Thinking of moving from Toronto Canada to Irvine California (Los Angeles: renting, insurance)

[CmpEngineer]

I have lived in Irvine for many years. It is a great place to raise kids (excellent schools, low crime, cultural diversity). However, Irvine is so boring and it has no beach.

[jerrycat]

it is a very plastic place nothing is what it seems it can be boring but the schools are good and the air is clean am thinking of moving to costa mesa. my advice is to check it out very well

[jerrycat]

: [QUOTE=jerrycat;283372rvine it is a strange place like nowhere i have lived before it is all very green and the air is good the schools are great by us standards it can be boring and you will need to drive everywhere as nobody walks here. check it out well

[jerrycat]

how do you meet other families in irvine? can someone please help

[juliette]

really over priced (orange county) all of SO CAL. terrible traffic, lots of plastic and materialistic people, rat race ! fells like Im on a tread mill and I cant get off! ok homes start at 600.000 and go up quick from there. I dont like the schools do to overcrowded classrooms for the most part. Stay where your at and enjoy the real winters, we hardly get any rain here and it looks like crap around here, I mean really brown. we own our own company and make plenty of money but it gets us nowhwere here. Anyway, its a grind here to stay aflot but we do have nice beaches but there overcrowded and the water really doesnt warm up all that much here. (65-68 in the summer)

good luck.
Bill & Juliette
Aliso viejo, Ca 10min from world famous Laguna beach.

[newportbeachsmostwanted]

O.C.. is ALL ABOUT money.
(don't even think of living in Newport without a Mercedes Benz or a Bimmer!)

Well, traffic, it's your own decision whether or not you want to get into that mess. Live where you work, or work at home. Start your own business. Keep up with the masses. The neighbors didn't get spoon-fed their mansion.

This lifestyle comes at a price. To be frank, if you can't afford it-downgrade. Move for gosh sakes! The entire U.S. is not a million dollar sprawl.

Work hard, live well.

[losangelestotoronto]

Irvine is so sterile and spaced out! Why would you move from a beautiful culturally rich city like Toronto to Irvine. I have friends who have grown up in Irvine and hate it. I have lived in California my entire life and love Toronto so much I am moving there in August. Yes the winters are long but at least there are seasons. Plus, when the leaves change color in the fall the entire landscape looks magestic. Look inside your heart and talk to your husband about any doubts before coming out to Irvine. If you have to move no matter what, consider Laguna Hills in Orange County or anywhere but Irvine. Coming from an active and exciting city like Toronto to Irvine will undoubtedly cause some unhappiness. That's just my opinion though, consult and confide in your close friends and family.

[vnsoca]

Originally Posted by Sunshine2006

We are thinking of moving from Toronto to Irvine. When I read the stuff about the traffic, air quality, house prices, etc....I wonder if its the right thing to do.

Toronto is a great city and the only thing I don't like is the long winter. I am just not sure after reading all the comments, if there is enough attraction to moving to Irvine.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, we are kind of in limbo right now!
I also have a 3 year old daugther, so schools and quality of life for children is also important.

I have just got back from irvine a week ago and loved there. Like you, I hate the winter here. I am currently putting up my house for sale. I am looking to move out to Irvine within a year or so. I have got 2 kids (9 & 6). I also want a quality of life for my kids too! I am researching as much as possible about immigration laws and etc... ( how do we move our furniture/stuff to the US?). My husband is in IT so I think the NAFTA agreement allows him to work in the US. But what about public school is it free? Do we buy health plans? Please advise. We could exchange info...

[Reivax]

Such beautiful places surround you (Kitchener and Cambridge are two that I am familiar with) and you want to move to Orange County?

Irvine is heaven for some, hell for others. My parents sold the childhood home and moved to Irvine. They seem to love it. They say it's clean, that facilities are all new, the house is new, it's quiet and that neighbors mind their own business.

I, on the other hand, would hate it. I couldn't live with all those rules. I couldn't live with nothing more than 6 ft. of space between me and my neighbor, where every house around you is architecturally cut from the same design page, coated in one of the 3 shades of beige that are allowed in Irvine.

I strongly urge you to visit it before moving.

[missionhome]

I agree that you need to visit Irvine before you move. But that is something you need to do anywhere in the world you may move. Spend a few days here, rent a car, and drive around and explore the area. I personally prefer where we live in Mission Viejo because it is prettier. The land is rolling hills and the homes are set back and usually not visible from the main streets, while Irvine is flat as a pancake. Check out my post on Mission Viejo if you want an in depth analysis of it. It really is "family city." Of the twelve houses on my street, nine of them have kids! All of the schools here in MV are in the top 1,000 in the nation and all of Mission Viejo's have IB which allows your kid to go to any university in the world if they take the course (including Canada). The weather isn't bad either. Some beachfront residents find it to hot, but MV is only five miles from the ocean, hardly very inland. Summer averages are 85F, and it never goes more than 95 except in rare heatwaves. I think people in Mission Viejo are more real than Irvine and your kids won't feel the pressure at school like they do in Irvine. Irvine school are all the highest ranked in the county, mainly due to a huge Asian population. They study extremly hard and do boost the schools rankings, but those that aren't super smart fall behind and there isn't many other outs for the kids. In Mission Viejo, the schools are almost as high preforming, but there isn't as much pressure on the students to be perfect. There are good sport teams, clubs and other outs for kids at school in Mission Viejo rather than getting just straight A's and studying from getting home to 11PM.