Back from house hunting in Santa Maria/Orcutt/Lompoc area. (Arroyo Grande: foreclosure, lease)

[scubashawn68]

So.. after a week of hunting we decided on Orcutt. We looked at a lot of nice homes, but everyone we talked to in the area said that Orcutt would be the best choice. Especially for schools. Some of the area's in Santa Maria had nice homes, but when we checked on the schools....they all had low ratings and test scores compared to Orcutt. So, we figured this would be best for our family.
Thanks to anyone who gave us info on the area's !

[Dean Trails]

Originally Posted by scubashawn68

So.. after a week of hunting we decided on Orcutt. We looked at a lot of nice homes, but everyone we talked to in the area said that Orcutt would be the best choice. Especially for schools. Some of the area's in Santa Maria had nice homes, but when we checked on the schools....they all had low ratings and test scores compared to Orcutt. So, we figured this would be best for our family.
Thanks to anyone who gave us info on the area's !

If I may ask,,,what are the price ranges of the homes you looked at in Orcutt? Is it cheaper than Santa Maria?
Any organic food stores in Orcutt?

[Homero]

Originally Posted by Dean Trails

If I may ask,,,what are the price ranges of the homes you looked at in Orcutt? Is it cheaper than Santa Maria?
Any organic food stores in Orcutt?

It's more than SM (on average), and the only organic store is going to be the organic section at Albertsons. Orcutt has some great home deals right now if you have the cash...

[scubashawn68]

Originally Posted by Dean Trails

If I may ask,,,what are the price ranges of the homes you looked at in Orcutt? Is it cheaper than Santa Maria?
Any organic food stores in Orcutt?

I actually am going to lease a home in Orcutt for 1,800. Looked like the home prices were in the low 300's and up. Unless you get a foreclosure...It is more exp than SM.
I haven't looked for organic stores, but I know there is a Trader Joes opening in SM. Plus there are some TJ's in arroyo grande and SLO.

[Dean Trails]

Originally Posted by scubashawn68

I actually am going to lease a home in Orcutt for 1,800. Looked like the home prices were in the low 300's and up. Unless you get a foreclosure...It is more exp than SM.
I haven't looked for organic stores, but I know there is a Trader Joes opening in SM. Plus there are some TJ's in arroyo grande and SLO.

Those are good prices. It probably is better to lease and get some idea of the nice neighborhoods.
Trader Joe's is a good store and we shop there regularly. It does look like the Central Coast is finding civilization.
Good Luck to you scubashawn and let us know how things are going.

[scubashawn68]

Originally Posted by Dean Trails

Those are good prices. It probably is better to lease and get some idea of the nice neighborhoods.
Trader Joe's is a good store and we shop there regularly. It does look like the Central Coast is finding civilization.
Good Luck to you scubashawn and let us know how things are going.

Dean..I saw that there are a few more Organic store's there. Lassen's and Good Earth. Do you live in the area or are you moving there ?

[calicowgirl3319]

nipomo/arroyo grande mesa and orcutt are really nice so is arroyo grande/five cities area, i do not like santa maria area at all, especially for raising children higher crime rates etc...

[scubashawn68]

Originally Posted by calicowgirl3319

nipomo/arroyo grande mesa and orcutt are really nice so is arroyo grande/five cities area, i do not like santa maria area at all, especially for raising children higher crime rates etc...

I personally saw nothing wrong with Santa Maria....We just chose Orcutt for the schools.

[Homero]

Originally Posted by calicowgirl3319

nipomo/arroyo grande mesa and orcutt are really nice so is arroyo grande/five cities area, i do not like santa maria area at all, especially for raising children higher crime rates etc...

It's a fine city, far from great. A decent city, albeit boring, that is fine to raise children in.

Seriously, what is this higher crime rate that people are takling about? It's a larger city, over six times as large, with a more diverse social-economic mix, and a wider range of job markets, as compared to say, Nipomo or Arroyo Grande. Of course it's going to have a higher crime rate, that's how proportion works.

[grimstuff]

Originally Posted by Homero

It's a fine city, far from great. A decent city, albeit boring, that is fine to raise children in.

Seriously, what is this higher crime rate that people are takling about? It's a larger city, over six times as large, with a more diverse social-economic mix, and a wider range of job markets, as compared to say, Nipomo or Arroyo Grande. Of course it's going to have a higher crime rate, that's how proportion works.

With all due respect, you're getting your terms mixed up. A bigger city will have more crime, but if it has a higher crime rate, then that's bad. It's the difference between total quantity (number of crimes) and proportion (percentage of crimes per capita). Obviously, number of crimes is a useless statistic without knowing how many people live there, whereas the proportion of crimes is what will give us a somewhat-accurate description how how crime-ridden a community is.

With that said, City-Data.com maintains crime statistics for cities, and has a crime index to reflect the proportion of crime in those cities. For Santa Maria, it gives a score of 371.5, which is higher than the national average of 320.9. You can also go to the FBI Uniform Crime Data website and see more recent data, although they don't rank cities in relation to one another.

In any case, beware of sweeping, subjective, generalized comments regarding crime (like the ones you'll find all over these forums). People like to point fingers at something identifiable, and to blame other people (most often a certain social or economic demographic they don't like). Anyway, the numbers are out there--it's up to each of us to interpret them with what we know/feel about our communities.

Based on my subjective view of Santa Maria, I wouldn't want to move there. There seems to be a lot of crime (based on statistics and people's perceptions) and much of it is gang-related. Why would I want to raise my kids there? Because I can buy a cheap house with a yard? No thanks.

Here's an interesting article: http://santamariatimes.com/articles/...on/052008a.txt