kids here. Air quality is good here. Your son may feel isolated in De Luz, you will not meet many neighbors or see them at all because of the huge lots. Not many kids that age there. It's true that the Meadowview community in Temecula would be a much better choice. It's closer to two larger Christian schools in town. But the public schools in Temecula are very good and have good scores.

[jimpargolf]

If you loved the DeLuz area (which is also my favorite for the agricultural feel to the area), the better option may be the La Cresta area in the hills west of Murrieta. For horse property, La Cresta is much better than DeLuz. Much flatter areas for horses plus they have horse trails throughout the area. You can ride to the Santa Rosa Plateau or the Cleveland National Forest. Air Quality is very good in the area.

[lrmsd]

San Marcos has good schools; escondido not so much. But some of escondido is zoned for I believe rancho santa fe's district-so if you find something with the right school boundaries in escondido, it's a good bet. Even if you do private schools, your resale can be helped by location in a good district-and you may want to go public again at some point. If you have the option to choose going in, I'd go with the well regarded districts. Temecula and Murrietta are well regarded, too.