Is San Carlos a good place to buy near Naval Base San Diego?

San Carlos sits where the city ends and Mission Trails Regional Park begins, on the hills around Lake Murray with Cowles Mountain above it. It was built in the 1960s and early 1970s as a family neighborhood — schools, a recreation center, the lake — and it has held that character better than most of the post-war city. For a Navy family it is a compromise on commute in exchange for the kind of neighborhood the South Bay's older stock does not offer.

Who lives here and why

Senior NCOs and officers on a second or third San Diego tour, dual-income families who want a house with a yard and a park at the end of the street, and a large share of retirees who bought here decades ago. The draw is the setting — the lake, the trails, the hills — and the schools. The trade is the commute to the bay, which runs against the flow of the 8 and the 15 in the morning and is fine in the evening, and the age of the housing.

The commute

Twenty to thirty minutes to the 32nd Street gates: I-8 west to I-15 south, or the 125 to the 94 for the eastern streets. Miramar is twenty minutes on the 15 north, which makes San Carlos a reasonable hedge for a household split between the two. Downtown is fifteen to twenty minutes on the 8 or the 94.

Housing stock and what the appraiser sees

The houses predate 1978 almost without exception, so lead-based paint conditions apply to any peeling paint. Hillside and canyon lots bring slope, drainage and retaining-wall observations, and the streets against Mission Trails fall inside city brush-management zones that require defensible space. Original roofs and systems and later room additions are the usual conditions; the appraisal page covers clearing them. Wildfire exposure on the park edge affects hazard insurance pricing, and the lender needs a policy in place at closing.

The few condo complexes near Lake Murray Boulevard need VA project approval before a unit can close, per the condo answer. The tax bill is the Proposition 13 base — no Community Facilities District.

The loan angle

San Carlos is a full-entitlement neighborhood for most buyers: no down payment and no loan limit, at a mid-county band that senior NCO and officer BAH carries and the BAH-to-payment calculator can test with the plain county rate. A buyer keeping a VA-financed house elsewhere is on remaining entitlement, and the second-tier calculation here can go either way depending on the first loan's size; the entitlement calculator shows it. The Naval Base San Diego guide covers the South Bay alternatives; the California page covers the state benefits.

Next

• See BAH for Naval Base San Diego →
• Compare nearby neighborhoods →

Around Naval Base San Diego

• Buying Near Naval Base San Diego and Coronado: The San Diego VA Loan Guide
• California Veteran Home Buying Benefits: CalVet and the VA Loan
• Eastlake and Otay Ranch
• Imperial Beach
• Jamul
• La Mesa
• La Presa
• Lakeside and Alpine
• Lemon Grove and Spring Valley
• National City
• Point Loma and Ocean Beach
• Santee and El Cajon
• The PCS Home Buying Guide