Is Temecula worth the commute? (San Diego, Riverside: school districts, to live in, costs)

[ThinkingElsewhere]

Originally Posted by InTheZona

IMO, Temecula has better weather than Phoenix and Tucson, too.

In the summertime, Temecula is drier and less humid than Phoenix and Tucson. Temecula is also cooler than both of those cities, especially at night.

Plus, Temecula is a heck of a lot closer to the beach than both Phoenix and Tucson!

I agree totally! Temecula is really great bang for your buck in SoCal. It's actually on my radar if decide to relocate back to California soon. I could see why people would commute from Temecula to San Diego, although I know I couldn't do it. Props to them though.

[Pyramidsurf]

Originally Posted by ThinkingElsewhere

I don't think commuting from Temecula to San Diego is worth it, especially with the added gas and car maintenance costs.

The housing prices are more than double for a comparable home in a good school district.

When you consider the cost of gas is only really about 200$ extra per month (compared to commuting from somewhere like Poway or CV), it's easy to see why some people go for it.

An extra 2000$ a month saved in an increased mortgage payment goes a long way compared to the extra 200$ in gas.

[JohnSoCal]

Originally Posted by ThinkingElsewhere

I don't think commuting from Temecula to San Diego is worth it, especially with the added gas and car maintenance costs. Commuting from Temecula to Carlsbad or Oceanside, although not ideal, is more doable.

Temecula's weather may not be as good as San Diego because it's inland, but it's sure as heck still nicer than the Midwest and East Coast.

Weather is a personal preference. We lived in San Diego for 25 years. We far prefer the weather in Temecula/Murrieta. There are others that don't. It is just a matter of what one likes and there is no right and wrong.

As I have said, I wouldn't commute either but I was fortunate enough to be able to afford San Diego's higher prices and live in a nice home in a good school district. We moved here when commuting was no longer an issue because we like it better.

[ThinkingElsewhere]

Originally Posted by Pyramidsurf

The housing prices are more than double for a comparable home in a good school district.

When you consider the cost of gas is only really about 200$ extra per month (compared to commuting from somewhere like Poway or CV), it's easy to see why some people go for it.

An extra 2000$ a month saved in an increased mortgage payment goes a long way compared to the extra 200$ in gas.

You're right it's much still cheaper to live in Temecula and commute to San Diego then to live in say, Poway. I just try to be frugal when it comes to gas.

It comes down to personal choices. Like I said I can totally see why people would do it, but I don't think I could.

[Pedro2000]

Originally Posted by Pyramidsurf

The housing prices are more than double for a comparable home in a good school district.

When you consider the cost of gas is only really about 200$ extra per month (compared to commuting from somewhere like Poway or CV), it's easy to see why some people go for it.

An extra 2000$ a month saved in an increased mortgage payment goes a long way compared to the extra 200$ in gas.

It's not just gas. If you're putting 500+ miles on your car per week, you can't even do a normal lease of 10K miles per month without getting penalized and you sure forgot about maintenance costs. And it's easy to just always use "best case scenario" but that's not real life.

When I look at moving anywhere, I look at what happens when a lane is closed, an accident, etc etc etc. My 15 minute commute might turn into 45 minutes easily. I mean going from Del mar to La Jolla over the summer sometimes took like 30-40 Minutes due to crap on the 805 and people heading down La Jolla shores dr. And thats like a 10 minute drive on most days without traffic. This notion that it'll always be easy is just ridiculous. You hope its like that, but there is always construction, always accidents, etc. So on some days, no traffic is a great thing. Other days you are stuck in crappy traffic. Is it as bad as LA or DC? Not even close, but being stuck in traffic is still stuck in traffic.

I understand the desire to live in a nicer house, bigger house, better schools, etc. But disregarding things like commute times, family time, maintenance costs, etc is just not taking looking at the whole picture.
Again 50 miles to work means you're driving 100 miles per day five days a week for work. When you're putting 24K miles on your car just for work, that adds up fast. You can make all the claims you want, but putting that many miles on a car means you'll be buying a new car every few years. And you sure won't be leasing one when most leases are in the 10K per year range these days.

[malcorub16]

For me, time with my kids and friends is much more important than money. If it means I pay an extra 100 grand over my lifetime then its worth it to me.

[ThinkingElsewhere]

Originally Posted by Pedro2000

It's not just gas. If you're putting 500+ miles on your car per week, you can't even do a normal lease of 10K miles per month without getting penalized and you sure forgot about maintenance costs. And it's easy to just always use "best case scenario" but that's not real life.

When I look at moving anywhere, I look at what happens when a lane is closed, an accident, etc etc etc. My 15 minute commute might turn into 45 minutes easily. I mean going from Del mar to La Jolla over the summer sometimes took like 30-40 Minutes due to crap on the 805 and people heading down La Jolla shores dr. And thats like a 10 minute drive on most days without traffic. This notion that it'll always be easy is just ridiculous. You hope its like that, but there is always construction, always accidents, etc. So on some days, no traffic is a great thing. Other days you are stuck in crappy traffic. Is it as bad as LA or DC? Not even close, but being stuck in traffic is still stuck in traffic.

