Considering Santa Clarita (Vista, Fair Oaks: HOA fees, crime, custom home)

[daddypants]

Originally Posted by genjy

Being close to a prison is a big concern because when the ex-cons are released, they (and their family and friends) may travel through or hang out in your city.

Yep. That is true.

There are other cities that are just as nice as Valencia that don't have a prison next door. Do your homework.

[Mobius69]

We chose Valencia. However, we spent 5 months of weekends looking at many properties all over the SCV before getting an offer accepted. With your budget, you will have plenty of options. Inventories are very tight and there were multiple offers on most properties. If the property was in decent shape, there were multiple offers on the first day, with bidding wars. A lot of investors/flippers are in the mix too. It was like a feeding frenzy at times.

Feel free to send a message with specific questions.

[daddypants]

Hopefully you didn't buy off of Copperhill which is closest to the prison. Valencia Hills is a nice area as is the Summit.

[chrisinvalencia]

Originally Posted by Jenstemon

If you are making that much money, why Santa Clarita? The only desirable parts of Santa Clarita are Valencia or Stevenson Ranch. A more desirable place would be La Canada-Flintridge. I would tell you to stay away from the SCV. It has some of the worst air in the county, and there are many homeless people there especially in Newhall, Saugus, Castaic, Canyon Country, etc. There are some nice parts of SCV, but it is surrounded by crummier areas. And it is too close to the crummy areas of the San Fernando Valley for comfort. People talk it up, but most of it is just that, talk! I unfortunately live here, and am wanting to move out as soon as I can, that probably won't be until the economy turns up. It is windy here all the time.

I don't know what you think you know about santa clarita but your post is so incredibly wrong! our air quality if far better than most of la county, our homeless population is rather small, santa clarita is a planned community and doesn't have alot of the problems that many other communities have. our school systems are outstanding. jenstemon must be a realtor from another area or some crank. we are not even remotely close to the san fernando valley, i.e. 11 miles by freeway... read the logistics on the city website, you will see that we have to offer.

[chrisinvalencia]

apparently you do not know everything about newhall. peachland estates which is in newhall has homes that are manions and worth easily over $1 million dollars, there are horse ranches buried behind the hills, hidden valley has amazing homes that sell in the $600k range. there is the older part of newhall that is economically down, downtown newhall is been revitalized and many wonderful activites go on there...like i said you don't know newhall.
as for trashing people in scv for being rude? this is one of the nicest communities i have ever lived in and i have grown up in california and have lives all over los angeles. i would take the lifestyle and pleasant small town living santa clarita has to offer over many cities in this state.

[chrisinvalencia]

for someone who claims to have lived in santa clarita, you don't know much.
1. the prison is in castaic, not near copperhill and yes they sirens do go off occassionally, this is not a maximum prison.
2. santa clarita is one of the most sought after communities in so cal due to our small town atmosphere, award winning schools, and especially since we are not part of the city of los angeles
3. our community is business friendly and bio tech companies along with other manufacturing are bringing higher end jobs to this community.
4. our city budget is in the black! yes we have money for all the upkeep, no pot holes, no grafetti, our sheriff's department responds in record time to calls. the city is always repairing and replacing to keep this the beautiful place it is.
5. we have a real dog park, skate park, water park (not magic mountain) for the kids along with many, many other facilities.

i could go on and on about how wonderful this community is...small town living with commutes to the city

[chrisinvalencia]

iamtall,....i find that people who generally criticize a whole group are really criticizing themselves. if you met a few rude people in valencia, well that happens everywhere, but to state that all of valencia has rude people...i suggest you look in the mirror first. i have found the people of santa clarita/valencia/stevenson ranch/castaic/newhall/saugus to be kind, helpful and anything but rude.

[Jebby]

I lived in various parts of SCV for 15 years before moving away about 2 years ago. My wife was born there and moved away the same time I did. Plenty of my family and friends still live there.

