Homes In Rancho Santa Fe San Diego Give Homeowners A Reason To Cheer

Rancho Santa Fe has so much to offer the homeowners that live there. Most of all, peace and quiet, as well as beauty and small community feel. There are a few local businesses, shops and restaurants, but nothing like the hustle and bustle of downtown San Diego.

Rancho Santa Fe has a population of just over 3,000 in the 2000 census which is designated place or CDP. It is among the highest income communities in the country at approximately $246,000.

New homes in Rancho Santa Fe are held to strict standards; owners and builders must comply with a stringent code that dictates that new construction must be of specific Spanish Hacienda or Mediterranean styles, so residents never have to worry that their neighbors will erect something outlandish or incongruent with the sensibility of the community.

Landscaping is prevalent, both in the common areas of downtown and on private properties, helping to even further beautify the neighborhoods and augment the vast sense of luxury and privacy that abounds in the area.

There are over 50 private neighborhoods that make up Rancho Santa Fe, each of them a highly coveted place in which to reside. These neighborhoods include the Covenant, Horseman's Valley, Rancho Cielo, The Crosby Estates, and Morgan Run. The Covenant is the original Rancho Santa Fe planned community, which had its beginnings as the 1845 land grant made by the Mexican governor Pio Pico to the first mayor of the pueblo San Diego, Juan Maria Osuna.

This land was sold to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company in 1906. A man by the name of Sydney Nelson helped to finance a purchase of 10 square miles and the construction of a golf course, which today is the main course of the Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club.

Nelson provided some basic plans for a community, but it wasn't until the period of time between the two World Wars that Rancho Santa Fe really started to blossom, particularly after the construction of the Del Mar Racetrack, which opened its gates in 1937. Bing Crosby was one of the partners in the creation of the racetrack and is remembered as an "early settler" of Rancho Santa Fe. One of Rancho Santa Fe's private neighborhoods, The Crosby Estates, a gated community consisting of luxury tract homes, is located on the site of Crosby's former estate.

Therefore, not only does Rancho Santa Fe glory in modern-day luxury, but it can boast its fair share of history too. Availability of top-notch outdoor activities such as golf, tennis, and equestrianism, and a best-of-the-best award-winning school district and other perks of this "best-of-the-best" community include a short seven-mile trip to gorgeous and highly acclaimed beaches.

Diegueno Country School, Horizon Preparatory, and The Nativity School are known private schools. There is one Catholic church, the Church of the Nativity, and a Presbyterian church, The Village Church. Noteworthy residents of Rancho Santa Fe include Jenny Craig, Bill Gates, and Janet Jackson, just to name a few—wouldn't you like to be their neighbor?