Any info helpful - possibly relocating.. (Los Angeles, Long Beach: real estate, foreclosure, how much)

[stephkoch1]

Hi Everyone!
We are currently located in Greensboro, NC. The company my husband works for has plans to expand to Cali, and wants us to move so he can run the Real Estate function. There would be some flexibility in where we could live, at least initally, but it would have to be southern Cali. He would like to be within reasonable distance to the airport, because he does travel some.
Here are my concerns:
1. Where to live? I have family in Mission Viejo who love it, but it seems far from LAX. What are the best family areas? Are there any public schools that are decent?
2. Would you move? I've been in NC for 20 years, but am open to a move. I just hear so many negative (and positive) things about CA. I've only visited a handful of times, and only ever for vacations (so I've never gotten a good idea of what it would be like to live there.) I'm excited about the weather and produce...not so much the traffic and housing costs.
3. We just bought a house in a fabulous neighborhood. It's 3100 sq ft, 4 bed/2.5 bath. Great school district. We paid around $400k. We're trying to tell his company that a comparable house will cost us at least $900k. Is that reasonable? I don't think his company has fully realized how much more expensive it is. I want at least a family-friendly, safe neighborhood. Doesn't have to be Newport Beach, but I want a nice community.
4. What are your favorite things about living in OC? What are your favorite things to do?
You have no idea how much I appreciate ANY info/advice you can give. This is such a stressful decision for us to try to make. We have a 21m old daughter, and are hoping to try again for #2, so I'd like to get this decision behind us! We don't necessarily WANT to move, but it would be AWESOME for his career, and we are at least open to the idea.
Thank you!

[Charles]

Where will he be working most of the time?
Driving from MV or South Orange County to LAX is an hour in no traffic but no traffic is only during certain times of the day like really early in the morning and the middle of the day(and that is iffy). So, the LAX drive might not be a big deal if he's only driving there a few times a month or so.
MV is $230-$280 per square foot so for 3000 square feet you're looking at $750K-$800K or so - lots of variation but that is ball park.

It sounds like this will be great except for family (your folks) considerations with raising kids away from family. That can be tough. Everything else like schools, weather and family amenities are fantastic.

Here is a set of links I put together for you:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/orang...ing-tools.html

and on it are two very good tools, Redfin and School Performance Maps.

For example, here are all 4BR homes from $400K to $600K in the MV area

http://www.redfin.com/search#lat=33....5&zoomLevel=12

Other communities in that area which have family reputations

Rancho Santa Margarita
Ladera Ranch
Laguna Niguel
Lake Forest
Las Flores
Dove Canyon
Robinson Ranch
Foothill Ranch
Aliso Viejo
Irvine

[VeronikaW]

I will try to address some of your concerns. First, you don't need to be near LAX. Orange County has its own airport, John Wayne International Airport (airport code SNA). It's about 20 minutes from Mission Viejo.

Pretty much all of the schools in south Orange County are very good. Check SchoolDigger.com - School Rankings, Reviews and More - Public and Private Elementary, Middle, High Schools or GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community and you can see they all rank very highly in cities like Irvine, Mission Viejo, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, etc.

A comparable house in one of the cities listed above would definitely cost you at least $900K. CA is ridiculously expensive. I just plugged in the numbers on Redfin, and a lot of the houses are over $1,000,000. Real Estate Search | Redfin

Would I move? Honestly, probably not. I am a CA native. I grew up mostly in Irvine. Just over 3 years ago my husband and I decided to leave CA as we felt we'd never be able to afford a house here. My husband got a great job in WA state, so we moved. In 3 years, we had 2 children. All of my family is in CA. That is the only reason we moved back here about 2 months ago, and we are seriously regretting it. It's great to be around family, but we are seriously suffering financially, even though my husband has a very good job.

As to my favorite things about OC, there are several since I grew up here, not the least of which is just the familiarity of it. I love all the parks in Irvine. I love Laguna Beach. I used to love how safe it felt, but after living in WA for 3 years, it doesn't feel nearly as safe, even though it is relatively safe. There are lots of places to shop. There are tons of beaches. There's nature if you know where to look for it. The weather is great if you like being outside.

If I think of anything else I'll let you know. I have moved several times in my life, and I always end up back in Orange County, but definitely make sure they're paying you well enough to have the same lifestyle you have in NC.

Good luck.

V. =)

[Charles]

Originally Posted by VeronikaW

A comparable house in one of the cities listed above would definitely cost you at least $900K.

