Location Opinions Requested (San Jose, Ontario, Pasadena: to rent, condo, roughest)

[dsny1mom]

Hello All!


I am relocated to So Ca. after the first of the year and would like some opinions on where I should be looking to land! Based on maps and my somewhat limited knowledge of OC I am thinking Fullerton might be a good spot, but want to ask you all, the experts!


Here are some details:
65 year old female who will be living alone
Probably will rent initially and then buy a small condo. Would like rent to be no more than $1800 for a one bedroom
A safe area is of greatest importance with shopping near by
70K annual income no debt other than a $250 car payment
Will office out of my home so no daily commute but need to be somewhere between SNA and LAX as I will be flying EOW. Probably a bit more so out of SNA than LAX so can be a bit closer to SNA.
Will need to drive to Lake Arrowhead once every other month
Two adult kids one in Covina and one in Pasadena who both would rather me live between them but that puts me too far from SNA.
No school aged children so schools are not a factor.
No need for night life. Have a Annual pass to Disneyland so that is the majority of my entertainment, so being in close proximity to DLR would be great!
Currently live in the Chicago burbs and understand the COL in So Ca.
This a job transfer that will put me so much closer to my children than the current 4 hour flight it takes to see them!
So an area safe area between SNA and LAX but not too far from Covina and Pasadena and Disneyland is what I need if it even exists. lol


Am flying in for 5 days over the holidays and hope I can get some area suggestions to narrow my search while I am there.


All opinions welcome!
TIA
dsny1mom

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by dsny1mom

Hello All!


I am relocated to So Ca. after the first of the year and would like some opinions on where I should be looking to land! Based on maps and my somewhat limited knowledge of OC I am thinking Fullerton might be a good spot, but want to ask you all, the experts!


Here are some details:
65 year old female who will be living alone
Probably will rent initially and then buy a small condo. Would like rent to be no more than $1800 for a one bedroom
A safe area is of greatest importance with shopping near by
70K annual income no debt other than a $250 car payment
Will office out of my home so no daily commute but need to be somewhere between SNA and LAX as I will be flying EOW. Probably a bit more so out of SNA than LAX so can be a bit closer to SNA.
Will need to drive to Lake Arrowhead once every other month
Two adult kids one in Covina and one in Pasadena who both would rather me live between them but that puts me too far from SNA.
No school aged children so schools are not a factor.
No need for night life. Have a Annual pass to Disneyland so that is the majority of my entertainment, so being in close proximity to DLR would be great!
Currently live in the Chicago burbs and understand the COL in So Ca.
This a job transfer that will put me so much closer to my children than the current 4 hour flight it takes to see them!
So an area safe area between SNA and LAX but not too far from Covina and Pasadena and Disneyland is what I need if it even exists. lol


Am flying in for 5 days over the holidays and hope I can get some area suggestions to narrow my search while I am there.


All opinions welcome!
TIA
dsny1mom

You write that your adult kids (one in Covina and one in Pasadena) would rather have you live between them but that you also need to be close to SNA and LAX. Only you can decide whether proximity to your kids is worth sacrificing proximity to airports.

As for traveling "EOW", I don't know what this means. Therefore, since the frequency of your travel is unclear, your need to be close to these airports is likewise unclear. Thus it is not possible for anyone to realistically give you advice.

[NewbieHere]

I assume, EOW means End of Week? I think Fullerton to La mirada are in between LA and Orange County. They are both about 20-30 minutes from SNA. My brother rent out a 4br home near north area of Fullerton, Troy high school area, for about $3000. So I think you should be able to rent 1br for $1800.
Also you might want to look at Brea, Placentia, and Yorba Linda. They are all close to Fullerton.

[dsny1mom]

Originally Posted by NewbieHere

I assume, EOW means End of Week? I think Fullerton to La mirada are in between LA and Orange County. They are both about 20-30 minutes from SNA. My brother rent out a 4br home near north area of Fullerton, Troy high school area, for about $3000. So I think you should be able to rent 1br for $1800.
Also you might want to look at Brea, Placentia, and Yorba Linda. They are all close to Fullerton.

Yes, EOW is every other week. Sorry for the abbreviation! Have not looked at La Mirada but I will now! Thanks so much!!!

[dsny1mom]

Originally Posted by LuvSouthOC

You write that your adult kids (one in Covina and one in Pasadena) would rather have you live between them but that you also need to be close to SNA and LAX. Only you can decide whether proximity to your kids is worth sacrificing proximity to airports.

As for traveling "EOW", I don't know what this means. Therefore, since the frequency of your travel is unclear, your need to be close to these airports is likewise unclear. Thus it is not possible for anyone to realistically give you advice.

EOW= every other week. It's such a tough position to be in! Love my kids but need my job. I figure I'll see my kids on weekends and such and I won't have the time constraints I will have with being on time to catch a flight when I see them, so easier access to the airports kind of trumps the kiddos wants


Hope this clears things up and advice is forthcoming!

[LuvSouthOC]

Since you are only travelling once every two weeks, it seems that access to your kids is more important on a day-to-day basis. I would look at Whittier too. Just make sure that when you travel, you get up early in the morning and leave super early on those days.

[loveorangecounty]

Have you thought of flying out of Ontario, if their flight schedules fly to your destinations? My mother in law used to live in Covina and used Ontario Airport which is about 20 minutes away.

[dsny1mom]

Originally Posted by LuvSouthOC

Since you are only travelling once every two weeks, it seems that access to your kids is more important on a day-to-day basis. I would look at Whittier too. Just make sure that when you travel, you get up early in the morning and leave super early on those days.

I see your point but my kids both work traditional hours and when I am gong to see them or they are coming to see me it would be weekends or evenings when traffic is not as much of an issue as week days when I am trying to get to the airport. I tend to fly out on Mondays and back in on Fridays and those are the roughest traffic days. The agreement I have with my employer is that I will live within close proximity both LAX and SNA to be able to access the best prices and flights. Initially they wanted me to live up in San Jose, but after I presented them with the housing costs up there they agreed to me living in So Ca. as long as I live in between LAX and SNA. Getting up and leaving times will have more to do with available flights to my destinations than my choice to avoid traffic.


Whittier? For some reason I thought that was one of the areas to avoid as it was not as safe as other areas. Am I wrong about Whittier?

[dsny1mom]

Originally Posted by loveorangecounty

Have you thought of flying out of Ontario, if their flight schedules fly to your destinations? My mother in law used to live in Covina and used Ontario Airport which is about 20 minutes away.

I have! The biggest problem with Ontario is many of the flights out of there to the destinations I travel to are not non stop where LAX and SNA offer multiple non stops! Plus I prefer OC over IE. Corona is a nice area but it would put me too far away from LAX, and I made that commitment to be between LAX and SNA.