Good/Bad about living in Orange County (Los Angeles, San Jose: apartment, rent)

[choyak]

That lot size is typical at least where I live. Your Chicago neighborhood must be exceptional, those prices are not that much less than here! We have alot of 'McMansions' here though the back yard is like 20 feet only. My 3br 60 year old 'shack' with 2 car garage is probably in the low 600ks, the property taxes at this price are enormous though. The lot is 6100 not that bad, I could put 2 McMansions on there

[OCCASparky]

...but close.

When northern/costal OC (Huntington, Fountain Valley, etc) underwent their major building in the 1960's and early 1970's, the average house was 3 or 4 BR, 1700 sq ft., on a 6K-7K sq ft lot.

Nowadays you might have the same house but on a 3500-4000 sq ft lot.

So pick your poison--a newer home on a smaller lot or older (needing roofing, wiring, etc) on an older lot. Both are going to be priced about the same. The "average" 3 BR where I live goes for about 700K, expect to pay 800K or more for a "decent" 4 BR.

Ethnically the "OC stereotype" is still alive and well. However, there is a liberalization of certain parts of OC with the influx of immigrants (except Vietnamese immigrants--they're politically MORE conservative than even the natives). That being said, you're still dealing with an area that voted for Bush with over 60 percent of the vote in 2004 (he got 44 percent of the vote in CA that election).

There are some areas which are still very WASP-y, but they're becoming fewer and fewer. You do have a lot of natives (like myself and the wife) who love it here but simply cannot deal with what has transpired here in OC and the LA metro area in general.

Traffic is bad and getting worse. There is no such thing as with/against traffic anymore--you're facing rush hour crawl regardless of which direction you travel anymore.

Many of the OC jobs are based in the Tustin/Irvine area as one of the earlier posters alluded to. Other major employers are Boeing in Huntington/Seal Beach and several companies in the Rancho Santa Margarita area.

This explains the horrific traffic on the 405, 5, and 55 freeways in the mornings and evenings. The 22 freeway is undergoing major rennovations and is a nightmare, and the 57 is terrible because of the construction on the 60 freeway in LA county and the merge with the 57 and 5 (hence the term "Orange Crush"). Toll roads (241, 91, and 73) are available, but are ridiculously expensive compared to other toll roads and really aren't that much faster during rush hour. For example, the 91 charges based on direction and time so you could be paying up to $8.75 for a 10-mile stretch of toll road.

That being said, the recreation is incredible and you can find literally anything within a couple hours of home--beach, desert, mountains, whatever.

[nbl878]

I was a city planner for various OC cities for 5 years. It is a complete mess of cul-de-sacs, super-avenues (8 lanes wide), congestion will not allow you to move about easily, and the people are terribly selfish. There is a lack of culture, besides mall culture. Laguna Beach is nice, but in my five years of living there, I saw it rapidly turn into a retirement village. If you can afford a 2 million dollar house and you are over 65, you will fit into Laguna Beach and love it. The rest of OC is a smog filled disaster, and is gradually getting worse. I also lived in Hollywood/West Hollywood for awhile. I tried to get the urban lifestyle, unfortunately, LA is not urban, although populated. You cannot live an urban life in socal at all. I moved to budapest Hungary and then came back and now live in the Northeast. The cities here seem to be so much nicer, 4 seasons, trains and subways and a higher quality of life. I grew up CA, and remember when CA did offer a laid back life. Socal and especially OC are going to be the most stressfull places you ever lived in. I averaged a 3 hour round trip commute, no matter where I worked. Don't believe MTV, but again, if you are looking to retire and you are a millionaire....by all means, move to Laguna Beach Best wishes.

[choyak]

Wow I feel supremely lucky it takes me about 20 minutes to 'commute' each way. That is 40 minutes per day wasted. I do not use freeways at all but I use local streets and drive 9.4 miles each way!!!

