Here's the Dilemma... (San Diego, Escondido, El Cajon: real estate, renting, how much) - California (CA) - City-Data Forum

Marinadistrict · 08-27-2012, 03:29 PM

I'm a native of the area, grew up in La Costa, went off to the East Coast for college and worked for ten years. I recently moved back with my wife and am renting downtown. My job is in Point Loma, hers is downtown (Coaster accessible) - we do not anticipate leaving these jobs until retirement, nor do we expect the jobs to ever move locations. As a North County native, I love coastal North County, especially Encinitas and Carlsbad. While growing up, I didn't venture much south of La Jolla other than to drive to golf courses or go to Jack Murphy Stadium, so I am very much unfamiliar with towns like La Mesa. We are looking at houses in the $700K range. Originally we wanted to settle in Encinitas, but watching the traffic reports everyday, it's going to be a 50 minute commute home everyday (not sure on the commute to work). Granted, wife could take the Coaster from there. I started looking at alternative areas including University City and La Mesa. University City is great location wise but the housing stock is a little older and nothing special. No clue on the schools, other than it's in SD Unified whcih I am not sure about. The houses in La Mesa, specifically on Mount Helix wow me. We're talking 3000 sq ft, pool, views, etc. I just don't know anything about the area, and don't know the quality of the schools. Carmel Valley seems nice but overpriced. I obviously like the San Dieguito district, and assume Poway is good too, but not sure what quality of house we'd get for $700K there. The prices seem to skew maybe $100K higher. I like the coastal weather and temperatures, but can live with a little bit hotter. Not Escondido hot, but a little hotter. Am I leaving off areas that are a decent commute from Pt. Loma or Downtown (~30-35 mins) that have good single family housing for $700K with good schools. I'm honestly leaning towards La Mesa just because of the quality of house we can get, but literally know nothing about the surrounding areas, schools, temperatures, etc.

Thanks for your help.

sschibuola · 08-27-2012, 03:54 PM

Well, as a family who just made the move last year to Mt Helix from San Clemente (which I consider extreme-northern-SD-County), I can offer the following:

- the houses are as cool as you imagine . . . but keep in mind they are older and even the better-maintained ones will probably have some outdated features and will require some TLC . . . they won't have "that new house smell" like in CV, Poway etc.

- the commute into downtown along the 94 is unbelievably good - like 60+ mph in the shoulder-peak good . . .

- La Mesa is a neat town with a nice (though pretty small) downtown

- temperatures - it's hotter, there's no other way to say it. Up in the hills it's cooler, but still easily Coast+10 degrees. The upside is many homes in that price range will have a pool. And while right now it feels like forever . . .it's really only about 2 months/year. The other upside is sunshine when the Coast is socked-in . . .

- psychologically, the move from a beach to an inland community is about more than just the temperature . . . it's still a little weird for us to be so far from the water, that salt-air-breeze, though we absolutely don't miss the snobbiness that sometimes goes along with beach real estate . . . you should probably think about that a little . . .

- schools . . . VERY hit-and-miss block-by-block. We have a 4th grader and a 6th grader . . . we found that the elementary schools in/around Mt. Helix were all good . .. but the middle and high schools were all over the place. We think we found the best combo in the area - Fuerte Elementary-Hillsdale Middle-Valhalla High . . . haven't experienced Valhalla yet, but absolutely love Fuerte and Hillsdale - easily better than the San Clemente schools which are considered very good too. Both the Cajon Valley Unified and Grossmont school districts have "address finders" on their websites so you'll be able to tell quickly if the house you are looking at is in their service areas . . .it was one of our biggest search parameters.

Marinadistrict · 08-27-2012, 05:11 PM

What's the word on Grossmont High? I'm not sure how much weight to give the review sites online for schools, and I don't really buy standardized testing scores TOO much. In the end, I think our future kids would get more value out of us having a shorter commute than getting them into the best districts. Still, in the back of my mind, I know that San Dieguito schools were outstanding for me and most of my high school peers (I assume the same for Poway).

