Miramar CA: Where to live near USMC Miramar (Escondido, Lincoln: real estate, rentals)

[Scott1002]

Hello
I am moving from Virginia to USMC Miramar Base and have no clue as to where to live. A safe neighborhood with a good elementary and middle school is a must. We have lived near the ocean most of our military career but this is not a must. But we do want to live near the base. We will try for base housing but that can take a long time. Why the government does not build enough housing for the number of assigned personnel for a base is a great mystery. Seems like that would be easy to figure out based on rank, etc. My wife is a major so we qualify for field grade housing, if anyone has any inside info on how to obtain field grade housing, that would be very helpful. And any info on what neighborhoods we should be looking at renting a house around the base (in case we don't get on base housing) would be very helpful.
We rate about $2500 for rent which sounds like a lot but not in CA. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
We are currently living in an unsafe part of Charlottesville, Virginia due to the misdirection of a real estate agent we hired so if anyone needs info on Charlottesville Virginia, or Oahu Hawaii, or Okinawa Japan, or Pensacola Florida, send your questions my way.

[MovingAloha]

My suggestion would be Tierrasanta and Scripps Ranch. Both communities have all of your requirements, they're close to Miramar, the housing stock is excellent, varied and safe; the schools are very good and you'll find other military families in the area.

[oddstray]

Originally Posted by MovingAloha

My suggestion would be Tierrasanta and Scripps Ranch. Both communities have all of your requirements, they're close to Miramar, the housing stock is excellent, varied and safe; the schools are very good and you'll find other military families in the area.

I'll second this. I lived in Tierrasanta from 1988 to 1992 (approximately). It's a nice community.

[ky1714]

You should be fine in Murphy Canyon (military housing) they have a hot sheet and you can pick off the list and be in within a month tops.

[SDbeachbum]

You might already know about this site, but just in case you don't, a lot of local military families use it for finding rentals AHRN - The Automated Housing Referral Network

[Scott1002]

My rank is O4 and we have been told it can take up to a year to get onto base housing.
Any suggestions?
Scripps Ranch is a nice area but the housing near base is very expensive compared to areas further from base.
My BAH is only $2600 and with three kids, we need at least a 3 bedroom house with a yard, good school and safe neighborhood.

What about Escondido?

[moved]

Have you checked the Lincoln Military Housing website? They'll have a list of what's available now, coming up, and which complexes are for particular ranks. Lincoln Military Housing.

[MovingAloha]

Originally Posted by Scott1002

My rank is O4 and we have been told it can take up to a year to get onto base housing.
Any suggestions?
Scripps Ranch is a nice area but the housing near base is very expensive compared to areas further from base.
My BAH is only $2600 and with three kids, we need at least a 3 bedroom house with a yard, good school and safe neighborhood.

What about Escondido?

Okay, Let us repeat this, Tierrasanta, Scripps Ranch, Rancho Penasquitos are all great options with great schools. SDBeachbum gave you an excellent resource, AHRN - Automated Housing Referral Network, which caters to active and retired Military and lists homes based on your BAH. I strongly recommend this site, it's what I'm currently using in my search.

[bigdaddy5]

To be close to the base within the $2500 range you're asking, Mira Mesa or University City sounds like a no-brainer.