Rancho Bernardo or Carmel Valley? (San Diego, Oceanside: rent, condo, homes)

[tintin_333]

My husband and I are moving to San Diego from Virginia (can't wait to escape from cold ). My husband will be working in Oceanside and myself in Rancho Bernardo and we have two young kids. So far, we are thinking about either Rancho Bernardo or Carmel Valley. What do you guys think of the area in terms of rent, safety, schools and commute? (we heard some horror stories about the San Diego commute)

Go Chargers

Thanks
Sally

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by tintin_333

My husband and I are moving to San Diego from Virginia (can't wait to escape from cold ). My husband will be working in Oceanside and myself in Rancho Bernardo and we have two young kids. So far, we are thinking about either Rancho Bernardo or Carmel Valley. What do you guys think of the area in terms of rent, safety, schools and commute? (we heard some horror stories about the San Diego commute)

Go Chargers

Thanks
Sally

Both very safe and upscale areas. Carmel Valley is decidedly more upscale and expensive. Both have really bad commutes but CV is probably worse than RB. Socketz can tell you a lot more about these areas.

[dusesean1986]

The only terrible aspect of your move is the 15 freeway is a nightmare through the North County Corridor. They are doing MAJOR improvements to the freeway and it should be completed in 2012. They are doing a $1 billion dollar Construction effort of 20 miles. Part of the work should be completed somewhere this year or next. The situation is terrible, it took me 30 minutes to get off the freeway one time, off the freeway off-ramp.

Other than that, the area is Exceptional, five star.

Gorgeous, expensive, beautiful homes and neighborhoods, safe, very family oriented. Rancho Bernardo, Poway, Carmel Valley are beautiful suburbs of San Diego. San Diego is an excellent city as well, very safe and family friendly, with lots of proffesionals. There are very rough parts, but they are segregated from the rest of the city. The beaches are excellent, waves, and 65 degree summer water temperatures. Rancho Bernardo is around 90-95 degrees in the summer with dry heat, not the humidity, the winters are high 40's to high 60's. It hardly ever rains in California, unless it's an El Nino year. The schools are tremendous in this area, and many friendly people and proffesionals. Tell me your thoughts.

[niy38]

you also can consider Ranch P or scripps Ranch. or carlsbad.

[tintin_333]

Thanks for the advice guys. It's much appreciated

dusesean1986,

30 minutes off the ramp??? That would have reallly tested my patience. We visited San Diego in early March. The weather was gorgeous. We totally fell in love with it. After living in Virginia for the past five years, I have alsmost forgotten what a year long good weather feels like.

My husband has some flexibility in terms of work schedule. Do you think the commute from RB would be any better if he sticks to an early schedule like 6:30 to 3:30? He is used to about 30-40 minutes commute now. I might have to deal with a grumpy man in the evening if he spends more time than that on the freeway

[dusesean1986]

Hey tintin,

North County San Diego is beyond exceptional. I would live there in a heartbeat, excellent all-year weather, tremendous schools, and a great family enviornment. The only problem with the area is the 15 freeway. Go to Sigalert.com between the hours of 3:30 and 6:30, and it will clearly explain to you what car speeds are traveling in the regular lanes and carpool lane at every intersection. It tells you the traffic speed in both directions. You can calculate Rancho Bernardo, Scripps, or Carlsbad or wherever you are thinking of living, and use you and your husbands workplace to clearly define how long the commute will be, and when you want to commute. I don't know the area that well, SO YOUR COMMUTE MAY BE OK! Be careful though, because look to see if an accident is near that side of the freeway. When I was there, A MEASLY TIME, I could have been in a previous accident jam, and that was maybe why it took 30 minutes to get off the freeway, or why it was almost bumper to bumper. I don't know the average off-ramp time, and I don't want to give you false information, maybe you can contact the user member Socketz or someone from the area, about off-ramp and on-ramp commute time. I hope that helps, anymore questions ask. GO TO THE WEBSITE, BUT MAKE SURE YOU DON'T MAKE A WRONG DECISION ON A TRAFFIC JAM BACK-UP. The website runs 7 days a week, even though you'll probably only need it 5. See ya!

[wall st kid]

I rent a great condo every summer in Carmel Valley, its awesome. When you walk around, all you see is young women pushing baby strollers, lots of families here, laid back, great place. I'd highly recommend it.

[CardiffBaseball]

In most cases I'd recommend CV over RB, however in your case, with him working in Oceanside, and you in RB, RB might not be so bad. It puts mom closer to the kids for one thing if that is important.

You also might want to consider Eastern parts of Encinitas. For instance from Olivehain you can take the back way over to RB in a pretty reasonable time, the only problem is that's it's a two way road. However you'd still have San Dieguito schools (like Carmel Valley).

My opinion though says I-5 North in the AM is very easy, and I would assume 56-west and 15 north to RB are pretty easy as all seem to go against rush hour traffic patterns so this might indeed make Carmel Valley more attractive.

[socketz]

I really like both areas, but if money was not a concern, I probably like CV better. Definitely more upscale and closer to the ocean while not atually part of the 'seedy' ocean element. It's really the best of both worlds.

What I don't like is I think the weather in RB is warner, sunnier than Carmel Valley. I worked in CV for many years and commuted from RB. I'd leave RB in the morning and it would be bright and sunny, then as I worked my way towards the coast, the gloom and cold would set in.....but it would clear up by lunch time or so.

Both communities are excellent choices and both have some of the best schools in San Diego. You really can't go wrong with either.

If you buy in West RB (4S Ranch, Camino Bernardo, High Country West), you will live in a hood that actually borders CV but cost about 60-70k less.