I will be moving to San Diego for the Frs at North Island. Any suggestions of places to live with a family of three that is not too far from base?
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Places to live in San Diego with a family.
- Thread starter crunchthehuman
- Start date
It really does depend on how much you are willing to pay for specific square footage. I know folks that live on Coronado and pay $3K on a 1000-1200 s.f. apartment. In Eastern Chula Vista, you'll get a 3K s.f. home for $3k but there is a commute. The other consideration is schools and school districts. You'll need to do some research to figure out what fits best for your family.
Some of the people who haven't been here in a while may disagree. However, I have several friends that have family that swear by Imperial Beach. The place has turned around a lot. I don't know about school districts, but the commute is easy up and down the strand.
The only beef I've heard from folks down at IB is the distance to anything outside of IB (downtown, PB, OB, etc). Otherwise, I've heard IB is getting pretty nice now, especially compared to a decade ago.
Now that I have a family and have recently left, I would give a serious consideration to IB. Mission Valley was where I lived for most of my time; I'd say now it's getting too crowded and too expensive to justify small apartment living there. La Mesa is also an area that I think is definitely becoming nice.
Agree with what everyone else here has said. Each pocket of SD has it's ups and downs. But keep in mind that due to the bridge traffic you're basically in Coronado, or not. Everything not in Coronado deals with bridge traffic.
So if location/close to base is your main priority:
Coronado. If you're short term, just shell out the money and enjoy the beach/convenience. Everything is walkable/bikeable, and beautiful. It'll be small, and expensive.
Thereafter, I'd look at IB or mission valley.
To me, best intersection of space/location/price was mission valley, specifically something in vicinity of Friars Road/Morena trolley stop. Walking distance to trolley gets you downtown/little italy quickly. And there's some hole in the wall restaurants/bars to include a ballast point tasting room. It also gets you to the bridge within 10-15 minutes if you find the right place.
For reference, we found a townhome in the 2700-ish range with 2 car garage.
So if location/close to base is your main priority:
Coronado. If you're short term, just shell out the money and enjoy the beach/convenience. Everything is walkable/bikeable, and beautiful. It'll be small, and expensive.
Thereafter, I'd look at IB or mission valley.
To me, best intersection of space/location/price was mission valley, specifically something in vicinity of Friars Road/Morena trolley stop. Walking distance to trolley gets you downtown/little italy quickly. And there's some hole in the wall restaurants/bars to include a ballast point tasting room. It also gets you to the bridge within 10-15 minutes if you find the right place.
For reference, we found a townhome in the 2700-ish range with 2 car garage.
Consider Tierrasanta, which is just northwest of Qualcomm Stadium. Good schools from what I'm told (we don't have kids), a decent commute (IIRC it was about 25 minutes during typical travel times, though I've heard the bridge has gotten worse again), and not too far from anything. Also, there's military housing in the area, so you have a NEX gas station and mini-mart, and it was about 12 minutes to Miramar for shopping there. It's definitely suburbia, though a bit less so than Eastlake and those areas, but that can be great for families.
Gotta admit I'm pretty surprised to hear IB has become a good place for families. When I lived in SD 16 years ago it was a grotty little beach town...okay if you were single and didn't mind your car being stolen on the regular. Being able to get to NASNI/Coronado/NAB without taking the bridge was about it's only merit. I'm going to be out in the San Dog next month; I'll have to go check it out.
Coronado's a pretty town but seriously overpriced. You're just paying for the 92118 zip. If IB really has cleaned up, then I'd give it a serious look.
Coronado's a pretty town but seriously overpriced. You're just paying for the 92118 zip. If IB really has cleaned up, then I'd give it a serious look.
FormerRecruitingGuru
Making Recruiting Great Again
Being a SD native, never would I have imagined IB being in contention for places to live.
Too add on, I would also recommend Pacific Beach EAST of Ingraham Street. Liberty Station around the airport/Point Loma area is another solid area with a decent 20-25 min commute to Coronado.
Too add on, I would also recommend Pacific Beach EAST of Ingraham Street. Liberty Station around the airport/Point Loma area is another solid area with a decent 20-25 min commute to Coronado.
Point Loma would be great, I think too. Add that to my list. I enjoyed my time in Mission Valley - just see if you can come in at the right price. If you're OK with apartment living, I really enjoyed Portofino Apartments - also near Qualcomm. Easy access to 15, 8, and 163; superior management that keeps the place upkept very nice, great pool that's family friendly, and across the street from Fenton Parkway which came in handy for a quick Costco run or trip to the library.
