Why Santa Maria houses are substantially less expensive to purchase? (Salinas: community college, camping)

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Originally Posted by LeroyDeshawnJenkins

does the above spell rich neighborhood to you?

Not sure what you mean by that. What would be considered rich to you? I live in Oxnard and it is more than 70% Hispanic with my wife making up part of that percentage. We live in a 52 year old home that is valued at $440,000 or so and going up. Not too far from us are newer homes approaching the $1,000,000 mark. On the beach are homes in the $3 to $5 million mark. Sure nothing like Silicon Valley, Malibu, or a few other places within the state, still for many, $400,000 is a pretty penny for a 50 year old home that is 1,700 or so Square feet in size on a 6,000 square foot lot.

[the city]

Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE

Not sure what you mean by that. What would be considered rich to you? I live in Oxnard and it is more than 70% Hispanic with my wife making up part of that percentage. We live in a 52 year old home that is valued at $440,000 or so and going up. Not too far from us are newer homes approaching the $1,000,000 mark. On the beach are homes in the $3 to $5 million mark. Sure nothing like Silicon Valley, Malibu, or a few other places within the state, still for many, $400,000 is a pretty penny for a 50 year old home that is 1,700 or so Square feet in size on a 6,000 square foot lot.

I agree with SOON2BNSURPRISE. Santa Maria and Oxnard are rare circumstances where there are a lot of affluent Hispanics living in the city. I don't know about Oxnard, but I do know almost 30% of the firms in Santa Maria are owned by hispanics. Most of the the richer Hispanics live in the nicer northern part of Santa Maria and kids go to Pioneer Valley High. The families that have kids who go to Righetti High is an area that is a bit more caucasian because of white flight to the outskirts over the last several decades. We are still seeing white flight in the area as more development is occurring south east of the city.

Eventually Oxnard and Santa Maria prices will rise once the cities run out of space to expand and home owners will fight for what's left in the boundaries of the city. Then you will start to see poorer people forced to move if they can't pay property taxes, lose their jobs, etc....

They are plenty of educated people out there from cities like Bakersfield and Fresno, other states, and people wanting to escape big cities that would like to move out to cities like Oxnard and Santa Maria.

Soon2bNSurprise could speak to where his neighbors are from, but here in Nipomo and Santa Maria I know many of the Bakersfield and Fresno residents have migrated here after saving and serving their time in the valley.

And I would say Santa Maria is to Santa Barbara like Oakland is to San Francisco. We have more poor, heavy crime neighborhoods, but we also have some very nice neighborhoods as well. Santa Maria doesn't have more gangs than Santa Barbara, it's just with more poverty we have crime from that, not more from the gangs. And gang violence has decreased in Oxnard and Santa Maria over the years.

So, any city that is not touching the beach and still expanding will be much more affordable than a city like San Luis Obispo or Santa Barbara that barely grows.

I haven't seen as much growth in Oxnard recently. I think Oxnard is starting to hit's peak as it's running out of room to expand.

Santa Maria and Nipomo still have some ways to go before they hit their peak.

[Tex?Il?]

Santa Maria and surroundings lacks any of the charm, outdoor activities, and appeal that the rest of the central coast has. Its kind of out of place. It would fit better in the San Joaquin valley to be quite honest.

Santa Maria SHOULD have cheap housing.

[ThomasMatthews]

Because it has a lot of mexicans. And nobody likes to live near them.

[sacreole]

Be sure to try Santa Maria BBQ while you're checking the place out. As Tex?Il? mentioned, Santa Maria does have the feel of a San Joaquin Valley town given the demographics and the surrounding agricultural area. The city now ranks as the largest in Santa Barbara County due in part to the lower housing costs.

[JohnSoCal]

Originally Posted by ThomasMatthews

Because it has a lot of mexicans. And nobody likes to live near them.

That is a pretty racist comment. I would much rather live near them than near you.

