Orcutt vs. Huntington Beach (Orange, Santa Barbara: foreclosures, house prices, neighborhood)

[Sunshineish]

My husband and I are considering moving from Huntington Beach to a more affordable, less crowded, slower paced central California town. We have a 9 year old daughter so quality of education is important to us. Possibly number one.

We are realizing that we will simply not be able to have the quality of life we desire or be able to afford a home any time soon in Orange County.

My husband will be looking for a sales/management position and I am working on my masters and teaching credential. I want to teach at college level so it is important to us to have a university nearby.

We love Huntington, it's so beautiful here and the people are great but we simply can't afford it here.

How does Central coast living compare to Orange County living?

What are we in for?

[EscapeCalifornia]

Have you seen Central Coast home prices? Last I looked, they're nearly as expensive as OC, only without the huge job base.

[the city]

Orcutt is the largest suburb next to Santa Maria. You would probably be working at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cuesta Community College, or Hancock College.

Until they build the second high school in Orcutt I would suggest private school for the kids.
Righetti High School is okay, but it's not the best.

[GSleader]

There is a two bedroom house across the street from us that went into foreclosure. This is the South Eastern part of Orcutt. It's a great neighborhood. I think the house is going for around $325,000.00.

[GSleader]

I was going to type more info, but, the kids were buzzing around like gnats! I actually lived in Huntington Beach. My cousin is still down there. Just remember, there will always be good and bad with both cities, you just have to decide what is most important to you and best for your family. In Huntington Beach, you have A LOT more access to family fun. In Orcutt, there is no "family fun" places to go to. But, on the upside, it is not crowded here. Most people, especially young ones, don't want to live in a city as boring as Orcutt. So, you could look at "boring" as a plus or a negative. For me, it is a plus. Our everyday commutes to work we can go the speed limit any time of day,the schools in Orcutt are real good, the kids can play outside until dark, the people here are friendly, we don't have to drive through any real bad towns to get to anywhere in a hundred mile radius and house prices are average now with all of the foreclosures. You can buy a nice house in a nice neighborhood in Orcutt now, for around $350,000.00. Three years ago the same homes would have sold for $500,000.00. These prices are still kinda high compared to Santa Maria or Lompoc, but, I , personally, would not consider living in Santa Maria or Lompoc. If I couldn't afford to buy a home in Orcutt, and I couldn't afford to buy one in Huntington Beach, and I lived in Huntington Beach already, I would just stay put and rent. Also, something else to consider, is the "beach" life. The beaches here are not as nice as Huntington. Shell Beach is real cute and quaint, but, if you can't afford Huntington, you probably won't be able to afford any of the beaches around here either. Plus, the weather on these beaches are really not your "balmy" beach weather like the Southern California beaches. This whole area, Orcutt, Santa Maria, Lompoc, Oceano, Grover Beach and Guadalupe is not fun to be in after 2pm most of the year unless you are part Polar Bear. But, there you go again, we are also not crowded like Southern Cal. THEN there is the job situation. That's kinda icky too. One person wrote that you should bring home an average income of $100,000.00 a year to have a good life here. I agree with that. Jobs are hard to get here. We're all just trying to KEEP our jobs! I think in your case, it might be the "grass is greener" thing. It seems like it would be a good idea to move from a nice, crowded, way-over-priced area with nice weather to a nice, less crowded, moderately -over-priced area with 20 days of good BBQ weather, but, will you just be trading some downfalls for new ones? Now, another possibility is not living by the beach and looking at Atascadeo or San Luis Obispo. Atascadero's house prices are probably equivelant to Orcutt's but San Luis is high. San Luis Obispo is a college town. Cuesta Jr. college and Cal Poly are there. Another plus or minus, depending on what your looking for. Atascadero is "country". Jobs are scarce there also, but, the weather is good, houses are semi-affordable, the people are nice and it's not crowded. If we didn't already decent, secure jobs here, I'd move to Atascadero. Morro Bay and Los Osos are equivelant to everything else here on the Central Coast. A lot of people from down South choose Orcutt, I think, because it is the most affordable place to live sorta close to Santa Barbara....where most of the jobs are. Good Luck!!