Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > Orange County
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 02-20-2014, 08:45 AM
 
63 posts, read 230,258 times
Reputation: 29

Advertisements

My husband has been transferred from Miami to Santa Ana, California. We are going to California next month to scout out neighborhoods with our two girls who are 9 and 11. We want to buy for under $1.5M. Schools and family friendly neighborhood are extremely important to us.

At the top of our list due to proximity Irvine.
However, I noticed that in Tustin, which is near by, the High School Foothill High is also rated good and scored high on SAT averages. We could get more house for our money there with a yard and a pool!

What are the differences between Irvine and Tustin?
Is Tustin a family friendly place to raise children?
How is the weather in Tustin?
Has anybody had good or bad experiences with Foothill High School?

Other places we are considering in order of school performance (according to average SAT scores) are:
Newport Beach in the Corona del Mar High School Zone
Laguna Niguel in the Aliso Niguel High School Zone or Dana Hills High School Zone
Ladera Ranch in the Tesoro High School Zone
Mission Viejo in the Trabuco High School Zone
Huntington Beach in the Edison High School Zone
Huntington Beach Harbor in the Marina High School Zone

Any comments, experience, or suggestions?

P.S.
I have found all the information shared with me through city data extremely helpful. I am very grateful to all who have taken the time to help me and my family with their input.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 02-20-2014, 09:04 AM
 
5,381 posts, read 8,684,170 times
Reputation: 4550
I like what I have seen of Tustin, but admit I don't have that much experience with the town. FWIW, Tustin made Forbes' list of 25 best towns. You can check some the pros and cons they cited:

In Depth: America's Top 25 Towns To Live Well - Forbes
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-20-2014, 01:25 PM
 
57 posts, read 94,122 times
Reputation: 31
Quote:
Originally Posted by pacific2 View Post
I like what I have seen of Tustin, but admit I don't have that much experience with the town. FWIW, Tustin made Forbes' list of 25 best towns. You can check some the pros and cons they cited:

In Depth: America's Top 25 Towns To Live Well - Forbes
AV #16. You must be proud pac2 . But seriously, not many dining options?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-20-2014, 01:45 PM
 
5,381 posts, read 8,684,170 times
Reputation: 4550
Quote:
Originally Posted by oc919 View Post
AV #16. You must be proud pac2 . But seriously, not many dining options?

Well,it is nice that others from outside the area agree that we are not just totally delusional when we say that things are working out pretty well here in Aliso. There is a lot of behind the scenes work going on.

I would agree about the very limited dining options, but I try to keep things in perspective since this is a tiny town (7.5 sq mi).

Someone who obviously has too much time on his hands came up with this partial list of Town Center
dining spots (many are chain and not exactly "top" anything):
Aliso Viejo Town Center - Top Restaurants in Aliso Viejo

Not to fear. All of the towns in South County are really close to one another, so people regularly get their passports in hand, and hop from one city to the next for dining, recreation, or whatever. We are right next to Laguna Beach, and maybe 15 minutes (Toll Road) from Newport Beach, so no problem.

Town Center is scheduled for a "redo" since it's showing its age a bit. Studies have been commissioned and proposals submitted, including suggestions to make it more pedestrian friendly AND to provide more outdoor dining experiences.

Hopefully, things will improve as AV matures (Its been an incorporated city for about only 12.5 years).
We shall see.

The demographics are changing, trending towards a slightly more mature population, even though AV's median age is still amongst the youngest in South County. I think older residents probably appreciate a bit more variety in terms of restaurants.

Last edited by pacific2; 02-20-2014 at 03:03 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-20-2014, 02:08 PM
 
Location: Lemon Heights, Orange County, CA
805 posts, read 1,558,245 times
Reputation: 1303
I would look in North Tustin, especially Lemon Heights and Cowan Heights, Tustin Ranch and Irvine, areas like Turtle rock. Tustin Ranch and Irvine feed into Irvine School District and North tustin into Tustin SD. I went to Foothill high and it's a good school. Irvine schools are excellent.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-20-2014, 02:11 PM
 
Location: Dana Point
1,224 posts, read 1,823,977 times
Reputation: 683
Town Center actually has a decent Peruvian place. Forget the name, ate there once and was mildly surprised.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-20-2014, 02:31 PM
 
57 posts, read 94,122 times
Reputation: 31
Quote:
Originally Posted by ExeterMedia View Post
Town Center actually has a decent Peruvian place. Forget the name, ate there once and was mildly surprised.
Inka mamas?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-20-2014, 02:34 PM
 
Location: Dana Point
1,224 posts, read 1,823,977 times
Reputation: 683
That sounds like it. On the first floor, right off the parking lot.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-20-2014, 02:39 PM
 
5,381 posts, read 8,684,170 times
Reputation: 4550
Quote:
Originally Posted by oc919 View Post
Inka mamas?
Peruvian!

The Citrus Grill at Renaissance ClubSport AV is good. The city also recently approved the construction of a new long term stay hotel. Hopefully, they will have a decent restaurant.


Inka Mama's - Wcities - YouTube

I guess it really makes sense that it's mostly the chains that would have the money to invest in a new start up town. It could be really risky for independents.

Here is another problem, now that the chains are in place, who in their right mind thinks they are about to relinquish a lease?? Doing so would allow an independent to try to step in, but that's not likely since there is a very limited amount of space in this town.

Last edited by pacific2; 02-20-2014 at 03:22 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-20-2014, 05:05 PM
 
63 posts, read 230,258 times
Reputation: 29
Thank you for the replies.
Anybody else has experience with Tustin and/ or Foothill High School?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > Orange County
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top