Cost of living (specifics) for Carmel Valley (San Diego, Poway: 2013, lease)

[arnd]

We're considering moving from the Bay Area, where we own, to Carmel Valley, where we'll rent. I have one child in preschool for one more year then child will join other child at an elementary school.

I'm wondering if someone can kindly give me an idea of monthly averages for utilities, water, alarm system, cable/wireless, garbage, house cleaners, cell service, cost of putting kids in Little League, soccer, etc. Average hourly rate for sitters? Any other costs for running a house that are specific to San Diego? Not sure if prices are comparable to BA or more/less. House being 2500 sq ft or less. Family of four. Trying to get an idea of what our monthly budget might be there.

Thanks in advance!

[earlyretirement]

Lots of this monthly budget stuff can be found in these threads:

//www.city-data.com/blogs/blog3...city-data.html

But I'll answer some specific questions as we leased a townhouse in Carmel Valley for several months before moving to our house in Santaluz which is very close to Carmel Valley so I imagine the same type of expenses, although much will depend on size of house, etc.

We have the same type of ages as your kid. Our daughter is in her final year of pre-school and will start Kindergarten next year and her brother will have pre school for 2 more years. Keep in mind your kids have to be born before September for them to start Kindergarten. For example, our son turned 3 in December so he still has to go to pre school 2 more years. He can't start Kindergarten until after he turns 5 so that's an extra year of pre-school.

- Pre Schools run about $1,000 per month (In the CV area you have Kindercare, Lifetime Montessori, Kid's Bay, or you can opt for one of the pre schools in the Poway Unified School District. We did this even though we were living in Carmel Valley as we wanted priority for our daughter for the following year. You don't have to live in the PUSD to send your kids to preschool. If you want a private school environment they have plenty including Horizen Prep in Rancho Santa Fe). PUSD's preschool website: http://powayusd.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/preschool/

Utilities:

Cable/Internet at our townhouse with AT&T Broadband was $115/month

Electricity and gas in a 1,700 sq. foot townhouse was very reasonable in Carmel Valley. I think the highest bill was something like $195/month. Here is the breakdown of what our SDGE bills have been in our house which is much bigger now (4,100+ sq. feet). Keep in mind we use heat in the winter (temperature set at 67 degrees) and in the summer we use the AC kept around 73 or so.

01/04/2013 $369.48
12/07/2012 $164.73
11/01/2012 $152.18
10/03/2012 $355.16
09/05/2012 $235.38
08/03/2012 $42.78 (was in Europe the entire month and no one home)
07/05/2012 $43.05 (was in Europe the entire month and no one home)
06/05/2012 $81.73 (was in Europe just about the entire month and no one home)
05/04/2012 $135.16
04/04/2012 $195.79
03/06/2012 $182.83
02/03/2012 $267.37
01/20/2012 $391.63

Water Bill - It will really be very low if you're in a townhouse and don't have to water a yard. I think we were paying about $40 a month in the townhouse but there was no lawn to water. The City of San Diego bills water in 2 month (60 day) cycles. Our largest water bill was about $500 for a two month cycle during the summer but typically when it's not summer it's about $275 per 2 month cycle.

Security System: Our house already had a full pre-wired system in the house so we don't have any expenses with the equipment. We just pay $25 a month for monitoring and they are very good.

Garbage pick up: Included with our HOA so not sure what this runs but I think most are around $25 a month or so.

House cleaner/maid: We pay $130/week ($520 a month). Or she gave us the option of twice a month and it was $150/time or $300/month. We go with the weekly option. They are very good and come with a full team of 4 cleaners. They are very good.

Cellphone Service: Probably the same as you are paying where you are. I'm not even sure if you'd switch providers. I pay about $100/month for mine and my wife's is about $70/month. We use T-Mobile.

Babysitters: They range from $15/$20 per hour. I've typically found that they charge $15/hour but will say there is a 4 hour minimum or ours is $20/hour but she has a 3 hour minimum. We've used both agencies and also independent. We use the same girl now who is good who is a nanny for one of our neighbors.

Swim classes: If you live in San Diego you definitely will want to get your kids up and going ASAP. We have our two little ones in swim classes each week. It's about $150/month per kid if you want private one-on-one classes for a 30 minute session per week. Or $110/month per kid if it's semi-private with a group of 2. (We've found Noonan's to be the best).

Ballet classes: About $210 a month for weekly lessons. (Royal Dance Academy in Carmel Valley is excellent).

Gardener/Landscaper: We pay $180/month and they come out once a week. They are VERY good.

Good luck with the move. PM me if you need more details as it sounds like your kids are close in age to ours.

[cmdreset]

Where are you coming from in the BA? Water rates are higher, and housing is cheaper (although Carmel Valley is one of the most expensive areas for housing in SD.) Costs for everything else should be comparable to a similar suburban neighborhood in the BA.

[arnd]

Thanks for the info! We would be moving from Danville, a small suburb east of SF. Sounds like water/gas rates are about the same; had hoped heating/cooling bill lower b/c of more moderate temps. Here we see 30s/40s in the winters and high 90s in the summer.
We'd like to rent a house on a long- term basis (my husband swears he'll never buy in CA again).

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by arnd

Thanks for the info! We would be moving from Danville, a small suburb east of SF. Sounds like water/gas rates are about the same; had hoped heating/cooling bill lower b/c of more moderate temps. Here we see 30s/40s in the winters and high 90s in the summer.
We'd like to rent a house on a long- term basis (my husband swears he'll never buy in CA again).

Actually our heating/cooling bill probably is higher in the winter and summer than some people. You will find some phenomenon here in San Diego where some seem ashamed to use their AC in the summer. We have no shame at all in using our AC. People mistakenly think that it never gets hot or humid in the summer here. This past summer it was hot and humid and we had our AC on almost every day during a few weeks stretch. It would have been uncomfortable without AC with the humidity this year.

Also, it does get chilly in the winter at night. During the day when it's sunny it stays warm enough typically where the heat doesn't kick on too much. But definitely at night it does. At least in a single family house. At night it can get chilly here. If you have young kids you'll definitely be using heat in the winter in Carmel Valley in a SFH.

That's fine if you want to rent but keep in mind Carmel Valley and that entire general area is relatively expensive to rent. We paid $2,700 for a 3 bedroom townhouse in CV. Our house to rent would be over $5,000 a month. In fact, when we leased it back to the previous owners the first few months were $5,000 all the way up to $6,000 for the last month. Rents here are pricey in good school districts.

Yeah, it doesn't make sense to buy if you don't know how long you will be here and not sure where you will end up. But once you know you will be here for the long haul, it's a compelling argument to buy at today's low interest rates.