Neighborhoods in Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos (San Diego, Carlsbad: HOA, preschools, live in)

[Melnurse]

My husband and I are thinking of moving to the area next year and just returned from a short trip there. We drove around and looked at neighborhoods and four areas caught our eye so I'm looking for input from anyone that knows the areas well. They are:
1. Northern most area of the North Valley in Oceanside
2. Ivey Ranch/ Rancho Del Oro in Oceanside
3. Shadowridge in Vista
4. Discovery Hills in San Marcos
I'm looking for input on safety, surrounding area, and general feel of the area

[janineg]

Can you describe the Oceanside area with some cross streets? I'm not sure where you're talking about.
Are schools important? The Discovery Hills area would probably be best for that. In terms of safety, Shadowridge would probably be better than Rancho del Oro because it borders wealthier areas (Carlsbad, San Marcos). Rancho del Oro has some crummier areas in closer proximity. Did you look at the Fire Mountain area of Oceanside? It's very nice.

[Melnurse]

The North Valley area we liked is where Vandegrift and Douglas meet.
We don't have children yet and probably won't for a couple years so school is at least 6 years down the road. I would rather find an area now that is good for schools though than have to worry about that later.

[sdhkshdcny09]

Originally Posted by Melnurse

The North Valley area we liked is where Vandegrift and Douglas meet.
We don't have children yet and probably won't for a couple years so school is at least 6 years down the road. I would rather find an area now that is good for schools though than have to worry about that later.

IMHO, I think Discovery Hills is your best choice. The school system in San Marcos is stronger than Oceanside or Vista, K-12. Plus, High Tech High/Middle are located in SM. The Discovery Hills attendance area has some of the highest performing schools (elementary, middle, and high) in San Diego county.

Secondly, Discovery Hills is an awesome community with open space, trails, and parks. The City of San Marcos is planning to expand Discovery Lake park and build an entirely new park, South Lake, up the hill. The trails connect to Double Peak Park/San Elijo, which has great views of San Diego County.

It's pretty central to restaurants, sports fields, and shopping too. Discovery also doesn't have an HOA (to my knowledge)

Property values should have some stability too since CSUSM is close by.

I provided a pretty detailed overview of the Discovery neighborhood in another post:

https://www.city-data.com/forum/san-d...m-schools.html


PS: The other neighborhoods are nice as well. I actually live in the Shadowridge vicinity... I agree that Fire Mountain is worth looking at too.