Are you PCSsing to San Diego and want to know where to live?

If you’re in the military and you’re about to PCS to San Diego, and you want to know more about San Diego and all the top areas to live around the military bases, this is for you. We’re going to be covering all of that in significant detail right here. 

Options when purchasing a home

In this video, take a look at a few things. First, we’re going to take a look at some options that you have when purchasing a home here. Second, we’re going to look at the military bases and where they are located in San Diego. And then of course, deep dive into those neighborhoods and what to expect when moving. 

One option you have of course, is to actually just go ahead and move into the military housing on base of provided or near base. And then look at purchasing a home in an area after you move out here. So that’s going to allow you to get to know the neighborhoods in a little bit more intimate level since you’ll actually be living here and see where you would really like to live. There could be some added stress because you have to move twice. 

Another option is to buy before you move out here. There’s a couple of ways we could go about doing that. One is for you to actually fly out here or drive if you’re somewhat nearby and we can go ahead and explore the neighborhoods together, or we can also do virtual tours. If you’re looking at specific homes, we can put that list together and we can do virtual tours on your behalf over FaceTime; video conferencing so you can get to know that home and then place offers remotely. This is very regularly done, and it’s a great option now as well. Whatever you feel most comfortable with, that’s the best way to move forward. 

Making Offers and the VA Loan

Second, if you’re looking to buy with a VA loan, that’s a fantastic loan program, you can put as little as 0% down with no mortgage insurance. Something to keep in mind when you’re looking to buy a condo or town home, rather than a single family home, we have to make sure that that condo or townhome at the complex, the HOA or homeowners association is actually VA approved.

That condo has to be approved for a VA loan. It’s not uncommon, but it’s not super common either. We have to take a look at each one individually when we’re about to go look at it and make sure that it’s VA approved. Secondly, let’s look at the timeline that it takes to buy a home. When we’re actually under contract on a house, the timeline can be generally about 17 days up to about 6 weeks, depending on different factors.

The lenders that I work with typically can close as fast as 17 days. The reason you would want to close fast is because it gives you a competitive advantage when making offers to offer a quick close of escrow so that that seller can get their money quickly. Maybe you’re not comfortable with that, or maybe we don’t need to go 17 days. Maybe you could go 21 days or the standard of 30 days. 

When also making an offer, especially if it’s a quick close of escrow, like 17 days, it’s common to give a rent back to the seller. So they have time to move out of the house. That’s where the length of time to get extended. Let’s say you give a 21 day close of escrow, that’s 3 weeks, and then you give them 2 weeks rent back to move out. Then you’re looking at 5 weeks to close on that home so you can move into it. 

The other factor to keep in mind is how long it’s going to take you to find a home. At this moment, it is an extremely hot seller’s market, and it can take awhile to find a home. We need to make sure that we’re being laser targeted in what we’re looking for, and also potentially expand out maybe exactly where you’re looking forward to get into an affordable home for you. 

You can get in the home quickly. We have a lot of strategies that we use to get your offers accepted. The industry standard right now for offers being accepted is actually 18 offers before the offer is accepted. That is brutal. Fortunately, the strategies I use, my average offer to acceptance is about 2. That’ll help get you into a home much, much faster, and then get you moved out.

Where to Live in San Diego near the Military Bases

Let’s take a look at the areas of San Diego and I have an entire blog and video that actually breaks down these areas in very, very fine detail. If you want to learn a lot more about it, go ahead and check out that blog. And you can dive into all the areas of San Diego. This is going to be more specific about the military bases and the areas we’ve got in San Diego, we’ve got Central San Diego, Coastal San Diego, North County, East County, and the South Bay. And then some of those get broken down a little bit more fine detail as well with North County, really being North Coastal and North Inland.

Coastal San Diego

You’ve got Coastal San Diego, that’s pretty much going to be Downtown San Diego, Point Loma, Pacific Beach, up to La Jolla. As you get into North Coastal, then you’re going into Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas, Carlsbad and then into Oceanside as well. Central San Diego is going to be your areas of uptown like North Park, South Park, Hillcrest, Mission Hills, Mission Valley, Serra Mesa, Claremont, and Mira Mesa. And then getting up into a little bit Rancho Penasquitos and Rancho Bernardo that starts to get on that border of North County San Diego. And then East County, you’ve got areas such as Santee, El Cajon, Lakeside, La Mesa, Spring Valley and Lemon Grove. 

And then as you go further out in East County, Alpine. And the South Bay, that’s going to be areas such as Chula Vista, National City and Imperial Beach. Now Imperial Beach, Chula Vista and National City are all coastal San Diego as well. And then they stretch Inland quite a ways as well.

