What’s it Like to Live in Coronado California?
You’re thinking about making a move or buying a second home here in Coronado. And you want to know everything there is to know about Coronado? This is for you! Overview of Coronado Coronado is one of my favorite places to be in San Diego. Every time I go there I feel like I’m on vacation. Even if it’s just for an hour or two, I absolutely love taking my family there and bringing friends to hang out and enjoy fantastic times with. Where Coronado is Located Within San Diego? Coronado Island is an island that’s connected by a small strip of land called Silver Strand. There’s miles and miles of beaches, over 6 miles of beaches from the Silver Strand up into Coronado Beach. It forms essentially the San Diego Bay. This is the main barrier from the Pacific Ocean that protects San Diego Bay with Point Loma just the north of it creating the channel to get into the San Diego Bay. You access it primarily through the Coronado Bay Bridge. The Coronado Bay Bridge was built in 1969. It’s a beautiful sweeping 2 mile long bridge before we had the bridge, you had to access it via ferry. So you’d actually drive your car into a ferry and access it that way or drive up via the Silver Strand. Search all Homes for Sale in Coronado California! Coronado is home to the North Island Naval Air Station so Coronado is actually technically originally 2 islands but over the course of centuries it merged into one giant island so now we have Coronado Island. What we call North Island, is home to the Naval Air Station. We have a massive military presence here on Coronado. 17% of the workforce actually is military so there’s a lot of active duty military that live here as well as a lot of military officers that have retired here. And because of that it is an extremely safe area, one of the safest places to live in all of California or America. The main streets through Coronado are 4th Avenue, it is the main street. There’s also the Naval Amphib base located here which is where the Navy SEALS train and have their headquarters. They are moving soon to the Silver Strand but this is where they do their basic training. They have a tremendous presence here on the island as well you’ll see Navy SEALSwalking around all the time and because of the the heavy military presence is a very patriotic community, a fantastic 4th of July parade, fireworks and it’s a fantastic place to be during 4th of July. The main streets through Coronado are 3rd Avenue. 3rd Avenue is actually the street that you take once you exit the bridge just continue on it that takes you all the way down to the Naval Air Statio. You’ve got Orange Avenue that’s essentially running north to south and that’s going to take you from the downtown area of Coronado which is essentially the ferry landing to the Uptown area of Coronado which is where a lot of other shops, restaurants and the Hotel del Coronado is located All the Fantastic Things To Do here in Coronado We have to start with the iconic Hotel del Coronado, commonly referred to as the “Hotel Del” or “The Del”. It is actually a historic landmark. It was built in 1888 when a couple of developers actually bought the entire Island of Coronado and then what they did is they subdivided up the land and they sold off plots of land about 350 people and that raised the funds to build the Hotel Del. They also built a power plant and a train station and then began developing the entire community in addition to the Hotel Del. The Hotel Del is the largest wood frame structure in the U.S. and at the time it was the largest electrified structure as well, so electricity obviously was fairly new and it was completely lit up and electrified. It is actually about to undergo a massive remodel it’s almost $180M remodel that it’s going to be undergoing here shortly. Pretty soon it’ll be much more modernized but it is a wonderful hotel. It certainly is not cheap to stay in but people absolutely love staying here, it is right on the ocean right on the beach. And it has attracted movies and movie stars for decades in the late 1800s through the first half of the 20th century. It was certainly the place to film movies and for movie stars to come to and vacation as well as presidents and other heads of state. In the late 1890s actually the first film was produced here and then various films were produced throughout the rest of the 20th century as well. Some of the people that have frequented Hotel del are people like Marilyn Monroe, Mickey Rooney, Grouchoand Harpo Marx, Donna Reed, Jimmy Stewart, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Walt Disney and then some of course famous people; Charles Lindbergh was honored here, there’s a ceremony for him and there’s been numerous presidents that have visited the Hotel del. Going back as far as President Harrison, he was the first president to visit the San Diego area and then followed