What is it like to live in Santee California? | Best San Diego Suburbs
Whether you’re looking for an affordable area to raise your family or some new construction homes, Santee is the place to be. This is your complete guide to living in Santee. I am a third-generation San Diegan and I used to live in Santee myself. I’m a realtor here helping people move to San Diego and within San Diego. Discover everything there is to know about life in Santee. All About Santee Let’s talk about where Santee is located and that is in East County, San Diego. So of course, it’s a little bit east of the city of San Diego, just about 10 minutes or so from the actual city of San Diego, about 20 minutes from downtown to San Diego. The main freeway to get out there isthe 52 freeway. hat’s going to take you from the Kearny Mesa area out to Santee. Or you can take the 8 freeway and then take the 125 and that lands you right in Santee as well. We also have the 67 freeway on the far east side, which separates it from Lakeside. Santee is bordered by Lakeside as well as El Cajon. The main roads through Santee are Mast Boulevard, which heads east to west. Mission Gorge Rd, which also heads east to west. And Cuyamaca and Magnolia streets, which head north and south. These are your main arteries to get you in and around the city of Santee. Santee Town Center Right in the center of Santee is the Santee Town Center. This is where all your primary shopping is going to be. You’ve got all the big box stores like Target, Walmart, Costco, Home Depot, Lowe’s, a lot of chain restaurants as well. Your Chick-fil-A, In-N-Out, Raising Cane’s, Chipotle, different chain restaurants like that. There are some non-chain restaurants, certainly, but Santee tends to be known a little bit more for its chain restaurants. There are some really great coffee shops there, like Kaffee Meister, it’s a fantastic place to go get a cold brew and have a scone. And then also Board & Brew has some amazing sandwiches and awesome beer on top as well. Things To Do in the City of Santee Now there is so much to do in the city of Santee. First off, there is a big Sportsplex there. It has multiple soccer fields and baseball fields. So there are a ton of sporty events that occur there and you can rent it out for parties and corporate events as well. They also shoot fireworks off from the Sportsplex during 4th of July so depending on where you’re located in Santee, you can have a fantastic view of the fireworks and right next to the Sportsplex is the YMCA, it has the community pool that they partnered with the city of Santee. Also there’s a small waterpark; you’re just looking to get exercise in, it’s a fantastic pool to go to to swim. There’s also golfing in Santee at the Carlton Oaks Country Club as well. Now, one of the big attractions in Santee is Santee Lakes. Santee lakes is actually a series of about nine lakes and there was a lot to do there. There are tons of playgrounds. You can picnic there, you can fish there. You can fish for Trout, Carp, Catfish, Bass. Trout, you can catch and take home as well as Carp. For Catfish, they prefer that you catch and release and Bass is definitely catch and release there. There is also a large RV campground where you can rent space for a weekend, or you can even stay long term in your RV here 30 days or more, I believe up to six months. There’s also cabins you can rent during the week or the weekend as well. And those are right on the lake. It’s a really great vacationing area either to go for the day and enjoy with your family or to go for a week or more at a time. Santee has some great parks as well. Big Rock Park is probably the most well-known, it has Pickleball, it has a dog park, it has playgrounds, it has barbecues, basketball courts. If you’re looking for a place to exercise or have a family party, a birthday party, anniversary, a special event, it has a fantastic park to go to. It is really huge and it’s right up on Mission Trails Park. So great scenery there as well. And then you also have Mast Park, a very large park, right in Santee and a nature discovery area as well. Santee is also the primary access point for Mission Trails Regional Park. It has 65 miles of hiking trails and mountain biking trails. A lot of people will come to Santee just to go to Mission Trails Park to enjoy the incredible recreational activities that mission trails has to offer. Another feature of Santee is Gillespie Field. Now Gillespie Field is actually in the city of El Cajon, so it’s just south of Santee, but as a big commuter airport in El Cajon, the planes fly over Santee as well. So that’s a pretty interesting feature of Santee. Weather in Santee Now the weather in Santee does get rather warm. So keep that in mind that you’re probably going to want air conditioning when you move out here and probably a pool. We’ll talk a little bit more about that. Now down in the valley of Santee, it tends to get pretty hot, cause there’s not as much air movement through there. However, if you own a home, that’s more up on the hillsides of Santee you’ve got a fantastic ocean breeze that comes across the Hills and actually stays relatively cool, at least comfortable, even when it gets warm into the hundreds during the summertime. The Santee being an East County, East County is known to be more of the rural part of