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Old 01-29-2013, 02:06 PM
 
4 posts, read 5,584 times
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Hi Everybody,

My family and I (my hubby 32, me 28, 4 kids age 1 to 6) are planning to move to socal next year. We are researching which area would be best for us.
We had choice between Florida and South Cali and finally decided for the last one.

This is our situation:
We can afford a house up to 2.5 - 3 million
Our kids can go public school or private depending on what's best
No commute to work (we'll be working from home)

We like the warm weather year round with preference for a place were it doesn't get too hot. We'd like to be close to the beach but not necessarily on the beach (a short drive's not a problem).

We'd like to live in a place where neighboors still greet each other and where our kids can have a community feel

We don't need to be in town but not in a lost zone too. Wd like to be able to go to shops, restaurants, theater without a one our drive. In fact, a walkable, safe place woudn't be bad.

The education system, schools and kids activities around for them are important elements.

Globally we are searching for a safe, low crime place, a good place to raise a family and have a new start. We will have many trips to feel the place by ourself but the feeling is always different when you're visiting.

Please don't tell me too much about the high cost of life f socal cause where we come from you cant even buy a two bedroom apartment with the amount I stated above and life is really expensive here.

I would like to have opinions of people who experienced life in different places in socal. Just advice me like you would to somebody who doesn't know anythig about california or the US. Put yourself in my shoes, young family with young kids making a big move to a new place... and tell me all that could be usefull. Knowing that the number one priority is our kids happy, safe environement.

Which county, city should we focus on? and why?

Thanks for your help!!!
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Old 01-29-2013, 02:53 PM
 
Location: New York City/San Diego, CA
686 posts, read 1,131,461 times
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I think the Mission Hills area of San Diego would be perfect for you!
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Old 01-29-2013, 02:54 PM
 
Location: SoCal
6,418 posts, read 11,540,597 times
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With that budget for housing, look at Santa Luz. It's in the Poway school district, which is highly regarded. One of the other posters here has reported on the sense of community there. I'm not sure you can get to the stores without driving, but it's nothing like a one-hour drive. Probably ten or 15 minutes.
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Old 01-29-2013, 03:12 PM
 
Location: Santaluz - San Diego, CA
4,498 posts, read 9,349,783 times
Reputation: 2015
I'd say San Diego in your situation is going to be as perfect a place as possible for you. We've been all over the world to many cities and I still think nothing beats San Diego if you can comfortably afford it. It's an amazing place to raise kids.

If you can afford a house in the $2.5 to $3 million range you're going to have a lot of excellent choices! Based on what you wrote, I'd say the Rancho Santa Fe area or this general vicinity would be perfect for you. There are several communities that are super upscale. Gated communities as well as non-gated. All EXCELLENT areas to raise kids in. We preferred the gated community of Santaluz.

The school district is also great in that area and there are private schools to choose from as well. But I'd say the public school system is plenty good in that area. It's a HUGE plus that you don't have to commute to work.

It's also great as you are far enough inland where you avoid the marine layer and clouds/fog that is often close to the beach but not too far in where you get the high temperature and really warm weather in the summer. We are about 6.5 miles in from the ocean and we find it perfect. We get LOTS of sunny weather. In fact, many days it will be totally blue skies and sunny and we'll go to the beach in Del Mar (15 minutes away) and it's all cloudy. It's really amazing.

I'd say if you want to avoid the hotter temperatures stay within 7 or 8 miles of the coast. I like this website to calculate distances between two points from the coast:

http://www.daftlogic.com/projects-go...calculator.htm

I can't speak for other communities but where we live it's amazing. All of our neighbors buy one another gifts at Christmas and we invite them over for dinner, etc. We have an annual block party in the summer. Also, several of these communities have country clubs in them so several neighbors you will see at the Club. There are lots of kids in our neighborhood. In fact, our daughter is in the same class as our next door neighbor. It's great.

I would NOT say that this area is "walkable". Really besides a few beachside communities, I wouldn't say anywhere in this vicinity is walkable. San Diego is really a car dependent city, especially in North County. But most certainly you can enjoy restaurants, theaters, shopping without driving too far.

