The residential community of Santa Fe Hills in San Marcos is a well-established attractive community on rolling hills in north San Marcos. Built in the 1990s and into the early 2000s, Santa Fe Hills is an appealing neighborhood and where many first time buyers settle.

San Marcos is located about 35 miles north and east of San Diego and inland from the coast about 10 miles. Located in a valley with large hills (not sure they qualify as mountains) on several sides, the climate is somewhat transitional from coastal, with ocean breezes and some marine layer, to more inland with higher temperatures. You can readily get to the coast using the 78 freeway (running from Escondido, to the east, to Oceanside) or San Marcos Boulevard which becomes Palomar Airport Road in Carlsbad. Beaches are 20-30 minutes depending on time of day and where you are coming from in San Marcos.

San Marcos has a substantial commercial area, with lots of shopping (including fairly new malls like the Grand Plaza with Nordstrom Rack, Loehmans and Marshalls as anchor stores), business services, mega stores like Fry’s Electronics, Staples and Best Buy, and a wealth of restaurants and fast food chains. Restaurant Row is a popular collection of over 20 eateries, and Furniture Row offers several dozen furniture stores to suit most tastes, budgets and needs, indoor and outdoor.

San Marcos is also home to Palomar College and Cal State San Marcos, both of which are located near Santa Fe Hills.

Children in Santa Fe Hills attend the San Marcos Unified School District; Paloma Elementary School is located in the community. There are also several small parks, and the Cerro de Las Posas Recreational Facility which offers tennis courts, swimming pool and ball field adjacent to the elementary school. There are walking/hiking trails in the Santa Fe Hills Park at the northeast corner of the community. Golf is available at the Twin Oaks Country Club (public) and at one of the two golf courses at Lake San Marcos about 5 miles away. The Crossings at Carlsbad municipal golf course is about a 15-20 minute drive up San Marcos Boulevard and into Carlsbad past the airport.

As of this writing (March 5, 2008) there are 36 San Marcos homes for sale in Santa Fe Hills. These homes range in price from $299,000 up to $650,000, and offer from about1050 SF up to almost 3400 SF, with 3 – 5 bedrooms and up to 3 baths. Of the 36 homes for sale, 19 of them are short sales, 1 is an REO (bank-owned) and the rest are typical sales. The average sales price of a Santa Fe Hills home in 2007 was $540,611 (70 homes).

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If you need additional information or have questions about the housing market in general, please contact me by phone or text message at (760) 840-1360 or email me at JDowler@remax.net.