San Diego County and is more affordable overall. Therefore, it’s more of a blue collar community and certainly very family oriented. However,there are some more expensive homes in therange. Because it’s more affordable and certainly more of a blue collar atmosphere. Types of Homes in Santee Now let’s talk about the types of homes that you’ll find in Santee. There isa very wide range of homes, you can find here. Anything from homes built in the mid-century about the 1960s, 1970s, as well as brand new construction, and very recently constructed home. So depending on your budget and the amenities you’re looking for, there’s a wide range of options. In Santee, you can find homes with lots ranging from as small as about 6,000 square feet, all the way up to two acres. Now it’s very common to find homes with a quarter acre to a half acre of lot size. So if you’re looking for a little bit more space or maybe you’re not quite elbow to elbow with your neighbor, Santee is a great option for you. There are a lot of homes that have a similar floor plan that were built right around 1960. 3 bedroom, two bath homes ranging from a just over a 1,000square feet to about 1,100 square feet. These are fantastic starter homes. Some of them have been flipped and upgraded by previous owners. And some of them need a little bit more work first. You might be able to get in and find kind of a deal on one of the older homes that you can do the work yourself, or you might find one that’s been upgraded and of course, it’s going to go for a little bit more money But right now, those homes are going to range about $650,000 to $800,000 depending on the level of upgrades that have been done to them. Now, the median price for homes in Santee right now, which is rapidly rising at this time is $765,000. There’s also a lot of other homes built in the 1970s. These ones are going to be a little bit larger, generally speaking, and you’re going to find homes that are going to range in this area from about 1,500 – 3,000 square feet. Now these homes are going to be a little bit more expensive and they’re going to range from about $800,000 – $1 Million, again, depending on the level of upgrades that have occurred to them. Now you are going to find a lot of homes in Santee that have pools, not all of them, but certainly a fair amount because it does get warm out in Santee. Also, as I mentioned before, if you can get up on the hillside, not only is it going to stay a little bit cooler for you, but you’re also going to have some really fantastic views of the city and of the surrounding mountains as well. Townhomes and Condos Now there are a number of townhomes and condos in the city of Santee as well. These are going to be a little bit more affordable at a median price right now around $530,000 also rapidly rising along with the whole county of San Diego, but a little bit more affordable and there’s a whole mix of condos here. Older ones built in the 1960s, 1970s, as well as some more newer construction homes and we’ll get into those here in just a minute. New Construction – Sky Ranch If you’re looking for homes that are on the newer side, a great place to start is the community of Sky Ranch in Santee. Sky Ranch is on the eastern side of Santee up on a hillside right on top of a mountain. And it has absolutely incredible views of the city of Santee, but also looking east into the mountains of San Diego. These homes are definitely on the larger side, generally ranging from about 3,000 to 3,400 square feet, 4 to 6 bedrooms, 3 to 5 bathrooms, incredible views from here. Oftentimes they have a pool as well. These homes are going to range from about $1.2 – $1.7 million. There is an HOA here of about $220 a month, but there is no Mello-Roos. Modern Spanish style homes are going to have very large entertaining areas, large living room, large family rooms, large open kitchens as well, very large bedrooms and bathrooms.They’re also going to be fairly modern as far as granite countertops, stain kitchen cabinets. So maybe not the quartz that you’re seeing a lot of times now, but definitely granite countertops. And these are just really beautiful, gorgeous homes. And it’s a fantastic community to live in. Now there’s a townhome community in the Sky Ranch neighborhood called NorthStar. It has a range of homes for about 1,000 to 1,500 square feet, 2 – 3 bedrooms, 2 – 3 bathrooms in each one. The HOA here is about $400 a month. There are a lot of amenities that come with it though. You have a pool and jacuzzi, a barbecue area and a clubhouse as well.A lot of these homes are going to have really great views too, because again, it’s built up on the top of this mountain. New Construction – Weston The other newer community, which actually some of these homes are still being completed right now is the community of Weston. It is located right off of Mast, closer to the 52 freeway right next to West Hills High School, which is a great high school here in Santee. These homes were completed in 2019, but as mentioned, still a few of them are being completed as the community has finished getting built out. So at the moment, there are not a lot of homes available for sale here but they are starting to come available as some people are looking to move on to other areas, but this is a fantastic neighborhood. The homes are absolutely