mikec81

I haven't been on here for a while, but as usual, I come asking for some advice...

My wife and I are moving to San Diego in the middle of next month and we are trying to find a place to live. I will be working downtown and my wife will be in La Jolla, so we are looking for an area that would not leave either of us with too terrible of a commute. My commute is about an hour round trip right now, and I would prefer to keep it around there or maybe less if possible for both of us. We have an 18 month old son, which means schools are not really an issue for us right now as we will probably be looking to buy a place after a year or so.

In terms of location, we are looking for somewhere to rent that is reasonably close to the coast, although we understand there is a compromise to be made on price. Our budget is somewhere between $2000 and $2500 per month, and we were hoping to get three bedrooms. We have been recommended a few areas, including Carmel Valley, Clairemont, Tierrasante and Mira Mesa, although since we live in Sacramento right now, I'm not really clear on the reputations of each place.

I looked at a couple of other threads with similar questions, but I was hoping I might be able to get a bit more information on commute times and the specific areas I mentioned. Thanks a lot in advance for any advice...

Michael

Hotscot

The commute you have will be pretty friendly, the distances aren't great. You'll get some bunching of traffic but it still flows.
If you could find something around La Jolla, or slightly to the North @ Del Mar, you'd enjoy the lifestyle close to the beach.
However Mira Mesa/Clairemont are decent choices for apartments/houses also.
No doubt there will be others with more specific info soon.

Good luck.

bewildering

I live in San Diego.

Certainly you will be able to get a three bedroom place for $2300-2500 depending on the area.

Between La Jolla and Downtown you have Mount Soledad/Bird Rock, Pacific Beach and Ocean Beach west of Interstate 5 (along the coast). You have University City, Clairemont, Bay Park/HO, Mission Valley, Mission Hills/Hillcrest east of interstate 5(very slightly inland).

Mount Soledad/Bird Rock is great, but you'd struggle to find a place in your price range.
I love Pacific Beach and Ocean Beach but you have to know what areas to avoid, otherwise it can be boisterous. Also getting on interstate 5 can be a bugger in rush hour.
University City(UTC) is a great family place, though try to get a place in south UTC between rose canyon(the railway line that runs through UTC) and interstate 52.

Personally i recommend Bay Park/HO, south UTC and north-west clairemont.
Here is a place perfectly located for you
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/41...17200268_zpid/
Your commute would be 15-20 minutes and your wife's would be 10 minutes. There are also daycare places scattered around this area.

Mission Valley is Mall central.

Mission hills/west Hillcrest is a great area. But you'll struggle to find a place in your price range and even available.

Carmel Valley is north of La Jolla, and farther for you. Tierrasante is east somewhere and Mira Mesa is east and north of La Jolla. All of these places would be fine, but extend your commute somewhat. The 5 is busy in rush hour.

you could also live downtown, but i don't know much about that area.

Good luck

mikec81

Thanks for the suggestions. It sounds like we are looking in the right areas...

After talking to some friends, it seems like traffic heading into downtown is a lot worse than traffic heading north. Using that logic, would it make sense for us to find a place closer to downtown, making my wife's commute longer with less traffic, and mine shorter but busier? The Hillcrest area was recommended on that basis... Or is the traffic not that big of a factor?

bewildering

That is odd as I would disagree. The traffic is worse going north (to Jolla) in the morning and south (to downtown) in the evening on interstate 5. It is therefore better to live in the la jolla neighborhood. Although to be honest the traffic on the 5 is not too bad either direction unless there is an accident.

The 805 is simply awful going north in the morning, presumably that is what your friends are talking about? But the neighborhoods we are discussing are on the interstate 5 corridor.

Mira Mesa/Tierasanta more involve the 805.

Perhaps you can check google maps to see what roads are really busy in the morning?

Hillcrest is okay (IMO overrated) but i think you might have difficulty getting a 3-bed place. Mission hills (immediately west of Hillcrest) is very nice and would be ideal for you, but getting a place might be hard.

North Park (immediately east of Hillcrest) is an upcoming neighborhood with bars/restaurants. Although a big caveat is you need to know what areas to avoid in North Park. Some bits (i'm looking at you El cajon blvd) are nasty while immediately north of balboa park to 30th is better.

Jacksdad619

We live in Hillcrest and love it here, but I agree with bewildering - while the freeway access is great, working in La Jolla will have your wife hitting traffic both ways in the morning and evening commute. I'll be driving up from Chula Vista to just north of La Jolla tomorrow morning, and I'll be anticipating a slow commute all the way to Mission Valley, past Mission Bay and up to the I-5/805 merge, and I'll be back in the thick of it tomorrow evening heading south. It's not quite LA bad, but it's definitely a pain.
The neighborhoods a little way both north and east of La Jolla (Carmel Valley, Pacific Highlands Ranch/Torrey Highlands/Rancho Penasquitos, Del Mar - and maybe Mira Mesa) would likely still give you something close to the 30 minute commute you have now, but a location somewhere between both of your workplaces might be a better compromise - Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, Ocean Beach, La Jolla/UTC, University City, Clairemont, and Bay Park would all work. Tierrasanta is as far east as I'd go (traffic on the 52 - especially east of the 15 freeway - can be horrible, and the 8 through Mission Valley is gridlocked a couple of times a day). Even further east can potentially put both of you in traffic, and anything south of Mission Valley/downtown makes your commute short but at your wife's expense (to be honest there's not many places I'd want to live south of downtown anyway. Been there, done that...).
That said, if your commutes are earlier or later than the worst of the traffic, it opens up all kinds of options. I drive south to work in Chula Vista at either 3:45 or 5:15 am, and not surprisingly the roads are almost deserted.
Hope this helps, and BTW - you're going to love the weather

