Young professional family moving to San Diego. Where to live? (Kensington: to rent, condos)

[stmahaja]

Hey guys,

My wife and I are moving to San Diego from Dallas for one year. Then we're coming back to Dallas. I'll be working in the Hillcrest area. We have a 9 month old. Trying to find a place to rent (house, condo, or apt... we don't care) with a price limit of $2200/month. Basicly we want to make the most of our once in a lifetime chance to live in sunny california. Things we would like.

1)Nice place that is new or updated.
2)We are mildly artsy/liberal and prefer unique places to eat and visit rather than cookie cutter suburbia...
3)Wouldn't mind having easy access to a beach. If your only going to live in California once in your life wouldn't you want to be near a beach?
4)With the little guy we need to be in a safe area with limited sketchiness.
5)An area where there are other young professional families.
6)Commute time to under 25-30 minutes.

From internet searching I've come up with following list.

Mission Hills
Kensington
Point Loma
Tierrasanto

Little Italy (?are there non single people here with babies)

Mission Valley (boring area but centrally located so close to everything.)

Del mar (what's the commute time?)
La Jolla (may be too expensive)

Get the feeling Normal height, Hillcrest, University heights, north park are places we would have lived a few years ago but now with baby shouldn't be considering. Am I right?

Any of you guys give me some advice?

Thanks

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by stmahaja

Hey guys,

Mission Hills
Kensington
Point Loma
Tierrasanto

Little Italy (?are there non single people here with babies)

Mission Valley (boring area but centrally located so close to everything.)

Del mar (what's the commute time?)
La Jolla (may be too expensive)

Get the feeling Normal height, Hillcrest, University heights, north park are places we would have lived a few years ago but now with baby shouldn't be considering. Am I right?

Thanks

My list in order would be:
- Mission Hills
- Point Loma
- Kensington

La Jolla is a good option too, commute would not be bad at all. Del Mar is a bit further.

Tierrasanta is cookie cutter in most parts with some 60's homes in there too. Not an attractive area to me. Really no kids live in condos here so that rules out Mission Valley and Little Italy (no parks either).

Don't rule out Normal Heights or University Heights either... all the areas you mentioned are extremely expensive and those areas make a good alternative.

You didn't mention public school quality... does it matter? If so, that might rule out Kensington (it's moreso gays and older families than young families partially because of the lack of a good elementary).

[stmahaja]

Thanks Sassberto,

I'll add normal and universal heights to the list especially if you confirm that there be will non singles and kids in the area.

About public school - didn't think it would matter since we are only going to be there one year when our kid is 1 to 2 years old. Quality daycare in the area would actually be more important. I'll check into daycare in the kensington area. If there really aren't young families like us the area though I would probably rule it out ... It would be nice to have friends with little children nearby so they could play together or we could take turns babysitting.

You said that the places I've mentioned are extremely expensive. Would we even be able to live in la jolla or mission hills on a 2200/month budget? If not what is the commute from Del mar.... Del mar seems slightly cheaper. I get about 20 minutes estimate on google maps but that assumes no traffic. If its above 30-35 min I'm going to rule Del mar out.

[sandiegogolfer]

Why not stay in Hillcrest?

Point Loma is a nice area but you can get a lot of traffic noise.

Mission Hills also you can noise.

Easy commutes are best to have.

No sense fighting traffic if you don't have to.

There are nice areas of hillcrest and north park and you won't have a big commute.

I would look at a 5-10 mile radius of where you work and go from there.

The closer the better.

[bloom]

Originally Posted by sandiegogolfer

Why not stay in Hillcrest?

.

schools

[bloom]

Originally Posted by stmahaja

Get the feeling Normal height, Hillcrest, University heights, north park are places we would have lived a few years ago but now with baby shouldn't be considering. Am I right?



Thanks

correct

[ranzchic]

Yeah, why not stay in Hillcrest/Mission Hills area? Or the pheriperies at least like Banker's Hill and the transition between Mission Hills and Hillcrest around Goldfinch/Reynard Way/Curlew canyons.

Hillcrest imo is the nicest and most vibrant urban neighborhood outside of downtown.

They have tons of nice houses right around Curlew Street/Albatross St and those west of Goldfinch. The best part about those places is that many of them end in dead end streets and canyons so those streets end up very quiet. Like you're living in the suburbs but with better selection of houses and culture. Plus, you can walk/bike to work!

$2200 is more than enough to rent a two to three bedroom craftsman house in the area.

[djensen84]

My wife and I live in Banker's Hill with a one year old and another on the way and I would recommend it. Decent childcare within a few blocks (St. Pauls), Balboa Park for the playground and walking around in general. Hillcrest is within easy walking distance, and we often walk to downtown as well but take a cab back. In the building we are in there are 24 units, I would say 4 of them including ours have either babies or toddlers. I don't know if that is a normal ratio for the area, but we do see babies fairly often, though I wouldn't say the area is teeming with them. You will see homeless people, but they have never bothered us in the two years we've lived here.

If you do choose Banker's Hill, I would recommend living north of Laurel, as you go south of Laurel you start getting under the airport flight path.

I should say though that I wouldn't mind living in any of the areas you mentioned as they all are good and have their positives.