seattle to orange (Santa Ana, Anaheim, Irvine: fit in, low crime, houses)

[movinon4]

We are looking into moving our family to Orange County. We love our community in Sammamish WA in the Eastside suburbs of Seattle, but a new job prospect is leading us to relocate. The new job would be in Orange. Of course we would love a short commute, but will be okay with anything under 50 minutes. I have 2 main concerns.

1. School: we will have one in 8th and one in 5th grade. We have based our past home buying (in NJ and Sammamish) on a good school system, but CA has us very concerned. We are for the first time considering private. If we went that direction, we would be looking for a home in the high $500,000s and could be less concerned with where the school district lines are. If we stayed with public schools, I am thinking $600,000s but we need to feel we are in a strong school system.

2. Where do we fit in? Well, we fit in very well here in Sammamish. Almost, know one I have met is native to WA. We come from all parts of the world and have to rely on neighbors and friends, as family are usually not living nearby. There is a strong appreciation for education, individualism and respect for all things outdoors.

I want to keep an open mind about the people and the neighborhoods in Orange County, but I need help!!

[RobE]

Look into Anaheim Hills (stay away, though, from the Serrano area due to slide concerns and anything up near Weir Canyon due to brush fires) or Yorba Linda (stay away from the area around Carbon Canyon due to brush fire concerns). Both cities have very good schools and low crime.

As for Orange, stay out of the western part of the city (basically anything west of Glassell) in terms of living, but the schools there, due to a big influx of illegal immigrants, have taken a dive. The best area of Orange is more toward the Villa Park side for a family with kids. Just make sure your kids won't end up at El Modena High or Orange High. Stay within the boundaries of Villa Park High or Canyon High.

Anaheim Hills is a short jaunt to Orange and is perhaps thus your best option. You can use city streets to commute to work from there when the freeway is congested.

[nurserosie]

Originally Posted by movinon4

We are looking into moving our family to Orange County. We love our community in Sammamish WA in the Eastside suburbs of Seattle, but a new job prospect is leading us to relocate. The new job would be in Orange. Of course we would love a short commute, but will be okay with anything under 50 minutes. I have 2 main concerns.

1. School: we will have one in 8th and one in 5th grade. We have based our past home buying (in NJ and Sammamish) on a good school system, but CA has us very concerned. We are for the first time considering private. If we went that direction, we would be looking for a home in the high $500,000s and could be less concerned with where the school district lines are. If we stayed with public schools, I am thinking $600,000s but we need to feel we are in a strong school system.

2. Where do we fit in? Well, we fit in very well here in Sammamish. Almost, know one I have met is native to WA. We come from all parts of the world and have to rely on neighbors and friends, as family are usually not living nearby. There is a strong appreciation for education, individualism and respect for all things outdoors.

I want to keep an open mind about the people and the neighborhoods in Orange County, but I need help!!

Irvine Schools are excellent...and Irvine is very close to Orange..

good luck

[OGTSO]

I graduated from Irvine High School-very good. Then Irvine Valley College then California State University Fullerton. My step daughter went to Orange Lutheran then due to circumstances (financial) went to Villa Park High School-also very good. If you live in the very North East corner of Orange you can choose go to Canyon or Villa Park High School as was my step daughters option. You are right next to Villa Park and Anaheim Hills-very wealthy areas, without paying the higher prices they pay for housing. Specifically we lived in the neighborhood between Tustin and Orange-Olive south of Riverdale. Now I live in Spokane, but that's a separate story.

[BRinSM]

your budget won't get you a house in irvine. having said that, there are other very good school districts in OC. in addition to what others have mentioned, i would also consider brea and parts of fullerton. troy high school in fullerton is regularly ranked nationally. after taking a quick look at redfin, it appears that brea, fullerton, yorba linda, anaheim hills, and east orange all have plenty of homes in the 500k-600k range. i wouldn't worry about public schools in these cities, however there are resources available on the internet like greatschools.net which have extra info including standardized testing scores.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by RobE

Look into Anaheim Hills (stay away, though, from the Serrano area due to slide concerns and anything up near Weir Canyon due to brush fires) or Yorba Linda (stay away from the area around Carbon Canyon due to brush fire concerns). Both cities have very good schools and low crime.

