Need information about living in San Marcos or Rancho Bernardo or Rancho Penasquitos (San Diego: for sale)

[bosleysalaw]

Hi,

My husband and I are moving to San Diego next month. We have no idea where to live. My husband will attend school in San Marcos, and I'll likely work at a hospital closer to the actual city. Right now its looking like Rady Children's Hospital, which is at 3020 Children's way. Its right in between the 805 and the 163, north of the 8, the Serra Mesa area. Or UCSD medical Center which is in the Mission Valley Area.

I'd need to be to work by either 7 AM or 7 PM and my husband will have classes early morning until the evening.

Would the commute from San Marcos to the hospital each day be a killer?

Where is the best place for us to live? We'd like a nice safe area, that is convenient for both of us.

[AADAD]

If you work at Rady's you may want to be closer to it. San Marcos deals with the 78 freeway which is usually a nightmare and worse now due to construction. There are delays every day. Palomar hospital built a new hospital along the 78 which had added to the problems.

I would suggest Rancho Bernardo (to the east). It's equal distance from both and won't involve you in the commute. If you have 2 vehicles your husbands commute will still be awful unless you live near the college and then your commute will be a nightmare.

The 5 is very busy but better than the 78. I think your best best is the 15 running from Escondido South to the 78 for your spouse and for you on the 15 to the 163 to Rady's.

Rancho Bernardo is "safer" than Escondido which is warmer in the summer but both have attractive areas. Depending on your husbands classes he may be able to find ways to the college which are better. YOUR commute having to be there at 7a or 7p is the deciding factor in my book.

Finally depending upon your area of skills Palomar Hospital has that new medical center. They went through a hiring spree but may need people who have skills. They are doors up from San Marcos....Good Luck!!

[AZ2SD]

My family and I relocated to San Diego from the desert plains of Arizona in the fall of 2011...we currently live in San Marcos and I work in the Rancho Penasquitos area. As AADAD said, 78 is really bad...I mean I hate it - it's busy all the time in both directions during peak hours and now with the freeway construction work it's even worse.

I have options, I can either take 78, then 15, then 56 or avoid the 78 altogether and just take the 5, then 56. The 5 freeway is just as bad as the 78, so my daily commute is to take the 15....in "regular" rush hour my commute is under 40 mins. On average 35mins...on a REALLY bad driving day it's over an hour - yikes. Am sure a lot of people here in San Diego do more than an hour commute easily on a daily basis.

I live near Palomar College, not sure if that's where the OP's hubby will be attending classes or CSUSM?

The commute to Rady Children's from San Marcos will take you through 15 and 163 (though you have other options to use the 5 or 805). If you can get a job at Palomar Hospital, you'll be "home free" from all the commute nightmare.

There are some really nice areas in San Marcos...you did not mention how much your rent/mortgage budget is so I will give some generalizations.

The best spot in San Marcos (IMO) is the San Elijo Hills area - SFH here are in mid 500s to the high 600s. You can also get a new condo under 400K (base)...San Elijo borders Escondido and Carlsbad. San Elijo Hills have a very beautiful village downtown with shops and restaurants and a great public school (one of the best in the area).

Twin Oaks - this is another beautiful area with a mixture of modern and old SFHs in the high 400s to the high 600s (at least the ones I've seen for sale.

Escondido can get VERY hot in the summer...even where we live in San Marcos, it gets hot but not as bad as Escondido.

Additionally, crime is rampant in Escondido compared to San Marcos, you may want to check out the bordering neighborhood of Rancho Bernando (this is actually a neighborhood of San Diego).

We settled in San Marcos because we couldn't afford to buy a house in San Diego in the areas we'd love to live in...our goal is to build some equity (if any) in our house, save a little bit more until we're able to consider a move to buy closer to my work as well as being in the Poway school district for my kids. We particularly like the Carmel Valley, 4S Ranch, Scripps Poway areas...for now we'll continue dreaming (lol)

We're still getting familiarized with San Diego and San Marcos, but I felt I should reply to your post after lurking for a while and reading all the interesting and exciting threads and also as I live in San Marcos I can contribute.

Good Luck!

[sdhkshdcny09]

At those times of the day, traffic is not going to be a major concern. A 7pm start would get the back end of rush hour, while commuting before 7 will avoid most morning traffic.

San Marcos is pretty far away from the hospital, so I think it would be better to live in a community that is between work and school. Rancho Penasquitos is a good option because it is nice, but also more affordable than surrounding communities.

[whiteboyslo]

The pro/con to RB or PQ is that they fall in Poway Unified School District (PUSD). If you have (or plan to have) kids, it's a GREAT thing because it's a GREAT school district. However, if you don't, you'll pay a premium on your mortgage or rent because housing in these areas is generally more expensive than some of the surrounding areas like Escondido.

Mike