I understand the desire to live in a nicer house, bigger house, better schools, etc. But disregarding things like commute times, family time, maintenance costs, etc is just not taking looking at the whole picture.
Again 50 miles to work means you're driving 100 miles per day five days a week for work. When you're putting 24K miles on your car just for work, that adds up fast. You can make all the claims you want, but putting that many miles on a car means you'll be buying a new car every few years. And you sure won't be leasing one when most leases are in the 10K per year range these days.

Leases are now 10k? Every lease I've had the last few years allows me to have 30k miles. I do agree however that car maintenance costs can take somewhat of a toll financially.

As you stated, the biggest issue with me would be the psychological and social burden of the commute by spending all that time in the car and not enough family time.

[NorthSDLifer]

Originally Posted by ThinkingElsewhere

Leases are now 10k? Every lease I've had the last few years allows me to have 30k miles. I do agree however that car maintenance costs can take somewhat of a toll financially.

As you stated, the biggest issue with me would be the psychological and social burden of the commute by spending all that time in the car and not enough family time.

Can't you negotiate any term in a lease? 10K a year is a common number in advertisements. Our leases - two or three total - have been for 12K. Ten is really nothing.

[Pyramidsurf]

Originally Posted by Pedro2000

It's not just gas. If you're putting 500+ miles on your car per week, you can't even do a normal lease of 10K miles per month without getting penalized and you sure forgot about maintenance costs. And it's easy to just always use "best case scenario" but that's not real life.

I refuse to lease a car. I keep my cars much longer than most people (I try to get at least 250K). I can do maintenance myself which significantly reduces costs.

When I was driving solo, I changed the oil every three months at a cost of 45 minutes and 30$ in parts from Wal-mart. Brakes are 30$ for pads from Autozone. I realize not everyone can do that but I could make it work.

When I look at moving anywhere, I look at what happens when a lane is closed, an accident, etc etc etc. My 15 minute commute might turn into 45 minutes easily. I mean going from Del mar to La Jolla over the summer sometimes took like 30-40 Minutes due to crap on the 805 and people heading down La Jolla shores dr. And thats like a 10 minute drive on most days without traffic. This notion that it'll always be easy is just ridiculous. You hope its like that, but there is always construction, always accidents, etc. So on some days, no traffic is a great thing. Other days you are stuck in crappy traffic. Is it as bad as LA or DC? Not even close, but being stuck in traffic is still stuck in traffic.

I average about an hour each way. The 15 seems to move much better than the 5 or 805. I've been doing it for awhile now and the commute doesn't even compare to the traffic I faced in Hawaii.

I understand the desire to live in a nicer house, bigger house, better schools, etc. But disregarding things like commute times, family time, maintenance costs, etc is just not taking looking at the whole picture.
Again 50 miles to work means you're driving 100 miles per day five days a week for work. When you're putting 24K miles on your car just for work, that adds up fast. You can make all the claims you want, but putting that many miles on a car means you'll be buying a new car every few years. And you sure won't be leasing one when most leases are in the 10K per year range these days.

I don't lease cars as it's a waste of money to me. I buy slightly used (under 30K) and put 200k+ miles on them.

At 30K miles a year I should still be able to squeeze at least 7 years from it. But, right now I car pool so it doesn't cost me anything. Many people ride van pools or share driving duties.

How much family time are you really using? 30 minutes each way to work? Not that big of deal imo when the other option for some people is raising a family of 5 in a condo or renting the rest of their lives.

Everything is a trade off in life.

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by Pyramidsurf

I refuse to lease a car. I keep my cars much longer than most people (I try to get at least 250K). I can maintenance costs myself.

When I was driving solo, I changed the oil every three months at a cost of 45 minutes and 30$ in parts from Wal-mart. Brakes are 30$ for pads from Autozone. I realize not everyone can do that but I could make it work.


I average about an hour each way. The 15 seems to move much better than the 5 or 805. I've been doing it for awhile now and the commute doesn't even compare to the traffic I faced in Hawaii.


I don't lease cars as it's a waste of money to me. I buy slightly used (under 30K) and put 200k+ miles on them.

At 30K miles a year I should still be able to squeeze at least 7 years from it. But, right now I car pool so it doesn't cost me anything. Many people ride van pools or share driving duties.

How much family time are you really using? 30 minutes each way to work? Not that big of deal imo when the other option for some people is raising a family of 5 in a condo or renting the rest of their lives.

Everything is a trade off in life.

I wouldn't put down or knock anyone that chooses to do this. For some it will work really well and others not so much.

I also know people that live in the city and still don't spend that much time with their kids although they might use the guise of living here and being able to so it's all kind of relative.

Also, the time doesn't have to be a waste. I have a friend that had a long commute like that for many years and he did the Pimsleur audio CD's to learn languages and over the span of the 6 years I knew him, he got conversational in about 4 languages. He turned me on to it.

I think really life is what you make of it. I could never do a commute like that but I saw kudos and congrats to you Pyramidsurf that you can make it work and seem happy doing it.