Let’s take a look at the military bases we have here in San Diego and where they fall within those broad areas of San Diego. The first one we have up is Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. That’s actually originally the Naval Air Station, which is now converted to the Marines and that’s where a Top Gun was filmed with Tom Cruise as Maverick. 

Very, very well known and beloved here in San Diego that’s located in Central San Diego.

Then you’ve got Marine Corps Camp Pendleton up in North County, basically Oceanside and Camp Pendleton is a massive military base and it really is awesome for San Diegans because it separates us from Orange County and Los Angeles. Without Camp Pendleton, it would just be one massive urban sprawl from San Diego up into Los Angeles. 

The other bases we have are Naval Base San Diego, Naval Base Coronado, which is the North Island Naval Air Station, as well as the Naval Amphibious Base where the Navy SEALs train and we have Naval Base Point Loma as well. And then of course we have the Coast Guard Station located in Point Loma also. 

Where to Live

One of the first things that you’ll need to decide is how far away do you want to live from your base? And how far are you willing to drive in order to find affordable areas of San Diego. Some of these bases, because they’re located in Coastal Areas are very unaffordable for most people. So starting with Marine Corps Miramar, we’re going to take a look at some of the areas around it. And I’m going to try to focus on the more affordable neighborhoods right around there. 

Mira Mesa/Scripps Ranch

Of course, located in Miramar, you’re actually right next to Mira Mesa. Mira Mesa is a very large community of mostly single family homes, but also you can find condos there as well. It is a somewhat affordable neighborhood of San Diego, like everywhere in Sandy right now, appreciation is on the rise and home values are rising quite rapidly, but that’s going to put you closest to the military base living in Mira Mesa. 

Mira Mesa itself is an extremely flat neighborhood, very few hills, except until you get to the coast into Sorrento Valley. Carmel Valley homes, they start to get much more expensive. It’s something to keep in mind with Mira Mesa is that the traffic can be quite heavy in this area. If you’re trying to get out of Mira Mesa, it can take a while to get to the freeway, to actually get out of it.  There’s tons and tons of shopping and restaurants in Mira Mesa. A lot of it tends to be chain restaurants, but there are some mom and pop restaurants there as well, but there’s also fantastic theaters and great shopping there in Mira Mesa

Next to Mira Mesa is Scripps Ranch. This is probably going to be important, the least affordable neighborhoods for you here in San Diego. Median prices right now are around $1.2 million and rising. If you’re looking for something higher end near Miramar, then Scripps Ranch is a fantastic option for you as well. 

Serra Mesa, Clairemont Mesa 

As you head south a little bit from Miramar, you’re going to hit the neighborhoods of Clairemont, Kearny Mesa, and then Serra Mesa. Kearny Mesa, there really are not a lot of homes there. There are some apartment buildings, very new apartment buildings that have been built there. If you’re looking to rent, that could be a great option, but Clairemont is going to have mostly single family homes and some condos and apartments as well. 

And what you’re going to find here is that it’s a somewhat affordable neighborhood of San Diego. It has also appreciated quite rapidly and is breaking right around a $1 million right now for medium price. And Serra Mesa is the same way. A lot of single family homes in Serra Mesa. Some condos as well, those condos going to be older. And in both of these neighborhoods, Serra Mesa and Claremont or Clairemont Mesa is you’re going to find a lot of midcentury homes. A lot of homes built in the 1950s and 60s. Some of them have been updated and renovated. Those are going to be your more expensive ones. If you’re looking for a home, you can potentially do some work on, you might be able to find some value here.

The great thing about Serra Mesa and Clairemont Mesa is they’re a very centrally located so you can get anywhere within the county very quickly. This is a fantastic area to live, if you’re really almost any military base, except for Camp Pendleton. 

East County – Santee, El Cajon, Lakeside

If you want to head to East County, this is where you’re going to find probably your most affordability and a little more space that we’re bang for your buck. These are the areas of Santee, Lakeside, and El Cajon. You’re mostly going to be finding single family homes in these areas. However, there are a number of condos as well. Santee has a lot of newer built condos and townhomes. El Cajon is going to have a little bit older condos that you could choose from as well.

Oceanside, Escondido, Vista, San Marcos

The next military base we’re going to take a look at is Camp Pendleton located essentially in Oceanside home to The I Marine Expeditionary Force. Again, I mentioned this kind of gives us a huge buffer from Orange County, so you could potentially live in Orange County. However, the entrance to the base is actually an Oceanside. So ideally you’re probably going to want to live in Oceanside. 

