Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > Orange County
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 02-05-2016, 02:19 PM
 
52 posts, read 89,760 times
Reputation: 19

Advertisements

If schools don't matter, what areas of OC would be good to live in if we are looking for a home with a backyard, a home that isn't so cookie cutter. We have two kids that we already homeschool Would like to stay under 1M if possible.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 02-05-2016, 02:21 PM
 
52 posts, read 89,760 times
Reputation: 19
Title should have been "live" in
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-05-2016, 03:14 PM
 
Location: LA/OC
1,083 posts, read 2,162,627 times
Reputation: 605
If I had no concern for schools or a commute and a budget of just under $1M, I'd probably buy in the Fairmeadow neighborhood of Orange. You have to really appreciate mid-century modern architecture though.

There are some neighborhoods in Fullerton near Hillcrest park that have a variety of interesting homes, like craftsman, tudor, Spanish colonial revival, etc.

There are many other areas with not-so-cookie-cutter homes and backyards, but those would be my personal top two.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-05-2016, 04:05 PM
 
Location: Whittier
3,004 posts, read 6,250,963 times
Reputation: 3081
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Van Fossen View Post
If I had no concern for schools or a commute and a budget of just under $1M, I'd probably buy in the Fairmeadow neighborhood of Orange. You have to really appreciate mid-century modern architecture though.

There are some neighborhoods in Fullerton near Hillcrest park that have a variety of interesting homes, like craftsman, tudor, Spanish colonial revival, etc.

There are many other areas with not-so-cookie-cutter homes and backyards, but those would be my personal top two.
I was going to say Fullerton too, but not only by Hillcrest but all the way west above Malvern heading west until Buena Park.

My wife and I love driving around those areas, as there's a ton of variety in the homes in and around those neighborhoods.

We saw a great Mid-Century in an estate sale with awesome ocean views, and of course there are the older Spanish style and Craftsman style homes as well.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-05-2016, 07:02 PM
 
Location: Laguna Niguel, Orange County CA
9,808 posts, read 11,081,734 times
Reputation: 7996
How about the nice parts of Santa Ana if schools don't matter. Try Floral Park.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-05-2016, 08:27 PM
 
Location: Dana Point, CA
121 posts, read 182,781 times
Reputation: 99
You're getting some good suggestions for up north. Here in South OC for non-cookie cutter I'd say San Clemente and Dana Point. In Dana Point, there are some single family homes in the Lantern District (not cookie cutter, no HOA's, walkable to downtown area) for around 1 million. Both are beach cities, if that's important to you.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-05-2016, 10:40 PM
 
Location: Orange County, CA
65 posts, read 104,960 times
Reputation: 88
Look into North Tustin. Lots of beautiful custom homes, most with large yards. Some have amazing views. If you don't go too high up the hill, you can stay around $1 million. Nothing cookie cutter about it at all.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-06-2016, 11:33 AM
 
Location: SoCal
20,160 posts, read 12,686,314 times
Reputation: 16993
Orange is the best value for your money.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-06-2016, 02:13 PM
 
18,172 posts, read 16,292,763 times
Reputation: 9325
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Van Fossen View Post
If I had no concern for schools or a commute and a budget of just under $1M, I'd probably buy in the Fairmeadow neighborhood of Orange. You have to really appreciate mid-century modern architecture though.

There are some neighborhoods in Fullerton near Hillcrest park that have a variety of interesting homes, like craftsman, tudor, Spanish colonial revival, etc.

There are many other areas with not-so-cookie-cutter homes and backyards, but those would be my personal top two.
San Clemente, Capistrano or Dana Point would be very good. I grew up in Fullerton and Hillcrest park was a place I enjoyed, but the traffic in and around Fullerton is not fun to cope with and a long drive (in traffic, not just distance) to the beaches. The Downtown areas have some neat homes though.Depends on if you will spend most of your free time locally or will want to hit the beach and other coastal areas.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-06-2016, 03:35 PM
 
52 posts, read 89,760 times
Reputation: 19
Thank you all for these great suggestions! I think we would prefer to be closer to the beach. Are Dana pointe, San Clemente, and Capistrano very diverse? And safe?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > Orange County

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top