San Diego county (Escondido, El Cajon, Vista: apartment, rental, house)

[bagheerly]

Hi,
I am looking for a nice, less expensive city/town in the San Diego area. I'm not looking to live on the beach, even 30 - 40 miles inland would be ok...

Any thoughts/suggestions are much appreciated

[TomSD]

Depends on how you define nice... you want rural with some room or a community type suburb with perks or what?

[moved]

What's your rental budget? How many bedrooms? House or apartment?

[jksouthbay88]

You need to give us more details
Things your looking for in a city or community/development
Urban or suburban
Public Transport friendly ect ect

[bagheerly]

Sorry I am new at this.
2-3 bedroom house rent & own
suburbia but closer to rural
income $80,000 + (not exactly sure, I'm trying to convince my friend he can afford to live here - he's in MO right now)

thanks

kim

[djxpress]

Alpine, Julian, Valley Center, Ramona, Fallbrook, Pala. Those are all viable choices that are far away from San Diego's hustle and bustle, but close enough to not be totally backwoods.

[sdhkshdcny09]

parts of eastern escondido, near San Pasqual valley: somewhat rural, but very close in proximity to the freeway, shopping etc.

i would suggest poway, but its a lot more expensive.
i think julian, valley center, and pala are very rural. Ramona is pretty far out too..

semi rural/suburban is probably best found in Fallbrook, Bonsall, Alpine, northeast vista, rancho san diego, jamul

[esmith143]

There are several parts of the city that fit this description. You basically start out downtown and head out in any direction, and sooner or later you can find a suburban/rural place that you can afford on a $80,000 budget. Well, except due north, because you hit a military base (Camp Pendleton). And due south because you wind up in Mexico. And all westward directions, for an obvious reason.

So, that means you have to figure out where you're going to work. If you work in north county, you might find it convenient to commute from Vista. If you're downtown or in that general area, Alpine or Jamul might do it. If you're near the 5-805 merge ... well then you're basically screwed, but Escondido might work, as well as parts of Lakeside and El Cajon, and I know of people who commute from Ramona, though that's a bit of an overkill.

Also, it will be much easier to choose a place to live if you go for 100% suburbia rather than "closer to rural". Rural is hard to come by here, but suburbia is everywhere.