gorgeous. Generally modern Spanish-style homes. They’re ranging in size from anywhere from about 2,300 to 3,300 square feet. The bedrooms are going to be about 4 bedrooms all the way up to 7 bedrooms. Bathrooms are going to be 3 to 5 bedrooms as well. These price ranges are going to be around $1.1 to $1.6 Million. Most of these aren’t necessarily going to have a view. However, some of them will when the ones that are located along Santee lakes, those are going to have the best view for you as well. Now the backyards here are going to be a bit on the smaller side. You’re not going to have the larger lots. You might get elsewhere in Santee, but they’re going to be very beautiful and very private. Now there is a community area as well. There is a park. It’s a fantastic area for walking dogs. There’s a clubhouse. There is a pool. Now there is an HOA and Mello-Roos that comes with this so it’s going to be totally around $450 per month with the combination of the HOA and the Mello-Roos. New Construction – Prospect Fields The other newer construction area is a neighborhood called Prospect Fields. This is located on Prospect, just west of the 125 freeway, a really nice neighborhood with of course, newer homes built in 2017. And so the neighborhood is starting to turn over just a little bit so homes can come available here occasionally. These homes are generally going to be 3 or bedrooms, and generally 2-and-a-half to 3 bathrooms. And they range in size from about 1,900 to 2,200 square feet. They’re going to be very modern as well. Granite countertops, large entertaining areas. And they’re going to have backyards that are small, but decent size. Not going to have any views here, definitely in a flat area of Santee, but you’re going to have a lot of privacy. The cool feature about this area is basically the neighborhood is a loop. And so the only through traffic in here is the folks that live in this neighborhood. There is a small basketball court and a playground in this neighborhood and there is an HOA fee of $156 a month but no Mello-Roos. That is the guide to living in Santee. If you’re interested in exploring Santee, please hit me up. I’d love to meet with you and talk to you more about the specific neighborhoods of Santee and what kind of home you are looking for. Again, I am a real estate agent here in San Diego, helping people buy and sell homes. If I can help you with that journey of buying your home, please call, text or email me. I would love to help you in buying your home here in Santee or anywhere here in the county of San Diego. Curtis Chism, Realtor858-281-2568 | Mobilemailto:info@sandiegohomes.ioChism Team | DRE #02105113brokered by eXp Realty | DRE #01878277
Read MoreIs the San Diego Housing Market Finally Cooling off?
With the war in Ukraine and rising interest rates, is the market in San Diego finally cooling off? Let’s answer the question: what is happening in the San Diego real estate market? Is it finally cooling off because of things like the war in Ukraine, rising interest rates, inflation. How is that impacting the San Diego real estate market? The first thing to keep in mind is to remember that fear sells! There is so much doom and gloom going on right now in the media and real estate, but that’s because it’s all about clicks and getting eyeballs to sell advertising. Keep that in mind when you’re seeing these headlines, not everything you read is necessarily true. And especially when it comes to how it impacts the San Diego real estate market. San Diego real estate market is certainly not cooling off right now. Here’s what’s actually happening. The median price of homes is now at $975,000. For reference sake, from July through December of 2021, we hovered from $850,000 – $860,000 as the median price.In January, it shot up to $885,000. Then in February it went to $915,000. And now we’re at $975,000 in just three months. We’ve gained from $850,000 to $975,000. That’s $125,000 of equity gain that’s occurred on average in the county in just three months and housing prices are up 14.7%! It’s absolutely incredible! The sales to list price, which is a big metric we look out to see how far homes are selling over the original list price, is that 106.6%. Last month, it was 105.3%, which was a record breaking number. We’ve never had that high of an average final sales price to list price. And then this month we broke that record and that’s on a higher purchase price. This is showing how much people are overbidding on homes right now to take them down. On hot homes, they’re going for far more than 6.6% over list price. They’re going for 20%, 25%, 30% over list price. I just had a listing that closed in March and it sold for 25% over list price, a $190,000 over the original list price. The other thing we look at is days on market. That is trending back down but for a while itwas trending up. We had risen24 days on market then it went down to 23. As of March, we’re only at 19 days. Again, this is all the homes in the county so any hot home is selling over the weekend. It’s getting listed on, say a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, and then it’s sold by Monday or Tuesday the following week, once all the bids come in. It’s only those homes that aren’t maybe so great that are still on the market and drives that number back to the 19. But