Thousand Oaks or Mission Viejo

[laysayfair]

Westlake, Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park are all part
of the stellar Conejo Valley School District. This area
always has breezes and clean fresh air. I don't know
Orange County at all so I can't comment. Good-Luck!

[smilinghighways]

Hello there,
I've been looking at all the sites about California as I am terribly homesick for the place recently. I'd say if you have the opportunity to raise your children in the Westlake, Agoura, Thousand Oaks and Oak Park areas, you will be giving your child a very good place to call home.

I'll give you a little perspective of my opinion which my vary from some things you have heard before. I moved from Florida to Agoura when I was 12. I went to Lindero Middle School and Agoura High School. The financial gap between myself and many of my peers was substantial (I was pretty poor coming from a military family and went to school with people who had a great deal more money...families of movie and tv stars). But you know what even though my parents couldn't and still can't keep up with some of the toys of their neighbors, we had great friends, amazing teachers, and a very safe place to grow up. My family all still lives in that area. It was so boringly perfect that I went to school in Northern California just to explore.

I decided to spread my wings after college and move to Houston. Now I have my own kids and I'll tell you what if I had enough money to buy a house back there I'd definitly jump on the opportunity to give my kids the same boringly perfect safe place. They are good solid family neighborhoods with lots of family things to do. All the activities are withing driving distance and with any new place, there will be more places and things to explore that you don't even realize are there.

My brother and his family live in Thousand Oaks and love that they can drive a couple hours to go skiing in the winter and then a few weeks later find themselves camping on the beach.

If you have the chance and opportunity you might also want to consider some places in Northern California. Depending on your needs and wants you might really enjoy some of the areas of Northern California (and when I mean north I mean farther north than San Francisco). I went to school in Chico and loved the beautiful environment and the people. The focus wasn't so much on what you had, it was actually more about what you were about. The competition up there was more about how many organizations you were apart of to save the planet. I say that jokingly but the areas I went to up there were very much concerned about protecting the environment.

I now live in Houston. I have the same bad traffic (1.5 commute) without any pretty scenery to take my mind off of it! Recycling is a foreign concept, houses are cheap and have fairly uninterested HOA's so we have lots of vandalism, and poorly maintained neighborhoods. You get what you pay for.
See what happens when a homesick person answers ...

[kturbe]

I visit friends in Newbury Park and they love it. They actually moved from MV. Personally I like MV better but I bias towards South Orange County

[Charles]

Originally Posted by smilinghighways

.... houses are cheap and have fairly uninterested HOA's so we have lots of vandalism, and poorly maintained neighborhoods. You get what you pay for.
See what happens when a homesick person answers ...

Your post sounds consistent with my experiences. The Conejo Valley is a great place for families.

What jumped out at me about your post was the quality of life you have in Houston.

I'm certain there are fine neighborhoods in Houston and in every metro (Chesterfield near St. Louis for example, or the Clear Lake neighborhoods near the Johnson Space Center in Houston, the Williamsville and Amherst neighborhoods in Buffalo....). I'd live in any of those neighborhoods. Beautiful homes, amenities, good schools, jobs, etc....not California weather but still very fine neighborhoods.