sydney to carlsbad,, or oceanside or encinitas?? help! (San Diego, Escondido: to rent, condo)

[nikolye8]

we may be moving from sydney australia to a job opertunity in carlsbad CA.

areas considered.. carlsbad(his job would be by palomar airport), oceanside, encinitas..
we would need to keep his commute to 30 min max if we can..

we have a son whom is nearly 2 and we would need to find local daycare..
how is it finding daycare this far north of san diego? are there huge waitlists?
area's with parks and playgrounds are a must.

we're used to citys (chicago, sydney) and i haven't had a licence in nearly 8 years, i realize living in cali will mean i need to drive again, but how is public transport in any of these areas for the first month or two? or if we were to only get one car, could he ride a bike to work if we lived in carlsbad?? i heard its not pedestrian friendly.

what is it like finding jobs in hospitality in any of these areas? (bartending, waiting tables, hotels so on) are there many bars in any of these areas? id most likely be able to land a job in a bar of some sort, as thats what i did before the kid..

we will be going on only his salary till i got a licence, childcare and a job.. so before tax we need to live on maybe 75K?
we would obviously need a 2 bedroom..
are yards hard to come by when renting in any of these areas??

even if you can answer any of these questions it would be a huge help! we may only get a month or so to make our decision on if we leave Australia!

[djxpress]

I grew up in La Costa, which is basically the southern tip of Carlsbad. Here's my opinion to what you are asking:

I don't know about waitlists for daycare, but regarding parks and playgrounds, there should be a lot of them around, since most of the newer neighborhoods seem to have them included as part of the plan.

Public transportation is pretty bad in San Diego, there are buses, Coaster and Sprinter, but the later two only go to very specific points either down the coast, or from Escondido to Oceanside. You really will need a car to get around most of San Diego. Your husband could ride a bike to work, but he will be the minority, as 99.9% of commuters will be driving cars.

One of San Diego's main draws is hospitality, and Carlsbad has Legoland as well as a few nice Resorts like La Costa Hotel and Aviara. There are some bars in Carlsbad (downtown in old Carlsbad), but most of the more popular ones are in PB or Downtown SD. Although, there are a bunch on the 101 from Leucadia down through Encinitas to Cardiff.

Living on $75k for a family of 3 is gonna be pretty tough in my opinion, especially in Carlsbad. You may find some older housing in Encinitas that's cheaper, with Oceanside probably being the cheapest. You guys would probably need to rent a townhome or condo, most houses will rent for over well over $2k a month. You're not gonna find a yard in a condo, and in a townhouse the yard will be very minimal at best. Even if you do find a house to rent, in these areas the houses sit on tracts that are .3-.4 acres, so your backyard would be pretty small.

[moved]

Also, jobs in any field are hard to find right now.

[novabrite]

There are no waits for childcare, but childcare is expensive. Expect to pay $1000 a month, for one child.

You need a car to get around, in Southern California. Period. It is not like New York or Chicago or the Bay Area.

You can get a job in hospitality, but it helps if you're very good looking and pass for being in your 20s. Even so, the best tips for bartending will be found where there is hot nightlife, i.e. the Gaslamp, not North County.

You can't afford Carlsbad or Encinitas, on $60k. Maybe you can find a 2 bedroom apt and scrape by. Oceanside, you can afford. I live in North County, so trust me on this one. Look in Oceanside for the most affordable, but still safe, area. There are parks here too, but you have to pay to park your car at them ($3 - it pays for the maintenance of the park). If you walk or ride your bike to the parks, they're free.