First time buyer - where are young family friendly areas downtown (San Diego: apartment, renting)

[Ms_Intrepid]

I'm finally ready to pull the trigger and buy a place this year. A couple in our early 30s looking to start our family soon.

If I'm not interested in moving up north (Carmel Valley or Poway), where would the family friendly places with good schools (at least for elementary and middle) nearer to downtown/hillcrest be?

Anyone have any thoughts about these places?
- Point Loma (I saw the other Point Loma thread but the OP was a single professional guy, so slightly different demographic)
- Mission Hills - Great elementary school, but what about middle school beyond? Any pros/cons?
- Coronado - Sounds like it would be too expensive or I would be only able to buy a shack.

Or should I look at La Jolla? That's as far north as I would go, but I understand that means I'll probably be living in an apartment, if that is even affordable.

Am I missing out any other areas that are nearer to downtown that would be family friendly?

My budget is up to $1.2M. Just trying to find out more information about housing for family friendly in general. Or do I have to just suck it up and move up North?

[USDefault]

It's more north than you want to be, but Scripps Ranch seems to tick every other box you need. Very good schools, and with your budget you could buy a nice place with plenty of room, and have money left over.

[oddstray]

Look at Tierrasanta, also.

[The Flying Dutchman]

They are building a new charter school downtown on 14th st. It's the Urban Discovery Academy and it opens this fall. I believe it runs from K-8. So depending on where you buy, driving the kids down to this school might not be a bad option. For instance, if you lived in South Park you could take Pershing right down and the commute wouldn't be so bad.

http://sandiegodowntownnews.com/huge...urban-academy/

East Village is definitely up and coming which is why I decided to buy in the area. The area near the City College is nice since it is on the corner edge of a nicer, safer (proximity to the Police H.Q.) part of downtown. There's also nearby Golden Hill and South Park, some of our finest neighborhoods.

This is definitely as urban as San Diego gets, though. If you haven't ever lived downtown before, consider renting.

[Ms_Intrepid]

Thanks! We live and work downtown right now. I don't really care about the suburbs vs city living, what I care about is the commute. So trying to figure out what is the best compromise. That's really cool to know about the charter school =D

[NYSD1995]

There are no family friendly areas in Downtown SD. I would seriously consider whether or not you really want to raise a kid in downtown SD - it is a party district and is really not set up for kids at all (few playgrounds, few parks, few acceptable school choices, but hundreds of bars and restaurants, homeless, drunks and drugs). It might be ok for a few years while the kid is little, but once they hit 5+ you are going to see most parents bail. San Diego's urban core is really not very kid friendly.

Point Loma, South Park, Mission Hills, and Coronado are your best options. Only Coronado has a uniformly high-quality HS, the others are a mixed bag but have great elementaries. Hillcrest, North Park have too many social and school problems (again due to the party scene). Of all these I would say South Park and Mission Hills have the most urban vibe and easy access to your job downtown, and 1.2MM will go a lot farther there than in Coronado.

Another suggestion is to look at Kensington which will give you access to the better schools to the east in Allied Gardens and San Carlos (but you'll be a school commuter) and still has a fairly urban vibe, but is geographically isolated enough that you'll have the quiet and privacy growing families generally want. Point Loma is similar in that regard.

I would look VERY long and hard at the high school choices before dropping 1.2MM on a house in these areas. The trend is away from families and towards wealthy DINKs - dogs outnumber the kids. We did our homework and ultimately there was no option that was acceptable to us. San Diego Unified is very poorly run and is in a long-term enrollment decline, and if I could have done one thing differently, it would have been to get the hell out of SDUSD before my kids started their relatively good schools. I would gladly sacrifice the intangible value of "urban vibe" for predictable high quality education for my children. I would have most likely ended up in North County.

Something else to think about - if you are just worried about the commute - you can drive into Downtown from Del Mar or Carmel Valley in 20 minutes, most people are commuting OUT of downtown for work, not into it.

[Ms_Intrepid]

Thanks! This is very helpful.

Unfortunately I am a little constrained...am very aware North County is probably the most ideal. But due to medical reasons I am trying to keep the commute as short as possible...its not just a matter of wanting to live in a hip area. I'll look at all the areas suggested. Worse comes to worse I guess private school will be an option.

[kettlepot]

I want to reiterate the Kensington suggestion. The alternative HS for Kensington is Patrick Henry. Yes, you will be a school commuter when your children are in their teen years, but so will other people in the neighborhood. There will be a lot of opportunities to form a school carpool.

There is a tendency towards DINKness in Kensington, but the kids aren't gone yet. There will be plenty around, and the opportunity to meet many of them at the local public playground.