La Jolla Versus Rancho Santa Fe: Where to Buy That Mansion?

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  You won’t find your starter home in either of these affluent communities. La Jolla and Rancho Santa Fe are San Diego’s most sought-after settings, and home prices are soaring. But which is the best place to stake a claim?

    La Jolla is a term derived from the either Spanish term la joya, the jewel, or a similar Kumeryaay tribal word for cave or hollow. Residents like to merge the meanings and designate the community a hidden jewel, although by now the word is most certainly out. It's no surprise lifestyle magazine Robb Report recently deemed La Jolla as the best place to live in America.

    La Jolla is filled with scenic surprises. The dreamlike cove has been called the most-photographed beach in California, as even the most amateur photographer can snap professional-quality pictures among scenery that seems set up for such a purpose: rocky cliffs humped with slumbering sea lions, elfin children playing in the waves, and a sunset to take anyone’s breath away. Prospect and nearby streets are lined with high-class diversions like restaurants of every variety, countless clothing boutiques, and art galleries full of color.

    Because the population of the area is 35,000, La Jolla boasts a solid sense community, all its inhabitants linked together by a mutual passion for the exquisite area. The average temperature for the area is 74 degrees, and thus beaches are residents’ primary pastime. Beside the cove, beaches range from the serene and secluded Marine Street, to the lively La Jolla Shores, to the popular, tide-pool studded Windansea.

    Unfortunately, traffic is an ever-increasing problem. There is virtually no vacant land remaining in La Jolla, and as the area booms more powerfully, house prices keep clambering skyward. In 2000, the median home price was $663,000. Since then, the median home price has surpassed $1.7 million, at an overall average of $782 per square foot, with an average $1,684 per square foot beachfront. However, it’s hard to find a home that doesn’t boast educated neighbors, a spectacular view, that isn’t biking or even walking distance from the beach.

    Rancho Santa Fe's demographics speak for themselves. In this slightly eastward community of 7,000, the average per capita income is somewhere around $115,000-- the second-highest of any community in California, and thus it has secured its ranking among the ten wealthiest communities in the entire United States. Ninety-seven percent of residents hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.

    The entire community is magnificently landscaped. Take a leisurely car ride through the area and pass hordes of stables, private lakes, citrus groves, and manicured parks splitting estates into private galaxies of luxury. While La Jolla land is so precious that residences are often crammed together, Rancho Santa Fe is comprised of wide open spaces, rolling hillsides, and sweeping views. The climate is absolutely perfect, with high temperatures in July averaging only 75 degrees. Because of this, the great outdoors are the crux of the local lifestyle.

    Nearby, residents enjoy hiking and riding trails, a golf course, a tennis club, and playing fields. Because its population is so small, the area retains a small-town feel, with its very own restaurants, library, community center and public schools. So as not to compromise the view or possibly attract loiterers, sidewalks and streetlights are banned from residential areas.

    Sixty percent of all Rancho Santa Fe homes sold last year were in the $2 million to $4 million range, with the average price hovering around $2,500,000. No cottages here: the average residential lot is over two acres. Estates here are, beyond a doubt, private pieces of heaven. It’s up to you to decide whether you can sacrifice your beachfront dreams.