Here are 373 SFR houses, 3000 square feet or more which sold for $900K or less in the past year in the area:

Real Estate Search | Redfin

[stephkoch1]

Thanks for all the good information!
Yes, it really does come down to having a somewhat comparable lifestyle there. We've been able to do very well for here for being 31, and I'm just scared of this being a financial setback. Housing is obviously the big obstacle.
Charles, all of your links are fantastic - definitely some I hadn't found yet.
Veronika - thanks for your honesty. It sounds like your kids are still young - but will you send them to public school or consider public schools? We have several years before that's an issue for us, but I'd like to live somewhere that's at least an option.

[VeronikaW]

Originally Posted by stephkoch1

Veronika - thanks for your honesty. It sounds like your kids are still young - but will you send them to public school or consider public schools? We have several years before that's an issue for us, but I'd like to live somewhere that's at least an option.

My children are only 1 1/2 and 2 1/2, and while I've been researching private school, because I'm a bit worried that my son is going to be too "spirited" for traditional school, I don't think we will ever be able to afford it (and my husband would rather put money into their 529 accounts for college than spend money on private school).

I have absolutely no issue with sending my kids to public school almost anywhere in South Orange County. I've done a lot of research on the schools around here, and I grew up in the Irvine school district (which I think is consistently considered one of the best in the state, if not the nation), and I'm totally happy at the thought of sending my kids to public school here.

My nephew is about to enter the 6th grade here in Aliso Viejo, and from what I've gathered, his elementary school was pretty top notch, with very active parents, and his middle school sounds like it's going to be really good, too.

I think the only city in South Orange County that has some questionable schools is San Juan Capistrano. We plan on buying a house early next year, and we're looking at Aliso Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Ladera Ranch, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Lake Forest, and Mission Viejo, because they are all places I'd feel perfectly comfortable sending my kids to public schools.

Most of Orange County in general has very good schools.

V. =)

[Greenfield24]

Sounds like a great opportunity for your husband. Your family is young enough that if you do move to CA and don't like it in a few years you can move back and your kids won't be affected by schools, etc. I am a So Cal native and 4 years ago we moved to Atlanta - it was a great opportunity for my husband - but now we are planning our return to So Cal. I've never been to NC, but keep in mind you can't directly compare the two - they are extremely different in climate, culture, costs, life style, etc. So Cal is a great place for families, being outdoors, etc. but in the end it might not be where you want to stay, but you won't know until you try it. Good luck and go for it!

[missionhome]

Mission Viejo is a great area. Go through the history of threads and also the 'Pictures of Orange County" thread that is a sticky and see lots of pics of MV. Its a family friendly area with lots of single family homes. The whole community was master planned and flows together nicely between residential, retail, commercial, and parks. The schools in the area are good also.

LAX is about an hour without traffic, two with it. There aren't many family friendly affordable areas very close to LAX. Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, etc... are all great and close to LAX, but will be more expensive than Mission Viejo. If you can afford that area, its something to consider but it is about 40% more than MV. Mission Viejo is close to John Wayne/Orange County Airport (SNA) served by many major airlines. It isn't a major international airport with service across the Pacific to Asia or service to Europe, but there are flights to most hubs on main line aircraft (not many regional planes at SNA). When you need flights to Tokyo, London, Toronto, Sydney, Frankfurt, etc... LAX isn't that far away and it does usually have lower fares.

[bhcompy]

If you're worried about the cost move to much less expensive established neighborhood. There are plenty of them across the county, and most of them have significantly lower property tax(half or so) and no HOA(which are very expensive in south OC). Areas in northern OC(Yorba Linda, Brea, La Mirada), western OC(Rossmoor, Seal Beach, Cypress, western Garden Grove), older parts of south OC(Tustin, older parts of Mission Viejo, older parts of Irvine), and parts of southeast LA County(east Long Beach, Cerritos) are all areas with great schools(as good as any offered in the areas you're mentioning statistically and mostly suffering much less financial trouble than south OC districts) and with many more comparatively affordable options. Some of those areas will be much closer to LAX and all of them are very close to either John Wayne(SNA) or Long Beach(LGB)

[Teacher/momof6]

My sister lives in a town or city called Whittier, which according to her, is about 45 minutes or so from Los Angeles. She also teaches in Whittier, middle school. She is an excellent teacher and loves to be out and about in the community. She is always involved in one thing or another, whether it's going to Dog Beach or Griffith Observatory, etc.

She and her hubby finally bought their own home when they had twins. He's a realtor too. She hated buying a place because real estate is so darn expensive out there. They got a foreclosure for a half mil, which is insane. Anyway, she loves Whittier and has been there now for over fifteen years.