[Jaguar27]

I can honestly say, from years of personal experience, a Married couple with no Kids needs to earn a total of approximately $120-150K PA to live comfortably in areas such as Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo, Irvine etc.
A decent Appartment will cost $1800 pm+, if you're not prepared to pay that much then be prepared to have many units Populated by multi Familes, 8 Residents in one Apt! Be prepared to have shopping Carts abandoned in your Complex and unruly Kids/Residents etc etc. You'll also find that if you arrive home after 5pm you'll have nowhere to Park your Car...

You'll have NO chance of buying a House in these areas on a joint income of $150K, it's just not possible unless you have $500K as a down payment.
If you live in one of the above areas make sure your job is only a 5-15 mile commute, or start work at 5am otherwise the commute will kill you eventually...driving anywhere at most times of the Day is a miserable experience...and expensive, your Car will be idling most of the time...

I've lived in OC for 18 years now, it used to be fantastic but things have changed so much, there are just too many People here now...plus, Rents are rising currently by 5.9% pa, so, calculate how much an $1800 apt will cost in, say, 5 years...forget saving for a down payment on a House...

The weather is nice though ;-) Problem is, we never get to enjoy it, we're too tired after working excessive hours every week....

[happ]

Simply:

The Good: fantastic beaches/body surfing the Wedge/Laguna restaurants

The Bad: Republicans

[shadow42]

I was just browsing this site and felt compelled to respond regarding the good/bad of living in OC. I am a New Yorker (grew up on Long Island) who relocated to Orange County in 1997 for my job. I could go on and on about living in OC, but I will keep it brief. First of all, the you just can't beat the weather anywhere. That is the very best thing about living anywhere in Southern Californina. Very sunny and just beautiful almost every single day. Does that get boring? Not for us. I used to play tennis 4-5 days a week before having my children. Great lifestyle. However, there are lots that I have come to despise about living here. In fact, we are looking to move very soon to another state. My biggest beef is the people. While very nice and friendly, most do not know how to form lasting friendships. I am still closer to all my friends in NY after being gone for almost 10 yrs than I am with the friends here that I have known for 10 years. Very disapointing and lonely!! The schools were I live are very good. You can get a good idea of how good shools are in any state by going to Greatschools.net. It is a very helpful site. Back to OC. VERY Expensive. You just cannot find a home for under about $600,000 and at that price you will not get much. Lots of traffic, but not bad if you know when not to get on the road. By husband leaves our home at 5:30am to get to work, but he is home by 4pm which is nice. Taxes are high in newer areas that have a mello roos tax. We pay 2% were we live. In an older neighborhood that rate will be about 1.1-1.4%. Also, very materialistic. Cars are of the utmost importance for some idiotic reason. Lots of BMW's that many of these folks I am sure cannot afford. Anyway, we are cashing out and moving elsewhere. Hope this was helpful and ask any questions you would like and I will do my best to answer them.

[gigi927]

We lived in south OC for almost 2 years (2001-2003). All the comments that have already been posted here, both positive and negative, are all true! Just when I start to miss living in OC (now in Scottsdale, AZ, but moving to Austin, TX) I remember the housing prices! BTW, I am also a Chicago native.

If your job situation is in south OC, I would recommend looking into Ladera Ranch. It's a very large master planned community sandwiched slightly more inland that most of OC, between Mission Viejo and San Juan Cap. Houses are on the traditional postage stamp lots, and are expensive, but it's a beautiful community with lots of amenities and all the schools are new. Shops at Mission Viejo is 5 minutes away as is I-5.

Good luck!

[shadow42]

Yes, Ladera Ranch is beautiful. We have lived here for just over 4 years. But.....bring lots of money if you plan on moving here. While there are lots of events and it is a very family oriented community(ie: water parks, pools, walking/biking trails, parks...etc), it is very, very expensive to live here.

[Nic]

Hey, well if you need affordable, safe, totally renovated and quiet while being in an urban area with lots of shopping and services, I am about to put my 1 bedroom 800 sq ft condo in Orange on the market at $330k -- which is about as cheap as you are going to get and not be in the ghetto. In a lot of cities you can own a nice free standing home for that.

Why? Gotta move closer to work, the commute is killing me. I can't afford to buy down by work, so it's back to renting. *sigh* But then I am taking my profit and buying elsewhere where I'll be mortgage-free... just don't know where yet.