Moving to CA (Looking for Safe Neighborhoods with Affordable Housing) (Huntington Beach: sales, rentals)

[budhababe]

My husband works out in LA and drives a motorcycle and I am purchasing a hybrid car, so a bit of a commute won't bother us...he works mostly in Santa Monica/ Culver City. I am planning on going to school either in Sherman Oaks or Costa Mesa (Near Huntington Beach).

Ultimately, affordability reigns supreme. Basically, we are looking for a small detached home to rent that allows pets. We have got 2 toy dogs, one 15 year old, medium sized dog who probably won't be around much longer. We're going compact as long as we will be renting instead of purchasing homes.

We had lived in Orlando, FL for 5 years before moving to Las Vegas...and Las Vegas did not seem safe at all by comparison. Break-ins, stolen cars, assults, etc...even though I rented a house in the suburbs way out from the downtown areas...there was still a lot of crime around us...thankfully we have not been victims!

We've been to Anahiem to visit Disneyland and it seemed nice...and we loved Laguna Beach (but obviosuly way out of our price range).

So, in OC which neighborhoods are safer, yet affordable (and by affordable...I mean inexpensive)...if you can give a zipcode that would be most helpful? We just aren't very familiar with Southern CA in general.

What do you suggest?

[newportbeachsmostwanted]

Huntington Beach is a fabulous place. It's clean, safe, friendly, and has lots to do. I made the commute from Newport to L.A. for three months at 6 AM. It was about 65 minutes. Homes go for as low as 600k, but I am not aware of how much rentals are.

Seal Beach, Sunset Beach, Costa Mesa, Los Alamitos, and Foutain Valley are all great Northwest cities. I would start with those.. look up listings on Craigslist.org and see what you find.

Laguna Beach is great too.. Don't we wish we all lived there!

[Jenali]

Originally Posted by budhababe

So, in OC which neighborhoods are safer, yet affordable (and by affordable...I mean inexpensive)...if you can give a zipcode that would be most helpful? We just aren't very familiar with Southern CA in general.

What do you suggest?

Check out Rancho Santa Margarita ,very green,hilly,clean,lot of parks ,2 lakes ,14 miles to the beaches ,new/er houses and prices are affordable comparing to the rest of the OC , safe and very family oriented .lots of things to do for the kids there .

negatives:
Almost (if not all )houses have Mello-Rooz bcoz they're newer ones (built after 1990),12 miles to the highway (they have a toll road though ).Might be boring for single young ppl,but great for a family for sure .

It's just beautiful there ,most ppl u meet there are very down-to-earth and friendly.

[Jenali]

Originally Posted by newportbeachsmostwanted

Laguna Beach is great too.. Don't we wish we all lived there!

I live there,and I'm moving to Laguna Niguel .I think for a family Laguna Niguel ,Mission Viejo ,or Rancho are better choises ,and you get a better house too .I heard Talega in San Clemente is great too,but have no idea about the prices there .

[nevercoldcall]

Agreed about Las Vegas - I lived there for 5 years, and it's most definitely a very high-crime city. Of course now I live in Scottsdale, Arizona, which has almost as high of a burglary and auto theft rate thank to a police department which focuses 100% of its effort on traffic tickets. My girlfriend's car was broken into TWICE in an "affluent" community!!

In any case, we're moving to Newport Coast next week and can't wait. From what I hear, OC is very safe, and especially south OC. It will be nice to come home without the constant fear that my home has been burglarized.

[killer2021]

Yea South OC is really safe, EXPECT they have a super high home price 800k+. Nothing is free in this world. Either you pay up for the safe neighborhood or you give up the safe neighborhood for affordabilitiy. Just look at this map:

All the red and pink are good neighborhoods and all the green and yellow are bad neighborhoods.

http://www.trulia.com/home_prices/Ca...unty-heat_map/

[Jenali]

Well ,depends where in south OC,in LB (in the village) 800k buys you almost nothing if ur looking for a SFR,but south OC is not all LB ,or DP .Beside the cities in all OC are so close to eachother you wont notice when you're out of one and in the other .

In RSM ,you can get a 2000+ sq ft SFR for $650+ ,and I think this is the cheapest in south OC ,it's very beautiful and safe city there .In LN (92677) you get the same house but $100k more .The diff is LN is 10 miles closer to the beach,and 8-10 degree cooler in the summer ,that's all .

According to Killer's site ,the average listing price in RSM(92688) is $589,727 and the median sales price is $505,000 .

this is the city official site :http://www.cityofrsm.org/rsm_website/default.asp


I think the rent for a detached house (1800+ sq ft ) in all the south OC cities (expect the beach cities LB,DP,SJC)will start from $2000/month .

[Jenali]

budhababe,
for less expensive rent you might wanna check Corona(30 miles from Costa Mesa) ,I dont know much about the city but I know many ppl from OC live there while working in North OC .


Temecula also is more affordable than OC ,it's beautiful city but very hot summer there,and it will be really a long commute from there to Costa Mesa(70 miles).

[mdmagana]

If the commute doesn't bother you then check out Fullerton and Placentia in North Orange County. Lots of nice established communities in those cities and access to the 57 and 91 freeways. More affordale in my opinion... at least for OC.