PLENTY to do with kids. Our kids are the same as yours (all younger and under 6) and there are lots of things to do in the general area. Swim classes, horse riding lessons, ballet classes, etc. The area is great.

I honestly can't think of a better area to raise kids anywhere in the world vs. this area.



Quote:
Originally Posted by oddstray View Post
With that budget for housing, look at Santa Luz. It's in the Poway school district, which is highly regarded. One of the other posters here has reported on the sense of community there. I'm not sure you can get to the stores without driving, but it's nothing like a one-hour drive. Probably ten or 15 minutes.
Yes, there is DEFINITELY a big sense of community here in Santaluz (http://www.santaluz.com ). The schools are excellent. In fact, Willow Grove is one of the best elementary schools in the State and it's new and high tech and it's right here very close so your kids would go there if you wanted to go the public school route. They are great.

As mentioned, you really must have a car but it's not like this is in the middle of nowhere like some think. You are just 10-15 minutes to the beaches in Del Mar. You have easy access to pretty much anywhere you want to go with I-56, I-5 and I-15 all very close. Especially if you work from home you won't have to worry about commuting.

Also, it's extremely safe here and very private. The security is excellent here. There are some high profile people that live in the development like the Chargers QB so I think the security is even better than other communities. People here are still very open and inviting with many owners in the development choosing to share their personal/work emails and phone numbers.

Really this entire area is great. We looked at some houses over in Fairbanks Ranch and the Crosby as well and they were nice but we much preferred Santaluz. With $3 million you can get a really amazing house here with a lot and amazing views. It's worth at least exploring. PM me if you want and I'd be happy to take you guys to lunch at the club here and show you around.

Last edited by earlyretirement; 01-29-2013 at 03:36 PM..
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Old 01-29-2013, 07:49 PM
 
2,986 posts, read 4,552,477 times
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Wow you can get some ocean front property with that budget. Jealous

Just saw that you were 28....how did you come into that kind of money so young and where are you coming from that you can't buy a 2 bedroom place with 3 mil?
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Old 01-29-2013, 09:56 PM
 
Location: Santaluz - San Diego, CA
4,498 posts, read 9,349,783 times
Reputation: 2015
Quote:
Originally Posted by GMUAlum08 View Post
where are you coming from that you can't buy a 2 bedroom place with 3 mil?

My guess would be London, Paris or a major city in Switzerland or possibly the French Riviera. Especially in the best neighborhoods, real estate prices is INSANE in some of these places. It's probably not that you couldn't buy a 2 bedroom place with that. But you might not be able to in the best areas of the city.

Several of our friends have apartments in Paris in the 7th and 8th Arrondissement that only have 2 bedrooms and they spent that kind of money on. Same in London in Kensington or especially the Mayfair neighborhoods. You can easily spend $2 to $3 million on a 2 bedroom apartment in these cities.

Forget about it in Monte Carlo! Our friend has a small studio apartment overlooking the Casino Gardens and he probably spent that on that apartment.

Compared to many places in Europe real estate is insanely cheap in the USA. Even in San Diego. Heck, even in places in South America you can spend much more than you'd spend here. I was looking at apartments in Sao Paulo, Brazil a few years ago and it was $300,000 for a 1 bedroom in Jardins neighborhood. We have it very good here in San Diego and other cities.

That's why Brazilians and other South Americans are buying up much of Florida and even in Manhattan the buying is heavy. Dirt cheap to them.

I've noticed that more and more Russians are buying here in San Diego as well. When we go to functions here at the Club we hear more and more Russian and even in my daughter's school a few of her classmates have Russian parents where I hear them speaking to their kids in Russian.
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Old 01-30-2013, 12:38 PM
 
4 posts, read 5,584 times
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Thank you all for the helpful replies! I'll be happy to read more opinions. Yes you guessed right: from Switzerland! The real estate is kind of crazy and what you get for the same amount than in the US would be ridiculous!

I saw in many threads that people living in SD would have recommend la Jolla or Del Mar if affordable, what do you think about those areas for our situation?
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Old 01-30-2013, 12:42 PM
 
2,986 posts, read 4,552,477 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mcqkl0811 View Post
Thank you all for the helpful replies! I'll be happy to read more opinions. Yes you guessed right: from Switzerland! The real estate is kind of crazy and what you get for the same amount than in the US would be ridiculous!