FinnDiego

As usual depends on your priorities. For an easy commute I'd also recommend somewhere between La Jolla and downtown like others suggested too. Pacific Beach is full of drunked college kids but gets better when you go north towards La Jolla. Ocean Beach is still hippie central, whether that's a positive or negative I'll leave to you. Central bits can be noisy and traffic and parking is a mess when anything's happening, but you don't have to go too far away from Newport Avenue and things quiet down. Further up Point Loma might be worth looking at too?

Clairemont Mesa is a bit boring but you'd get more for your money.

By far the worst commuting destination seems to be Sorrento Valley and Mira Mesa. Specifically getting out of the area and on the 805 or I-5 in the afternoon can be a massive pain and you can easily spend 25 minutes in the last mile before getting on the freeway - and then the freeway itself is stop-and-go. Living in Mira Mesa and working elsewhere would be less problematic, but I wouldn't really recommend Mira Mesa otherwise.

I like Hillcrest, University Heights, North Park and Normal Heights, but then I don't have children... Mission Hills could be nice too but not sure you'd find a three-bedroom on your budget. Lots of gorgeous houses but they don't come cheap! South Park is beautiful too and I think I see more children there, but haven't really thought about the commute to La Jolla.

Jacksdad619

"By far the worst commuting destination seems to be Sorrento Valley and Mira Mesa."
Yep - bad area for traffic during rush hour. I used to work at a shop that was an equal distance from the 15 and 805, and about halfway between Mira Mesa Blvd and Miramar Road, and the wait in traffic just to get to either freeway was so frustrating (and expensive in a thirsty old big block Buick) that I'd stay at work an hour later just so I'd be driving faster than I could walk.

Ozzidoc

We're in Bay Ho (AKA N.W. Clairemont).

We really like it, but it's a bit like how Beirut was in the mid 1980s at times. ie quite a mix of gorgeously renovated homes with some that look like they might fall down...

The schools are not that great.

We were looking in Carmel Valley (where we lived in our condo), but for $200K less we were able to get a bigger home with an extra bedroom, larger garden and lovely solar heated swimming pool.

We are 15 mins drive from just about everywhere

mikec81

Thanks to everyone for the great advice!

Ozzidoc, we are looking at a place on Arcola Avenue. Do you know the area? Is that somewhere we could walk to shops and restaurants from?

We are finding most places are nowhere near anything resembling a walkable downtown type area... Maybe that is just a San Diego adjustment we will need to live with?

Jacksdad619

We moved to Hillcrest because it has just about everything we need within walking distance - restaurants, store, parks, museums and good schools. It's the center of the LGBT scene in San Diego, but from experience living in and around this area before, we felt comfortable enough to bring our 12 year old son here. It's actually a pretty safe area compared to some, and many of the surrounding neighborhoods are old enough to have a lot of character and charm. On Sunday we even have one of the best Farmer's Markets pretty much right on our doorstep.
I timed my drive from work to a training meeting in Carmel Valley this morning, and as expected the leg from Chula Vista was slow - 30 minutes to Mission Valley after leaving at 8am - but from Mission Valley to Nobel Drive in La Jolla was a little over 10 minutes even with traffic. Coming back was slow enough that I opted to go to the beach and wait until six o'clock before hitting the freeway, but the morning commute was actually a lot better than I'd expected. And I got to see a migrating pod of maybe half a dozen gray whales swimming around a few hundred yards off the beach while I was waiting for traffic to ease up

bewildering

No, it is not possible to walk to shops/restaurants from Arcola avenue. In fact, most of clairemont/UTC is not great for walkability.

If that is a priority Mission hills, Hillcrest, Pacific beach, Ocean Beach and Bird Rock would be better choices (maybe baypark). I did love living in pacific beach but i now live in clairemont as i have a baby (a bit like everyone else in clairemont, we all used to live in PB and moved when we needed a house) If you can find a place in North Pacific beach that would be ideal. Although your downtown commute would be about 25 minutes one way (just harder to get to interstate 5)

MattySD

I can only echo what many people have said here - don't be too tempted to go too far away from where you work. The big problem with the San Diego road system is that often there are very few alternatives to get from A to B - I appreciate that city planners don't want 'rat runs' through residential areas but I think it's ridiculous that there are many very large neighborhoods in the county that can only be accessed via SRs and Interstates.

Jacksdad619

Totally agree. I used to cycle to work between Chula Vista and El Cajon and the road system is totally geared toward getting you somewhere by freeway. Surface streets are a tortuous way to get around if you're traveling any distance.

bewildering

I think it is a reflection on how San diego is a very young city and also the geology of the region.

I wonder how London boroughs would be interconnected if most were built within the last 50 years? My suspicion is that city planners would use a freeway network.

The other issue is that San Diego freeways are all built within the canyons (Canyons created by earthquakes, rather scary thought if you look at their depth compared with the Mesas). IMO the canyons demarcate the different neighborhoods. The UK doesn't have this issue and can more easily connect different part of a city.