Great neighborhoods in West Mira Mesa (specific neighborhoods/streets)? (San Diego: for sale, real estate)

[nprcomments]

Hi, we are a family of 4 with 2 young kids (not yet preschool age) looking for a family-friendly neighborhood in West Mira Mesa. We're from out of town and last time we visited SD, we went to a few open houses and had a realtor take us around different parts of MM, PQ, RB, and Poway. We liked RB & Poway but out of those, we are thinking that West Mira Mesa (Sorrento Valley area) is our best bet as it's close to the 805, cooler in temp than inland, and has good schools. Can anyone confirm this? We're open and would appreciate tips on specific streets/neighborhoods that any of you have experience with.

Some of our desires:
* Single-family home btw $500-$600K. Is this realistic for Sorrento? Many online are condos/townhomes and we'd prefer a yard if possible.
* Close (prefer walking distance) to regional park or any beautiful outdoor area. My kids LOVE playing outdoors and where we live is triple digit heat all summer so we're cooped up inside. Any experience with Torrey Pines State Park? Kid-friendly?
* Excellent schools.
* Down-to-earth neighbors. Stable neighborhood, not a transient one. Diverse is a plus.
* Prefer newer house but it can be older if highly upgraded, just needs to be move-in ready. With the kids we don't have capacity to upgrade ourselves.

Any thoughts are appreciated, thanks in advance!

[Think4Yourself]

Whispering Heights Lane, San Diego CA For Sale - Trulia

That foreclosure looks interesting though my guess is the price will get bid up. Still the starting price is in your price range. Over all, you're going to find most of the SFHs in the western half of Mira Mesa (or Sorrento Mesa as some people sometimes misname it) are going to be in the $700k to $900k range but occasionally you'll find a bargain. It's a shame you weren't buying in 2010 because there were foreclosures in the $400k range.

A few more listed for sale in that area (most out of your price range): Sorrento Valley Real Estate & Sorrento Valley Homes For Sale — Trulia.com

[shmoov_groovzsd]

From afar, this tool might be helpful especially if you are somewhat unfamiliar with areas and have an iPhone. Its lets you search by lifestyle and things that matter to you vs a cornucopia of data porn from Zillow which doesnt give you alot to chew on outside of that.

Its a neat tool and I have shared it a few times here on the boards, because its really that good. Combine that with some of the info here on city data and you should have a pretty good idea.


https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fypio/id889106052?mt=8
Fypio Aims at Online Real Estate Industry with Buyer-Centric Focus | Xconomy

[Think4Yourself]

Here's one on the west side of Flanders for just under $600k, it's a 5/3: 8613 Flanders Dr, San Diego, CA 92126 is For Sale - Zillow

This one is in the same area near western Flanders Dr: 7509 Dancy Road, San Diego CA For Sale - Trulia

I'd also look in the area developed by Fieldstone homes at the end of New Salem St (those were built in 1982-1984) as they are known to have really good construction and are in a nice location at the edge of Lopez Canyon so they get ocean breezes blowing right up the valley from Torrey Pines. Another area you'll want to look at is where I live off of Calle Christobal as it is right on the edge of PQ canyon (a big nature preserve) and is on the western side of MM which is only a few miles from the beach and close to the I805. The only draw back is it's suburbia and you have to drive every where.

[Think4Yourself]

7750 Norcanyon Way, San Diego, CA 92126 - Foreclosure - Zillow

That one is 6k over your price range but it is a 4/3 with ~2300 sq ft on (for this area) a decent sized lot, in a good school district, and best of all it has the nature preserve right in your backyard. It was built in 1990. There are others like this if you hunt for them online; look for foreclosures as you'll get a better deal though you'll probably have to spend a bit upgrading things like the carpet and paint, etc... Still, once you buy the place you can do stuff like that when ever you get enough money to do so.

[nprcomments]

Thanks! Think- thanks for sharing info and links esp about the nature preserves. Unfortunately foreclosures are out, too risky from afar and we want move-in ready, prefer highly upgraded. Looks unlikely for our price range, so condo or town home might be our best bet. Do you have any insight into particular communities?
Shmoov- cool app, just downloaded it!

[Think4Yourself]

Check out Mira Mesa Village town homes. They are in east Mira Mesa but still pretty reasonably priced, nicely kept up by the HOA, and they have things like an attached two car carport, a rec center, swimming pool, hot tub, and open space.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...12-47219?row=9

The car port does share a wall with the neighbor's carport but the houses themselves don't share any walls. Honestly, I'd rent when you first get here so you can look around and get a feel for which areas you like and then buy when you actually have the time to do the necessary 1st hand work to tell get a good deal.

[Dr. Clean]

i live in the neighborhood. sorrento valley/mira mesa is surrounded by top schools in the area and, no coincidence, pricey neighborhoods (la jolla, del mar, carmel valley, carmel mountain ranch, scripps ranch), but many believe SR/MM schools are not "as good". the two neighborhoods share the same schools i believe (i don't have kids so just know from what i read).

there is a distinct nieghorhood character difference between sorrento valley and mira mesa with sorrento valley being more newer/"well kept" i guess you could say with a business/biotech/medical(sharp urgent care, new VA clinic) flavor and closer to the 5/805 "Y", where traffic becomes super congested during rush hour, so you take the exist before it gets congested.

they built a few hundred homes and condos at the top of the hill alongside the canyon preserve (sorrento valley blvd-calle cristobal and camino santa fe) that sold like pancakes with many ppl on wait lists at the sales office. so it's hot; last redfin btw rated mira mesa a neighborhood market to watch. i think there is another small new home development along sorrento valley blvd near shaw lopez (i think). anyway, like i said, it has many of the location qualities of surrounding well-todo neighborhoods with a lot of potential to maintain and increase home values. the other day i discovered my home went up in value at least 15% using comps, and i purchased it 18months ago, but i got in at the bottom of the market and when interest rates were lowest good luck

[Think4Yourself]

BTW for folks thinking about moving to western Mira Mesa with young kids the city has finally decided to build a brand new elementary school for Western Mira Mesa/Sorrento Mesa at Flanders Dr and Parkdale. It's about halfway done right now and it is called Jonas Salk Elementary (named after the local researcher who invented the cure for Polio).

http://www.****.com/story/25626130/s...mentary-school

I guess the school was originally supposed to be built in the late 1980's to early 1990's (when most of the rest of the neighborhood was built) but the city had trouble coming up with the money plus there was a court case as the site contained vernal pools (temperary shallow ponds which are created in the rainy season due to the local geology) which are habitat for the endangered San Diego Fairy Shrimp and some species of frog.

http://ecos.fws.gov/speciesProfile/p...on?spcode=K049

[moved]

There were talks of building it when I worked for San Diego Unified School District / Welcome, and I worked there from 2005 - 2009.