Poway/Rancho Bernardo vs. Camarillo (San Diego, Oxnard: rent, crime, new home)

[Lisabet]

Hoping some of you have experience living in both Camarillo area and Poway/Rancho Bernardo area.
We will be moving to either one of these areas this summer. My husband works from home and I stay home with the kids.

I like both of these areas because they seem far enough removed from the big city, yet close enough to access them for events and stuff. We are looking somewhere in the 650-750ishk range. Or we may possibly rent for a bit.

I'm drawn to Camarillo because I lived in Ventura as a kid, but prefer Camarillo(Mission Oaks area) for our family due to the better schools and safer, more clean feel of the community. We like the access to Ventura because it still has the downtown vibe and charm that we like. And of course the beach. We'd like to be within 25 min of the beach. We have friends who live in Poway and really like it. I liked Ranch Bernardo when we drove though it, once. Ha! But what do I know? Lol

I'd really appreciate any help with this before we go down next month to check things out. Or if there is another hidden gem I'm unaware of that meet our needs, Im open to suggestions.

Which has worse traffic? My husband will have an occasional meeting with clients here and there.
Which has more walking/biking paths, trails?
Some parts of North San Diego seem to have a lot of wealth. Is Poway/Rancho Bernardo just the same? Full of the prestigious type or is it more regular down to earth type?
Do any of these have a community feel? Or historical character charm part of town?
Better beaches?

Thank you!

[spoonman1]

My guess is Poway and Camarillo are more alike than Rancho Bernardo. The fringes of Poway have lots of open space, even horses, etc. Poway also has VERY wealthy and poor areas and is a bit more of it's own city and identity compared to Rancho Bernardo.

Rancho Bernardo is very much more uniformly suburban and it's identity is much more tied to San Diego (especially since it is actually in the city of SD). Rancho Bernardo is more like a Thousand Oaks/Mission Viejo/Laguna type of middle class -upper middle class suburb that also contains a lot of white collar office buildings. Poway is more working class mixed with rich.

[socketz]

I live in North Poway and almost lived in Camarillo at one point due to a job relocation that I ultimately decided not to take.

1.
LA traffic is in another league compared to San Diego. If your husband has meetings where he needs to commute, then San Diego wins hands down. This is one of the reasons why I ultimately decided I couldn't live there.

2.
I haven't looked in a few years, but I'm fairly certain you will not be able to find a detached home in Camarillo for 650-750K. You can find something in this price range in South Poway (south of Camino Del Norte/Twin Peaks), which is the older part of Poway that belonged to the city of San Diego before it incorporated, but in North Poway there isn't much in this range anymore unless you buy something on the smaller side.

This home in South Poway is listed at 725k and is near Starridge park, which is one of the nicer areas to the south:

13011 Papago Dr,
Poway, CA 92064


3.
Poway/RB are less than 30 mins from the beach as well.

4.
While there is alot of wealth in North Poway (some athletes, small business owners, a few execs, Sr. Management at Tech Companies), Poway and RB generally feel like one large cohesive family friendly area tied together by a common set of core values.

Spponman's comparison is a good one. I choose Poway over RB because it feels alot less congested and diverse compared to RB. Note that all of RB falls under an association, regardless of where you live, so this umbrella creates a sense of conformity that some prefer. I've owned two homes in RB and one in North Poway and would never consider moving back to RB at this point in my life.

Mike

[photo4fun]

Originally Posted by Lisabet

Which has worse traffic? My husband will have an occasional meeting with clients here and there.

it's pretty much depend on where your husband needs to drive to meet his clients.

a few things I can think of City of Poway
- hotter
- less smog (SD in general is better than LA county)
- far from anywhere

Poway School District includes City of Poway, Rancho Bernardo, Camel Mnt, Rancho Penasquitos, 4S Ranch. What I want to say is a few schools in the City of Poway rating aren't high compare to others.

[Lisabet]

Thank you for your responses so far. I did a search in Camarillo and there are homes in that range. It may even be a bit cheaper than Poway.