I think I'm good with the higher temps to a degree, especially if we can score a pool.

Living downtown, we still end up driving to Encinitas to go to our favorite beaches, so I think we've learned that driving 30 mins to the beach isn't that bad. I'll still get sea breeze at work in Point Loma.

I know nothing about Scripps Ranch also, although it looks like it's not in the Poway district. Houses look like typical tracts which is fine and commute looks short. Any thoughts on there vs. Mt Helix area vs. Carmel Valley vs. University City/Bay Ho?

NYSD1995 · 08-27-2012, 05:13 PM

Mt Helix is very nice, privacy and custom homes. Nicer than most of San Diego IMO

For elementary I believe they are all good, Avocado, Murdock, Fuerte. The Fuerte,Hillsdale Middle-Valhalla High is probably the winner on schools, I believe you want to be east of Avocado. But I think the northside of the Mount goes to Grossmont which is pretty good. All those districts are very spotty, and especially be careful of Casa De Oro which has the dated tract homes and Spring Valley schools.

University City is very central and has good schools but charmless. If you are considering these two areas, I would definitely consider Del Cerro as well, which is very similar to University City but IMO a nicer area.

Marinadistrict · 08-27-2012, 05:24 PM

Any idea on a Southern boundary of Mount Helix where it starts turning a bit shady?

NYSD1995 · 08-27-2012, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marinadistrict

Any idea on a Southern boundary of Mount Helix where it starts turning a bit shady?

The only shady areas are directly north of 94 and adjacent to Campo Road. It's more run down than shady, but there are some Methpartments just next to the freeway.

Generally as you go east into Vista Grande it becomes less manicured and more ranch-like, until you hit Rancho San Diego which is a typical SoCal tract home megavelopment complete with Fatburgers, Pinkberries and super-sized shop-marts galore. Nice to have that stuff nearby but not have to live in it.

NYSD1995 · 08-27-2012, 06:02 PM

Also try this post for some more detail about various areas including these:
//www.city-data.com/forum/san-d...home-city.html

sschibuola · 08-28-2012, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sassberto

The only shady areas are directly north of 94 and adjacent to Campo Road. It's more run down than shady, but there are some Methpartments just next to the freeway.

Generally as you go east into Vista Grande it becomes less manicured and more ranch-like, until you hit Rancho San Diego which is a typical SoCal tract home megavelopment complete with Fatburgers, Pinkberries and super-sized shop-marts galore. Nice to have that stuff nearby but not have to live in it.

Yup - Sass is right on the southern boundary in terms of the quality of the neighborhood and homes - they stay nice until you're just about on top of the 94 or Campo.

But from a school p-o-v, we found that mostly everything in about the southern third of Mt. Helix "drains" to Spring Valley Middle School . . . which was a big red flag for us. A shame because we turned away from some otherwise very cool homes in that area. You really have to lookup each house you are interested in and see what schools they are assigned to - the boundaries are a little weird . . .

Marinadistrict · 08-28-2012, 12:41 PM

It looks like everything from the Helix Cross west to 125 gets Spring Valley Middle School. It's like there's no avoiding it unless you move into the El Cajon portions or go east of Avocado basically. Don't know much about the school, other than that you were concerned with it. Is it that bad? It seems like most of these houses on Mount Helix are fairly affluent families, so I'm guessing the Spring Valley side of the equation makes the middle school demographics a little worse?

I guess this is what scares me about La Mesa/Mount Helix. That the schools have the potential to be bad enough that buyers are doing whatever they can to avoid certain schools in the district. It's not what I was used to with the Encinitas district or the San Dieguito district. Love the houses though.

shmoov_groovzsd · 08-28-2012, 12:49 PM

I think Mt Helix houses are awesome. The spectacular views and super unique homes that mix from mid century modern to newer contemporary modern to Brady Bunch ranches are awesome.

Its a place we would consider if the right house came along...

I dont know about the schools, except its 'South of the 8' and EVERYONE knows that any schools south of the 8 mean that the kids will go nowhere in life, fast