Reviews & Comments
San Diego, CA
re: Beautiful Place, Too Crowded and Expensiv
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12/16/2022"perfect weather"? Are you kidding me? It's December and we're having multiple "frost" warnings here. 2022 summer was completely absent! You needed a coat and jeans at the beach after sunset! "May Gray" and "June Gloom" extended into July, which I found out is called "Summer Bummer". There were about 3 weeks at the end of August/Early September that were truly hot beach weather days! We're paying the highest prices in the nation, this is FAR from "perfect" weather.
Spring Valley (San Diego County), CA
The bad far outweighs the good -
5/31/2022Pros:
-one of the last places in San Diego county that's actually still somewhat affordable. -Gas and rent are cheaper
-Close access to Walmart's, Ross's, and other stores that saves money.
Cons:
-Bad air quality. Often hazy outside. Smells like exhaust and sewage in many areas.
-Trash is overflowing everywhere. Especially on the side streets
-The side streets are very narrow and unsafe to walk on. There are no sidewalks in many places so you'll be walking in the middle of the road.
-Tons of blue collar businesses. I live in-between an auto body shop, a junkyard, and a steel mill. You'll be waking up at 7am to the sound of 60 foot metal planks being hammered and sawed with metal power tools. The workers often blast music and there are no days off so sounds of construction equipment are constantly going.
-places are hard to get in an out of, even with a car. Bad roads, awkward turns, lack of sidewalks...
-Getting on the highway is the worst I've ever expeiernced! less than a 2 mile drive can end up taking 15 minutes with the lights and the amount of traffic. I'm referring specifically to the 125 and Jamahca. You'll know it after you drive past it a one time. There is no way to avoid it and it's pretty much the worst congested traffic light area I've ever lived by in my entire life.
-Everything here is dirty and dusty. You'll clean, then it will get dirty again seemingly overnight. Cleaning jobs don't last for more than a couple days, and that goes double for your car. Leave it for just one week and it will be coated in so much dirt and dust that you'll have to take it through the wash twice just to get everything off.
-The lines to buy things in stores move SLOW. At this point I don't shop anywhere that doesn't offer self check out but even then you might encounter lines that move super slow. You'll spend a lot of time waiting.
-There are barking dogs everywhere. They are either left alone all day and are lonely or nobody cares and just lets the dog bark. It sounds like a kennel most nights, especially when there are fireworks.
-People on motorcycles and old loud cars are constantly revving their engines as loud as possible. Everything here is so noisy. You will never find peace and quiet while living here.
-There are kids constantly screaming and playing all day. People leave windows open here because of the weather so you can hear EVERYTHING. I don't have kids, and listening to other people's kids scream and screech all day gets so old and annoying.
-This is a hard area. Lots of sirens. Once a week a helicopter will fly overhead and announce wanted people on a megaphone. If it's 8am on a Saturday and you wanted to sleep in from a long week at work, prepare to get woken up.
This place never stops. I don't recommend.
