Tustin Area (Anaheim, Riverside, Huntington Beach: to rent, how much, first time home buyer)

[melbon7462]

Hey I am from California, Riverside area. I have been gone and out of state for a few years due to the fact that my hubby is military! Any whoo!! We will soon be moving back home to California, with our son. I will also soon be a RN graduate and my husband in IT. So here is my question, Are there any good local hospitals in Tustin area?...Also is this a family friendly place?...How are the schools? Lastly what would be your advice to us first time home buyers, trying to buy in an expensive area (tustin)?...Should we rent first to save a big down payment, or get into a smaller town house at first. Thanks so much for ANY feedback!! Toodles

[missionhome]

Tustin is a nice central area in Orange County. It has nice shopping and is a great place to live. There are many families in the area too, so I would call it family friendly. Also, there are several hospitals close by to Tustin and in it. First there is the small Tustin Medical Center, and nearby are several large ones like St. Joseph Hospital (Orange), Children's Hospital of Orange County (Orange), UCI Medical Center (Orange), and Irvine Medical Center (Irvine). Small ones outside Tustin include Coastal Communities Hospital and Garden Grove Hospital (of which I know nothing about). For schools, do not live in attendance boundaries for Tustin High School, but Foothill and Beckman High Schools are both very good. Irvine and Orange are neighboring cities of Tustin that are also nice. In this market, I would rent first and then find a place to buy later.

[fipster]

I live in Tustin. Can't say I like it much. But renting would be a good idea. If you're concerned with being close to a good school for your son, I suggest living in Irvine, Huntington Beach, or Fountain Valley. Orange, Tustin, and Costa Mesa have underperforming schools.

[Coldjensens]

Prices probably hav enot bottomed out yet.

Nicer houses in tustin are downtown or up in the hils (Anaheim hills, emon heights, etc.). Better schools are the foothill school district. TMA is a good elementary

[melbon7462]

fipster what dont you like about the area if you dont mind me asking??

[melbon7462]

What about tustin Ranch area?

[Coldjensens]

Tustin ranch is the same as most newer areas in OC. Nice, but bland matching subdivision houses. Lots of nice matching parks with manicured lawns. It is as nice any any other similar sub/development, but dull and without any character whatsoever. If you like conformity coupled with nice clean areas Tustin Ranch will be great for you. So will any other of a very large number of recent developments. There really is almost no way to tell one form another.

[melbon7462]

So I am assuming due to the fact that is it a newer community, homes will be more expensive? and oddly enough sounds like my kinda neighborhood! Now are there many appartments in this area, I could live in while I save for a big down payment?

[scavaglieri]

I live in N. Tustin and have grown up here all my life. This is a wonderful place to live and raise a family. You do not need to live in the hills to find a nice house. We have a beautiful house and we are not in the hills. Tustin Ranch is ok if you like the cookie cutter house at arms reach from eachother. Tustin Has great schools! I do agree with coldjensens stay in the foothill district. When we were looking two years ago to buy, we did look in H.B. In my opinion that is not a place to look. You are going to pay much more for a very old SMALL rundown house with almost no yard. If you have kids I'm assuming you would want a yard for them. The houses we were looking at were 1,200 - 1,500 sf in the 750,00 range. Of course less now a days. You are paying for that beach name. It all depends on your price range. You can find a great house with upgrades, tons of land (10,000 sf), and near good schools in N. tustin for around 750,000 - 850,000. The market is still dropping and the intrest rates are on a roller coster right now so I would rent and wait to see how much lower it goes. We bought about 2 years ago when the maret was at its peak Goodluck

[melbon7462]

Thanks so much! Well we are just getting out of the military, and will be first time home buyers! Unfortunatley, looking around on different websites looks like we will not be able to buy a house, WAY out of our price range! We can do 450,000 TOP. But thats ok we will just have to rent and save up a good cushion to put down so we could afford to buy! Thanks again for the information!!