Point Loma is a peninsula of hills, canyons and old trees, and roof rats do well in all three. The Wooded Area earned its name from the dense pines and eucalyptus planted decades ago. La Playa and Roseville along the bay have large, older homes with mature gardens. Sunset Cliffs and Fleetridge on the ocean side mix mid-century houses with canyon lots.
Much of the housing dates from the 1920s through the 1960s. Spanish Revival homes with tile roofs, ranch houses with low attics and two-story homes built into slopes all show up on the same street. Tile roofs hide gaps under the barrel ends, and hillside homes often have crawl spaces or partial basements with old vents. Add decades of remodels and you get many joints where rodents can get in.
Loma Portal sits under the airport flight path on the north end of the peninsula, with smaller lots and older homes close together. Liberty Station, the former Naval Training Center, has restaurants, shops and offices in converted buildings near the boat channel. Shelter Island and the marinas along Rosecrans Street have their own mix of restaurants and boat yards near the water.
Canyons cut through the middle of the peninsula, and open land around Fort Rosecrans and Cabrillo National Monument covers the southern tip. Homes on canyon rims and near that open land face steady pressure from rodents in the brush.
When you call from Point Loma, say which part of the peninsula you are in and whether the house sits on a slope. Ask the technician to check the tile roof edge, the joints between old and new rooflines and any crawl space or basement vents. With trees this large, trimming branches back from the roof is part of the job, and some homes need a monitoring plan because the pressure from the canyons never stops.