There isn't anywhere in Valencia, Saugus or Stevenson Ranch (though not technically Santa Clarita) that isn't safe/nice as far as I can recall. Even the older neighborhoods are good. Newhall and Canyon Country have some of the nicest and some of the worst neighborhoods in the SCV. If you are at all intuitive you should be able to tell when you visit them, but if you are unsure and are considering a place in one of those areas feel free to message me.

The prison thing is not a worthwhile concern IMO. Nobody I know worries about it; as even with it's presence the odds of anything happening are very slim (just check the crime stats vs. the rest of the greater Los Angeles area). There are a lot of ex-cons or soon to be cons floating around LA and most of them aren't in the SCV.

I've seen a few homeless near the Seirra Hwy/Soledad intersection (Canyon Country) and around Hart Park (Newhall). But never seen any in Valencia, Saugus or Stevenson Ranch. Or in the residential areas of Canyon Country and Newhall. As a whole, it's much less that what I see near my office in Northridge.

[mrspabb]

Jebby and Chrisinvalencia are both very realistic. I've lived here for 40 years myself--my family moved here when the town was much smaller and I was not yet in Kindergarten--and it's always been fine. Sure, we have the social climbing type, but so what? They don't bother anyone. It's like every place else, you find the type of people you're comfortable with. There is something for everyone--sports, libraries, parks and hiking trails, local theater as well as easy proximity to Los Angeles for the big productions, a good junior college which has a performing arts center too, water parks, amusement park, lots of at-home moms, lots of ways to make friends, community events, on and on. It's a family-oriented place, so not much in the way of night life for young adults, but a short trip south to the San Fernando Valley to the night clubs there or a slightly longer trip south of that will fill that need for them.

The schools are very good, much better by far than those in L.A. Unified. People move here for the schools. I had to laugh at the post that said that the schools in Valencia are better than those in Newhall. The Newhall School District is made up of schools both in Newhall and Valencia, and the Saugus School District is made up of schools in Valencia and Saugus. Valencia takes up a large area, so all of its schools are not in one district. It's true that a couple of the 10 schools in the Newhall District get federal money because their populations have a significant number of families whose income is below a certain level. But those schools, because of this money, have really great facilities. These are the grade schools. All of the jr. highs and all of the high schools are in the William S. Hart District, which means that the standards are the same in Stevenson Ranch as they are in the Newhall and Canyon Country areas (and all the other areas.)

True about the homeless too. Every once in a very great while you'll see one, but it's pretty rare.

Since Santa Clarita is its own city and not part of the city of L. A. like the SFV is, problems such as graffitti are immediately taken care of. In the case of graffitti it's usually the same day it's reported. In the case of potholes, it's not usually the same day, but pretty quickly. The city is very well kept.

I don't understand the comment about it being windy here all the time. That's just not so. It is windy in the Antelope Valley, 30 miles north of here, but not here.

Back to Newhall specifically, where I live incidentally--it's a mix. It's true that part of Newhall has smaller, older houses and apartments that are anything but fancy, and that the people who live in them don't make or have a lot of money. It's also true that parts of Newhall have homes that sell in the millions and are part of the holiday home tour, an event that's a fundraiser for the hospital wherein people pay to get a tour of some swanky homes in the SCV. Peachland estates, as mentioned in one of the posts above, and Placerita Canyon and parts of Happy Valley contain this kind of home. There are also homes that regular folks live in, which are in between.

I hope anyone thinking of moving here will Google the area; there is an informative Wikipedia entry as well as some other things that should help with a decision.

[Tasksgirl]

I agree with the previous posters that the area is extremely safe & family - friendly and I don't know where all those negative comments are coming from. They made me laugh actually. The majority of the SCV is a VERY VERY nice & desirable area.

We looked at houses up there but ultimately it was too far out for us we work by LAX and Santa Monica respectively. But our agent showed us where the "bad" areas were to avoid. So there are a few but nothing like the "bad" areas in LA. And most of the SCV is gorgeous, clean, newly built, and safe. Alot of the older areas are more "charming" than "bad".

The best garage sales are out here too with the nicest stuff hehe

The only negatives are the commute and if you are young you may find it a bit boring