by Franklin D. Roosevelt and then on from there with other presidents as well such as Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford and James Carter. The Hotel del is fun to visit any time of year but it’s especially special during the christmas season. There is a huge christmas tree in the main lobby of the Hotel del, they will and it’s probably 25 feet tall or so completely decorated so it’s a fantastic place to go with your family and take pictures. And then they have an outdoor ice skating rink as well, you can rent skates and skate around, got hot chocolate. They’ve got bonfires right out there on the beach. It is so wonderful to visit during the christmas season. World-Class Beaches in Coronado Coronado Beach Some of the other things to do are of course the beaches. There are some absolutely world-class wonderful beaches here on Coronado. The main beach being of course Coronado Beach and then it’s connected to the Silver Strand Beach as well. You have over 6 miles of beaches. The Coronado Beach itself is very very deep, it actually takes quite a while to get to the water from the street and is very very long as well. You have bonfires, a big huge square on fire pits located at the north end of Coronado Beach. And you also have dog beach at the very north end of the Coronado Beach before you get onto the military base. It’s a great area to take your dogs, they absolutely love it. Just don’t walk too far or you’ll be on the military base and you can’t be there unless of course you have military credentials. Gator Beach Another beach that’s part of Coronado beach is called Gator Beach. It’s more towards the South end Coronado as well. Again this hit it butts up to a military installation as well so you can’t go too far south or you’ll be on the military base. You really have about 2 miles of beach that you can cover without being on a Military area of the beach. This area isn’t as well known, Gator Beach, we call it secret beach here because just it’s not that well known. There’s a small parking lot, there are no restrooms right there. It’s a great place to go if you plan to be there for a couple of hours but probably not the best place to spend the entire day. And of course there are fantastic lifeguards based here in Coronado so if you ever get into trouble they will swim out there and rescue. I actually got rescued once by lifeguard here in Coronado, I didn’t think I was in any trouble but he’d let me swim for a while and he just kind of paddled next to me and then I jumped on his board and he brought me in really quickly. I was really grateful to be pulled in by the lifeguard. Silver Strand Beach The other beach is Silver Strand, this is the strip of sand that runs from Imperial Beach to Coronado so it essentially connects the Coronado Island with the rest of the main landmass. There is some really great beaches here on Silver Strand, there’s a fantastic RV camping areas, you can bring your trailer and you can camp there your RV, I do it myself as well, I’d really love going here, you’re camp right on the beach is absolutely fantastic. Super easy access to the water from there, it’s not so wide of a beach as it is north in actual Coronado Beach so if you’re looking to camp, you can definitely check this place out. You do have to have an RV or camper trailer, you cannot tent camp here. They use area for visiting and going to the beach here in Silver Strand as well. A really interesting feature about Coronado Beach is actually the letters on the beach. If you take a look at google maps, you can see that there’s actually Coronado spelled out on the beach in giant huge letters. These are sand dunes actually that someone formed quite a while ago. Apparently the story is that he was tasked or contracted to clean up all the seaweed that had accumulated on the beach and so instead of loading them off and taking the dump he actually formed them into these giant letters and then covered them with sand. A lot of them now have ice plant on them but you’ll find the Coronado letters laid out as in sand dunes so it’s pretty cool if you google the dunes, you can find them that way but if you’re just walking along the beach you’ll see them. You may not realize that they’re actually letters. A lot of locals don’t even realize that but if you look at Google Maps they’re definitely letters as you get further north in the beach they’re literally more like just dunes versus letters but that all comes from that original kind of creation of making these sand dunes out of seaweed. But now it’s pretty much sand and ice plant. Marinas Being right on the bay there are several marinas here as well where if you have a boat you can store your boat here. You can also rent boats, yachts that sort of thing. There is the Coronado Yacht Club, the Glorietta Bay Yacht Club and the Coronado Cays Yacht Club. Another park is Spreckel’s Park which is