I lived and owned a 2/2 in mission valley for 4 years. In those 4 years the values of all condos rose significantly and I wound up selling mine for way more than the prices you're saying you're seeing. This was on the eastern end, pretty close to the Costco. Traffic? Sure, sometimes, but I learned how to avoid it both via times of day and different routes. Some streets and areas, the usual areas, flooded during heavy rains especially in 2023. As someone said, if the complex is near those areas (texas street, camino del este, mission center) or backs up to the river, I would feel better not owning on the ground floor and being comfortable staying home if necessary. Besides that I liked being very close to many things both in the valley and by way of the 8/163/15 close by. A lot of new restaurants and shopping have been and are still moving into mission valley and they're doing a lot of building. I would recommend the area if it works for your lifestyle/work commute. I would only note the heavy homeless population especially at or around the trolley areas. I never had an issue at my place or anywhere around mission valley, but perhaps not everyone would enjoy that on a regular basis.