San Francisco, CA
believe the bad things you hear about this place -
10/5/2021from a single guy's perspective. let's start this review from 2017. I moved here to be near to my sister who also relocated, and also to attend Cal State East Bay in Hayward to get my MBA. I started in Vallejo and man...what a dump. Then I moved to an awful in-law style place in San Leandro. It was a little bit better than Vallejo but still poor. After that I moved to Walnut Creek which was probably my favorite place in the Bay Area, but that's still not saying a whole lot. After that I moved to downtown SF, and that is supposed to be the city I'm reviewing here. This was in 2019 when getting a place in the city was a disaster. There was a housing shortage and crisis happening just before the pandemic started. I literally had to drive through awful bridge traffic every single night for a month straight to look at places and interview with potential room mates. Sometimes I'd have to interview with 4 other roommates for a 5-person flat, all sharing 1 bathroom! Since the pandemic, this is no longer as much of an issue. Now driving around you'll see "for rent" signs posted everywhere, some units in my building have been vacant for months. So yeah, getting in to SF was a disaster. It was harder than the job search but for less space usually without a closet, shared everything including bathrooms and kitchen, and inconvenient street parking. Once I got into SF my expectations were pretty high. I moved there on advice from my co-workers because I was looking for dating, friends, good food, and night life. I regret listening to them, I should have stayed in Walnut Creek. I shouldn't have fought so hard to get in the city. Dating and friends in SF are bottom tier. Your options are social groups, co-workers, and meetups, and you're bound to meet some downright unfriendly people at all of those options. Drinking is a focal point for young people under the age of 40 and bartenders blatantly ignore you unless you're gay or female. The dating apps all work to get dates but you'll end up meeting some super diverse people with whom you have very little common ground or cultural values. I was born an raised in a small town in Colorado and the amount of diversity and differentiation in SF is staggering. Most single women are unavailable. Most male friends already have their own crews to which you won't be invited or welcomed. You'll be stuck resorting to meetups where it is 5 to 1 ratio of men to women, and it makes the women act snotty and uncomfortable. There are tons of middle eastern tech workers who aren't native English speakers. Alcohol shows people's true nature at these events, and things can get pretty weird. People make fun of each other in mean ways. Nobody cares about anyone but themselves because there is a huge likelihood that you'll never see that person again. The job search is awful. Extremely into virtue signaling and who can be the biggest boy/girl scout. Women and LGBTQ+ are handed job opportunities over more qualified candidates. Not to mention you're up against Berkeley and Stanford grads, sometimes candidates with dual master's degrees from both! Tons of nepotism means you'll never be part of the "in" crowd, no matter how much you try. Some jobs pay a fair wage of over $100K, but many do not. Employers expectations are extremely high and constantly change. People are hired and fired a lot here. This is a very transient place. Making friends with people means it probably won't last once they move away in a few months. Many people met their friends and partners in other cities/states, then decided to move to SF together. Rent has dropped a bit but is still sky high. I was renting a 1BR that was tiny, cramped, and inconvenient. There was no space for anything so you'll have to store or get rid of many possessions. There was no room on my kitchen counter tops for my appliances. The carpet was stained and mangey, with what looked like dried dog pee in the corner. I rented a carpet cleaner and called Stanley Steamers and it still wouldn't come off. The stove and fridge were second hand and broken. The oven looked like it was from 1967. The parking garage was one way with barely any room to maneuver. The walls were paper thin so you can hear slamming doors and yelling from your neighbors. All of this costed me $2,200 per month, excluding utilities. If you choose to rent a room with a roommate, be careful. If they are the master tenant/lease holder they can keep the rent price a secret from you and charge you the majority, vastly decreasing their costs. SF is rent controlled so the rent never goes up. If they've been there for a long time you can actually end up paying almost all the rent! The weather in SF is usually cloudy and cold, you can expect temperatures to be between 57 - 66 degrees depending on the time of year or day. 78 is considered hot. You will need pants, shoes, and a cold weather jacket all year long, even in June and July. The "indian summer" happens from August to mid October where it's hotter and the smoke from the fires makes everything look red. The fires and smoke destroy the air quality and it's affects peoples moods and attitudes, especially while they're driving. There are tons of erratic homeless that get angry when you don't donate. The tenderloin is super unsafe and dirty. Ton's of scattered trash everywhere. Lots of drifters make their way into the other neighborhoods. There's often poop on the sidewalk and smells like pee in many areas. It's true that used needles can be found all over because the city gives them away for free, I even saw one placed in a knot on a tree in Golden Gate park. In the mission there are literally drop boxes for used needles but it's clear nobody is using them. The other thing I've seen several times is large piles of discarded CO2 bottles used as whippits dumped all over the sidewalk. Most all areas around the Bay have similar problems, it's not just SF. Shabby ratted tents and communities of homeless is what you'll find in other places like Emeryville up to Vacaville. Oakland feels extremely gangster and like there's people looking for trouble around every corner. I made over $150K/year while I was in the Bay Area and it wasn't enough. To be able to escape all these things I've mentioned you'll need at least $250K/year and you'll need to be comfortable spending $4,000/month on a 1 BR apartment. Otherwise, you'll feel unsafe and uncomfortable like I did for 3 and a half years. Let's end on a positive, the food is decent. I'd give the food a 9 out of 10, especially Senor Sisig's vegan options!