As for Orange, stay out of the western part of the city (basically anything west of Glassell) in terms of living, but the schools there, due to a big influx of illegal immigrants, have taken a dive. The best area of Orange is more toward the Villa Park side for a family with kids. Just make sure your kids won't end up at El Modena High or Orange High. Stay within the boundaries of Villa Park High or Canyon High.

Anaheim Hills is a short jaunt to Orange and is perhaps thus your best option. You can use city streets to commute to work from there when the freeway is congested.

El Modena is bad? I thought it was a decent school.

[robbybee]

Schools in OC are overall, pretty good. The better districts are Irvine, Tustin and Anaheim, although parts of Anaheim are better than others. Anaheim Hills is newer and more upscale than the more established parts of the city.

I like the City of Orange, especially the Old Town area, but I don't know much about the quality of the school district...

There are lots of options, that's for sure. Remember to bring your sunscreen when you relocate! You will need it after living in Seattle...

[Coldjensens]

Actually I thik that Mission Viejo, Lake Forest and several other districts are considered better than Tustin or Anaheim. Tustin is really good for Girls Softball. The have some good schools. Foothill high is pretty good. Tustin Memorail Academy is an insanely competitive charter elemntary that turns out highly competitive neurotic geniuses.

Old town Orange is wonderful. Schools are mediochre. Not bad, not great. Certianly good enoguh to get into college. Villa Park has pretty good schools. Too many rich kids with nothng to do = some drug problems, but overall it is a good school.

Even Santa Ana has some good schools OCHSA (Arts school) is very highly rated. THe fundamental schools are pretty good. Laguna has good schools (you need a million plus budget to live in Laguna).


You may like Silverado Canyon. It is in the Cleveland National Forest (very outdoors oriented). Orange Schools. It gets a bit hotter there than much of Orange County. Nice place though, small town feel.

Most of Orange County (the south part) is one giant suburb. It is crammed full of matchin houses in matching subdivisions with matching strip malls scattered around. Your matching children can ride their matching bicycles on matching paved trails to paly in matching pocket parks until you pick them up in your red Cherokee or White BMW with a golden retriver in the back. It is all very nice in a stepford kind of way. If you are good at matching, you will love the area. Schools are mostly very good to execellent in South County.

Anaheim and Fullerotn both have one excellent charter high school each.

For private school, Orange has a tiny bohemian k-12 school that I love called El Durado School for gifted children. It is not just for gifted children, it is really for wealthy children. Lots of foreign dignataries or executives have their kids there. It costs about $12,000 per year. Probably more now, our kids went there 5 years ago. A lot if you have lots of kids, but cheaper than many places. Our kids loved it and the education is fantastic, but a bit different than traditional schools.

[PROFJOAN]

I can't comment on the schools in comparison to Seattle. Avoid tht school inTustin.(an old prof.).Irvine is the best community for familes, safety and home price stability. It is also not far from the #55 which gets you to Orange quickly. I'll give you one fact about Irvine that will turn you on or off: It is where there are many orientals who strive in academics, also many university professors live near there.

[Socalpal]

Originally Posted by BRinSM

your budget won't get you a house in irvine. having said that, there are other very good school districts in OC. in addition to what others have mentioned, i would also consider brea and parts of fullerton. troy high school in fullerton is regularly ranked nationally. after taking a quick look at redfin, it appears that brea, fullerton, yorba linda, anaheim hills, and east orange all have plenty of homes in the 500k-600k range. i wouldn't worry about public schools in these cities, however there are resources available on the internet like greatschools.net which have extra info including standardized testing scores.

Thats odd my Redfin search shows 30 Active Single Family homes in Irvine between 500-600k, 42 Active Single Family homes in Orange, 15 in Anaheim Hills, 45 in Yorba Linda, 43 in Fullerton and 14 in Brea