right on Orange Avenue. This has a huge grassy field and lots of trees so it’s very well shaded. It has public restrooms and a huge playground for the kids as well. They do concerts in the park here in the summertime so it gets really crowded in the summer time because people come out with their blankets and chairs and listen to fantastic music right in the park. It’s absolutely wonderful to do but this is right in the heart of Coronado. If you’re looking to go eat out later, this is a great place to kill some time with your family or to bring a picnic to and you can picnic there of course. You’re just a few blocks from all the shopping and restaurants as well. Glorietta Bay Park and Tidelands Park. Glorietta Bay, is also right next to a couple of the marinas that I mentioned earlier and there’s picnic areas, there’s a playground as well and you can launch kayaks from here as well. That’s actually something that I love doing my family is we actually have a couple inflatable kayaks that will go out and take our kids in and we’ll just paddle around the bay. Glorietta Bay is really nice because of very protected. It’s a much more protected area of San Diego Bay which you get out of the bay itself. It typically is very calm but sometimes it can get a little bit choppy with the wind or with larger boats going by. This is a really great area to launch your kayak from or your paddle board. You can launch from Glorietta Bay. The other park is Tidelands Park. You can launch kayaks from here as well, you can actually rent kayaks over here if you don’t have your own but there is also a huge playground here. Big huge grassy fields and baseball fields as well. This is a great area if you’re looking to do something like flag football or ultimate frisbee, there’s some great options here because of the huge open fields that they have. And it’s really an area that a lot of people go to picnic and have parties. All of these parks are really great areas depending on what you’re trying to do but definitely picnicking, parties you’re on the water, Glorietta and Tidelands Park, you can certainly do water activities there. Getting Around Coronado Coronado is super walkable. You’re probably not going walk from the Uptown area to the Downtown area but you probably will want to drive there or take a golf cart or bike.. However, once you’re in those specific neighborhoods, everything is very close by. First off, there is the Uptown Area which is kind of really the heart of Coronado which is essentially Orange Avenue and 10th Avenue. All kinds of restaurants and shops right here. And then there is the Downtown Area which is the Ferry Landing area. Also a lot of shops restaurants, a lot of souvenir shops that you’ll find here. You can also find here and in the Downtown Area bike rental shops. Holland’s Bikes is a great place to rent bikes from whether that’s traditional bikes or electric bikes. Something else that’s really fun is to rent these bikes called a Surrey, these are two-seater or four-seater bikes that are basically kind of like big carts that you can drive and pedal around and that’s a fun way to get around too. There is a bike path that runs along the bay it’s a bike and pedestrian path so if you’re on a bike you need to go slow and watch out for all the people walking but it’s a really fantastic path to walk along the bay and it runs from Ferry Landing down around to Tidelands Park. And then the bike path continues past that actually runs under the bridge and then pops you out kind of on the south end of Coronado down by the Hotel del. I mentioned golf carts, it’s a really fun way to get around Coronado. You can rent golf carts but a lot of residents actually own golf carts themselves and that’s how they get around the island very quickly without actually driving in their cars. I mentioned the Ferry Landing in the Downtown area so originally, the only way to access Coronado was via the ferry. You had to drive your car in the ferry that’s been completely converted to a pedestrian ferry so you don’t drive your car in there anymore but for about $5 you can take that and get back and forth between Coronado and Downtown. If you are looking to spend the day in Downtown or vice versa, Downtown over to San Diego, take the ferry instead of driving across the bridge. It’s a really fun way to go about doing it. Biking Something that i really love to do personally is to ride my bike around the bay and up the Silver Strand . There’s actually a bike path called the Bayshore Bike Path and it’s depending on where you pick it up but essentially from Downtown and you head south around the bay and then cut across the estuary there and then up the Silver Strand and you end in Coronado. It’s roughly 25 miles but it’s a fairly brisk easy ride, it’s very flat. There are a lot of headwinds that you pick up on the Silver Strand typically unless you go really early in the