Real estate advice - copied from another post

[Unkllars]

That makes sense. Tustin does have areas where you can get exactly that. Are you looking for older homes that could use a little 'personalization'? There are some great ones that are quite affordable, older, and full of character. Is that what you are looking for? Make sure its near a Stater Brothers with appropriately colored meat

[Broadmoor]

Your $450K 3bdr home is findable in central Tustin, the area just south of the 5 freeway. The neighborhood immediately adjacent to the freeway, roughly bounded by the streets of Nisson, Carfax, Utt and Mitchell has some incredibly nice streets hiding in there. I was a judge in the city's holiday light contest, and this neighborhood just surprised the heck out of me, some of the streets were so idyllic and the homes were really well kept up. The street trees form a beautiful shady canopy, and kids were out riding bikes and shooting baskets, etc. As far as I know, there's no HOA there. A few long blocks away, is Tustin Meadows, which as been the gold standard for family living for four decades. This place is around 900 homes, probably sells for around the $600Ks, and they do have an HOA, I think less than $50 a month, but I'm not positive so check on that. Tustin Meadows has a big pool, several parks and a big clubhouse, and they have a very active social network, lots of activities, a homespun 4th of July bicycle parade, childrens' teams and activities.
My neighborhood is Broadmoor, which is an almost exact copy of the Eichler neighborhoods. The architecture is midcentury modern, and homes here now go for around $400K, the price of a condo, but these are detached single family homes with atriums. The yards are compact, but feel highly adequate, and we have a neighborhood pool and two small parks. Broadmoor doesn't have all the organized social activites of Tustin Meadows, our HOA is less than $500 total annually, just serves to keep up the common areas and make sure we don't end up with MacMansion makeovers or weird paint colors, etc.
Central Tustin was built mostly in the 60s, so the area doesn't have all the greenbelts and architectural cohesiveness of the newer developments. The main streets of Newport and RedHill are lined with strip malls which are hardly pretty. On the plus side, real people can actually afford to live here. There is a very active volunteer organization called Tustin Pride, which meets monthly and is engaging the city officials in an ongoing discussion of ways the area can be improved and revitalized. Also, the police protection in central Tustin is outstanding. The PD here really works at making sure they understand our concerns and issues, and patrol cars are very visible. I'm not aware of violent crime here.