Aloha everyone:) My husband and I are trying to decide if we should live on base or out in town, possibly Fallbrook or Temecula. We have three children that live with us ages 11-17 and two that visit us once a month and stay for holidays and school vacations, they are 10 and 12:) We also have a dog and a cat. We currently live in Hawaii and living on base was the only place we could afford out here:) I am an L&D RN and my husband is an E-7 and we are trying to figure out where to live that will be somewhat close to where we both work. I currently don't have a job lined up out there, but I am going to start the search:) Looking for anyone with any input good or bad about where to live? We have never been to Pendleton. Thank you in advance:) 

The schools are better in the Temecula/Murrieta/French Valley area. There is a new hospital up there -- Loma Linda Murrieta -- but no idea if they are hiring still. We lived out there but where my husband worked gave him a better commute than some other people. Do you know where on base your husband will be working? It's a big base and the commute can get really bad. 

it depends which base your trying to move up too.. san onofre is an ok place. but temecula is pretty cheap for housing. the houses are good as well in temecula.. a lot of room for an affordable price.. if ya wanna save "some" money move on base :] 

Thank you for your advice everyone:) My husband will be working at the AAV school house which is (I believe) in Del Mar, If I'm guessing correctly it's at the "south" end of the base? I'm not really familiar with Camp Pendleton. Schools play a big factor in our decision as well, we want our children to be in a decent school district. We live on base here in Hawaii and the elementary school is good but my junior high/ high schooler had some problems with the schools out in town. Private school is way to expensive out here. Do you know where people go to search for homes for rent out there? 

My family and I are also new to Pendleton. Can't give you any advice on where to live as I am still learning my way around. :) I read that you are an RN. Make sure you are aware of the endorsement process and the requirements for your RN license. It took about 3-4 weeks for me to receive my CA RN license. During my search for jobs, I have come across tons of L&D RN jobs, so you won't have a problem with that. Good luck with everything!! :) 

USMCwifeRN--Thank you for the "heads up" I haven't looked into the CA licensing yet, but I better get a move on it, January will come so quickly. I am only licensed in Illinois and Hawaii, it was time consuming getting my license in Hawaii because I had to have a job in order to get my HI license...very strange, but it all worked out:)I'm happy to hear there are tons of L&D RN jobs:) Do you guys live on base? They forwarded all of our information to the Wire Mountain I "dept"? Not sure if that is a good thing?It's difficult to tell from their website. 

Del Mar to the Temecula area is quite a commute, around an hour. I did it in 45 mins many times, but not during the high commute hours. I believe that Carlsbad is supposed to have good schools as well, but of course the housing costs are higher. Several of the school districts in Orange County are good. If you were to live on base you could choose the San Onofre area. The elementary school is Fallbrook like the DeLuz area are are good, but then SO feeds into San Clemente for the higher grades which is better than Fallbrook. Make sure you are looking into the whole picture at the school you are choosing though. In our new area we didn't choose the school with the highest test scores, we chose the one with consistently high test scores paired with wonderful music and art programs plus an amazing special ed dept. 

Wire Mountain is in the area near your husband's work. It is Oceanside schools and coastal. 

accontnickname--thanks so much for the info:) I'm sure my husband would not be fond of a 1 hour commute back and forth to work...so we will have to figure something out. I appreciate everyones input, Living out here it is hard to even go out there and look around at the area. 

Depending on your husbands hours it could be more than a hour. If its high traffic time it would be about 1 and half with a crazy traffic. But the schools are good. 

You are very welcome ad yes we live on base. The licensing process is actually quite simple for California. Background check, fingerprints, college transcripts, and verification from another board of nursing along with the fee. No job required. You can get a temporary license while you wait for your permanent license. Just wanted to give you a jump start on the info because I had no idea until we arrived what was involved and how long it would take. 

My husband's with AAS Bn as well :) We live in Carlsbad, but we don't need nearly as big a house as you guys do! There are people from the Bn who live out in Temecula/Murrieta/Menifee, but my husband wasn't willing to do the long commute and I'd rather live on the coast. Living on base might be a good option for you, especially if you can land a job at the Naval Hospital. If you do want to look at houses out in town, I've personally had really good luck on Craigslist. I've also looked on militarybyowner.com. 

My husband and I chose to live on base because we could not afford the "California" size security deposit that most rentals ask for. If you're looking at a 4 BR, you can plan on at least $2,100 a month for rent, and then most places want that same rent amount for a security deposit. It was not an option for us as we did not have that type of money to put down for a security deposit. Wire mountain is newer housing for an E7 and very nice. High school, I would check into, as they would be going out in town. I haven't heard great things about the local school districts. Temecula is at LEAST a 40 minute drive with traffic to main gate/del mar on Pendleton! 

We left CP last year and probably the only down side to it was the school system out in Oceanside. Up until 6th grade we had no problems... North Terrace was terrific. But the junior high your kids would need to attend (Jefferson) is HORRIBLE. Type in Jefferson Middle School to read past threads. We enrolled our oldest into Cesar Chavez which is much further but a great junior high. There was no bus so I set up a car-pool with another mom.

Even if you guys get a house on base (I think is best) the commute won't be horrible for either you or your husband as long as you are not living in San Onofre-that drive is much too long. I loved living in Oceanside and being so close to Sea World, Carlsbad, and Disneyland. Hope your move is stress-free. 

THANK YOU so much everyone for all of your extremely helpful information. Your opinions mean a lot to me, it's so hard to tell what the schools are like just from searching online. After reading some of your posts, I definitely think we are going to go with staying on base. Temecula looks beautiful but I don't want my husband to have a super long commute:) We have a few months left, but we all know how time flys when you are getting ready to PCS:) 

We left CP last year and probably the only down side to it was the school system out in Oceanside. Up until 6th grade we had no problems... North Terrace was terrific. But the junior high your kids would need to attend (Jefferson) is HORRIBLE. Type in Jefferson Middle School to read past threads.

Santa Margarita, North Terrace and Stuart Mesa will all eventually be K-8. Starting this year they added 6th grade, next year they will add 7th and the following year 8th.