Need Advice on Goleta/Santa Barbara (San Diego, Santa Maria: mortgage, house, allergies)

[gokctx]

Goleta/Santa Barbara are on our short list for places to move to. We want to escape the horrid summers here in Texas. What is important for us include:

1) Air quality -- Since Santa Barbara is so close to LA I am concerned about air pollution. Is this a problem? Other places we have looked at include Santa Fe/Albuquerque, Colorado Springs, and Scotts Valle/Santa Cruz, and maybe San Diego. How does Santa Barbara air quality compare to those locations?

2) Nature -- Having ample outdoor opportunity and beautiful nature is important. Correct me if I am wrong, but from what I have seen Santa Barbara meets this requirement.

3) Affordabiltiy -- Needless to say, cost of living is going to be high. Are there areas within commute distance of Goleta (less than 1 hour) which are more "affordable" (300-500k)? I found some areas like Orcutt and Lompoc which seem less expensive, but close to Vandenberg AFB. Whats the scoop on these areas?

Thanks for you advice and help!!!

[Reivax]

regarding #1, this site might help:
Our Air Quality

for #2
Buelton and Solvang may or may not be cheaper, not sure.
But they aren't too far away from Goleta. 25-30 minutes up the 101 with zero traffic, and half that is looking at the beautiful Pacific ocean.

[goatherder]

Air quality is not a problem unless we have a brush fire.
I do not know what you are used to in Texas but we do have a lot of public land , fishing and animals, there is a bobcat that hunts my backyard like he owns it and there is hiking, boating and other outdoorsy stuff.
Your price is pretty low for socal but I do not know specifics.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by gokctx

Goleta/Santa Barbara are on our short list for places to move to. We want to escape the horrid summers here in Texas. What is important for us include:

1) Air quality -- Since Santa Barbara is so close to LA I am concerned about air pollution. Is this a problem? Other places we have looked at include Santa Fe/Albuquerque, Colorado Springs, and Scotts Valle/Santa Cruz, and maybe San Diego. How does Santa Barbara air quality compare to those locations?

2) Nature -- Having ample outdoor opportunity and beautiful nature is important. Correct me if I am wrong, but from what I have seen Santa Barbara meets this requirement.

3) Affordabiltiy -- Needless to say, cost of living is going to be high. Are there areas within commute distance of Goleta (less than 1 hour) which are more "affordable" (300-500k)? I found some areas like Orcutt and Lompoc which seem less expensive, but close to Vandenberg AFB. Whats the scoop on these areas?

Thanks for you advice and help!!!

What line of work are you in?
Is $500K your maximum price?
Do you have kids?


How many hours a week on average do you realistically spend outdoors in nature?

5 days X (24 hours - 8 hours sleep - 8 hours work - 1 hour food prep/eating - 1 hour shower/teeth/hygiene/personal care - 1 hour commute - 1 hour internet - 2 hours TV.....?)

+ 2 days X (24 hours - 8 hours sleep - 1 hour food prep/eating - 1 hour shower/teeth/hygiene/personal care - 1 hour internet - 2 hours TV.....?)

[gokctx]

Originally Posted by Charles

What line of work are you in?
Is $500K your maximum price?
Do you have kids?


How many hours a week on average do you realistically spend outdoors in nature?

5 days X (24 hours - 8 hours sleep - 8 hours work - 1 hour food prep/eating - 1 hour shower/teeth/hygiene/personal care - 1 hour commute - 1 hour internet - 2 hours TV.....?)

+ 2 days X (24 hours - 8 hours sleep - 1 hour food prep/eating - 1 hour shower/teeth/hygiene/personal care - 1 hour internet - 2 hours TV.....?)

We take 1-2 hours walk each night, plus bike during weekends, so nice climate and a pleasant view/scenery is important to us. My wife is sensitive to allergies/air pollution so air quality is also a big factor. Nearby non-urban areas where we could walk/bike and breath fresh air are a must.

