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Have been searching and researching from 3,000 miles away, so thought I'd get some fresh input if y'all don't mind. We currently live near Charlottesville, VA. Thinking of a change and California checks all the boxes. My wife was born and raised in Orange County, so she's very familiar with CA. I was born & raised in Virginia, and at 45 I'm ready for a change. The seasonal allergies and summer heat/humidity and winter ice/freezing has gotten old. I'm turning into a grumpy old man.
I work for myself from home -- all I need is good internet and access to mail/FedEx/UPS and I'm good to go for my business. So I can live anywhere with those covered.
We're coming to California for 10 days around Christmas time and visiting these areas (except Monterey, not going that far north this time). So we'll get a taste in person soon.
Searching around, the places we like include:
Los Osos -- affordable for close to the ocean, nice quiet town, good schools. Cool micro climate. Great hiking areas.
SLO -- I hear it's nice but we have to visit.
Ventura -- Seems like a really nice beach town, good schools, obviously not as quiet as Osos, but a lot more to do, and a bit closer to LA.
Buellton -- Surprised as we've looked into this area, it looks really nice, with a number of houses on 20 acres for reasonable prices. The weather seems nice enough as we've kept an eye on it. I don't know what the internet story is there, that's to be seen.
Monterey -- Have just seen this on the forums recently from people posting similar questions, so will research it some more.
Topanga -- Some places in Topanga Canyon seem like nice values for being relatively close to LA. I've read good things about it and the schools seem good. I know it does get hotter in the summer here in the hills.
NEEDS:
Good school district (our son is currently in 8th grade)
Good internet (don't laugh, where we live there is still no internet, and barely a cell signal...). And we're 15 minutes from Charlottesville, VA. It's sad. We've lived here for 13 years and have been awaiting for decent internet, and still nothing other than expensive dedicated T1 (which I have to pay for for my business). Yeah I know there is satellite, and it's horrible -- I tried it. And no, there is no DSL, no cellular, no cable out here.
WANTS:
Not too hot. We don't want to live in a desert. So would prefer the coast in general. Los Osos climate seems ideal. I don't mind morning fog!
Property? We live on acreage here. I know property is more likely inland. So this isn't a want if we move to any of the coastal areas. this is more a want if we were to go somewhere like Buellton.
Views. Love views. I know you pay for them though for places near the cost.
Also we're deciding about rent vs buy, and it's a hard choice not knowing where the housing market is going. We still have to sell our house in VA, too. If we bought, we'd probably be looking at max budget of around $1m. There are some neat homes in Los Osos for $750-850 but there need to be updated. But they have ocean views.
But maybe renting would be smarter. I haven't rented in decades. But renting doesn't seem like such a bad idea in this day and age... so we'll be looking at both houses for sale and rentals.
Any advice on these areas would be appreciated. Opinions welcome!
If we were to rank them right now, I'd say our favorites are:
1. Los Osos
2. Ventura
3. Buellton
4. SLO (but don't know much about SLO)
5. Topanga (probably too hot and too pricey)
6. Monterey (only because I haven't researched it much yet)
I'm admittedly biased but i'd say skip SoCal and just come north. Save time and energy and visit the Monterey Bay area.
SoCal is nuts! And it will get more so, no doubt.
Monterey County (consider Monterey, Carmel [although do be aware of jaguar driving maniacal 60+ women] and Pacific Grove) is nicely positioned ... not too far from San Francisco, it's on a most beautiful part of the California coast, It's progressive without being overly so, i imagine the schools are good in those 3 towns although i don't have children, it's never too hot, people are friendly and open for the most part, it's not so overly impacted so less of an aggressive vibe.
There are also good areas in Santa Cruz county also on the Monterey Bay.
It can be foggy and often so you need to be o.k. with that. Carmel Valley will be drier.
Lots of good reasons to live in Monterey County. More than i've stated. I imagine others will add to the plus list.
And no matter where you decide to move to, do rent first and spend a year at least to make sure you really want to settle there.
Yeah, I would vote for the Monterey area as well including Pacific Grove and Carmel. Of course, that's why we moved here over seven years ago. I'm from SoCal, originally. So, I know those other areas pretty well. I also have relatives near San Luis Obispo. I would rate it number two on your list with Los Osos. They are so close I don't really think of them as separate. Of course Los Osos is closer to the beach which is nice.
Forget Topanga based on what you are looking for. Its a zoo down there and way over priced. The canyon is like a big, dry fire zone just waiting to go up. There are also mud slides with road wash outs and other problems residents have to deal with.
I have heard Buellton had some crime issues along with Lompoc. Though I'm not sure of current situation. So I would look into that a bit more.
Do you care at all about being in driving distance to larger cities for certain amenities, activities or events? Monterey and Ventura are nice that way when you need to get somewhere for those things. For example, I fly out of Monterey airport for business travel. For personal travel we fly out of San Jose which is a little over an hour away. It's nice to have options without a three+ hour drive to get there.
Derek
Last edited by MtnSurfer; 09-18-2015 at 08:57 PM..
Thanks, will definitely look more into Monterey. Since we don't need to be near LA or SF, Topanga was more of just an interesting place, but probably not realistic (and yeah I read about it being a tinder box).
Good list, you are wise to stay away from expensive metro areas where your dollar won't go nearly as far. Unlike a lot of people who write in here, you can afford this move.
