family of 4 moving from montreal to san diego (Riverside, Carlsbad: for sale, 2013)

[grudz]

Hi everybody,

I found this site and I think it might be exactly what I am looking for. I currently live in Montreal Canada with my wife and two children (2 y/o and 7 months old). I have owned a bakery my whole life but decided that I would like to change: change climate, change job, change life.

Ideally I would like to purchase a building that has an apartment on top (where I will live) and a cafe/resto at the bottom (where I will operate a business). I am looking for an area that is family oriented and a calm environment, I am not the big city type. My oldest will start elementary school soon so that is very important to me.

I have seen numerous questions asking advice, so here I am asking the same.

Where do you think I should start looking?
Is San Diego financially ok?
IS San Diego a good area to build a family? build a business?

Finally, my mom is an American Citizen, so I think I will ok in that department.

Any information will be truly appreciated.

Thank you

[lrmsd]

Hi;
I don't know how the visas work for you, so I won't mention that part.
The thing with SD is that the 'calm/family places' are not usually the areas where you will find an apt. above retail. Those are usually in the denser, more urban areas. SD is a series of spread out suburbs, rather than lots of urban residential neighborhoods.

What type of bakery is it? There are many different locations where that could do very well here in SD county. A dozen areas or more come to mind when I think bakery, so more details would be good as far as budget, type of space needed, how big, type of bakery, etc.

If you are not the big city type, you can look in the suburbs around the area.
Temecula (this is actually 45 minutes from SD and is in south Riverside county) and La Mesa come to mind, as does Rancho Bernardo. Google these places and check out images, chamber of commerce, past threads on this forum, etc. OH, and wikipedia, too, for demographics, population, etc. Temecula has really good schools and the other areas are good, as well. Carlsbad would be great and the schools are one of the top 3 in SD. They are all good places for families, for the most part.

You may need to revise your plan to live above your work and simply rent out a commercial building. You also may want to rent a home or condo/townhome for awhile to figure out the area and decide where you want to be more permanently.

[daveyboy1225]

Originally Posted by grudz

Hi everybody,

I found this site and I think it might be exactly what I am looking for. I currently live in Montreal Canada with my wife and two children (2 y/o and 7 months old). I have owned a bakery my whole life but decided that I would like to change: change climate, change job, change life.

Ideally I would like to purchase a building that has an apartment on top (where I will live) and a cafe/resto at the bottom (where I will operate a business). I am looking for an area that is family oriented and a calm environment, I am not the big city type. My oldest will start elementary school soon so that is very important to me.

I have seen numerous questions asking advice, so here I am asking the same.

Where do you think I should start looking?
Is San Diego financially ok?
IS San Diego a good area to build a family? build a business?

Finally, my mom is an American Citizen, so I think I will ok in that department.

Any information will be truly appreciated.

Thank you

San Diego County Restaurants For Sale - San Diego California

Check on loopnet

[grudz]

@lrmsd That's great feedback, thank you. I do think you are right when it comes to having a home on top of a business, from what I have been Googling, I would have to live in the suburbs with a retail store more in the city, which is fine with me. Montreal is the total opposite, there is a "downtown" in almost every suburb and to go from one to another is 15 min.

What I have in mind is more of a cafe/lunch/bakery. What I have now here is a bakery/pastry shop where we produce everything, bread, cakes, pastries, danishes, sandwiches, pizzas.....I want more of a smaller storefront with 20-30 seats. So I would need it in a busy section where people will be walking (as opposed to having to drive to my store), also, where office buildings are located (which I assume is downtown san diego). As for budget, say Ill have 150 000 - 200 000$ cash in hand, do you think that I can get a business/living space with that? being canadien, its impossible to know what is needed in san diego

My main concern would be family life, the cities you mentioned were also on top of most lists online. It looks like my family and I will take a drive down and stay for a couple of weeks to see how it feels.

@daveyboy1225 thank you for the link

[grudz]

is it true that I should look at north of I-8 and east of I-15 for any type of home?

[lrmsd]

Originally Posted by grudz

@lrmsd That's great feedback, thank you. I do think you are right when it comes to having a home on top of a business, from what I have been Googling, I would have to live in the suburbs with a retail store more in the city, which is fine with me. Montreal is the total opposite, there is a "downtown" in almost every suburb and to go from one to another is 15 min.

What I have in mind is more of a cafe/lunch/bakery. What I have now here is a bakery/pastry shop where we produce everything, bread, cakes, pastries, danishes, sandwiches, pizzas.....I want more of a smaller storefront with 20-30 seats. So I would need it in a busy section where people will be walking (as opposed to having to drive to my store), also, where office buildings are located (which I assume is downtown san diego)

My main concern would be family life, the cities you mentioned were also on top of most lists online. It looks like my family and I will take a drive down and stay for a couple of weeks to see how it feels.

@daveyboy1225 thank you for the link

Oh, you would not need to drive to the city at all! Each suburb has plazas or strip malls and there are many great bakeries and cafes tucked into these areas, among all the chain stores and restaurants. In fact, many suburbs are just filled with people who would love to have more options. Also, if you had a very specific specialty place, like a Russian bakery or something ethnically focused for the given community, I was going to suggest certain areas. [ie, everyone loves ethnic food, though some businesses cater specifically to a particular demographic or immigrant community, so that is why I mentioned that. And, if you had a hipster/foodie type place that would rely on demographic with disposable income and inclination to spend at that type of place, I would also suggest specific areas.]

