My wife and I are gonna move to san diego ca. My wife wants to live downtown san diego, to be around everything, while I prefer to live next to the beach...Can you give us some advices or suggestions?
2006-09-11 06:38:23 · 3 answers · asked by SamQuestandBeagy 1 in Family & Relationships ➔ Other - Family & Relationships
Live next to the beach and you'll have to pay BIG time. But, if you have the cash it is definitely worth it.
Downtown - especially near the Gaslamp District - is awesome and pricey. If you use the downtown attractions often then living there makes sense. If it's just an every-now-and-then thing then I say live inland and take the trolly (light rail) to downtown. The Trolly is your best friend for a night out. Cheap, reliable, safe and drops you off only two or three blocks away from it all.
Not a lot of cash? Live inland and save yourslef some money. There are some great new communities where you can live ("rent") for $1,200 a month in a brand new place.
Pacific Beach ("PB") would be where I would look first if I were moving back. LOTS of college students, right in the middle of the action, GREAT FOOD (Fred's, thai, In-N-Out...) and shopping. Housing could be seen as reasonable for the area... better prices than downtown, yet still close to it.
They cleaned up Ocean Beach ("OB") from the days of being the meth capital of the world. It's a great beach community and home prices are somewhat reasonable (for the area). Close to downtown, too. This is where you will find all of the old hippies and surfers. Great place to be.
Look around Balboa Park, as well. Pricey, but beautiful! AND close to downtown. Hell, everything is close to downtown; it's not that difficult to get around.
Remember, the beach is always close in San Dog!
2006-09-13 06:19:36 · answer #1 · answered by Trixie D 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm from the east coast and have been to San Diego 4 times. Each time I have visited I've been to the beach and downtown. Both seem extremely fake and I only met 1 person who was originally from there. the beach scene is very surfer style a lot of "right on's" and "crazy cat" lingo and down town seems to be more busy at night during the day is tourist shopping or business people working. I would choose a different city all together.
2006-09-11 06:44:25 · answer #2 · answered by klp131 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Where you should live depends on what's important to you. If you don't want a long commute, you should live somewhere that's reasonably close to your work place. So, if you both work in downtown then you might want to consider living near downtown. If you work in North County San Diego, then that's rather a healthy commute from downtown. If you work near downtown then seriously, seriously consider living south of the 5/805 split because traffic on the 5 is horrible going south in the morning and north in the afternoon. It could easily take you over an hour to get from North County to downtown on a normal day, and twice as long if it rains or if there's an accident.
Another thing to consider is house prices. North County Coastal single family detached housing is verrrry expensive ($600K+ from Carlsbad down south to La Jolla). It's less expensive to live by the coast in, say, Pacific Beach or Ocean Beach but the houses there are older and in my opinion, more run down. There are a lot of surfer types there by the beach and it can get a little sketchy at night. So I wouldn't really recommend living there. Living near the beach is awesome, but I don't really think it's worth the $$$ unless you make a good enough salary to not blink at the horrible housing prices.
There's a lot to do downtown - great restaurants, clubs, etc. etc., near Balboa Park, which is great if you like a happening night life. Parking in downtown is rough, but if you live there you'll probably have assigned spaces near your place. Downtown you can live in a loft in one of those high-rises if you like, which is also cool. I think downtown's a good choice for you if you like that vibe.
If you want something more family-centric, if you have kids or are thinking of having kids, I'd suggest East/Central SD - maybe Poway - since their house prices are reasonable, the commute to everywhere is relatively short, traffic's not too bad, and the school district is excellent. Lots of wholesome family activities nearby - movie theaters, community parks, near Lake Miramar, etc.
Anyway, San Diego is a fantastic place to live, no matter where you choose to live. I love it here, and I hope both of you will too. Good luck on your decision!
2006-09-11 14:00:59 · answer #3 · answered by LB 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