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Old 11-09-2014, 01:46 PM
 
1 posts, read 1,851 times
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Hello everyone,
we are a couple in mid 40s from Florida thinking about moving to southern California next year. What small coastal towns with good weather, beach can you recommend? Nice downtown with nice restaurants, some kind of social life. Not looking for night clubs etc, and don't want to move where its too slow. Any info on prices to buy a small house/condo would be great. Thank you.
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Old 11-09-2014, 03:14 PM
 
5,381 posts, read 8,691,467 times
Reputation: 4550
Quote:
Originally Posted by Clarissy View Post
Hello everyone,
we are a couple in mid 40s from Florida thinking about moving to southern California next year. What small coastal towns with good weather, beach can you recommend? Nice downtown with nice restaurants, some kind of social life. Not looking for night clubs etc, and don't want to move where its too slow. Any info on prices to buy a small house/condo would be great. Thank you.
What's your price range?
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Old 11-09-2014, 03:19 PM
 
Location: Vancouver, WA
8,214 posts, read 16,705,829 times
Reputation: 9463
Quote:
Originally Posted by Clarissy View Post
Hello everyone,
we are a couple in mid 40s from Florida thinking about moving to southern California next year. What small coastal towns with good weather, beach can you recommend? Nice downtown with nice restaurants, some kind of social life. Not looking for night clubs etc, and don't want to move where its too slow. Any info on prices to buy a small house/condo would be great. Thank you.
First question is do you have any idea how high real estate is in the nicer cities of Coastal SoCal, seriously? When folks from other states talk about buying in Coastal CA they are many times *very shocked* by the higher prices. It will be much more than most of FL for example. So if you provide a range of what you have in mind folks could give you more reasonable/realistic advice.

I grew up in an area like you are describing in Coastal SoCal. It's called the South Bay consisting of the Beach Cities from Torrance, Redondo, Hermosa to Manhattan Beach. Look them up. They are all very nice but also very expensive. The nicer beaches with the things you describe in Orange County and San Diego are equally expensive. If you are really thinking about moving to CA renting first would be your best bet to get a better idea of what you really like. CA coastal Real Estate fluctuates quite a bit (from expensive to ridiculously expensive) and can get very overvalued depending on the market conditions at any given time. It's a buyer beware market for sure.

Check realtor.com and craigslist to get an idea of rents and home/condo prices. You didn't mention if you have kids so I'm guessing not. But if you did then school districts would also be important which also coincide with the nicer cities that are lower in crime and more $$. If you have the resources then options open up. But its still better to carefully consider your investments before potentially dropping too much for too little.

Derek

Last edited by MtnSurfer; 11-09-2014 at 04:44 PM..
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Old 11-09-2014, 06:54 PM
 
Location: TOVCCA
8,452 posts, read 15,048,732 times
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Maybe farther up the coast, Ventura, say 93003, median listing $418K has what you want. There's a separate Ventura forum here.
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Old 11-09-2014, 07:40 PM
 
Location: Under the Redwoods
3,751 posts, read 7,675,837 times
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No such thing as a small coastal town in Southern California.
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Old 11-09-2014, 07:45 PM
 
Location: Vancouver, WA
8,214 posts, read 16,705,829 times
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Originally Posted by nightlysparrow View Post
Maybe farther up the coast, Ventura, say 93003, median listing $418K has what you want. There's a separate Ventura forum here.
I thought of Ventura also. But based on her original post and not wanting something too boring I ruled it out. Ventura is a pretty sleepy town compared to others. Though she hasn't returned or responded to any follow-up questions. So this may all be moot. We can only mind read so much.

Derek
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Old 11-09-2014, 07:50 PM
 
Location: CDA
521 posts, read 733,693 times
Reputation: 988
San Clemente is nice. There is a fun downtown area. It's the most southern city of Orange County so you can also drive to San Diego in under an hour.
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Old 11-09-2014, 09:21 PM
 
5,381 posts, read 8,691,467 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlKaMyst View Post
No such thing as a small coastal town in Southern California.
I guess it depends upon one's definition. I consider Laguna Beach ( 8.85 sq. mi. and pop of about 23,250) to be in that category.

The downside it that it's also an extremely expensive area.
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Old 11-09-2014, 09:46 PM
 
38 posts, read 56,125 times
Reputation: 53
Quote:
Originally Posted by Clarissy View Post
Hello everyone,
we are a couple in mid 40s from Florida thinking about moving to southern California next year. What small coastal towns with good weather, beach can you recommend? Nice downtown with nice restaurants, some kind of social life. Not looking for night clubs etc, and don't want to move where its too slow. Any info on prices to buy a small house/condo would be great. Thank you.
Check out Encinitas and San Clemente. They are both eclectic little surf towns that offer residences which could possible be in your price range.
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Old 11-10-2014, 08:52 AM
 
Location: Carpinteria
1,199 posts, read 1,649,530 times
Reputation: 1184
Exclamation for OP's eyes only!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Clarissy View Post
Hello everyone,
we are a couple in mid 40s from Florida thinking about moving to southern California next year. What small coastal towns with good weather, beach can you recommend? Nice downtown with nice restaurants, some kind of social life. Not looking for night clubs etc, and don't want to move where its too slow. Any info on prices to buy a small house/condo would be great. Thank you.
The secret answer to your question is Carpinteria. But don't tell anyone else
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