[Oh-Happy-Day]

I started this post over a year ago...now I can answer my original question myself....the reason Santa Maria is substantially less expensive with regards to housing is because it literally stinks!!! Oh my goodness. The stink is unbearable. I found a rental in SW Santa Maria in the Westgate community and man oh man...the stink is unbelievable. I found out after we landed the rental that in the evenings, when you want to leave your windows open to get that natural air conditioning going, is when they must open the flood gates from the poop plant in Guadalupe. Plus all the pesticides spraying in the nearby crops stinks. When I first visited the area during our house hunting trip I asked a neighbor who was out in her yard gardening if she noticed any bad smells in the area and she said not really....Maybe some broccoli smell during harvest time. I thought to myself...smell must not be her strong sense. After living here for more than a year, we have it down pat....as soon as we start to smell the stink, we run around and close all the windows. The code word is "stink...close em up!"

But the crime was not as scary as I thought. I heard a lot about shootings and stabbings but like some other posters mentioned it is pretty centralized to North of Betteravia. I live just north of it and the AM PM around the corner from my neighborhood got held up. But I probably felt a greater sense of safety due to 2 cops living on my street...2 houses down on one side and 4 houses down on the other. Still I rarely slept with my windows open. The mall on the North side of town is just useless. They should tear it down. I can see how in door malls would be good for those locations with inclement weather. But here? Not necessary. And although my kids love going to the library, I would rather not. It is not in a good part of town. During the weekday it was okay and all the homeless people who hang out in the front really don't bother us. I did go to a movie at the mall once and left rather late at night and I felt unsafe driving through that part of town late on a Friday night.
After having lived here I would rather live in Orcutt near Rice Ranch. But alas we are on the move again. Hubby has a good chance of relocation to Monterey Bay area. This time we will be able to spend a bit more time researching where to live since it is drivable, albeit a long one, distance.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by Oh-Happy-Day

I started this post over a year ago...now I can answer my original question myself....the reason Santa Maria is substantially less expensive with regards to housing is because it literally stinks!!! Oh my goodness. The stink is unbearable. I found a rental in SW Santa Maria in the Westgate community and man oh man...the stink is unbelievable. I found out after we landed the rental that in the evenings, when you want to leave your windows open to get that natural air conditioning going, is when they must open the flood gates from the poop plant in Guadalupe. Plus all the pesticides spraying in the nearby crops stinks. When I first visited the area during our house hunting trip I asked a neighbor who was out in her yard gardening if she noticed any bad smells in the area and she said not really....Maybe some broccoli smell during harvest time. I thought to myself...smell must not be her strong sense. After living here for more than a year, we have it down pat....as soon as we start to smell the stink, we run around and close all the windows. The code word is "stink...close em up!"

But the crime was not as scary as I thought. I heard a lot about shootings and stabbings but like some other posters mentioned it is pretty centralized to North of Betteravia. I live just north of it and the AM PM around the corner from my neighborhood got held up. But I probably felt a greater sense of safety due to 2 cops living on my street...2 houses down on one side and 4 houses down on the other. Still I rarely slept with my windows open. The mall on the North side of town is just useless. They should tear it down. I can see how in door malls would be good for those locations with inclement weather. But here? Not necessary. And although my kids love going to the library, I would rather not. It is not in a good part of town. During the weekday it was okay and all the homeless people who hang out in the front really don't bother us. I did go to a movie at the mall once and left rather late at night and I felt unsafe driving through that part of town late on a Friday night.
After having lived here I would rather live in Orcutt near Rice Ranch. But alas we are on the move again. Hubby has a good chance of relocation to Monterey Bay area. This time we will be able to spend a bit more time researching where to live since it is drivable, albeit a long one, distance.

I just read this. Based on the current experience, I would do what you said and take a little more time checking out the different neighborhoods before the move. It might be good to error on the side of caution and a bit more nicer area albeit more expensive. I personally do not like the Salinas Mall, though we've gone on occasions. I recommend visiting the places you might if you lived there to get a better idea of what it would actually be like.

[Oh-Happy-Day]

I did visit Salinas last weekend...the only nice neighborhoods I saw were south and north Salinas. I have not heard many people talk about North Salibas, but it was crazy traffic onthe very north street going toward a shopping area in the north.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by Oh-Happy-Day

I did visit Salinas last weekend...the only nice neighborhoods I saw were south and north Salinas. I have not heard many people talk about North Salibas, but it was crazy traffic onthe very north street going toward a shopping area in the north.

North Salinas is generally known to have more gang activity than South Salinas. Check out that crime map and call the local PD for more info on safety. Did you look anywhere outside Salinas? Since you only plan to rent/lease, that opens up more optional areas which could be nicer to live in overall.

Derek