I saw in many threads that people living in SD would have recommend la Jolla or Del Mar if affordable, what do you think about those areas for our situation?
Both great areas. I would buy ocean front in Del Mar or Encinitas/Cardiff if it were me but those are my personal preferences.

With that budget you could also look into Coronado island. Someone correct me if I'm wrong

http://www.sandiegorealestatehq.com/...8/details.html

Coronado has to rank as one of the most exclusive places in the country to live
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Old 01-30-2013, 12:55 PM
 
Location: Santaluz - San Diego, CA
4,498 posts, read 9,349,783 times
Reputation: 2015
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcqkl0811 View Post
Thank you all for the helpful replies! I'll be happy to read more opinions. Yes you guessed right: from Switzerland! The real estate is kind of crazy and what you get for the same amount than in the US would be ridiculous!

I saw in many threads that people living in SD would have recommend la Jolla or Del Mar if affordable, what do you think about those areas for our situation?

Yep. I figured it was one of those cities. I just spent 3 weeks in Switzerland this summer and I'm not sure how you guys do it! It's crazy expensive there. Even blah fast food type Chinese restaurants were about $30 dollars per entree. We spent over $100 on 3 entrees and 2 bottled waters. Switzerland is the only place in the world where I wasn't able to find cheap chinese fast food. Paris, London, even Monte Carlo yes but not in Zurich. Many pizza places were $30 for a simple pizza. And the grocery stores are also very expensive there.

San Diego will feel VERY cheap to you mcqk1! Your quality of life will be fantastic here raising kids.

La Jolla and Del Mar are VERY nice. In fact, we were all set to buy something in La Jolla but what pushed us out to where we decided to move was the great public schools where we live. La Jolla is really beautiful and an affluent area. But we couldn't find a house big enough that was in the style that we wanted without doing massive renovations. Plus it would have been more than we wanted to spend comfortably. We needed a 5 bedroom house and that wasn't easy to find in La Jolla in our price range. It will be easier to find in your price range.

Del Mar is really an amazing place. I love it and go to the beach there at least once a week. Even if it's just to walk on the beach. I try to go with my son a few times a week in the morning. I'll read the paper while he plays on the playground. Again, the downside is it's not so easy to find a bigger house there that doesn't need massive renovations. Many of the houses there are older. Also, there isn't so much inventory on the market there.

Ultimately, I'm glad that we bought where we did. For raising kids it's unbeatable. It's so peaceful out here and we just love the community and lifestyle out here. But definitely La Jolla and Del Mar are also great options IF you can find a house there. But I still prefer the weather where we live as it's much sunnier and we avoid the marine layer that those areas will sometimes get.

Yes, you can get a nice house in Coronado for that budget but I'd actually have no desire to live in Coronado. They do have some nice houses and we enjoy going to ride bikes with the kids there but I wouldn't give up where we live for Coronado.

The best thing is to come out and tour all of these areas. You will probably know exactly what you want once you tour some of these areas. Also, if you are seriously considering La Jolla, you should come during the summer so you can see how traffic is. That can be one annoying part of La Jolla with congestion with traffic during the summer.

Last edited by earlyretirement; 01-30-2013 at 01:16 PM..
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Old 01-30-2013, 01:19 PM
 
Location: 92037
4,630 posts, read 10,232,264 times
Reputation: 1955
We have friends moving back to the US from living in Zurich, CH for almost a decade. They are in a very similar position and I have been telling them to come out here, but really they are looking at the east coast for various reasons that important to them.

As far as some of the other posts so far, all of these areas are really prime real estate for San Diego.

But I am in agreement with earlyretirement here as far as living a little further inland to avoid the grey skies and still have a VERY high quality of life. It doesnt take that far of a drive inland to get out of some of the more dense coastal cities and neighborhoods.

For many people coming to San Diego, living by the ocean is probably a top 3 reason to make the move. But for families, I have been to Santaluz and believe its ideal and hits all checkpoints (eg. safety, house size, neighborhood, layout, distance to beach) and more.
Nothing wrong with any of the other areas mentioned, but Santaluz really is one of the more unique communities in the county.
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