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Rancho Bernardo
Rancho Bernardo is a planned community in north San Diego. It started out 30 years ago as a retirement community, but today it is also home to many young professionals. Everyone in RB belongs to a community center with swimming pools, tennis courts, and recreation centers, for about $30 a month.
RB is in the desirable Poway school district. Homes range in price from $500,000 to $800,000 on average for a typical family home. The retirement areas have smaller homes (1000+ square feet) from around $300,000, but you must be 55 or over to live there.
Major shopping is just to the north in the North County Fair Mall, or south along Carmel Mountain Road. The main street in RB is lined with banks, brokerage houses, and medical offices to serve the large senior population. RB is also home to major industry, such as Sony, Hewlett-Packard, and Qualcomm.
A vast new master-planned area called 4S Ranch is now been completed west of RB. Here you can find entry level homes as well as large estates. This area borders Rancho Santa Fe, the most expensive area of San Diego County.
Poway
Poway is known as "the city in the country". Unlike planned communities Rancho Bernardo to the north and Rancho Penasquitos to the west, Poway has purposely tried to maintain a rural ambiance. The areas of Green Valley and Bridlewood feature homes on 1/2 to 1 acre lots and are priced from around $1M and up. Horse trails wind through these areas, and this is the closest equestrian area to San Diego. There are also estate areas such as Huntington Gate, with 5000+ square foot homes for well over 1.5 million dollars.
For those who don't need a large piece of land, there are homes beginning in the low $300K range on city-sized lots. I'd say there's just about something for everyone here. The Poway Unified School District has consistently been rated in the top tier.
Lake Poway recreational area is an excellent picnic spot, and a beautiful area to hike around. Speaking of hiking, just to the east is Mount Woodson, a boulder-strewn mountain offering spectacular views and the best rock climbing in the county.
Rancho Penasquitos
Rancho Penasquitos in is the acclaimed Poway school district, and many families make their homes here because of it. The area is popular with move-up buyers from Mira Mesa, a starter home area to the south. Mira Mesa is flat and has thousands of small homes, the most affordable homes this close to employment centers in San Diego. People move to RP to have a newer home, a more beautiful hilly terrain, and superior schools.
Rancho Penasquitos borders the Penasquitos Canyon preserve, a 6 mile long creekside park that offers many recreational opportunities. Here you can hike, bike, or even take your kids on a horseback ride and really feel like you've escaped the noise and crowds of the city.