Is Clairemont a good place to buy near MCAS Miramar?

Clairemont is the big post-war neighborhood on the mesas between I-805 and Mission Bay, built out in the 1950s and 1960s when the city was growing north. It is not adjacent to the air station the way Mira Mesa is, but it is close on the 805 and Highway 52, and its real advantage for a military household is that it sits between Miramar and the bay bases rather than beyond either of them.

Who lives here and why

Dual-military couples with one member at Miramar and one at Naval Base San Diego or Point Loma, mid-grade families who want a single-family house at a central price, and buyers who want the coast within reach without the coastal price. The neighborhood has its own retail, parks and canyons, a settled feel, and San Diego Unified schools. The trade is that the housing is sixty to seventy years old, which shows up in the appraisal, and that the sub-neighborhoods vary: Bay Park and Bay Ho on the western edge carry view premiums and a higher band, while Clairemont Mesa East is the most affordable.

The commute

Ten to fifteen minutes to Miramar's gates via the 805 north to Miramar Road or Highway 52 east to the main gate. To Naval Base San Diego, fifteen to twenty-five minutes on the 805 or I-5 outside peak; to Point Loma, a similar run on I-5 and Rosecrans; to downtown and Mission Valley, ten to fifteen. Clairemont is the rare neighborhood where both halves of a split-base household can commute in reasonable directions.

Housing stock and what the appraiser sees

Almost all of Clairemont's single-family stock predates 1978, so peeling paint anywhere brings the lead-based paint condition. Original roofs, older electrical panels, galvanized plumbing and converted garages are the recurring findings, and unpermitted additions are common enough that a permit history is worth pulling before you write. Canyon-edge lots draw drainage and slope notes. A termite clearance is standard practice. None of it is unusual; all of it is negotiated, and the appraisal page covers how. The condos along Clairemont Drive, Balboa Avenue and Genesee Avenue are where junior buyers land, and the project has to be VA-approved — the condo answer covers the check. The tax bill is the standard Proposition 13 base with no Mello-Roos, which is one of Clairemont's quiet advantages over the newer neighborhoods north of the station.

The loan angle

A full-entitlement buyer has no VA loan limit and no down payment at Clairemont prices, which put a single-family house within reach at senior-NCO and officer BAH and a condo within reach below that. A buyer keeping a VA-financed house elsewhere runs the second-tier calculation; at the mid band a down payment sometimes enters and the entitlement calculator shows whether it does. The Miramar base guide compares the neighborhoods around the station, and California's programs are on the California benefits page.

Next

• See BAH for MCAS Miramar →
• Compare nearby neighborhoods →

Around MCAS Miramar

• Buying Near MCAS Miramar: The Central San Diego VA Loan Guide
• California Veteran Home Buying Benefits: CalVet and the VA Loan
• Rancho Peñasquitos
• Scripps Ranch
• Serra Mesa
• Tierrasanta
• The PCS Home Buying Guide