Great Places near downtown for families (San Diego, Poway: lower-class, to rent, how much)

[CraftyMom]

As my husband interviews all over, San Diego has come into our radar. As a life-long vistor to SD, I have no idea where nice family areas would be. I spent all my time in Pacific Beach which I now understand is for the much younger crowd and not necessarily a young family neighborhood.

The area we're looking at a school in is "Oak Park." Some views of realtor.com have me wondering if this is the best place to live, however. The current prospective employer is downtown.

I hate heat. If we move I'd love to live somewhat coastal as opposed to inland, but safety is more important.

Thanks everyone!

[DrJoey]

What's your budget?
What are you looking to do...rent or buy?
What do you want in a "nice family area" and for what type/size family?

[NYSD1995]

Oak Park? No. I live near that area, and I won't really recommend it.

"Family areas near downtown" is somewhat of an anachronism - give me an idea of your city-living skills and I can give you a better idea of what's a good fit. Are you comfortable living in a city with all the pros and cons that come with it?

Most relocating professional families are either located in elite, wealthy inner-city areas (Mission Hills, Point Loma) or far-flung suburbs (Poway, Rancho Bernardo). School quality is a big factor. There are certainly many working and lower-class families in more undesirable areas (Oak Park would be one of them), but I am going to assume you are not interested in those areas.

[CraftyMom]

LOL. Great questions for me to think about.

Well, we live in the burbs of LA. I don't like city driving. I like convenience and speed. SO..it would be an adjustment wouldn't it? I try to avoid downtown SD during rush hour, but it's so small that it's just not that bad to me even when you're in it. The school is non-negotiable at this point so we'd have to be going to Oak Park for that. I'd like to live within 20 minutes.

I'd LOVE a nice neighborhood that has tree-lined quiet streets (i.e. fake movie neighborhoods LOL!) that I can also walk or ride bikes to SOMEWHERE...anywhere. Right now our neighborhood is pretty quiet and somewhat picturesque but I find it hard to get motivated to get out and get moving when there is literally no where to go but in circles, unless you're talking miles.

I'm not sure of a budget yet so I'm in the phase of just 'dreaming' of what is best, then going down from there. We'd probably rent to start but we would want to try to rent in our best guess of where we'd want to live. Since, as I said, we're in SoCal you all know how the housing market is so I'm not sure what we could do right now with our current home (sell, rent out, etc.) and what the relo package might entail. Dh earns a good income but the school takes a big chunk out of it. I just want it to be a nice and safe place. I don't want to be afraid that if I go to my mailbox in the night someone is going to drive by and shoot me or my kids or my neighbors!

Based on that other most informative 'neighborhood' thread, I was thinking Mission Hills sounded nice. But we're definitely not "elite" or wealthy...but far above median income. If that makes sense. I didn't find much on realtor.com in the areas of Talmadge, Kensington or Mission Hills didn't have much, and some even looked not nice. Of course there were rare exceptions of multi-million dollar properties. That is NOT our price range. Definitely under $1 mil and salary, relo package, market here, will determine how much below. I also find it strange that these areas which were listed as very nice are right adjacent to those who were listed as quite not? Is it terrain that does that? I can't picture that part of SD but I know it's very hilly/mountainouse.

Thanks!