Narrowing down areas: PB, OB, Point Loma (Lamont: apartment complexes, rental homes)

[NeedsABeach]

Hey everyone,

We're moving to SD at the end of July and have been scoping rental sites and Craigslist daily trying to find actual rentals we're interested in (though I realize they may be gone by the end of the month). Some areas I'm finding good stuff in:
- PB off Grand, near Lamont Street.
- OB off Montalvo Street.
- PB off Beryl.

Can anyone speak to these areas in particular? A friend who lived in SD mentioned if you live in PB you want to stay north of Garnett? What about OB? Any shady areas to avoid? I've also seen some stuff in Point Loma, but I don't know that this area is as walkable/beachy. Can anyone advise?

I also realize that there are rentals that aren't listed as property owners will just put up a sign... and from what I understand this is most common in the beach areas? Can anyone in these areas give me some insight on whether or not you're seeing many rentals available right now?

Our budget is $3k/month for rent and we'd like to get a house as opposed to a condo/apartment if at all possible. We're pretty set on living in one of the beach communities, but we might consider a community like Hillcrest or University Heights if we found the right place.

Thanks very much for any help you can provide! Can't wait to get there.

[Matt518]

The only shady area that I can think of would be the apartment complexes just south of the OB Pier. While they're not too bad, they're relatively inexpensive in comparison, and may attract a crowd you'd rather not have around at all hours of the day (or night). Some of this may carry over into the neighboring housing communities as well. Other than that, if you don't mind the college party lifestyle going on around you, anywhere in PB should work, and OB should be fine also.

[Thomas8093]

Regarding the PB locations, Grand/Lamont will be MUCH louder than anything off Beryl….I used to live near Grand/Lamont (on Thomas) and now I live near Beryl.

Grand, along with Garnet, are the major streets leading through PB to the beach, so they get very congested. Also the fire station is located at the end of Grand, so the fire trucks will be blaring down the road at any time of the day or night.

Grand/Lamont is a much more transient area—mostly apartment complexes, condos and a few rental homes (some kinda dumpy just because there probably has been a revolving door of tenants in and out of the place.) Also, the intersection of Grand/Lamont doesn’t’ scream “beachy” at first glance—there is a 7-Eleven and Laundromat on one corner, a smog testing place on another, an AM-PM on another and a Liquor store on the other.

That being said, I didn’t mind living there at all—I had a nice place, the beach is close, the bay is closer and there are some very nice homes around there, especially if you go a few streets south of Grand like on Thomas, Reed, Oliver, etc., but if you are put off by your neighbors playing beer pong in the front yard on any given Saturday (and definitely on Labor Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, etc), you may want to focus a bit North.

Beryl is North of Grand (and Garnet) and is largely a residential area with single family homes and a few condos scattered around. Very nice and very quiet in comparison. What is the cross street off Beryl that you are looking at?

And yes, there are a lot of rental signs posted but I’d say that a lot of them should also be on craigslist.

[NeedsABeach]

Thanks so much for the very insightful replies! This is the kind of info only locals can provide, and I really appreciate the help.

The cross street on Beryl would be Cass for one of the places I found. Another place I like is at Gresham and Missouri? Generally speaking I liked PB, though I would like a more residential and safe/quiet area than the main thoroughfares and beach areas seem to be. We stayed in La Jolla by the cove and it was amazing, but the area is very expensive and not really my crowd. We'd like to be closer to the city as well.

Bird Rock and the area south of La Jolla was beautiful, but I honestly don't see much coming up for rent there. I'm also curious about Point Loma/Loma Heights as I see stuff coming up there but we've never visited so I don't really know what it's like, what the vibe is, which areas are safe/walkable/fun, etc.

Thanks again!

[Thomas8093]

You can't go wrong with either Beryl/Cass or Missouri/Gresham.

Cass is lined with restaurants, coffee shops, a few local bars and other businesses so it is a stone’s throw from breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks, the beach and pretty much anything else PB has to offer.

Missouri/Gresham is more residential (by that I mean single family homes and not aligned to a business district) but still close enough to be walkable to everything.

FYI, the streets going east from the ocean are in alphabetical order so you can tell how far away from the beach you will be--Bayard, Cass, Dawes, Everts, Fanuel, Gresham, Haines, Ingraham, Jewel, Kendall, Lamont, Morrell, Noyes, Olney.

Unfortunately, I'm not very famialiar with Point Loma...possibly someone else can chime in on that.

[krambis]

Originally Posted by Thomas8093

You can't go wrong with either Beryl/Cass or Missouri/Gresham.

Cass is lined with restaurants, coffee shops, a few local bars and other businesses so it is a stone’s throw from breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks, the beach and pretty much anything else PB has to offer.

Missouri/Gresham is more residential (by that I mean single family homes and not aligned to a business district) but still close enough to be walkable to everything.

FYI, the streets going east from the ocean are in alphabetical order so you can tell how far away from the beach you will be--Bayard, Cass, Dawes, Everts, Fanuel, Gresham, Haines, Ingraham, Jewel, Kendall, Lamont, Morrell, Noyes, Olney.

Unfortunately, I'm not very famialiar with Point Loma...possibly someone else can chime in on that.

This is very sound advice for the OP. PB and OB is almost like looking in a mirror - the farther up north in PB and the farther south down in OB, the better (in terms of noise, etc - I wouldn't worry about crime in either place).

Renting a home will be pricey enough in the beach areas, but absolutely worth doing. Point Loma is a beautiful community, but more of a bike ride or very short drive to the ocean instead of within walking distance if that is a factor for you. If I "won the lottery", a nice enough house up the hill in Point Loma would be tough to beat!

[NeedsABeach]

Good metaphor, and very helpful - I heard you wanted to stay North in PB as much as possible but didn't know that you wanted to avoid the northern part of PB. We're looking more and more into Point Loma, which doesn't seem to be as walkable but has better deals and more variety. In general though, I'm a bit surprised at how low the rental stock for homes and townhouses is around the beach areas. I guess I shouldn't be, as I'm sure plenty of people want to live there!

I'm hoping once we get in at the end of July that we'll be able to find some places that aren't listed on Craigslist and the like.

[ucctgg]

Originally Posted by Thomas8093

You can't go wrong with either Beryl/Cass or Missouri/Gresham.

Cass is lined with restaurants, coffee shops, a few local bars and other businesses so it is a stone’s throw from breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks, the beach and pretty much anything else PB has to offer.

Missouri/Gresham is more residential (by that I mean single family homes and not aligned to a business district) but still close enough to be walkable to everything.

FYI, the streets going east from the ocean are in alphabetical order so you can tell how far away from the beach you will be--Bayard, Cass, Dawes, Everts, Fanuel, Gresham, Haines, Ingraham, Jewel, Kendall, Lamont, Morrell, Noyes, Olney.

Don't forget Alison, which was renamed to Mission Blvd in 1929.

[shemp]

Be careful about what is being advertised as Point Loma. Oftentimes, those properties are better categorized as Loma Portal or Sports Arena area. Those areas are much less desirable. But the real Point Loma is hard to beat.