I like that it was pointed out that Poway feels like it has more of an identity over Rancho Bernardo. Those are the things I'd like to figure out. I'm guessing it's a long shot to find a community that still has character and a sense of charm, with farmers markets, festivals, bike trails etc. (Wouldn't we all!? Ha!- They're called coastal beach towns and they're too expensive!)

Thanks guys! Would love to hear from anybody else who would like to add or suggest. Thank you!

[ClassicCarFamily]

I lived in Camarillo for many yrs. I loved the community. My kids went to school there. We liked everything about Camarillo and I cannot say anything bad about it. They revamped the old town area and it is really nice. The outlet malls are there. It has everything you need and a lot of nice walkable areas. It gets a bit warmer than Ventura and Oxnard but still has great weather year round. The home prices are pretty high but I liked it more than Oxnard and Ventura unless you prefer a closer proximity to the beach then I would go for the other cities. I think the crime is less prevalent in Camarillo than in Ventura and Oxnard or at least it was when we lived there. We preferred the schools for our kids in Camarillo. If you can afford to live in Camarillo I would highly recommend it. I think another poster had listed the prices for the average home there. You can probably find something really nice in the $700,000 range. I think they are still building new homes there as well. There are older homes by the hospital there and cute older homes behind the old town area. I think you may be closer to the schools for kids just below the hospital and near the park. I wish you all the best and hope you find a nice property it sounds like you are lucky to afford to live in some nice communities.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by ClassicCarFamily

I lived in Camarillo for many yrs. I loved the community. My kids went to school there. We liked everything about Camarillo and I cannot say anything bad about it. They revamped the old town area and it is really nice. The outlet malls are there. It has everything you need and a lot of nice walkable areas. It gets a bit warmer than Ventura and Oxnard but still has great weather year round. The home prices are pretty high but I liked it more than Oxnard and Ventura unless you prefer a closer proximity to the beach then I would go for the other cities. I think the crime is less prevalent in Camarillo than in Ventura and Oxnard or at least it was when we lived there. We preferred the schools for our kids in Camarillo. If you can afford to live in Camarillo I would highly recommend it. I think another poster had listed the prices for the average home there. You can probably find something really nice in the $700,000 range. I think they are still building new homes there as well. There are older homes by the hospital there and cute older homes behind the old town area. I think you may be closer to the schools for kids just below the hospital and near the park. I wish you all the best and hope you find a nice property it sounds like you are lucky to afford to live in some nice communities.

Didn't they close the (State) Hospital 20 years ago? It's now a Cal State campus.

[cruitr]

>> 3. Poway/RB are less than 30 mins from the beach as well.

I'll rewrite this a bit: Poway/RB are less than 30 mins from the nearest beach sign under ideal driving conditions. Add another 30 mins to find a place to park. Poway/RB to 'toes in the sand' time will be over an hour.

[oddstray]

Originally Posted by cruitr

>> 3. Poway/RB are less than 30 mins from the beach as well.

I'll rewrite this a bit: Poway/RB are less than 30 mins from the nearest beach sign under ideal driving conditions. Add another 30 mins to find a place to park. Poway/RB to 'toes in the sand' time will be over an hour.

This depends entirely on which beach you go to. We've never had any problem finding parking at Torrey Pines, but we don't park there because it's expensive parking. We've never had any problem finding parking in the lot south of the amusement zone at Belmont Park, but that is farther from Poway/RB.

[socketz]

Poway is far from anywhere? Explain.

It takes me 35 mins to get to the airport. 40 minutes to Petco. 25 mins to the beach. Hour to Orange County.

That's far? For someone in LA, a quick trip to the store 2 miles away could take 15 mins.

I guess it depends on where you are spending most of your time. Downtown San Diego is not real family friendly (mostly bars/clubs that also serve food certain hours of the day), so I don't see many families using downtown as their point of reference. I guess if I were single, then yes, Poway would seem far from clubs/other singles.