How much do you need to live in North Park/South Park area? (San Diego: for sale, apartment complexes)

[fdrubio1977]

Hi all,

First post here. We'll soon be moving to San Diego from Europe and are now calculating how much we'll need to live there.

We went to SD once and fell in love with the South Park/North Park area (we also quite liked University Heights and Hillcrest). We are a family of four, with one of the little ones in pre-school and the other in need of a good public school. Our budget will be around 100k a year. Our ideal would be to rent a 3bed with some outdoor space for the kids. Would it be feasible in these neighborhoods or are we daydreaming? And if we are daydreaming, are there other similar (but cheaper) areas?

Thanks in advance!

[Clevelandgal]

is a 100,000 your BUDGET or SALARY? If it is the salary, then what is your monthly housing budget? I will let others comment about the schools, but generally speaking you might be able to find a good public elementary school in your area, but things go down hill in middle school and high school as parents either move to the suburbs or send their children to private school. This leaves a large % of children in the public schools that may have a lot of challenges and not enough staff to support them. In elementary schools in some urban areas you will have a nice variety of families (economically, culturally diverse), but less so as they get older.


I suspect a 3 BR in a pleasant part of South or North Park would be around 2800-3000+ a month. Anyone else?

[fdrubio1977]

100k is salary. And our monthly budget to rent around 2,200-2,400

One thing I forgot to mention is that I've been having a look at craigslist, trulia & padmap and what seems strange is that there are very few properties to rent in those areas. Does anyone know why? Are there other places that San Diegans use for searching rental properties?

Thanks!

[moved]

I just looked, and there are several properties that meet your criteria in North Park. When you check Craigslist, put in the max amount that you're willing to pay, the number of bedrooms, and put your area in the search box. That will narrow it down for you.

[fdrubio1977]

Thanks moved. What I was trying to say is that there are not that many, whenever I look for properties in those areas, it seems that there are very few in comparison to other areas. My concern is not so much find a place, which I think we'll eventually find; my concern is that if you're on a 100k budget and you spend 2,200 a month on housing (plus pre-school) you can live comfortably in San Diego in a family of 4 (we'll all get health benefits through my employer). Coming from Europe that's what's difficult to gauge for me...

[tonyinsd]

Oh, no, if you don't make at least $150K, better stay far, far, far away.

The rule is don't spend more than a third of your gross income on housing. At $100K a year, that's a monthly gross of $8,300. Since $2,200 is less than one third of that, it should be fine.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Originally Posted by fdrubio1977

100k is salary. And our monthly budget to rent around 2,200-2,400

One thing I forgot to mention is that I've been having a look at craigslist, trulia & padmap and what seems strange is that there are very few properties to rent in those areas. Does anyone know why? Are there other places that San Diegans use for searching rental properties?

Thanks!

Smaller units are probably easier to find than SFH's in both "Parks" for renting in my experience. Those two areas are GREAT especially closest to and bordering Balboa Park. Lots of long time residents there and newer home buyers that have lots of pride in their neighborhood. Definitely one of the most unique and classic neighborhood areas in the city.

As far as your monthly spend for housing around there, for a 3bed ~$2400/mo might be a task. Its an area that is typically in high demand as well as what was mentioned above.

Do you know where your husbands place of business will be for possible other recommends?
If its a Craftsman style house with plenty of yard space, some parts of La Mesa have classic Craftsman homes with very nice views that might fit your budget. So look on padmapper for zip codes 91942 and 91943.

As far as your monthly nugget that you are setting aside for rent, there are plenty of folks that are in your boat salary wise and kid wise that pay a lot more and others that pay less. Owning vs renting can be night and day in terms of what rent will get you location wise vs buying.

[fdrubio1977]

hi thanks for all the replies,
shmoov_groovzsd, i've also found that smaller units are more common in both parks, 2beds in particular. Are University Heights or Normal Heights better in terms of what you get for your $? Those are other areas we were considering, and from what we saw have a similar feel to both parks....

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Originally Posted by fdrubio1977

hi thanks for all the replies,
shmoov_groovzsd, i've also found that smaller units are more common in both parks, 2beds in particular. Are University Heights or Normal Heights better in terms of what you get for your $? Those are other areas we were considering, and from what we saw have a similar feel to both parks....

As far as UH and NH, it really depends. Generally, the areas north of Adams Ave closer to the canyon can see quite a jump in price as opposed to south of Adams. It seems some of the houses tend to be a bit bigger north of Adams as well.
But that is based on SFHs for sale, not renting. I dont know much about how rentals run there, but if the surrounding areas are indicative of rent/own costs, then it may be a bit cheaper, but not by much as they too are desirable areas.

If you are looking that far out from the park (relatively), then you should absolutely look in Kensington or Talmadge (College Area). They are really great places to live and its possible to get a little more bag for your buck and be somewhat close to what you are looking for.

FYI: if you do see a rental that fits your budget and seems oddly out of line price wise with others you have seen, then do a Google Street View. Sometimes that house can be sandwiched by apartment complexes. This may/may not be something to consider for you.

This is kind of the dilemma in SD right now though so try not to get too discouraged. Because the next thing you know, you may be considerably further from where you were originally looking

[Clevelandgal]

Originally Posted by fdrubio1977

100k is salary. And our monthly budget to rent around 2,200-2,400

One thing I forgot to mention is that I've been having a look at craigslist, trulia & padmap and what seems strange is that there are very few properties to rent in those areas. Does anyone know why? Are there other places that San Diegans use for searching rental properties?

Thanks!

There is no other special web site. What happens with desirable properties in desirable areas is the places are rented word of mouth or with a sign out front and nothing more.