best place to live with two young kids near downtown and beaches??

[bunky3301]

Originally Posted by erinavery

i'd love some more feedback on nicest areas near downtown with good schools that i could find a lil 3br condo/townhome for under 2000k mo....if anyone knows thanks so much.

north county looks nice and love that the schools are rated so well but still wonder if it's possible to be closer to downtown because i can see wanting to go there a lot for the museums, zoo and performance art classes for my kids maybe....anyway if the place to be is up north and just take the coaster train downtown then that's cool...just thought i'd leave it open to more feedback if anyone has any thanks.

my sister will be going up there in oct and i'd love to have her look at a couple places for me thanks!

We recently left Eastlake area of Chula Vista to move to Maryland. Its was a military move , otherwise we wouldn't have left we loved it so much in the San Diego area. We will move back when we can.

If your going to sacrifice your husbands possible drive to North County , you might want to check out Eastlake area of Chula Vista . It has great schools and plenty of shopping. We loved it for those reasons and that it has a great sense of community and the people there are a pleasure to have as neighbors. There are tons of parks for the kids to play at , over 60 in Chula Vista alone. Mountain View park near Otay Reservoir has one of the greatest views you'll ever see.

From where we lived we could be to downtown in around 15 to 20 minutes in non rush hours traffic and the Coronado beaches in the same time. My wife worked at the Naval hospital at Balboa park and it was an easy commute.

Also in todays housing climate you can probably find a 3/2 condo in Eastlake area for under $2000 these days....get a good realtor to help you out though. There pretty hungry right now so it shouldn't be to hard to find someone willing to help you.

I'm sure there are other communities that might fit you needs in the area , but when you said you had small children I thought of how safe we felt in Eastlake with our young children. Hope it helps and we can't wait to get back to Chula Vista to raise our family.

[BNB]

I'd say Clairemont too...that is where I live and I love it! I am 10 minutes from my downtown office and less than 15 minutes from Mission Bay...we are centrally located close to Mission Valley, Fashion Valley shopping...Costco (morena blvd) and everything in between.

I formerly lived in Poway and the commute was horrid...I would not live in North County and work downtown ever again....spending that much time in traffic is not good for a happy life. :-)

I love my neighbors and neighborhood.

[NYSD1995]

Once again: if you plan to send your kids to schools in the area.. be very careful. Choose your school first (even if that means planning for open enrollment, private, etc...).

Remember that San Diego Unified has a 25% dropout rate and the vast majority of it's schools are underperforming. Affordable and central areas like Clairemont have a big tradeoff - and that is bad schools. And since I don't know what your criteria for schools are, let me say that "bad school" in CA means anything from a classroom full of ESL kids to, the children of gangbangers and drug addicts, to a 1950's era schoolhouse built for 500 kids that now has 800 kids in it. Dirt lot ballfields, crumbling classrooms and mobile-home facilities, that is par for the course here.

If you have a plan, and know what you are dealing with, then living in the central part of the city is a great quality of life with tons of things to do, and I would probably not live anywhere else in San Diego. But I have been here a long time and know the deal. There is a reason that newcomers just pick the best district and move there basically sight unseen. Personally I find most of northern san diego to be charmless. But I can't fault anyone for making a decision to live there so they can send their kids to a decent school.

[ranzchic]

Point Loma sounds like your best bet if you want to lvie as close to downtown and the beaches as possible. The areas around "Wooded Area" are your best bet if yo're looking for the nice area. The upper hills overlooking Ocean Beach can be nice. Schools are also pretty great, there is a charter model school called High Tech high in Liberty station. Actually, Liberty Station itself is pretty nice, and well designed for families, just 10 minute ride from downtown and the beaches.

[bloom]

What about Coronado?