Spring Valley, CA 331 Apartments for Rent

The original settler of Spring Valley, Judge Augustus, S. Ensworth, was a San Diego native that scooped up some prime ranch land near the eponymous spring in 1863. His abode home is still located within the town limits, and is listed as a National Historic Landmark.

Located directly east of everybody's favorite border city San Diego, Spring Valley is one of those quaint almost-cities bursting with character, burrito joints, and uncertain pedestrians. A beautiful place to call home when not hopping over to the city proper for more robust amenities, like sidewalks. Spring Valley has loads of charm and large lots for homes. Its also, obviously, pretty darn cheap living, and it has relatively little traffic, two attractive things other SD County natives may start picking up on shortly.

Roughing It

One of the most appealing aspects of living in Spring Valley is the opportunity to really spread out. Many homes boast as much as an acre of land or more, for stunningly reasonable prices, especially for California. Plus, if you're the ranching type, most properties are zoned for animals, like chickens, goats, and in-laws.

Even if youre not gung-ho on buying up land lots, there are plenty of people who already did and placed income rentals on the spaces. That means plenty of land at apartment prices. Of course, there are homes for rent and big ol' buildings boasting studios, two bedroom apartments, and probably a townhouse or two as well. One important piece of information for incoming residents: The vacancy rate is a paltry 2 percent. So, plan on giving yourself at least two months to find something ideal, because it does exist.

The Lay of the Land

There aren't really neighborhoods or districts in Spring Valley like in San Diego, but there are general areas locals refer to when discussing accommodations. Rental houses aren't common either, but apartments, townhomes and other options are easy to find. It helps to visit in person.

Sweetwater: Sweetwater Springs Road is a main thoroughfare that hops off the 94 Freeway. It leads to shopping centers, single-family homes, and a huge park. This is the eastern half of Spring Val, and it has fantastic, some might even say luxury, accommodations.

Campo: Another main street but to the west. Towards Sweetwater there are beautiful, sizable apartments with large gardens, balconies and swimming pools. They're close to the many grocery stores on Campo.

West Spring Valley: Homes with big lots in this area, and a number of smaller apartment buildings with fewer units, some with only two or three. It offers more land, more privacy, and less traffic.

South SV/La Presa: Take the 125 all the way to La Presa and you have a wealth of apartment options.

The Spring Valley Scene

Luxury apartments and townhomes offer a broad array of amenities for chicken scratch. As far as the local scene goes, you'll definitely want to visit La Posta and Saritas and decide which taco team you're on (La Posta all the way).

A car is certainly necessary; you've been to California before, right? Or, well, most of America? But in downtown SD, theres great public transit, and the Amtrak stations go all along the coast, so there are opportunities to sit back and enjoy the ride now and again.

SV has every type of accommodation, and it does sit very close to equally charming neighborhoods that offer great farmers markets, organic grocery stores, and big box chains. Plenty of variety, nearby conveniences, and epic burritos--sounds pretty good to us.