Help Picking an Area??? (San Diego, Escondido: for sale, rent, low crime)

[Evoking]

I posted another thread specifically about Escondido but as I think about it we really need some general perspective of how locals view most of the areas...

Here is our profile:
I'm 39, wife is 30
First child on the way
$700k-$1m income in these last great few years. But could be in $500k in not so good
Bi-racial couple - I'm black and wife is white (not that this really matters but you never know :-)

Price Range:
Can spend $2m but prefer $1m-$1.5m

Home Preferences:
Coming from Dallas, TX so used to good size home and yard
Prefer 4000-5400 sqft
.5 - 2 acre
3 car minimum and pool
Older charming house or bespoke newer house

I think the above is important because the SUPER high rent districts won't fit. So we are looking for nicer areas with low crime, good views, schools, shopping etc.

Lets hear your personal opinions on how you would stack them!

[RosieSD]

Do you work at home, or will you be commuting to a job? If so, where in the county will you be working?

How close do you want to be to nightlife, entertainment, restaurants, shopping?

Would you be willing to compromise on lot size?

You're going to have a hard time finding a "charming older home" with a three car garage.

[Evoking]

Work at home, can be as far as 30 min from nightlife. Restaurants and shopping within 15-20 min preferably.

[RosieSD]

I know we have a lot of fans of North County San Diego here so you'll probably get other great suggestions up in that part of the county.

Just to be a little different, though, I'll give you a couple of suggestions in a different part of the county to give you more to investigate.

- The Mount Helix area of La Mesa is filled with charming older homes on larger lots. Great schools, and 15-20 minutes to downtown San Diego. It is inland, but you can get to beaches easily. Downtown La Mesa itself is a cute older town.

- The Rancho San Diego area in East County has your typical "small lot" suburban communities, but it also has some areas with extremely nice newer and older (30 years or less) homes on big lots. Good schools, close to shopping. Again, depending on where in Rancho SD you're living, you can be downtown in 20 minutes.

- A little farther out, Jamul (where I live) has big homes on large lots (the minimum lot size here is two acres). There are some parts of Jamul that are very rural, but others are closer in. I can be in downtown San Diego in 30 minutes and I live in a 4000 square foot custom built home on four acres. Schools are excellent. Shopping is within your distance range but we don't have a downtown here (it's an unincorporated area). And, again, as you get farther out in Jamul, it gets more rural and isolated.

- Alpine is another area similar to Jamul, with large homes on large lots. It's a little farther out than Jamul though, but a nice little town. It's off of the I-8 if you're looking on a map.

Again, I'm sure you'll also get lots of wonderful suggestions for the North County area (Poway would be my suggestion for a starting place to look in North County - there are definitely pockets of Poway that would fit what you're looking for, and it's a great, family-centered area with terrific schools). If you want a newer home in a gated community, North County inland would be the place to look for sure. Just thought I'd give you a few alternative ideas.

[Evoking]

Thank you for the feedback RosieSD! We will definitely look into those areas as well. But the area synonymous with what we described are Poway? Which is ironic because it sounds like poor way as in the way of the poor LOL.

[bigdaddy5]

Check out hotpads.com for starters. Enter your criteria/requirements and do a search for homes for sale. After you make your choices, come back and ask for our opinions on the neighborhoods you've chosen.

[pacific2]

Unless you have definitely ruled-out Orange County, how about looking at Nellie Gail Ranch in Laguna Hills?

Here's a 5bd/4.25bth/4,592 sq ft/3 car garage home priced at $1,495,000:
https://www.redfin.com/CA/Laguna-Hil...3/home/4862376

Just a thought.

[oddstray]

Originally Posted by Evoking

Thank you for the feedback RosieSD! We will definitely look into those areas as well. But the area synonymous with what we described are Poway? Which is ironic because it sounds like poor way as in the way of the poor LOL.

Poway is large. It has weatthy areas and not so wealthy areas. It has the reputation of being an 'expensive' place to live, which is not altogether true. It's biggest advantage seems to be consistently good schools.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Poway is an excellent choice. You won't really find any areas that are shady like some Cities in the area but just be aware of

Where Borrowing $105 Million Will Cost $1 Billion: Poway Schools - Voice of San Diego

[hkbruin]

Hey there, sent you a message. The real question is how close to culture do you want to be. If you want to be in a city-like environment (not the city that San Diego things, but city as in LA, Chicago, SF, NY)?

Do you like shopping as in big box stores? Or mom and pop and independent shops like Seattle and SF? People in SD are very unaccustomed to the later -- North Park, Hillcrest would be your ONLY bet with that in mind.

I would stay away from East county. Less appreciation of property when compared to northern and central towns. If you want a yard, then consider anything in and around the 56. It's a great compromise for all of the stuff you seek.