overall on average, we’re coming down to this 19 days on market. So if you’re looking for a home right now, you still need to be aggressive and go after. If you see it, you got to jump on it. You have to be willing to play the game. You have to be willing to go over the list price. That’s where we come in and we take a look at each specific home and find out what’s really happening. I came across a home this past week. It actually had fallen out of contract for certain reasons. It was still a great home and there was an opportunity to get under contract for really just essentially at this price because of what had happened with everything. There are opportunities out there. You just have to be looking for them and be working with an agent that can identify those and help you jump on them. But generally speaking, unfortunately, you’re going to have to prepare for spending 10%, 15%, 20% oftentimes over list price and look at things like covering appraisal gaps. That’s a lot of detailed information. We can go over in person, but that’s what’s actually happening in the economy. With rising inflation, people are pouring their money into real estate. It is the safest place to be in an inflationary environment. Long-term debt actually becomes cheap money in an inflationary environment. A lot of people recognize that, and that’s why so much money is coming into real estate right now. And especially San Diego! San Diego has just 9,500 homes, new units that are being built this year, just 9,500. When we compare that to other cities around the country that are of similar size to San Diego, like Seattle or Orlando, they’re building at least double that amount of homes. We’re very constricted in our space here. As you know, there’s really not a whole lot of room to grow and build in San Diego. And so that’s really constricted supply, especially with the various building regulations we have here. And just lack of permits being issued there just as very little supply. Overall demand is strong. Is it off the chart strong? Not necessarily, but because supply is so low and new building is so low, it’s driving the prices up very, very high. We did hit 2,000 homes total available finally, as far as inventory, we had been around 1700 homes for awhile. That was extremely, extremely low. 2,000 is still very low, but at least there’s a little bit more options out there for buyers right now. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens in the long-term as interest rates continue to rise and buyers do start to drop out of the market because they just cannot afford it anymore. There are going to be fewer buyers, there are going to be fewer offers. Eventually the over bids are going to start to level out a bit. But right now, as we’re seeing in the March data and the February data and the January data before that, that is not what’s happening right now. So we’ll see what happens come April and May. But right now it’s still extremely strong. If I can help you buy or sell a home, please reach out to me. I’d love to help you have a conversation about that and what that looks like for your specific situation. Curtis Chism, Realtor858-281-2568 | Mobilemailto:info@sandiegohomes.ioChism Team | DRE #02105113brokered by eXp Realty | DRE #01878277
Read MoreWhere Should I Live in Moving to San Diego
Wondering where you should live when moving to San Diego California? In this blog post, I’m going to cover my Top 5 favorite areas of San Diego! I’m a third-generation San Diegan, born and raised here in beautiful, America’s finest city, San Diego and I know all the best areas of San Diego. Serra Mesa The first area that I really love here in San Diego, it’s super near and dear to my heart is the area of Serra Mesa. So Serra Mesa is actually the neighborhood that I grew up in. I was born in the early eighties and grew up in a fantastic time to live in Serra Mesa, and we played on the streets a lot and really had a fantastic time growing up in the Serra Mesa neighborhood. It’s super, super family-friendly. If you have children, it’s certainly a fantastic neighborhood to consider. There are a lot of dead-end streets as you hit canyons. And so this this kind of creates all these cul de sacs. So not a lot of through traffic in some of the neighborhoods. Some of the main streets you’re going to have more traffic, of course, but a lot of the actual neighborhoods don’t have a lot of traffic so it’s pretty calm, not going to have a lot of traffic through there. You’re going to have people that are walking their dog or going for a little bike ride, that kind of thing. It’s a very relaxed, easygoing place. The homes are all mid-century; modern type homes. So a lot of them, we kind of joke look like mobile homes originally, but a lot of these have been upgraded and they have fantastic finishes now. But it’s just a really great neighborhood. It’s super, super central, which is really one of the main attractors of this location. And it really was a hidden gem for a long time, but is being discovered now. Most people did not know where Serra Mesa was when I was growing up. Now when someone mentions it, a lot of people know where it is. Now, because it’s so central, you can get anywhere in the city super, super fast. Just maybe 12 minutes to downtown, 12 to 15 minutes to the airport, 10 to 15 minutes to the