family friendly (Long Beach, Anaheim, Huntington Beach: real estate, to rent, houses)

[newlywedcomingtotheoc]

Hi I recently just got a job at Chapman University in Orange after graduating from CSULB. Since my wife is still in college and is not able to drive the freeway, I was looking for a safe, family friendly, and affordable neighborhood that would keep my commute down the 22 to less than 25 minutes, and being also 15 minutes taking side street to csulb. My price range being the only one working would be around 550,000 to 600,000 for a 4 bed 2 bath home, is this possible? I heard Los Alamitos is a greet school district, but it is definitely not in my budget. Any suggestions?

[whitechocolate86]

It probably would be a good idea to rent...the market in California...appears to be going down quite fast...I have several properties bookmarked on Remax...something I like to do for fun look at real estate from all over the country...and a few in California have gone down in the last month alone, rent and wait it out...hook up with someone with knowledge of the industry...who isn't attempting to sell you a house
hope your life out there is pleasant!

[bhcompy]

Originally Posted by newlywedcomingtotheoc

Hi I recently just got a job at Chapman University in Orange after graduating from CSULB. Since my wife is still in college and is not able to drive the freeway, I was looking for a safe, family friendly, and affordable neighborhood that would keep my commute down the 22 to less than 25 minutes, and being also 15 minutes taking side street to csulb. My price range being the only one working would be around 550,000 to 600,000 for a 4 bed 2 bath home, is this possible? I heard Los Alamitos is a greet school district, but it is definitely not in my budget. Any suggestions?

seal beach and a small part of cypress also attends los alamitos district

the schools in cypress are good as well in my opinion. part of the anaheim district i believe

honestly though the problem you'll have is that 4bedroom houses just arent that common. lots of 3 bedroom ranches and 3 bedroom 2story houses

[Charles]

Originally Posted by newlywedcomingtotheoc

My price range being the only one working would be around 550,000 to 600,000 for a 4 bed 2 bath home, is this possible? I heard Los Alamitos is a greet school district, but it is definitely not in my budget. Any suggestions?

What happened when you queried any of the internet real estate databases with these requirements?

[Coldjensens]

Why not live in Old town orange? It is a great place to live and you can walk to work. The houses are mostly restored craftsman bungalows from the 1920s and 1930s. It is reasaonably easy to find one that is completely restored with heat/AC and new plumbing, even a modern kitchen in many of them if you want a modern kitchen. You might even get a dirt basement to store things in.

We absolutely loved living in old town. You hardly need a car at all. You can walk or bike to almost everything that you need or take the train. It is nice to put less than 5,000 miles a year on your car.

[BRinSM]

My aunt just moved from Ohio to Fountain Valley and I know they are happy there. She works for Boeing in Long Beach and apparently she has a decent commute. She also has 2 young kids and I'm sure she considered schools before ultimately moving.

On a side note, I'm not quite sure that there is anywhere in Orange County where you can be 25 minutes from Chapman University and 15 minutes from Long Beach St. Because of your wife's driving issues though, you'll probably want to stay closer to Long Beach than Orange. You may also want to look into Westminster and the norther areas of Huntington Beach. HB can be very expensive though and Westminster is known for it heavy Vietnamese population, just so you know.

[newlywedcomingtotheoc]

The reason I am having trouble knowing which area to live in is because we are currently living in Carson, Ca. I did happen to research some areas online and saw that the southern part of Cypress, Western Garden Grove, and Westminster to be affordable. Are these areas pretty good? Please help me choose the best place.

[newlywedcomingtotheoc]

Also I noticed that the Southern part of cypress is not part of the Los Al or Anaheim district but is in the GGUSD and its schools would be Patton, Bell, and Pacifica is this a cause for concern?

[bhcompy]

the schools are in a respectable area, but i have no idea of the quality of the schools. i assume they would be respectable though. there are lots of families, lots of kids, and lots of nice houses in the area east of college park east(which is western garden grove along lampson and such). cypress is good almost all the way around. the southern part shouldnt have any problems that i can think of. there is also a decent bit of buena park that extends into cypress territory around ball and valley view. westminster is fine, there is a high level of vietnamese and other asian cultures, but mostly respectable. stick away from parts of beach blvd and the areas closer to stanton and you'll be fine.

[pootie562]

I actually live off of orangewood and valleyview next to the navy golf course. The are is great, Pacifica High is really good its API score is definitely above 800 so there is nothing to worry about. The demographics would be predominantly white and it is truly a safe neighborhood. Seal beach is less than a mile away, and western garden grove is truly a great neighborhood. The 22 and 405 and 605 arent too far away and CSULB is just right there. Hope this helps.