Victoriagtf

Hello all,

My husband and I (and three children, aged 2, 7 & 9) are considering a move to the San Diego area. Can anyone offer suggestions on where to look regarding best school districts, areas to live etc.

At the moment, it is just a possibility, I am doing some homework before we commit.

Thanks,

Vicky

PS We are all dual UK/US citizens

Bob

That's the first question out of the way.

Can't help on the specifics but welcome to BE and good luck!

Jerseygirl

Welcome to BE.

Some of our members live in the SD area...hopefully someone will be along soon to help you.

SanDiegogirl

This same question has been asked before so below is a link to an earlier post which had lots of responses about where to live:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-5...e-live-855315/

Where are you going to live in the San Diego area? Most important info as commuting can be tough.

cautiousjon

Welcome to BE! I moved from Cambridge, UK to San Diego and really enjoy the life here. As SanDiegogirl said, commuting can be tough. When choosing a place to live, a general rule of thumb that a friend said to me once was, It's generally true, particularly if you're like me and easily sweat in temperatures above about 75 F.

With that said, several particularly good things that I can think of off the top of the my head:

• Low humidity all year round
• Multiple great beaches
• Excellent shopping within a pretty small area
  • multiple Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Sprouts Farmers Market, Costco, Vons, Smart & Final, Ralphs, local farmers markets, etc, within 20 - 30 miles
  • Amazon Prime Now covers most of San Diego if you want groceries and other things to be delivered to your door
  • multiple strip malls (Westfield UTC, Westfield Fashion Valley, Mission Valley, etc) with stores for most of the big brands
  • multiple large outlet malls (Carlsbad and Los Americas) within 50 miles
  • multiple cinemas that have IMAX screens (Edwards, AMC) and several more quaint, 'luxury'/cozy cinemas (e.g. Cinépolis - movie theater chain with reclining leather seats, high-end eats, cocktails & waiter service)
• car dealerships for pretty-much every brand you can think of
• only 2 - 3 hours from snow (you really can "surf in the morning and ski in the afternoon", albeit with a long drive up to the LA area for the snow)

petitefrancaise

Welcome to BE!

Can I come and visit?? It looked like we were going to move to san diego at one point, I went to look at houses/schools etc and loved it. Good luck and I'm sure you'll get lots of help here.

Victoriagtf

Thanks so far everyone. The link was great too. Is there anyone with any experience of the school districts? This is probably #1 on my list of things to know. We left the US when my oldest two were preschoolers, so they have been educated in the UK for several years. Specifically, I'd like to know how it works with holding a child back a grade. My 9 year old (would be in 4th Grade currently) is August born, and as it is an entirely new education system for him, this is something we *might* consider (it was not possible in the UK when we arrived). I am assuming the cut off is September 1st for most schools in CA? Thanks again

username.exe

We have young kids who will be entering into the school system shortly.

We've asked around and spoken to lots of people. Seems to me the best school districts are where the money is: Coronado, Del Mar, San Dieguito, Carlsbad and Encinitas. Poway and San Marcos seem to have decent reputations too. San Diego Unified seems to be a bit hit-or-miss depending on the school, teachers, headteachers and local culture.
Unfortunately the current SDUSD administration is a complete mess full of corrupt crooks.

Everything I've heard about Sweetwater, South Bay, South East SD (Lemon Grove etc.) is no bueno.

You probably know this already, but we have Charter schools (public funding but less oversight from the school district), Magnet schools (usually 'themed' i.e. Arts & Performance, but more local oversight) and Public.

As for where to live, I echo the comments of others - you must factor in your commute.
I paid a premium to live within easy access to my workplace, but I spend 20mins commuting each way and the rest of my day I get with the kids and having more fun. Some of my colleagues spend 1hr 30mins - 2hrs each way commuting out into east or north county and beyond.

bewildering

I live in San Diego.

Before we can really help we need to know the whereabouts of your workplace, it'll make a massive difference in where we suggest to live.

The premiere real estate site in San Diego is Forums | Piggington's Econo-Almanac | San Diego Housing Market News and Analysis - created by Rich during the madness of the 2004 bubble, the forum has information on every aspect of San Diego real estate, from schools to specific apartment complexes.

Anyway, San Diego is an amazing place.

Victoriagtf

Thanks, my husband will be based from home address (mostly working from home), so in that respect location is not an issue.
Very helpful guys

TaxRookie

If you have a chance to move to San Diego you should jump at it.

Pro's - weather is just about perfect and you can be outside all year, the ocean, the mountains. You can surf in the morning and ski in the afternoon. If you enjoy sports and the outdoors you'll love it.

For schools take a look at Poway. It's not as expensive to live there as the coastal areas but the schools have a great reputation. As for holding back a grade, a lot of people do that. My eldest was six when we moved here and they bumped him up a grade. I swear he sat next to a six foot kid with a beard for the first few days so we moved him back a year and he was still the youngest in the year. Judge your kid's maturity levels as much as their education.

Con's - it's expensive to buy a house but less so than the UK. Traffic can be bad but not compared to London of course.