morning, it’s not so bad. You get some headwinds that kind of makes you work a little bit harder and then it ends in Coronado. And then I like to finish off with getting breakfast in Coronado or coffee that kind of thing. If I left my car in downtown then I would take the ferry and ride that back across. I used to live in North Park, all I’d actually do is I’d ride from North Park, do that same ride, take the ferry back and then ride back to my house in North Park. Restaurants In Coronado There are so many options so I’m just going to give you some of my top picks and where I like to go. First, in the Downtown Area, the Ferry Landing area is the Coronado Brewing Company. They make absolutely fantastic beer, it’s super consistent, very very high quality. They’ve been around since 1996 pumping out just incredible beers. They’re best known for their Mermaid Red. However my favorite beer that they’ve been making for the last few years is called Weekend Vibes IPA. Definitely worth checking out for their beer. Their food menu is fantastic as well, pretty much anything they put out is going to be delicious. I personally love the cajun shrimp tacos and then with a side caesar salad with that Weekend Vibes IPA, it is just absolutely fantastic. Another restaurant that’s a classic here is Spiro’s Greek Cafe. Putting out fantastic gyrosandwiches, absolutely delicious. Definitely worth checking out right in the Ferry Landing on the San Diego Bay. You can either eat there in the restaurant or take it and go sit on a park bench and watch the boats go by on the bay. Definitely worth doing there. The other one is Il Fornaio which is a really great Italian restaurant located right there in the Ferry Landing as well right on the bay. Fantastic views and excellent Italian food. And one of the most high-end restaurants in Coronado is the Peohe’s so if you’re looking for an absolutely high-end experience and fantastic cocktails, definitely check out Peohe’s which is again right there in the Ferry Landing with fantastic views of the bay. If you’re looking for a treat, you’ve got Cold Stone Creamery, just absolutely great ice cream that they’ve got. One of my favorite restaurants (in the Uptown area – around Orange and 10th Ave) is called McP’s Irish Pub. It is probably not the finest fair in the world but it has great fish and chips actually. I definitely would try that out. It’s known as kind of a navy steel bar but most of it is located outside the patio they do have a big indoor air as well but they have a fantastic patio. And it’s always hopping but definitely worth going with your family, your friends and you can have solid beer and solid food right there in Orange Avenue. It’s just a really fun exciting atmosphere that they have there at McP’s Irish Pub. If you’re hankering for pizza, you got Village Pizzeria, they’re putting out fantastic pizzas so definitely check those guys out. And then a newer player here in Coronado, although they have locations elsewhere is Buena Forchetta. Buena Forchetta started in South Park, they now have a location in Coronado. They took over an old car dealership here so they have some indoor dining but most of it is actually outdoor in the old parking lot but it’s been completely remodeled, it’s absolutely beautiful. They have incredible pizzas, Neapolitan-style pizza, Italian pizzas and they have a fantastic calamari as well. Great wine selection, their beer and cocktail menu isn’t as great but definitely if you’re looking for Italian food and a great wine selection, Buena Forchetta is the place to check out. Finally for restaurants here, if you’re looking for that treat that I mentioned earlier, MooTime Creamery. It has the best ice cream, it beats Cold Stone, hands down in my opinion. Definitely go there, it’s a 1950-style creamery so it has this huge cow out front and a statue of Elvis Presley is pretty hilarious. Definitely go there and you can do mixers, mix in different candies into your ice cream, different chocolates that kind of thing but I don’t typically do that. I typically just get the flavors they have there and then we share it with our family. It’s definitely worth checking that place out. Types of Homes Here in Coronado First off, the median price right now in Coronado is $2.85M in rising. You definitely are going to want to be coming in with at least a couple million dollars to buy anything here unless you’re looking for a condo there’s going to be a little bit cheaper depending on what you’re looking. But as far as the style of homes, you’re going to find here it is such a wide range of homes you can get here. Homes built from the early 1900s all the way up to today. There’s still custom homes being built; old homes are being torn down; new homes are being built, you can find almost anything that you’re looking for here. Either Craftsman style homes, East Coast Beach Cottage Style homes, Modern