Reality is always different than what you read about a place. Those places you list are very disparate.
Buellton ain't no destination, though it's near Solvang (cutesy Danish Disneyland....if you're into that sort of thing) and some good beaches just south on the corner of Santa Barbara County.
You can hardly go wrong almost anywhere on or near the Central Coast. Even better dollar value for homes is up in Mendocino County, although you certainly wouldn't be wowed by many of the towns up there, it has more wineries and beautiful beaches and coastline than you could swing the proverbial cat at.
Reality is always different than what you read about a place. Those places you list are very disparate. Buellton ain't no destination, though it's near Solvang (cutesy Danish Disneyland....if you're into that sort of thing) and some good beaches just south on the corner of Santa Barbara County.
You can hardly go wrong almost anywhere on or near the Central Coast. Even better dollar value for homes is up in Mendocino County, although you certainly wouldn't be wowed by many of the towns up there, it has more wineries and beautiful beaches and coastline than you could swing the proverbial cat at.
Buellton is not the greatest as far as beaches go. It's close to Pt. Conception, which is one of the windiest, coldest places along that stretch of coast. I've surfed there at a beach called Jalama which reminds me more of beaches in San Francisco for the cold wind. If one drives south of Gaviota to El Capitan it gets a bit nicer, although its pretty rocky. The beaches just to the north of Buellton near Vandeberg have had numerous shark attacks with at least a few fatalities.
All great. I like SLO best because it's got a fantastic climate , doesn't get the fog as much, great downtown and the college town vibe. Pricey though. Los Osos is nice. I like it, feels isolated not being on any major highways. So that is either a major plus or minus depending on your wants
Buellton is not the greatest as far as beaches go. It's close to Pt. Conception, which is one of the windiest, coldest places along that stretch of coast. I've surfed there at a beach called Jalama which reminds me more of beaches in San Francisco for the cold wind. If one drives south of Gaviota to El Capitan it gets a bit nicer, although its pretty rocky. The beaches just to the north of Buellton near Vandeberg have had numerous shark attacks with at least a few fatalities.
Pt Conception is the point where the beaches take a marked turn in weather as the arctic currents from the north are deflected allowing the warmer currents from the south to prevail. The southern Californian beaches have what most people feel are much better weather because of it.
Ventura -- Seems like a really nice beach town, good schools, obviously not as quiet as Osos, but a lot more to do, and a bit closer to LA.
That about sums it up. Pickup trucks with longboards in the back. Spandex cyclists, marathons, and about a billion classic car enthusiasts. A laid-back beach town vibe that places in Southern SoCal (like Encinitas) have lost as they became ultra-gentrified.
LAX or downtown is an hour away with no traffic. 1.5-2+ hours if you don't plan around traffic.
Quote:
NEEDS:
Good school district (our son is currently in 8th grade)
Good internet (don't laugh, where we live there is still no internet, and barely a cell signal...). And we're 15 minutes from Charlottesville, VA. It's sad. We've lived here for 13 years and have been awaiting for decent internet, and still nothing other than expensive dedicated T1 (which I have to pay for for my business). Yeah I know there is satellite, and it's horrible -- I tried it. And no, there is no DSL, no cellular, no cable out here.
There is an excellent public middle school and magnet highschool which your son MIGHT get into. Otherwise, schools are good enough for him to succeed if you are involved in his education. There are a lot of wealthy, involved parents here, which is probably more important for kids' performance than the rating of the school.
There's FIOS internet and the cable standard around here is something like 30Mbps down and 1 or 5 up.
Cell coverage is no issue.
Quote:
WANTS:
Not too hot. We don't want to live in a desert. So would prefer the coast in general. Los Osos climate seems ideal. I don't mind morning fog!
Property? We live on acreage here. I know property is more likely inland. So this isn't a want if we move to any of the coastal areas. this is more a want if we were to go somewhere like Buellton.
Views. Love views. I know you pay for them though for places near the cost.
We call Ventura the land of perpetual fall, because it will top out in the low 70's in mid summer and Valentines day. With the warm blob out in the Pacific, we've had more hot weather than usual recently, and climate change may force us to get some form of A/C someday. It hit 90 one or two days, even on the coast last year in January. Usually that only happens when the Santa Anna blows.
When the fog rolls in at night, it can be really something to see, until there's nothing to see.
We have awesome coastal views from many city parks and residences. You can see a sea arch out on the channel islands on a clear day. The ocean views from the hills really are spectacular. At 1 million, you can probably get a small place (3br/2ba) in the expensive hills with a little yard and spectacular views. Or you can get a bigger place/yard with more limited views. Our housing is skyrocketing right now, so if we're in a bubble, you might do better in a few years when it deflates. Or you might miss the bus if you rent and don't buy in now. It's hard to say ahead of time.
I'll PM you a place that's for sale in Ventura in your price range in a excellent safe family-friendly neighborhood, newly renovated, excellent landscaping/yard, big for here, with some ocean views, , on a cul-de-sac.
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] and Pacific Grove) is nicely positioned ... not too far from San Francisco, it's on a most beautiful part of the California coast, It's progressive without being overly so, i imagine the schools are good in those 3 towns although i don't have children, it's never too hot, people are friendly and open for the most part, it's not so overly impacted so less of an aggressive vibe. 
