Why is Rancho Penasquitos a bad choice? (San Diego, El Cajon: best neighborhoods, real estate)

[denverres]

Hi,
I am looking for help here. We are moving from Denver to San Diego this month and are looking to buy a home. I have two kids (2 and 5) and a good school district is important to us. Even though my husband works downtown we decided on Poway/Rancho Penasquitos because of the Poway school district. I read some posts here that said Penansquitos was a bad place to move but no reasons were given. Can anyone shed some light? Also is it much hotter here? Ideally we would love to live by the coast but cannot afford to as we need a good school district and do not want to spend more than 700k on a home. How bad will our commute be to downtown?
Appreciate any feedback. It is difficult to decide sitting so far away. Any other area recommendations?

Thanks.

[jasanderin]

I don't think Rancho Penasquitos is a bad place to live at all. In fact, I think it is still one of the better places to live that can be affordable.

Poway school district is one of the best here. San Diego City schools just sucks horribly. All the more reason to go with Poway.

On the weather, it get's hot just about everywhere, except on the coast. Since R. Penasquitos is that too far inland, like El Cajon, it will stay cooler than places that are more inland.

Hope that helps..

[mocmylov]

I grew up in PQ (that's its unofficial nickname) and I loved it. It is a very good place to bring your family, and now that Westview High School is open, there are 2 high schools available to residents, and Cathedral Catholic High School is just 10 minutes away in Carmel Valley if you ever decide on private school for your children

I don't know what people are thinking when they say PQ is not a good place to live... It has its up neighborhoods and down neighborhoods, but the worst PQ neighborhoods are still probably much better than the best neighborhoods in say, National City.

[KevinHall]

I'm not sure what others have said about Penasquitos but is shows up in San Diego Magazine's lead article about schools in San Diego.

http://www.sandiegomag.com/issues/july06/featurea0706.asp (broken link)

Penasquitos can be pretty hot (along with Rancho Bernardo and Poway).

Since I live in Carlsbad, I think its a great option also. And since my wife is a school teacher in Carlsbad I am biased but from others they assure me they are very good. The commute from Carlsbad to Downtown San Diego will run you about 45 to 75 minutes a day each way, but there is a pretty good Coaster run if your job/schedule will permit it.

To check out housing prices in Carlsbad go to:
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[Cbundy]

Hi - My family has lived in Poway since 1970 and it is a great place to live. I would suggest that you rent something before buying so you can get a good feel of both areas. Prices are high anywhere in CA but for $700,000 you shouldn't have any problems. In fact there are some great older homes in Poway, nice neighborhoods that are in the $500,000/$600,000 range still. Real estate has slowed a little so you shouldn't have any problems. Poway schools always have a very good rating. Just north of Poway is a newer area called Sabre Springs that is nice too. Poway, Sabre Springs and Rancho Bernardo are all on the east side of Hwy 15. PQ is on the west side. Locally I think it is standard belief that Poway is a nicer place to live than PQ, but only you will be able to make that determination once you get here. Good luck and best wishes on your move.

[henrycf]

Penasquitos is a good place to live when compared to many other San Diego areas. Occasionally there is some gang activity which gives it a mixed reputation. You might want to consider an adjacent area called Carmel Mountain Ranch (CMR) which lies east of I-15 between Penasquitos and Poway. CMR is a master planned community of several thousand homes built around a golf course with lots of green areas. It has strict CCRs for homes and the common areas are maintained by the homeowners association. Also just for information, Penasquitos, Sabre Springs and CMR are neighborhoods of the city of San Diego. Poway is actually a separate city with its own government. The drive to downtown is about 25 minutes in light traffic. The drive to the coast (Del Mar) is about 20 minutes on the recently completed SR 56 highway. It's generally about 10 degrees warmer than the coast but I prefer the climate because it doesn't have the typical coastal fog (marine layer).

[bigdaddy5]

NW Penasquitos or Torrey Hills is a nice place. It still has that new house smell and the playground paint hasn't cured yet.

[BNB]

I would reccommend Poway over PQ...I think it depends on where in PQ that you live (for your kids to attend the new school Westview...the area that feeds to that high school is a pricier home cost). The other high school is Mt. Carmel, and while not a bad school by any means, has suffered in its reputation due to dimished enrollment and lower scores.

On the other hand, Poway has only one high school and all of Poway feeds into it....so you can find an affordable home and have your children attend one of the best schools in Poway school district. I have lived in Poway for 19 years and all four of my kids were schooled in the district.

PQ is technically the city of san diego and is policed and governed by the city (have you read about all the problems that the city of san diego has? The police force is quitting in record numbers) However, Poway is its own incorporated city and is policed by the Sheriff's Dept....lower crime too.

I cannot say enough good things about Poway and given the choice, I would choose Poway over PQ.

[HeyPam]

Originally Posted by BNB

for your kids to attend the new school Westview...the area that feeds to that high school is a pricier home cost

...snip...

PQ is technically the city of san diego and is policed and governed by the city (have you read about all the problems that the city of san diego has? The police force is quitting in record numbers) However, Poway is its own incorporated city and is policed by the Sheriff's Dept....lower crime too.

Careful, though, those pricier homes don't all feed into Westview. Surprisingly enough, all those new homes in Del Sur and Santa Luz feed into Mt Carmel. That may change when the new high school is built in 4S Ranch, but for now that would be a deterrent enough from buying up there.

I have a friend who lives in PQ and gets crime update emails from SDPD when incidents happen. She gets lots of alerts and says that there is quite a bit of crime in PQ.

[socketz]

Penasquitos is fine.

I think what it has is a 'stigma' because it has always been the more blue collar area of North County inland, the affordable homes there are also older. There are a few areas that are marginal, but I would walk through anywhere in Penasquitos/Mira Mesa at 11pm on a Saturday and not worry a bit. Niether are that bad, but there is better in North County inland (RB, Carmel Mtn and the upper end parts of Poway).

Years ago, Penasquitos was the area that people from Mira Mesa went to once they were done with Mira Mesa. it was the burbs.

Here's the pros of Penasquitos:
-Black Mountain park. We have our kids B-Day parties there and it is spectacular. Seriously, it's like your on top of the world. The older homes around the park are nice as well.
-The 56/Ted Williams that just went through a few years ago connected Penasquitos to the Ocean/Del Mar. Your very close to the ocean in PQ.
-There are really nice new areas over there (Torrey Glen and Highlands) in the newer part that share the same Zip (92129) as the older Penasquitos - check those areas out and tell me what you think....the exit off the 56 you want to focus on is called 'Camino Del Sur'
-Penasquitos sits in an ideal spot, next to the Santa Luz - which is 1mill+ homes galore.
-Christmas card lane. That is one cool area come the holidays. Like 3 square miles of sophisticated Xmas decorations.