nearest beach and Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, Ocean Beach. And then you can get to East County really quickly, too. So if you have friends that happen to live in East County or you want to do activities out there within about 15 to 20 minutes, you can be just about anywhere in this county. And then you’re not too far from heading up north as well. You can be in Miramar, Mira mesa, Scripps Ranch area in about 15 minutes as well. Now Serra Mesa’s positioned right above Mission Valley, which is a very growing area for sure, and it’s getting busier and busier. So there is becoming more traffic through the main corridors of Serra Mesa, which is Murray Ridge, for instance. But that being said, there’s a lot going on in Mission Valley. There’s a brand new stadium that’s being built. Perhaps by the time you’re watching this, it’s already been built, the Aztec Stadium. So San Diego State University, SDSU, our local well-known college, is building a new stadium there. They took over the grounds of the previous Qualcomm Stadium, which before that was called Jack Murphy Stadium, tore it down completely and are building a brand new state-of-the-art stadium there, along with apartments and shops so it’s going to completely revitalize that part of Mission Valley. It’s going to be really incredible. Home values are going to start rising rapidly as that kind of development comes into the area. It’s also right next to the community of Civita. Civita has Civita Pak, which is a fantastic park. You can go and walk around, walk your dog. You can exercise there, playgrounds for the kids, fantastic area. And Civita is a great place to live as well. And then Serra Mesa itself has some a really great park called Murray Ridge Park. There’s no restrooms at this park, but the benefit of that is it does keep homeless people away. However, it has a huge grassy field. So if you’re looking to play ultimate Frisbee or soccer or football, this is a great park to do that. It also has a basketball court and a tennis court and of course, playgrounds there as well. Now the shopping in Serra Mesa itself is not particularly extensive. There is one shopping center in Serra Mesa, just a little strip mall. It has, I believe, a Rite Aid and a Crunch Fitness. Those kind of changed every so often and a couple of shops as well. There’s a great Mexican food restaurant there called El Cotixan and it has fantastic carne asada burritos. I used to go there and buy carne asada burritos for about $3-$3.50. Now they’re more like $8 or $10, but definitely worth checking out for the burritos right there in Serra Mesa. The schools in Serra Mesa are pretty good. They’re not the best in San Diego, but they are pretty solid. So if your kids are in public school, it’s a decent option for them. But there are some great charter schools right there in Serra Mesa as well. There’s Elevate located at Faith Community Church right off the 805 in Murray Ridge. So that’s a great option for you as well for schools. Now, with Serra Mesa being so close to Kearny Mesa and Miramar, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the awesome craft breweries that are located in Kearny Mesa, also Miramar. I actually used to own a craft brewery located in Kearny Mesa, now. Kearny Mesa is actually mostly a commercial area. There’s a few apartment homes now in Kearny Mesa that have been built, but there’s some fantastic breweries located here, like Societe Brewing, which is cranking out world class beers for sure, and then Ketch Brewing. Now Ketch actually their main locations for restaurants are down in the harbor. So you actually have one downtown and then you have one on Shelter Island and it’s all menu for restaurant. It’s awesome. Right on the marina there. Beautiful. This one is in Kearny Mesa and this is actually a production brewery so they have their production facility right there and they also have a full food menu for you there in Kearny Mesa as well. And then also Kearny Mesa has a great restaurant. It’s kind of the original craft beer place in San Diego, and that is O’Brien’s right there in Kearny Mesa. Fantastic food and beer. North Park Now, the next area that I’d move into is North Park. I actually lived in North Park for about 8 years. North Park is also very centrally located here in San Diego. It’s in the neighborhood of Uptown, which includes areas such as Hillcrest, Mission Hills, Normal Heights, University Heights, of course, North Park and then South Park. It’s also basically directly south of Serra Mesa. To go from Serra Mesa to North Park, you would just jump on the 805 freeway crossover Mission Valley across that long bridge there across Mission Valley. And boom, you’re right into North Park, get off on El Cajon Boulevard or University Avenue and there you are. North Park was named the third most hipster town in America just a few years ago. If you’re not into that, maybe that’s not for you. I’m not particularly hipster, but I really loved living there, so I moved there back in 2014 and again lived there for about 8 years. It was so awesome being so centrally located within the city but also to be able to get to any restaurant or bar that I wanted to get to very, very quickly, whether that was on foot or if it was on bike or even now scooter. When I first moved there, there weren’t