homes, Tudor Style homes, Mid-century Style homes and Mediterranean Style homes. There’s a huge range in home prices as well. Anything for single family homes right around $1.5M and then going all the way up to $36M and everything in between. This Historic House right here is the one that’s for sale for $36M so if you’ve got $36M you’re looking to spend, I’d be happy to help you spend that on this home. This other one this is the Baby Del, it looks a lot like the Hotel del, Victorian style home. It sold recently for about $16 located right on the beach, right across from Coronado Beach on a half acre lot here in Coronado. Most of the lots are typically not that size here in Coronado, they’re typically going to be more like 6,000 to 8,000 sqft. However, you can find some lots that are larger in the quarter acre range that’s when you start ticking up into those higher price points. Let’s dive into what you’re going to get in these different price ranges. In the single family home category for your budget is around $1.5M to $2.5M. You’re going to find homes that are typically a 2 bedroom or 3 bedroom with 2 to 3 bathrooms as well. The the square footages are going to be about 1,200 sqft to 2,600 sqft and again those lot sizes are going to be probably around that 6,000 sqft. You can find pretty much any of the homes I talked about in this price range it’s just going to depend on the size and how nice it is as well. If your budget is more like $2.5 to $4M, you’re going to start getting into 4 to 6 bedrooms; 3 to 5 bathrooms and a little bit larger square footages. Basically about 2,000 to 3,500 sqft, the lot sizes might be similar to what we talked about earlier with the 6,00sqft you might find some that are a little bit larger. And again, any of these types of homes that we talked about, the Mediterranean style, the Craftsman style, the Mid-century, those what you’ll find in these ranges. When you’re looking in the $4M on up range, kind of $4 to $12M range, these are definitely the much larger style homes you’re going to be about 4,000 to 6,000 sqft. You’re going to start getting into the larger lots kind of around a quarter acre as well and you’re going to be looking at homes that have bedrooms and bathrooms anywhere from 4 to 8 bedrooms and 4 to 8 bathrooms as well. These are definitely going to be more of your like Mansion. The homes in these different price ranges, they’re all going to vary quite a bit. Some are going to be older and need upgrading but for the most part when you’re buying the homes here, they’re typically fairly remodeled and upgraded so even if they’re older, you’ll often find homes that have all the modern amenities. Of course the newer they are, built in the last 15 to 20 years certainly going to have much more modern amenities. You’re also going to find pools in some of these homes, not all but you will find pools at some of these homes, that’s a fantastic feature to have if you’re looking for that. Two Communities We’re going to look at one that’s actually a condominium community, it’s very a very large condo community so it’s definitely worth touching on and then finally we’ll get into the last community that I mentioned at the beginning of this video that’s a really fantastic community. The condominium community is the Coronado Shores condominium community. It is 15 different buildings; 10 stories-tall with about 140 units in each building. Each building is actually managed by its own HOA. There are 4 heated pools in this community, there are 8 tennis sports as well, there is a beach club, a fitness club and and it’s right on the beach. Absolutely fantastic views that you can have from the Coronado Shores because you’re right on the ocean, you got right on the bay so depending on your your view and where you’re locating the building you’ll have fantastic views of the either the ocean or the bay, Mexico, the east mountains in San Diego. Search all homes for sale in Coronado Shores! You’re basically going to be paying about a $1M per bedroom in these condos. These were built in 1960s 1970s so there are homes here that have not been remodeled but for the most part once they’re going on the market they’ve typically been remodeled so you probably want to look for that so the homes I’m talking about are in that room or remodeled condition. The 1 bedroom condos are going to range from about $1M to $1.5M. 2 Bedroom/ 2 bath condos here, typically range about $2M to $2.5M. And then the 3 bedroom condos are typically going to be right around the $3M mark. The final community is really special is the Coronado Cays. Coronado Cays, although not gated is essentially a private community and it has a series of boat channels. A lot of these homes have their own private yacht slip. These Yacht slips range from anywhere from about 30 feet up to about 85 feet in length to accommodate your boat or yacht. If you have a boat that