But, if it's more general as you mentioned and appeals to many kinds of people, you have plenty of location options. Seriously, I would not focus on walk by traffic per se. SD is a place where everyone drives for the most part. Once you narrow down neigbhorhoods or areas that you like, google the plazas or grocery stores in the area. They will nearly always be located in a larger commercial area with cafes, restaurants, etc. That is how the suburbs work here. There's no real old towns in them b/c they are all newer areas.

Here are a couple of very different examples:
Sorrento Valley/Mira Mesa Blvd.: Office workers from major industries eat lunch along this corridor. Many of these restaurants are not open at night.

Del Mar Highlands Plaza in CArmel Valley: Upscale residential area where workers eat lunch daily, as do the thousands of high school students from Torrey Pines high which is across the street. [top school district in SD, affluent area]. It's also a plaza where people come to from around the city, for the rest of its amenities.

La Jolla/UTC-near UCSD, so many college students but also patrons from all around, as you have two adjacent plazas with everything from whole foods to trader joes, marshall's clothing store, major grocery, chain and non chain restaurants, etc. These plazas are packed nearly day and night. You also have wealthy shoppers from TJ [Tijuana, MX] who come up to the area, as it's also just down the street from the UTC Mall. It's also centrally located off the 5 freeway and walking distance to UCSD.

These are just a few examples. Plazas and strip malls are kind of the de facto downtowns of SD, not drive by areas that you have to look for. People use them for nearly every shopping need.

So, my suggestion is to scope out some areas based on your budget [i've listed a few locations] and then research specific plazas/locations. See what else is located there and how it fits with what you offer as far as price range, atmosphere, etc.

Also, many suburbs are within 10 or 20 minutes drive to one another, but it's very freeway centric, not like older parts of the US or montreal, where you have many towns, rural towns and cities throughout. We have mainly large city after large city, or smaller cities that have been essentially annexed to the larger metro area with the growth of the area. And there are only a few areas that are denser urban areas with walking to shops. But the suburbs have wide sidewalks, walking trails and many residents walk to the library, recreation center, plazas, parks, etc. in the suburbs.

Encinitas and Solana Beach are great towns, as well.
San Marcos has good schools and is typically costs a bit less than the other desirable areas.
SD is a pricey city and I"m not sure what you mean by your budget of 150-200k. Is that to buy a restaurant but not the building? Or to put a downpayment down?
You cannot buy anything outright in SD county for that price.

[grudz]

wow, thats awesome information, just an fyi, i specialize in french/italien bistro stuff. As for budget, am i in the ballpark for a home and business with what I mentioned above? thats why i wanted to purchase one building and have both home and business located in one unit

[lrmsd]

Originally Posted by grudz

@lrmsd That's great feedback, thank you. I do think you are right when it comes to having a home on top of a business, from what I have been Googling, I would have to live in the suburbs with a retail store more in the city, which is fine with me. Montreal is the total opposite, there is a "downtown" in almost every suburb and to go from one to another is 15 min.

What I have in mind is more of a cafe/lunch/bakery. What I have now here is a bakery/pastry shop where we produce everything, bread, cakes, pastries, danishes, sandwiches, pizzas.....I want more of a smaller storefront with 20-30 seats. So I would need it in a busy section where people will be walking (as opposed to having to drive to my store), also, where office buildings are located (which I assume is downtown san diego). As for budget, say Ill have 150 000 - 200 000$ cash in hand, do you think that I can get a business/living space with that? being canadien, its impossible to know what is needed in san diego

My main concern would be family life, the cities you mentioned were also on top of most lists online. It looks like my family and I will take a drive down and stay for a couple of weeks to see how it feels.

@daveyboy1225 thank you for the link

It's not impossible to know if you research it. There are cost of living comparison calculators online. bank rate dot com has one-not sure if it does Canadian cities, but if you know a comparable US city in the NE, to Montreal, just use that one. It will list prices for everything from food to haircuts, housing, etc.
SD/CA is one of the most desirable places to live. Unfortunately, in the last 15 years, the entire county has gotten expensive, so there are no real 'cheaper' options in SD anymore. Only 'more' or 'less' expensive.

Food, however, is very reasonable. Year round, really amazing produce, fruit and veggies, is available at great prices.
I suggested Temecula [also Murrietta] b/c they are lower cost and inland, Riverside County is cheaper than any of the coastal regions. These might be good options for your family, business and budgetary factors.

[Sly123]

You should start a poutine place! Its getting very popular here but nobody make it right... See What to eat now: poutine | UTSanDiego.com

Je suis de la ville de quebec et demenagé a San Diego il y a 7 ans... Et la vraie poutine me manque...mmm une bonne Ashton...

[oddstray]

Originally Posted by grudz

is it true that I should look at north of I-8 and east of I-15 for any type of home?

No. The "north of I-8" is because housing there is newer. I've never heard "east of I-15" for any reason.