San Diego, CA
re: Outhouse with Balloons
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10/1/2021you're right about the sore losers part. If you don't love it here then they go into full on attack mode.
San Diego, CA
re: DON'T COME HERE. IT'S BAD
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10/1/2021It feels unsafe here, especially compared to 2015! I just relocated back to SD and am leaving ASAP. This city has a deathly feel to it. Like a hollow body made of ash soon to be scattered by the wind.
San Diego, CA
re: San Diego - Yuck
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10/1/2021Job market is weak! I managed to get a remote job offer but I'm declining it because if I get laid off my options are low paying entry level jobs ($45K/year) in sales, biotech, healthcare, or telecommunications. All of which could be considered blue collar jobs, no college education required. Grinding out 50 hour weeks working in a warehouse at $21.25/hour just to make it here sounds exhausting! Especially with a college degree!
San Diego, CA
my how things change! -
9/30/2021I originally lived in SD from April 2014 to November 2016, moved from Denver. For what I paid in mortgage payments in Denver I was able to afford a tiny studio downtown in Cortez Hill, in a complex that looked like it used to be an old hotel that they transformed into apartments. During that time it was super fun, in a sketchy kind of way. I made friends easily by joining sports leagues, gyms, and social events. Most of it revolved heavily around alcohol, and later legal/illegal narcotics. There was a big cocaine problem in the young adult social scene. Lots of my friends would party for entire weekends with no sleep. Even so, I did many fun events and moved to Golden Hill where I rented a Studio apt built in 1910 for $950 per month. Again, very novel! Cheap rent, close beaches, cool bars, people to hang out with, and lots of young attractive women everywhere! I just moved back here a month ago to see if I could pick up from where I left off and man is it disappointing. The $950 studio in Golden Hill has doubled in price, and it was barely worth it's original price. Horton Plaza is a disaster. What used to be a lively and upbeat mall turned into amphitheater has become a construction eyesore and dead zone in the heart of downtown SD. This has cost the city tons of time and taxpayer money, I don't know if they'll be able to reinstate it. Many long time places downtown didn't survive the pandemic. Ocean Beach has turned from my favorite local beach town with a cool burnout type of vibe to rude vacationers. It has become so expensive. Paying $950 in today's money means you'll be living in somebody's spare bedroom, maybe even with another person. $2,000 get's you a 1BR (2BR if you're lucky) in La Mesa, Lemon Grove, El Cajon...so pretty much the trashy blue collar neighborhoods where not one house has respectable landscaping. It's all dead grass and brown dirt with bricks and concrete. Buying a $700K house is out of the question for me even with $100K+ salary. The waitlist to get one of these apartments is usually 2-3 months out and once there's a vacancy, it's filled instantly. Like, within 15 minutes of being posted on Craigslist. Read some reviews of some of these apartments online, they are awful! Roach infestations, crime, loud neighborhoods... I am currently in Lemon Grove and it's terrible. Overcrowded, dirty, and trashy. I didn't have this much exposure to east SD when I lived here previously but it sure is bad! I moved back to SD from San Francisco and I will say people here are friendlier than SF, but that's only because people in SF are straight up rude. All the extremely attractive women I used to see all over are not nearly as plentiful back in 2015. There has been a huge increase in the gay population, even outside of Hillcrest. This place is well on it's way to becoming the next LA or SF in the next few years. Back in 2015 it was fun renting a cheap shack and partying with friends every night, now that's no longer possible. You'll need a high paying job with different demands to be able to make it here. If you want to grind hard for below average amenities and top notch weather, this is the place for you. Personally I'm looking for something easier, and that's not SD or California in general.