scooters available and now there are, so a lot of times I would just walk out of my house, find a scooter and head up the street to one of the local bars. It’s a really fantastic neighborhood with really cool old homes here in North Park. A lot of Craftsman style and Spanish style homes now. Now there are a lot of condos here and apartments as well. The condos are going to be a little more affordable now compared to the homes. The homes are definitely reaching well over $1,000,000 now, but the condos are going to be a little bit cheaper but there is also a lot of apartments. With all these condos and apartments, this creates a big parking problem in North Park and really the whole surrounding areas of Uptown, it’s kind of similar situation. So if you do live here, you really want to make sure you’re getting off street parking because otherwise you’re going to have to park potentially six blocks away from your house walking home late at night. That gets old really fast. Something else to keep in mind with the homes in this neighborhood is that they are older. So when you’re buying them, you want to make sure you have full home inspections and just be prepared that there’s going to be some extra costs you may not find in other homes like foundation problems or plumbing problems, that kind of thing. Now, the owners might have upgraded them already, and that’s fantastic. There are many bars and breweries, here in North Park. However, , there’s been some turnover lately with COVID and some of them didn’t quite make it, but one of my favorites is Seven Grand. It’s a whiskey bar, but it also serves up great craft beer as well. There’s Mike Hess Brewing and North Park Brewing, both are world-class breweries that are serving up tremendous beer on a daily basis. Mike Hess Brewing, they teamed up with a local restaurant called Encontro so you can order right off their menu. They also have food trucks that stop by regularly, so pretty much every day you can have a food option. And then North Park Brewing, they have partnered with Mastiff Sausage and they have a fantastic kitchen and menu that they pump out some amazing foods based around primarily sausages, of course, but other options as well. But their beer at North Park Beer Company is fantastic. And then you also have Original 40, which is a great brewery. It’s really making some of the best beer here in San Diego right now. One of my favorite restaurants in North Park that I typically will take friends or clients to is called Working Class. I love Working Class because they have a fantastic happy hour. It typically runs from 4:00 to 7:00 pm during the week and you can get typically $4 beers, $5 appetizers. So you meet there and drink there very inexpensively compared to a lot of other options in North Park and North Park where it’s located like I said, it’s super central and it’s also right next to Balboa Park and Morley Field. Morley field is a really cool, huge public park that’s part of Balboa Park. It has Frisbee golf. It has tons and tons of tennis courts. It has a velodrome, it has a public pool and just huge grassy areas. You regularly see people out there just walking around or doing exercises, group exercises, that kind of thing. South Park My next favorite area and these aren’t necessarily in any particular order, but is South Park. So South Park, of course, is directly south of North Park. Now South Park, it’s been discovered as of late, but I lived there for about four years. When I moved back from going to college, I moved into South Park. I rented a little tiny one bedroom apartment in this old Victorian home that had been converted from a house into an apartment building, likely during World War Two. A lot of the homes in South Park were requisitioned by the US government to provide housing for their troops. They would buy these homes typically, but sometimes they would work with the homeowners and they would house our soldiers here in the Navy because they just needed so much extra housing because of the influx of sailors. A lot of these homes, sometimes the homeowners would actually live in part of the home. They would divide off the rest of the home, and then they would have barracks for their sailors in the rest of the home. So this was one of those homes, actually, the kitchen was, you could tell, built in the hallway of the home. So it was a really tiny little kitchen. But I lived there for four years in the first year of marriage with my wife. So I have very fond memories of South Park living right there on 30th Street, 30th Street being the main artery right through South Park. The homes in South Park are so charming, they’re mostly Craftsman-style homes, a few Spanish-style as well. But these are just absolutely incredible homes, typically very well taken care of. Now, South Park, like I said, because it wasn’t really known when I lived there and the reason for that is actually because it was certainly one of the early places to gentrify and it’s actually a very safe neighborhood. I always felt safe and comfortable there and I absolutely love hanging out in South Park. It has almost this Mayberry feel to it. I definitely love going there and I love going to some of the local restaurants. Unfortunately, some of those restaurants and bars didn’t quite survive COVID like Hamilton’s Tavern and