La Jolla with children (San Diego, August: rentals, houses, neighborhoods) - California (CA) - City-Data Forum

al_norway · 02-14-2011, 12:53 AM

Hello,
we are moving from Norway to la Jolla in June 2011, with our two children (3 and 4 years). Can you recommend a nice area? We want to live in a neighborhood where it´s possible to come in contact with other families with children (as we don´t know anyone in la Jolla...). Also, it would be nice to have beach, park, playground or other recreational area within walking distance.

A.

Oerdin · 02-14-2011, 01:06 AM

Honestly all of La Jolla is nice and it is hard to go wrong as long as you can afford it. We really can't give you more detailed information unless you tell us more about what you're looking for in a house and what sort of amenities you are looking for. I suppose I could tell you which areas meet my tastes the most but, honestly, my tastes probably aren't the same as your tastes.

Don't forget to include your price range in your next post because that will be the deciding factor for a whole lot of things.

al_norway · 02-14-2011, 01:49 AM

I see that I could have been more specific in my post

We want to rent a house, 3-4 bedrooms (big enough to have visitors). Preferably furnished. Price: $5000-6500 pr. month. We can go higher if necessary, but will be most comfortable if we can find someplace nice within that price range. We have visited la Jolla once before, but we don´t know much about the different neighborhoods. It takes us about 18 hours to fly from Norway to San Diego, so it would be really useful to get some recommendations

earlyretirement · 02-14-2011, 04:46 AM

Al,

For rentals that are already furnished you can try sites like VRBO - VRBO® is Vacation Rentals By Owner (http://www.vrbo.com/search?q=La+Jolla - broken link)

Keep in mind for a longer term lease, the owners are willing to come down from their asking prices. We rented one from VRBO for 4 months while we look at homes to purchase. Almost all that we contacted were willing to give us a discount for a longer period rental.

We go to La Jolla every year for summer vacation and really love it, spending most of the summer there. It's a great area for kids. I don't think you can go wrong. One of our trips we stayed near the Bird Rock area and there were many young families in that area so it might be a consideration.

Also, we really enjoy near La Jolla Shores as there is a nice park right in front of the beach always full of kids.

My advice would be to rent the house that best suits you and your family. That would be the top consideration...you can always meet families with kids by other means including groups from online, classes, church, etc.

al_norway · 02-14-2011, 05:10 AM

Thank you for advice

We are looking to rent long term (1 year +). We were at La Jolla Shores when we visited La Jolla, and we loved it there. But I'm guessing it's an expensive area. I don't know the Bird Rock area, but will check it out.

I have searched some vacation rental sites and realtor sites, but I think it's a bit confusing as prices can be weekly high season, low season or monthly high season or low season and sometimes it doesn't say if the price is weekly or monthly. I suppose this might be obvious for those who know the area, but I think it's very difficult.

Is craigslist an ok site to find a rental, or is it better to find a realtor who can help us?

earlyretirement · 02-14-2011, 06:41 AM

Hey Al,

Yeah, La Jolla Shores is a GREAT area but pricey as you mentioned. Really I don't think you can go wrong anywhere in La Jolla. Super great area. I've rented with VRBO many times over the past decade and many properties I own around the world I also list on VRBO. Definitely keep in mind on the yearly lease many owners are willing to drastically discount. The biggest problem you might find is that they might have future bookings already. But it pays to try to book as far ahead of time as possible.

Some of those VRBO rentals DRASTICALLY offered to discount. I was also thinking about a yearly lease and some on VRBO in La Jolla that wanted as much as $12,000 a month offered to come down to about $6,500 a month on a longer year long lease. So keep that in mind.

Another website is Homeaway.com (which owns VRBO). They also typically have some properties. As well check out Realtor.com and put in rentals for La Jolla. Another site I came across in my research was www.LaJollaCottages.com If you google rentals homes La Jolla you should be able to find a few companies. The thing is that most good houses probably already have rentals for the summer season when you are arriving.

I'd say be careful with Craigslist. They probably have lots of legitimate ads but they also have their share of fake scam ads as well. So do some due diligence on Craigslist. Typically if it sounds too good to be true then it is. Also, ask for several references if you use Craigslist. I know there are tons of scams. Some of the properties I own and list on other sites I've seen fake ads on Craigslist with photos of MY properties! So I know there are tons of fake ads on it and scams. Best to deal with a reputable agency/owner. VRBO polices their owners and offers no scam guarantees so check that out.

We're moving to the area in August so look me up (PM me) as we also have young kids and moving to the area. Good luck.

SDinsider · 02-18-2011, 05:39 AM

Since I am a La Jolla ReMax agent, and live in La Jolla myself, pm me if you get frustrated searching on your own. The sources mentioned are good. La Jolla is a bit of it's own animal. I'll be happy to simply throw you some advice, or take a more active role if you need. Good luck!