you’re looking to park right at your own home, Coronado Cays is the place to do it. Search all homes for sale in Coronado Cays California! These home prices are going to range quite a bit. There are condos here these are going to range typically from about $1.2M to $2M but as far as the homes that are going to have access to their own boat slips, these are going to be ranging typically anywhere from about $2M to $8M depending on exactly what you’re looking for and the size of the home. That is a complete overview of Coronado Island. I absolutely love Coronado. I love coming here with my family and selling homes here in Coronado as well. If I can help you whether it’s here in Coronado or anywhere else in San Diego buy a second home here or move here to San Diego, I would love to have that conversation with you. Whether it’s going to be 9 days or 90 days out, let’s talk about a game plan of how we can get you into the type of home that you’re looking for right here in San Diego. Curtis Chism, Realtor858-281-2568 | Mobilemailto:info@sandiegohomes.ioChism Team | DRE #02105113brokered by eXp Realty | DRE #01878277
Read MoreSan Diego No Fault Eviction Moratorium
If you have rental property in the City of San Diego or in Chula Vista, you need to watch this video or read this blog because we’re going to cover the new, San Diego No Fault Eviction Moratorium that’s going to affect you if you have tenants in place in 2022. No Fault Eviction Moratorium As reported by NBC San Diego, there is now a ban in the City of San Diego on what they’re terming, “no fault eviction”. Chula Vista is expected to follow suit shortly as well. No fault evictions are really just simply lease terminations. If you have a one-year lease in place or month to month, and that ends, then you cannot actually terminate that lease to move the tenant out for various reasons. A reasons for moving a tenant out might be to raise the rents (in compliance with the rent control ordinance that we have). Or it could be to move into the house yourself to occupy it, or to take that rental property off the market and sell it. Notice Timelines for Lease Terminations If you are looking to move back into the property yourself, you can issue a 90 day notice and then you can go ahead and move the tenant out and move back in yourself. If you’re looking to take the rental property off the market and sell it, you can issue a six month notice and then sell it at that time. But if you’re just looking to move a tenant out so you can raise the rents, that’s a no-go for quite some time. This is in effect until either September 2022 or 60 days after the San Diego County State of Emergency ends. The county recently extended the State of Emergency and is essentially tied to the California State of Emergency. And as we all know, at this point, we don’t know when that’s going to end. It seems to be dragging on for a very long time. You can negotiate cash for keys to try to move the tenant out, of course, as well. However, I would highly recommend whatever you’re trying to do, whatever your plan is, you get in touch with me and we get in touch with a local eviction attorney that specializes in all these cases, and she can walk you through exactly what needs to happen, how to issue the notices and make sure that everything is done ethically and legally so that everything goes as smooth as possible. Don’t try to do this on your own. Let’s get some professional help to navigate this situation. One word of advice too, if the tenant does not pay rent at all, then you can issue a normal eviction notice and go through those processes that as you’re aware, that can take quite some time. Even in this case, you’ll want to work with an attorney to make sure everything is done correctly. If the tenant is already paying partial rent under the COVID relief and they’ve applied for COVID relief, they’ve documented that, you cannot evict either. It has to simply be that they have not applied for any COVID relief funds and they’re not paying rent. Then you can go ahead and evict. If you’re looking to move a tenant out to sell your home, please reach out and let’s talk about how you can navigate this with the eviction attorney who can help navigate this as well. Wondering what it’s like to sell your home with Chism Realty Group? Click here to see all the benefits of working with us. Let’s get through this difficult time. It’s difficult for everybody, for tenants and for landlords, of course, as well, but I’m here to help you with your specific needs. Curtis Chism, Realtor858-281-2568 | Mobilemailto:info@sandiegohomes.ioChism Team | DRE #02105113brokered by eXp Realty | DRE #01878277
Read MoreAre 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, Realtor858-281-2568 | Mobilemailto:info@sandiegohomes.ioChism Team | DRE #02105113brokered by eXp Realty | DRE #01878277
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