East Costa Mesa apartment complexes! (Santa Ana, Orange: low income, rentals, crime)

[synecdoche]

I'm back with another quick question and hoping some folks with firsthand knowledge can help!

I'm looking, right now anyhow, at renting an apartment in Costa Mesa east of the 55. There seem to be lots of complexes with reasonable prices (for me, that means below $1500 for one bedroom) that have good online reviews. Some I've come up with so far are Pinecreek, Orange Bay, and Park Mesa. Streets include Paularino Ave, E 18th, and Fairview.

I'll be touring them myself, but has anyone here lived in or had firsthand experience with any rental complexes around here? I'd really love an honest assessment.

My main concern is safety and crime. I'm using the OC police blotter and Spotcrime sites to research, but they show almost no activity which makes me think some info has to be missing.

And related to that....I've read the advice a few times now to speak to the police department to get honest info about a building and its record. Has anyone done this? I am having trouble deciding if it'd work and how to approach them if so.

Many thanks!!!

[russlancea]

I've called up the police dept once to get info on an area I wanted to buy a home in and another time, I used an online chat to discuss this with the police. It was very nice to hear what they had to say.

I have had two family members rent an apt east of the 55 in Costa Mesa--yes, there are lots of apts there! They lived near Del Mar and Orange, so south of the area you're looking at. I never heard of any problems with crime. I think eastside is one of the nice areas of CM. My husband, who grew up in CM, says westside can be rough and the area by Kmart on Harbor is also not as desirable.

But eastside? I think they only problem you're going to find there is parking. The times when I had to visit my family, I was able to find parking, but I mostly went in the off hours, so I was able to park somewhat nearby.

Oh, when the fair is open--ugh. Good luck finding parking, but maybe your area is too far to be affected.

[k374]

i'm very familiar with Costa Mesa and in my experience although there are some transients here and there it's pretty safe, the whole area is going through a gentrification process and it's going to become and adjunct to Newport Beach in due course.

[synecdoche]

I have heard some people say both good and bad things about the "MacArthur/ Bristol" area... opinions on it seem so polarized that I'm wondering if there are distinct sections of it, some of which are good and some bad. I'm truly awful at geography so even with the maps, I'm confused. Can anybody break it down for me? Bristol/ MacArthur is near the JW airport, yes?

Here are the east Costa Mesa units I'm trying to figure out in terms of safety of area, etc.:

Park Mesa Villas at 550 Paularino Ave
South Coast Fountains at 739 Paularino Ave
Madison Newport at 2345 Newport Blvd
Eastside Apts at 126 E 8th St.


Then there are a few that are definitely west of the 55, but have good reviews, and the crime stats don't seem to show a lot going on (which is odd to me, but maybe I have the area wrong):

PineCreek Village at 1300 Adams
Harbor at Mesa Verde at 2700 Peterson Place
Pinecreek Apartments at 2300 Fairview Road
Mediterranean Village at 2400 Harbor Blvd

... Also a few units named Casa del Oro at 365 and 383 W Wilson.

Two others have come up a lot but aren't feasible for me (Orange Bay, at 187 E 18th, has no vacancies, and Mesa Pines at 2650 Harla Ave doesn't allow cats).

Am I misreading the data about these areas? Anyone live there/ know them well enough to give me good feedback on them? Am I missing any reasonably-priced rentals in similar or better spots?

Thank you so much for anything you can tell me!

[Teckeeee]

I can't tell you about those specific complexes but my family lives in South Coast Metro part of CM, and I have lived on the East Side numerous times and will probably be returning later this year.

The crime around Baker and Fairview is easy to spot. It's the low income apts. on Baker and the ones off of Mendoza that I would avoid. Santa Ana until about Alton is actually nicer than the West Side of CM.

The East Side of Costa Mesa has no crime, but man a 1bdr is 1400 and that's above someone's garage, so maybe I won't return exactly there.

If you are a light sleeper like me, be cautious of any of the nice looking places by the 55/73 because they were all built in the 80's and have poor sound insulation.

The last part I like is Mesa Verde but that's SFR with families.