Trying to make a decision about moving to S.D. (San Diego: real estate, to rent)

[formiga]

Currently living in North Glendale, Ca, a nice suburb of L.A. with my wife and 5 yr. old. daughter....put in for a transfer to San Diego....I have mixed feelings and am trying to make the final decision. I am going to take a 10%pay cut by moving down there, and am the sole wage earner in my family. This is a tough one to get my mind around. I earn a salary in the high 5 figures. I will be working in an area near the border, Otay Mesa area. I do not own a home. My concerns are:

1. Crime- Where I currently live the crime rate is low and the police are top notch...car theft is really low. I know S.D. has lots of problems with car theft, etc. Especially near the border. The areas that are decent are seem to be few. Some areas I have passed through recently were scary.

2. Schools- My daughter's current school is great. Not sure about some of the S.D. area schools...??

3. Cost of Living- Okay, compared to L.A. the cost of houses in S.D. is a bit better than L.A. But, still, is it out of reach? The areas to rent seem far and few between that are decent, keeping the crime factor in mind. And expensive.

These are my main concerns....my commute will double in distance from what I am driving now, if I live in S.D. proper. My future boss-to-be honestly told me the car theft problem where I will be working is bad. The job and the people I will be working with are really great, and the S.D. area is great, I lived there in '84....I know a lot has changed...whattya think? Appreciate the feedback!

[socketz]

1. Crime here is really not that bad compared to other large cities in the US. Unfortunately, alot of what is here is down south near the border (Eastlake seems nice though, it is newer). I live in North County Inland and rarely here of anything other than an ocassional 'smash-and-grab'.

You can subscribe to Police watch online here:

http://apps.sandiego.gov/ewatch/index.jsp

Just put in the address where your looking and it will email you daily with a summary of the police activity.

However.....if you actually work down there you could live more North and have a great commute because you'd be going against the traffic in both directions.

As for the salaries being lower, that's just a way of life in San Diego. I honestly think that the salaries have been about the same here for over 20 years (while places like OC and LA have grown). Some call it the 'Sunshine Tax', but I think it is a little nuts that our cost of living is in the top 3-4 and salaries around #35 as compared to major cities.

2. San Diego has some great schools, but they are very randomly placed once you get outside the well known school districts like Poway Unified/San Dieguito/Encinitas Union/Del Mar Union/Rancho Santa Fe, etc.

3. Prices have come down here since last Summer. I expect they will continue to fall into next year, then stagnate for a couple of years->then move back up again. Nonetheless, if you buy, long term you can't lose because the market ALWAYS rebounds here. Just buy in an area where you wouldn't mind being stuck for 4-6 years. I honestly think we are pretty close to LA with regards to cost of living. Much nicer place to live here though and raise a family(I've lived in both).

[formiga]

Thanks for the reply Socketz...have enjoyed reading your posts here on this forum........that's interesting about the lower pay for the area overall, what you call the "sunshine tax". It's tough when the cost of living can be as high as L.A. yet the salaries tend to be 10-15% lower than L.A. Still meditating on all of this and gathering more info. to make a final decision.

[anonymus]

Don't do it. Stay where you are with higher salary, daughter's good school, low crime rate, and shorter commute. It sounds like you have and can continue to have a very nice life there. Why add these issues to it if you don't have to? Everything is becoming more expensive by the minute and will continue to. San Diego is no longer America's Finest City, and its government is the cause of the deterioration.

[socketz]

"Why add these issues to it if you don't have to?"

Because it is our nature as human beings to aspire to bigger and better things both personally and professionally.

And the prices of homes in San Diego are coming down....some predict 20-25 percent before it's over.

[formiga]

Anonymus, I do appreciate what you have to say, and that is one half of where I am at in terms of struggling with the decision to move....but I can also relate to where socketz is coming from...thanks for the input. This forum is great to gather more opinions.....for the past several years my only impression of S.D. has been visiting my parents who live in Scripps Ranch....a bit of a distorted view, eh?

[NYSD1995]

My concern would be that if you don't like SD, you wouldn't be able to get back into your old neighborhood. I think these nice close-in early-suburban LA neighborhoods are probably the most valuable real estate in SoCal.

With the house prices you are probably looking at a little bit of a wash between a nice Valley 'hood and someplace like Rancho Bernardo or Scripps Ranch. But the SD house would probably be a bit newer and a bit bigger, generally.

To me, I it's more of a question of lifestyle. SD (Scripps Ranch esp) is a lot easier living than LA. LA is crowded and the traffic is bad. I go to skateboard parks all over socal and the ones in LA and IE are always PACKED with kids, sometimes 100+, in some SD parks we get 10 kids in a whole day.

The major difference - There are high-paying jobs here in SD, but it just cannot compare with Greater LA. If I was already in a good LA neighborhood with a reasonable mortgage, I would be pretty psyched right now.

[jamsmom]

I grew up in Glendale and moved to San Diego seven years ago. I would say stick with the Poway area. Great schools, family neighborhoods and close proximity to everything you'd want to do in San Diego. We live in the Mission Hills area where there is also a wonderful school that my son attends. It's a neighborhood that reminds me of Glendale. Everything here just feels sorty of more comfortable and easy.

[wall st kid]

Are you relocating within the same company? Usually relocation=promotion and promotion=more money. The pay cut is what is alarming me in your situation. Cost of living is high also in SD. Try shopping at Whole Foods, the prices are just as high as Whole Foods in LA. I've been in LA a lot and SD a lot and i never said, "Wow, its cheaper to live in SD". Maybe real estate is cheaper somewhat, but everything else seems to be comparably expensive.


Also, don't want to tell you how to run your family, but having a young child is tough to keep moving around. My sister and her husband have 3 little ones and one of the girls is 9 years old and my sister has been in 2 places, they recently moved across the country in a relocation move only to have my brother in law layed off a few months later. I asked my sister if she's going to move to another state and she said, "i dont want to keep moving the kids around, i want them to have an established friend base, schooling, etc."

Which makes sense. WHen i was a kid, i never moved. I lived in the same neighborhood all my youth and into my 20s...so, i never had to deal with being uprooted.

[Imissthefall]

Originally Posted by jamsmom

I grew up in Glendale and moved to San Diego seven years ago. I would say stick with the Poway area. Great schools, family neighborhoods and close proximity to everything you'd want to do in San Diego. We live in the Mission Hills area where there is also a wonderful school that my son attends. It's a neighborhood that reminds me of Glendale. Everything here just feels sorty of more comfortable and easy.

How long does it take to get to the beach from Poway, and does it get hot in the summer because it is more inland?