South Park Brewing. Unfortunately, an electrical fire took them out. And then Grant’s Deli was a great location, too, which just recently went out of business and is turning over to something new. But there are some fantastic restaurants still there, Kindred, which is actually a vegan restaurant that has fantastic cocktails. So if you’re into vegan food, that’s a great option for you. And right across the street from Kindred is Buona Forchetta. Buona Forchetta is a fantastic Italian restaurant. This is actually their original location. They now have multiple locations throughout San Diego, but this is where it all started in a tiny little house that they converted into the restaurant with a little kitchen, and then eventually they expanded into a very large outdoor seating area. And it’s definitely worth checking out. You need to go early, otherwise you’re going to be waiting potentially a couple hours. I do think they do take reservations if you’re over a party of six, but certainly worth checking out. The other one I really like here is called The Station. So they’re mostly known for their hamburgers, fantastic burgers and turkey burgers as well. Very, very family-friendly as well. And they’re mostly just serving up beer and wine, but that’s definitely a great place to go for a late night eat. There’s a really cool bar here as well called Whistle Stop. They’re serving up beer as well, but they’re also known as a music and comedy venue as well. There’s also a really good dog wash here in South Park and it’s called the South Park Dog Wash. So if you have a furry friend that you want to get groomed or get some gourmet treats for them, gourmet foods, that kind of thing, this is definitely the place to check out. Little Italy Now we’re going to start moving coastal, still not too far away from where we’ve been in North Park and South Park, and that is downtown, but specifically the neighborhood of Little Italy. Now, I spent a lot of time here in Little Italy, never lived here, but I worked here. I used to be a construction Project Manager. I built two of the high rises here in Little Italy, Sapphire Tower, a luxury condo and Ariel Suites an apartment building also on the luxury side. So I spent about four years working here, enjoying the local restaurants, the local bars and getting to know this neighborhood. I love Little Italy. It’s a mix of low-rise, mid-rise and high-rise buildings. So it isn’t a flight path to San Diego. That being said, once you get into the heart of Little Italy, you really cannot build much higher than a certain height. Otherwise it’ll block the flight path. You definitely don’t want that. But there are so many great restaurants here. Of course, a lot of Italian restaurants being Little Italy, but a lot of other restaurants as well. You’ve got the very well-known Mona Lisa, an Italian restaurant cranking out amazing pizza and Italian food. And also it has a little market inside as well. You also have Filippi’s, which is a fantastic pizza place as well. It’s kind of a thicker pizza, very heavy. But they also have other types of Italian foods you can order up there as well. The lasagna is fantastic. Definitely worth checking that out. It also got Crack Shack, which is a great chicken restaurant right there on Kettner. And then, you’ve also got Craft & Commerce, which is a restaurant, but it is also well known as a bar. So great craft beer, but also really fantastic cocktails, great mixologists there. And you got Born and Raised. Born and Raised is a very high-end steak restaurant. Also fantastic cocktails. But typically they’re aging the meat right there on-site and they prepare a lot of the food, not the steak, but to prepare a lot of the food, like the salad right there at your table as well. Very pricey. Beautiful, beautiful interior. I think it’s cost them something like $8 Million to build out that interior, but that is certainly worth checking out. Little Italy also has a weekly farmer’s market right there, so that’s definitely worth going to and getting things you can buy from local merchants here and from farmers, honey, that kind of thing. So definitely a fantastic farmers market to check out. There’s also a really great bottle shop here called Bottle Craft. They kind of helped start the craft beer movement here in San Diego or at the very least helped perpetuate the craft beer movementAnd so they used to have educational nights where we could go there and learn about beer. I think they probably still do that, but I would go there early when I was learning about craft beer and how to make it and how to taste it. And they helped kind of launch me into my enjoyment of craft beer. And they have a fantastic selection from all over the world, but also a very curated selection of local and some statewide breweries as well. Coronado Next, we’re going to move even more coastal, and that is to the Island City of Coronado. Coronado is an island connected by a very thin strip of land called the Silver Strand that connects it to Imperial Beach and Coronado essentially forms the San Diego Bay. Now, again, it is its own city, separate from San Diego, now it is absolutely fantastic. I have never lived here, but I love going here. I go here regularly with my family. Every time I go to Coronado I feel like I’m on vacation and that might just be for