Oceanside is a fantastic area because of how affordable it is. It’s very developed of course, but as being heavily gentrified, there’s a lot of room for appreciation and growth in home value. It’s a very affordable option for you to live in Oceanside and be very near to your work. 

A couple other options though, of course, are going to be Vista, San Marcos and then as you head more east, you’re going to hit Escondido. In all these areas, you’re going to have a whole mix of single family homes, townhomes and condos. So depending on what you’re looking for, there’s a lot to choose from. The more east you get, so as you head into San Marcos and then Escondido, you’re going to have a longer commute. The 78 tends to get very backed up and the 76, both of these. So it can take a while to traverse those freeways. 

Carlsbad

Another option for you too, is Carlsbad. Carlsbad is going to be much more expensive neighborhood that sometimes you can find a townhome or condo that’s going to be a little bit more affordable for you. We’re going to drop down the coast into the Central Coastal Area where a lot of the other military bases are located such as the Naval Base Point Loma, Naval Base San Diego, Naval Base Coronado, which is Naval Air Station, as well as the Naval Amphibious Base for the SEALs train. And we’re going to take a look at what the options are around these. 

Coronado

First option for Naval Base Coronado is, of course, Coronado. Coronado is one of the most expensive zip codes in San Diego County. It’s actually its own city. It’s not actually part of the city of San Diego. There are a lot of retired military personnel that live here, but if you could get into it, that would be a great option. And it would be right on base there. And in a short drive to either of those locations. Of course that’s very expensive. Some other options are to live outside of Coronado and a fantastic option is Imperial Beach. The Navy SEALs are actually in the process of relocating to Imperial Beach. By the time you’re reading this blog, they could be completely relocated now. 

South Bay – Imperial Beach, Chula Vista

Imperial Beach is a fantastic option because it’s still gentrifying, it’s up and coming ,all kinds of money into developing Imperial Beach. There’s a lot of room for home price growth, especially with the Navy SEALs coming down there, it’s really going to fuel the economy down there. That’s a fantastic option to take a look at. That’s still somewhat affordable beach front, beach community type area. 

Take a look at Imperial Beach if you’re stationed at Coronado or even if you’re stationed at Naval Base San Diego. 

As we move out from the coast, now we’re starting to get into the Southbay areas: National City, Chula Vista, and again, as I mentioned in Imperial Beach, but Chula Vista has Otay Ranch, Otay Mesa and Eastlake. These are some really beautiful homes. There’s townhomes, condos and very large single family homes. These can be a fantastic option for you.

East County Continued 

The single family homes in these neighborhoods tend to be a bit on the more expensive side, the townhomes and condos being a little bit more affordable, but a lot of new builds.

So if you’re looking for something new, that can be a great area. Now you’re going to be pretty far off the freeway and a little bit further from the base. You might be looking at 20 or so minutes to get onto those bases. As you move further East out from these areas, you’re going to get into Spring Valley, Lemon Grove, La Mesa. And then also back into those areas I mentioned earlier, El Cajon, Santee and Lakeside. If you’re willing to drive a little bit further, those can be some really good options.

Spring Valley and Lemon Grove. We’re going to be probably two of your more affordable options in East County. As you get into La Mesa, then it’s going to start getting a bit more expensive for you. However, in both of these neighborhoods, it’s going to be mostly single family homes, again, some condos and apartments, but these are mostly single family home neighborhoods. 

Downtown San Diego, Pacific Beach

If you don’t have a family and you’re looking for kind of more of that nightlife, free urban type feel, Downtown San Diego can be a fantastic option for you. This is mostly high rise living. However, as you get into neighborhoods like Little Italy neighborhood, there are some more low rises, not quite townhomes, but kind of more of that view. That can be an option for you.

The HOAs are going to be very high there. And again, we have to take a look if they accept VA or not for each of those condos. Another option too is Pacific Beach. A lot of people love to move to Pacific Beach when they first moved to San Diego. When you get into North Pacific Beach, that tends to be more where the families tend to live. And then really in the heart of PB, it is a lot more singles and young couples.

That’s an overview of all the military bases and where they’re located in San Diego, as well as some of the top areas to live around them. I have lots of videos about specific neighborhoods here in San Diego, and of course, videos about the entire area of San Diego. You can really get a feel for it as well as lots of tips about moving to San Diego pros and cons, and what to think about when moving here. 

So please feel free to browse our YouTube channel. Please reach out to me and let’s have a conversation about how I can help you move to San Diego. I help people move here all the time. I get calls from people all over the world to help them move here to San Diego. And I absolutely love it. I would love to help you too.

Curtis Chism, Realtor
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