What good lake communities do we have in LA?

[desertdawgx]

Go to rancho santa margarita in so orange cty,my sister has a nice 2 story home a block from a private community lake and houses can be bought for around 600k.

[jessemh431]

can you swim or anything in lake mission viejo?

[desertdawgx]

I don't know about Mission Viejo but St Margarita has a private lake for swimming and a pool tennis courts parks basketball etc.

[UB50]

Originally Posted by majoun

Toluca Lake, like all lakes within LA except for Echo Park Lake, is an artificial lake. It ranks amongst the least widely seen of LA landmarks - even many lifelong Angelenos have never seen it, due to its being inaccessible from the street. $1m for a house on Toluca Lake wouldn't even have been possible in the early 90s let alone today.

I don't believe there is any street access to Toluca Lake though there are about 20 houses that have access to it from their backyards. It's a nice little lake, big enough to go boating on if you have a small boat.

[KimK]

There is a great little private lake up in the Santa Monica Mountains. I cannot think of the name of it. It has lots of little and (big residences) around it. Lots of movies have been filmed there. I used to see people using small boats on it. I am not sure of the swimming part. I don't think you could buy anything for under a mil near water in southern California. I would suggest New Mexico instead.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by UB50

I don't believe there is any street access to Toluca Lake though there are about 20 houses that have access to it from their backyards. It's a nice little lake, big enough to go boating on if you have a small boat.

There isn't any street access to Toluca Lake. I've been boating on it in a small boat via knowing someone who lived on the lake.

[UB50]

Originally Posted by majoun

There isn't any street access to Toluca Lake. I've been boating on it in a small boat via knowing someone who lived on the lake.

Ha! Me too! It's kind of neat looking at everyone's backyards, yes?

[missionhome]

QUOTE=jessemh431;1542563]can you swim or anything in lake mission viejo?[/quote]

You can definitly swim in Mission Viejo and it is four times bigger than the lake in Rancho Santa Margarita. Lake Mission Viejo has two beaches open to residents of Mission Viejo and three private beaches open only to the residents of the exclusive gated communites that line its shores. However you can't get a three bedroom detached house on the lake. All the detached homes are big customs that cost over 2 million. There are two condominum communites though that do have units in the 500-800k range. You can do the following activites- Swim at one of the beaches, enjoy a summer evening concert, kayak, fish for bash, trout, catfish, others, windsurf, be a junior life guard, or party boat (electric boats only, no speed boats). Also, there is a nice three mile walk that goes all the way around the lake and is very popular. You are also close to the jobs in Irvine where most people work and live in Mission Viejo which is the fourth safest city in the USA. Schools are very good too.
Pictures of Lake MV:


East Beach


Rancho Santa Margarita Lake


Although there are no 3 bedroom homes that are waterfront for under 1 million, there are several homes within walking distance for under 1 million that are very nice and usually about 3,000 square feet. Andalusia is a community I would recommend if you wanted to live close to the water, but not right on it. This neighborhood is located right behind the waterfront homes in the first two pictures of Lake MV. If you want suggestions on homes, I am happy to help.

[california_guy110]

There are a number of lakes, although I believe they are all man made, in San Diego county, if you are really set on living near a lake I'd check it out, just look at a map of San Diego county and you can see where they are.