an hour or two or might be for the whole day. But I absolutely love spending a lot of time here so whether you’re looking to move and buy a home in Coronado or you’re looking to move into one of the other areas we’re discussing and then spend time here, it is absolutely fantastic and definitely worth checking out and exploring all kinds of homes. It’s really interesting. Homes built from the 1900s all the way up to now and everything in between. You’ve got craftsman homes, Spanish homes, mid-century homes, East Coast cottage style homes, and then just huge, huge mansions as well. You’ve got homes that range from about one and one half to $2 Million all the way up to about $3-$6 million. And again, everything in between. If your budget is a little bit on more of that side of things, then there’s going to be a range of homes for you to buy from, of course. But there is just so much to do here in Coronado. Its home, the Hotel del Coronado, very, very famous hotel, the largest wooden structure, I believe, in America. And at the time it was the largest structure that was electrified back in the 1880s, built in 1888, this Victorian-style hotel, the developers actually bought the entire island of Coronado, subdivided the plots of land and sold them off about 350 plots of land so they could raise money to build the Hotel Del and a power plant and a train station and they basically created the city of Coronado. They eventually sold that to a very well-known developer here in San Diego, again in the 1800s, early 1900s, called John D. Spreckels. And so you got Spreckel’s Park right there in the middle of Coronado, a huge, huge park with lots and lots of trees and a beautiful, huge playground for your kids and have concerts in the park regularly in the summer. There’s a 4th of July parade that goes right down Orange Avenue. And then you’ve got the Ferry Landing, which is kind of the downtown area of Coronado. So the ferry used to be the only way to get over to Coronado via car so you can drive onto the ferry with your car and get ferried over. When San Diego Coronado Bay Bridge has gone into place, which is the beautiful two mile long, sweeping blue bridge that comes into Coronado, that’s not necessary so it’s really a pedestrian ferry now. So you can get back and forth between downtown and Coronado this way. But there’s a whole bunch of tourist shops and great restaurants as well here in the Ferry Landing area, there’s Il Fornaio, which is a great Italian restaurant. You’ve got Spiro’s Greek Cafe, which is a great place for getting Greek food and especially Gyros.. And then you also have Coronado Brewing Company that’s not technically in Ferry Landing itself, but it’s on Orange right by First Street and it has absolutely fantastic world class beer, Weekend Vibes, my favorite IPA from them right now and really great food. The Cajun shrimp tacos are definitely worth trying out. And then you get into the uptown area of Coronado and you have some really great restaurants there as well. You’ve got The Henry, which is a great breakfast, lunch and dinner spot. You have McP’s, which the food is very good. It’s not maybe world class, but it’s kind of American style / Irish style food, good beers, good cocktails, live music, they’re regularly very family friendly, but also very friendly for Navy SEALs and military. They like to hang out there a lot, which is really cool. And Coronado has a huge military presence as well because there’s a North Island Airstation here and the Navy SEALs are stationed here with the Naval Amphibious, so a huge military presence and it also makes it super, super safe as well. And of course, we’ve got beaches here in Coronado, huge long sandy beaches very deep. So it can get very full during the summertime, of course, because it’s so big, people can really spread out quite a bit as well. There’s also a dog beach on the north end of Coronado, right as you get to the naval base. So if you want to take your dog out for a swim, this is a great area to do it. I know. I love taking my dog there. And then to the south, you have Gator Beach. This is south of the Hotel Del, and this is not as well known, it has its own little parking lot. There are no restrooms there. So that’s why it’s not as popular but if you’re looking to spend an hour or two here at the beach or you don’t mind using the ocean for your facilities, then you can hang out here and kind of have a secluded beach all to yourself. Well, those are my top five areas in San Diego that I absolutely love. A lot of these areas I have lived in myself or worked in or essentially vacationed in and played in quite a bit. There are other areas I love of San Diego too. I just can’t cover them all in this post. If you’re looking at moving to San Diego, please reach out to me. I’d love to talk to you more about that. Understand what your plans are, where you’re looking to move. I can help make recommendations of the best areas to move here in San Diego, depending on whatever your unique situation is. So please reach out to me via phone, text or email. I’d love to have a conversation with you about moving here to San Diego. Curtis Chism, Realtor858-281-2568 | Mobilemailto:info@sandiegohomes.ioChism Team | DRE #02105113brokered by eXp Realty | DRE #01878277
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