We are not looking for a huge house. Actually the house we currently have is too big to maintain. 1500 square feet is about the ideal size, but even that size house in Santa Barbara is much more than 500k, that's why we are looking at areas close to Santa Barbara. Some of those areas appear near Vandenburg AFB and I cannot tell from Google Earth what they are like.

The 500k cap is so we can put down 20%. We have no kids but are planning in the future. I'm an engineer and the wife is a part time teacher. We do not want to be complete slaves to the mortgage so it looks like finding a suitable area near Santa Barbara or getting a 1 bedroom 1 bath in Santa Barbara are the only options.

[gokctx]

Originally Posted by Reivax

regarding #1, this site might help:
Our Air Quality

for #2
Buelton and Solvang may or may not be cheaper, not sure.
But they aren't too far away from Goleta. 25-30 minutes up the 101 with zero traffic, and half that is looking at the beautiful Pacific ocean.

Thanks for the info regarding air quality it was pretty useful.

I would love to hear more comments from folks about the towns of Buelton and Solvang and even further away towns like Lompoc and Santa Maria. Any pictures of those towns would be great. From Google Earth they appear to be more desert type terrain but it is hard to tell.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by gokctx

We take 1-2 hours walk each night, plus bike during weekends, so nice climate and a pleasant view/scenery is important to us. My wife is sensitive to allergies/air pollution so air quality is also a big factor. Nearby non-urban areas where we could walk/bike and breath fresh air are a must.

We are not looking for a huge house. Actually the house we currently have is too big to maintain. 1500 square feet is about the ideal size, but even that size house in Santa Barbara is much more than 500k, that's why we are looking at areas close to Santa Barbara. Some of those areas appear near Vandenburg AFB and I cannot tell from Google Earth what they are like.

The 500k cap is so we can put down 20%. We have no kids but are planning in the future. I'm an engineer and the wife is a part time teacher. We do not want to be complete slaves to the mortgage so it looks like finding a suitable area near Santa Barbara or getting a 1 bedroom 1 bath in Santa Barbara are the only options.

Are you going to work at Vandenberg? If so, living in Santa Barbara is too far and expensive (Texas X 6). Lompoc and Santa Maria and perhaps other places at those distances is more realistic. One thing you could think about is finding a place halfway between Vandenberg and Goleta as you'd have two places to go to for jobs.
About your original post, I work near COS at Schriever AFB. (We work very closely with Vandenberg.) No air pollution at all, in fact this past year they did away with emissions testing for cars.
Also, COS meets your requirement for outdoor activities as mountain biking, hiking, skiing, etc are 5 minutes to two hours away.

[gokctx]

Originally Posted by Charles

Are you going to work at Vandenberg? If so, living in Santa Barbara is too far and expensive (Texas X 6). Lompoc and Santa Maria and perhaps other places at those distances is more realistic. One thing you could think about is finding a place halfway between Vandenberg and Goleta as you'd have two places to go to for jobs.
About your original post, I work near COS at Schriever AFB. (We work very closely with Vandenberg.) No air pollution at all, in fact this past year they did away with emissions testing for cars.
Also, COS meets your requirement for outdoor activities as mountain biking, hiking, skiing, etc are 5 minutes to two hours away.

Yeah Colorado Springs seems to be one of the top choices. I would work in Goleta, not Vandenberg, so the commute would be into Goleta, not from there.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by gokctx

Yeah Colorado Springs seems to be one of the top choices. I would work in Goleta, not Vandenberg, so the commute would be into Goleta, not from there.

Check this out:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/color...o-springs.html

I moved from LA to near Colorado Springs about a year ago. I am an engineer too. The Denver Colorado Springs area is an engineer's dream. The money is about the same as SoCal. The housing is much cheaper. Significantly less traffic.

We went from this:



To this:

[Reivax]

Charles, that picture is funny.
The palm trees behind, the convertible... I think they should put it at the home page for California tourism.

"Welcome to California, what are you f*ing STARING at!"

Your bottom picture reminds me of the beginning of "The Shining".