Moving from N. Shore Long Island to LA. Help! (Orange: real estate, homes)

[NaplesRes]

Belmont Heights is in Long Beach. Search on 90803 for the zip code. I really think it's one you're looking for based on your comments / desires. You should also look at Naples or Belmont Park but the price tag may be a bit high for your 1.2M vs. size requirements.

[missionhome]

Originally Posted by jpcook

Can anyone offer thoughts on the Aliso Viejo or Mission Viejo areas or other spots around this area? Can we get good elementary schools, amenities for kids, decent house for under 1.2M on a little bit of land big enough for a pool? Plus a little bit of local culture and character? I'll think we'll be heading out there in a couple of weeks, so I'm quickly trying to narrow our focus. We've also looked way up to the Woodland Hills area, but I guess hilly coastal appeals to me more.

Mission Viejo and Aliso Viejo are nice communities, but I'm not sure if that is what you are looking for. They are safe and quiet suburbs, but I'm not sure if has that more urban culture you are looking for. Mission Viejo and Aliso are both masterplanned communites, which means perfect streets, perfect lawns, perfect strip malls, perfect safety, etc.... Some people are looking for something more interesting and you may not like it. Then again, families in general LOVE this area and it offers a lot of outdoor activities from hiking, sailing, swimming, biking, and kayaking. Mission Viejo has a lake that MV residents can only use and it is stunning and Aliso Viejo is actually pretty close to the beach, just on the other side of a hill from Laguna Beach. Both communites are great for kids and that is the biggest draw to families.

Mission Viejo is mainly track homes, but is a level above Aliso Viejo which is entierly beige tract homes. Mission Viejo has some custom homes, some semi-customs, and a lot of the older homes have been renovated to be unique. The majority are still just normal tracts though.

You will get a nice house by CA standards for 1.2 million in either community. However, your price is too low for the custom homes in Mission Viejo which are currently starting at 1.4 million and go a little over 3 million. You would have to settle on a track and Aliso is only tracks.

Schools are very good in both cities and some of the best in Orange County. Budget cuts have not had as big an effect as people thought they would. Neither Capistrano or Saddleback Valley Unified cut ANY teachers or increased class sizes, but they did trim some fat like lay off some custodians and admisitrative staff at district headquarters (which was too long anyways.) Capistrano eliminated most of its bus routes, but it hasn't been too much of a problem so far. Better to cut buses than to fire teachers. The test scores of schools in both cities are impressive, they offer a huge variety of extra curriculars, and have good parent involvement. For CA standards, south OC schools are VERY good.

----I hope this helps you. You just might not find that excitement/unique culture factor in these cities. In the end, you have a big decision to make and need to find a place you know your family will adjust to well and be happy.

[jpcook]

Regarding Seal Beach...Is the Naval Weapons station I see on maps still in service? Toxic? Is there anything to worry about being so close to it?

[jpcook]

Thanks, Mission Home, we'll definitely check out these communities when we go out as well as some of the others mentioned.

[bhcompy]

Originally Posted by jpcook

Regarding Seal Beach...Is the Naval Weapons station I see on maps still in service? Toxic? Is there anything to worry about being so close to it?

nothing to worry about. been here forever and will continue to be here forever. both the naval weapons station and joint forces training base in los alamitos are active, but there isnt really anything going on. they grow vegetables on the weapons station, have a ww2 sub memorial, and do nature walks on weekends(they have a nature preserve). the joint forces training base has an olympic pool thats home to the us olympic water polo team and also hosts the civil air patrol and great july 4th events.

theres no radiation or explosive threat.

[jpcook]

All,
I'm so thrilled to be receiving all this excellent information. My husband just took a look and also was impressed at the details of your response. I'm starting to look forward to this adventure! Does anyone have thoughts on Pasadena as a option? Also, is San Juan Capistrano it's own town (with a downtown, etc) and is it a viable option.

Thanks for all your help so far! I'll make sure to post what we find and where we end up.

[missionhome]

Originally Posted by jpcook

All,
I'm so thrilled to be receiving all this excellent information. My husband just took a look and also was impressed at the details of your response. I'm starting to look forward to this adventure! Does anyone have thoughts on Pasadena as a option? Also, is San Juan Capistrano it's own town (with a downtown, etc) and is it a viable option.

Thanks for all your help so far! I'll make sure to post what we find and where we end up.

San Juan Capistrano is very charming and does have that small town feel. The downtown is a cute place and the historic mission is stunning. The community is a little have-have not with large mansions on the hillsides and working Latino immigrants living in rougher conditions in the apartment buildings around downtown. The people that embrace SJC's latino culture are the ones who like it best.

With schools, SJC is the low spot of Capistrano Unified and the area. Do your research with schools because they have some "not so good" schools in the city. San Juan Elementary is ranked a 2/10 and Kino****a Elementary (the "s" word is in the middle of the name, auto blanks out) is a 3/10 and both are being regulated by the government for failing No Child Left Behind rules. Del Obispo Elementary is a 6/10, Palisades Elementary is a 8/10 and Ambhuel Elementary is an 8/10. Parents seem most satisfied with Ambhuel. Marco Forester Middle School is probably the roughest spot with a lot of fights and students start joining the "SJC gang". It is ranked a 7/10 so is average on test scores, but there is a gang problem and the social problems there can't be ignored. There are also some racial problems you can read here and sadly whites and latinos do not get along: News: English-only school would disadvantage students, Marco Forster principal says | school, spanish, bertini, students, mccarthy - OCRegister.com
San Juan Hills is a new high school that opened last year. Its test scores were lower than the rest of the district, but it was still ranked an 8/10. There is a little racial tension still, but in general this school is much better than the problems at Marco Forester.

I hope this helps. I am just being honest about the public school situation in SJC. Most of the cities affluent residents living in the million dollar homes in the hills avoid the public schools and send to Stoneybrooke Christian, St. Margret's Episcopal, Santa Margarita Catholic, or Capo Valley Christian. You need to research the public schools yourself and see if they are alright for you.

[jpcook]

Thanks, Mission Home, that probably rules out SJC for me, so we'll focus on MV and Aliso Viejo when we come out. I left a place with gang problems close by and don't want to be in one again.

A friend mentioned Claremont (yes, I know, way in the other direction - but still commutable from Cerritos it seems). Does anyone have experience with it? Home prices seem reasonable, schools seem very good, the village I'm told is nice and I've been told it's safe. It's not near the coast which is a minus, but it is closer to skiing which is a plus and, on the web at least, looks very pretty .

[bhcompy]

just keep in mind the commute to and from cerritos from MV/AV is going to be lengthly(at least an hour I would say). you're going to have to deal with multiple major difficult interchanges(El Toro Y, Orange Crush, and the 91/5) and traffic on the 91 all the way to work using the 5fwy. The alternate route is the 405 and that's just as bad and a less direct route.

[jpcook]

Good point. My husband needs his car for work, so that is definitely be something to be factored in as he can't car pool or use other forms of mass transit.