THE hidden gem of North County San Diego
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12/23/2019
Truly a hidden gem - I was nervous after first moving since it seemed far from San Diego, but my concerns have been fully alleviated in just a couple months of time in Vista. One major surprise: the food here is INCREDIBLE.
I spent several years in North Park, South Park, and other major central San Diego neighborhoods. I enjoyed my time there - especially all the tasty restaurants - and usually love the city life, but found the cost of purchasing even a tiny home to be absurd. Rather than spending $700K for a 900sqft condominium in one of those neighborhoods, we opted to look at North County options and were disappointed by the hype around San Marcos, Oceanside, Escondido, and most others. We also looked south at Lemon Grove and surrounding, but those areas felt so run-down and barren that North County began to seem like a good option to explore. Boy, are we happy we headed North.
Vista has a truly quiet, idyllic setting, but we're literally 3 minutes from the I-15, and the road to the highway is filled with beautiful native and exotic vegetation due to the agricultural roots of the area.
Someone mentioned "blue collar, rednecks" as the main vibe of Vista - this is not only super offensive to blue collar workers (lumping all blue collar workers in with the disparaging "rednecks", really?), but also just incorrect. For a city of 100k residents, there is a huge amount of diversity in careers, income levels, etc.
Regardless, to set the record straight: Vista has a couple older areas that are similar to San Diego county (tightly-packed, small lots, or other arrangements to minimize housing costs per-person and maximize land usage). I'm not sure how this is a bad thing, since affordable housing is a key component to any healthy city. However, the "come here for cheap rent" trend is ending, with many homeowners like myself purchasing in the area and investing heavily into other Vista projects (we are working with the Chamber to learn about opening a couple businesses here to cater to the eruption in younger, savvy buyers moving into the area).
Vista is like North Park ~20 years ago - peaceful during the day, but with plenty of businesses growing and new restaurants and nightlife steadily opening.
There's really no place like it in San Diego county. The one caveat: if you must have a street filled with bars and restaurants that is 100% walkable, Vista isn't quite there yet - you do need a car if you're going to live anywhere but the city center. Otherwise, for those who are out of that stage of life and ready to invest in a home and land, while still having the major creature comforts closeby, there's really nowhere else in the county that offers the same combination of benefits.
So, in short: mountain views, a short drive to the beach, a private lifestyle, and friendly neighbors that aren't basically living on top of you - that's Vista, California.
Danny | Vista, CA