Moving to San Diego, Need Advice! (El Cajon, La Mesa: apartment, townhouse, camp)

[Bluefox]

Originally Posted by hitman619

That's area is definitely not suburban Area. I would stink with your first Choice La Mesa.
How does your Husband feel about driving a motorcycle?
My Step Brother Did this commute from La Mesa to Oceanside for 3 months. He averaged about 30 mins each day. He had to be on base by 6:30am so he would leave my house at 5:30am.
I'm more worried about you!. The 94 freeway to Tecate is not safest road during those Hours you mentioned. The 905 is to far out of the way imo.

Kearney Mesa is pretty suburban. It may not be Poway but it's suburban. Tierrasanta is pretty suburban too. La Mesa isn't a bad option but being that far east is really going to tick up the husband's commute. I really feel that KM area is the only area that won't result in a godawful commute for one of them. And the road to Tecate is going to be rough no matter if she lives in Encinitas or Spring Valley but I think the reverse commute is going to be better for her still going east than for her husband going north.

[Fran66]

Originally Posted by moved

The OP stated that she's not interested, and loves her job. From post #10: I'm halfway to retirement and love my job, making great money so I won't be quitting. We're already used to an hour commute living in the DC metro area.

Gee, sorry I missed that. Thanks for pointing it out -- in bold yet. I just don't always have time to read and memorize every single word of every post.

OP might be very interested after a few months fighting SD traffic. I don't care how young and energetic she is. (See -- I read that post. )

[moved]

I agree, I don't like fighting traffic myself. She'll get tired of it, especially with the road going to Tecate.

[hitman619]

Originally Posted by Bluefox

Kearney Mesa is pretty suburban. It may not be Poway but it's suburban. Tierrasanta is pretty suburban too. La Mesa isn't a bad option but being that far east is really going to tick up the husband's commute. I really feel that KM area is the only area that won't result in a godawful commute for one of them. And the road to Tecate is going to be rough no matter if she lives in Encinitas or Spring Valley but I think the reverse commute is going to be better for her still going east than for her husband going north.

Whats Parts of Kermy Mesa are suburban?
When i think of Kearny Mesa I think of Convoy St, Balboa ave Mixed with a lot of Apartment complexes and Shady Car Dealerships.

[Bluefox]

Originally Posted by hitman619

Whats Parts of Kermy Mesa are suburban?
When i think of Kearny Mesa I think of Convoy St, Balboa ave Mixed with a lot of Apartment complexes and Shady Car Dealerships.

To me that's suburban... Strip malls, car dealerships, not much walkability.. I'm not sure you could really call anywhere north of the 8 "urban". There are a lot of apartment complexes though, I agree about that.

[hitman619]

Originally Posted by Bluefox

To me that's suburban... Strip malls, car dealerships, not much walkability.. I'm not sure you could really call anywhere north of the 8 "urban". There are a lot of apartment complexes though, I agree about that.

True

[Pedro2000]

Originally Posted by Bluefox

To me that's suburban... Strip malls, car dealerships, not much walkability.. I'm not sure you could really call anywhere north of the 8 "urban". There are a lot of apartment complexes though, I agree about that.

I agree. It's semantics. People can call it whatever they want, but strip malls, car dealerships, a bunch of fast food places, and a few small office buildings is suburbia. And apartment buildings are just as much a part of suburbia as anywhere else because things cost so much money and people need to live somewhere. If you are used to living in a "city" and wind up in a place like this, it will be a far different experience.

[brewcity2012]

During rush hour, a commute from Mission Valley to Oceanside will be more like an hour+. So that's probably a midway point for you. Its not going to be pleasant for either of you. Good luck though!

[LEN82]

So I'm still pretty torn. I've been monitoring commute times on Google maps the past few days. I found some nice apartments in Kearny Mesa and Mission Valley. Commute times seem to hover around 55 mins to Pendleton and 1 hour to Tecate (during prime rush hours). Now, the commute from La Mesa (where I would prefer because it's more suburban, cheaper and roomier), appears to hover around 1 hour to Pendleton and 45 mins to Tecate. Sooooo, I'm still stuck between North and East SD. I HATE apartment living and that appears to be pretty much all there is to choose from in the more "urban" areas. I like the idea of having a house and more land out in the La Mesa area. We only have to do this for 2 years until he is out of the military too.

[Pedro2000]

Originally Posted by LEN82

So I'm still pretty torn. I've been monitoring commute times on Google maps the past few days. I found some nice apartments in Kearny Mesa and Mission Valley. Commute times seem to hover around 55 mins to Pendleton and 1 hour to Tecate (during prime rush hours). Now, the commute from La Mesa (where I would prefer because it's more suburban, cheaper and roomier), appears to hover around 1 hour to Pendleton and 45 mins to Tecate. Sooooo, I'm still stuck between North and East SD. I HATE apartment living and that appears to be pretty much all there is to choose from in the more "urban" areas. I like the idea of having a house and more land out in the La Mesa area. We only have to do this for 2 years until he is out of the military too.

Unless you are very wealthy, SD is pretty much "apartment or condo" living. The reality is for most of California this is the case or you live in run down houses someplace. California is a very very expensive place to live if you want that "california lifestyle." And expensive as in 99 percent of people don't really live that "california lifestyle." It's just that living in El Cajon in a small place and working/commuting from 7am till 7pm or later 5+ days a week and pretending it's what you wanted when you moved from someplace else is not exactly something people want to admit. But that is pretty much the truth up and down California, not just SD. And San Fran is even worse as there are plenty of 5+ people living in a small place.