Another relo questions! (Santa Ana, Huntington Beach, Garden Grove: renters, mortgage, buying a home)

[melissal]

Hi everyone,
So I've sifted through all of these similar posts and was unable to find a thread that applied to all of my criteria...so I'm sorry I had to start my own. I know some of you are probably sick of it

Anyway, I was born and raised in Southern NJ, about 15 minutes from Philadelphia. My husband is from Philadelphia and has also lived in NJ for several years. He just took a position with a company based in Cypress, CA. We'd really like to keep his commute to 20-30 minutes (crazy, I know).

We've flown out several times to look...and I don't know if our realtor doesn't "get us" or if we just don't fit.

We're looking for a family-friendly neighborhood, with lots of conveniences (stores, Starbucks, parks, etc) nearby and good schools. I have a four year old, an infant, and an au pair coming with us (which is why I need the bedrooms - see below). I am a high school English teacher here in NJ, though I won't work right away once we're there. I really just want a safe, family centered, FUN, convenient location that at least resembles the suburb that I'm used to. Is there any such town/thing????

We know things are going to be majorly different - but we currently have a 2,400sft home with 4 bedrooms and just had it built 3 years ago. I know we'll have to downsize, but I need 3-4 bedrooms and can't imagine living in a home that is less than 2,000sqft.

We are going to rent for a year, because I don't know how my east-coast self will be out there or how I'll deal so far from my family. It is something we have to try for his career...so we're going at least for a little while, but we aren't looking at buying a home just yet - just renting.

Any suggestion????????
Thank you, thank you, thank you in advance. We are not west-coast savvy and this is killing me.
Melissa

[EscapeCalifornia]

What's your rent budget?

[melissal]

We are hoping to stay under $3,000....$2,500 being ideal. Am I out there?

[EscapeCalifornia]

You should have some decent options for that budget. Most of OC is suburb land so that part should be easy. Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley have good schools and are reasonably close to Cypress.

[melissal]

We did look at Huntington beach by driving through and it did look really nice....for some reason our realtor never took us there...we just drove there because we heard about it. There was a section that looked very "young"...like college-aged, but the rest looked more our speed (we're 30). I never looked into Fountain Valley...I look into that too.
Thanks!
MElissa

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by melissal

We did look at Huntington beach by driving through and it did look really nice....for some reason our realtor never took us there...we just drove there because we heard about it. There was a section that looked very "young"...like college-aged, but the rest looked more our speed (we're 30). I never looked into Fountain Valley...I look into that too.
Thanks!
MElissa

The "young" part of town was probably more downtown. I wouldn't want to live there personally. Too crowded, especially in the summer. The rest of the city is mostly tract housing built in the 1960's and 70's. Fountain Valley is pretty much the same. Between the two cities, pretty much whatever you want/need is here: Many grocery stores, Walmart, Target, Sam's Club, Costco, car dealerships, restaurants everywhere, etc. HB has a newly rebuilt outdoor mall and South Coast Plaza (one of the biggest malls in the country) is about 5 miles south.

[losercore]

Cypress is actually a really nice town it just borders some crappy towns. If he is working Cypress there are really nice areas in Cypress. HB will cost you more but if you stay on the NW part of HB (Near the harbor/Marina area) your husband will have one of the easiest commutes for people that live in HB as he can just take Bolsa Chica and have it turn in Valley View and hit Cypress. He could be at work in 10 minutes. I commuted from HB to Santa Ana and that's about an hour for a 17 mile commute.

I have lived in both HB (Born and raised) and Cypress among many other OC cities. Huntington is more younger, no kids type for renters and Cypress is where the people that lived in HB move to once they have kids because they cannot afford HB anymore. JK but you can save a lot on rent/mortgage in Cypress. Or at least get more for your money.

Cypress is pretty nice. Stay south of Lincoln and west of Valley View. The Moody and Katella/Ball area are nice.

[melissal]

Thanks! How could I look online (which is how we are doing most of our searching) and stay south of Lincoln and west of Valley View. Is that a specific subdivision or zip code of Cypress? He works right on Corporate Highway, which I believe is right off of Valley View...and everything right there looked very industrialized to me.

So HB is more single/young? Hmmm....My husband and I go out here every Friday night to Philadelphia, PA for dinner, etc....but during the week, we're pretty boring people who revolve around my 4 year old! So wherever we go...it has to be 4 year old friendly, if not centered.

Thanks for the insight

[losercore]

Not really any subdivisions off the top of my head but look around Moody and Ball, Moody and Katella.

It's hard to say exactly. I lived on Walker and Orange and it was pretty nice. Right by the college (It's a small college, not a lot going on there)

I know exactly where he will be working. There are houses behind that whole area. Just got to go west a bit on any major street. Lampson is good, Ball, Katella and Orange are all good otherwise Lincoln starts to get pretty crappy because you hit Hawaiian Gardens and La Palma cities. (Not the cities of choice) Cerritos is nice though.

Please let me know if I can help you guys. Feel free to PM me and I'll give you an email. I'm happy to help out.

[EscapeCalifornia]

You might also want to check out west Garden Grove. Its basically centered off Valley View St, just north of the 405/22 interchange. Its a little older but the houses look generally well cared for. I believe the zip code is 92845. Be careful to only look in WEST Garden Grove. The rest of the city is pretty low rent.