Needs Advice on Where to Live? (Fullerton, Placentia, and Brea) (Anaheim: buying a house, established neighborhood)

[luhungs]

Dear board members:

I recently accepted a job offer at Cal State Fullerton and am considering buying a house near Fullerton, Placentia, or Brea area.

I am married and have a two-year old son and my preference is to live very close to where I work. I understand that Sunny Hills and Coyote Hills are very nice neighborhoods, but the price is a little out of my range. I can handle up to 650k (700k would be tight). I am right now looking at some houses near the Alta Vista Golf Course. They are relatively new and look very nice. Is that a nice neighborhood?

Are there any other nice neighborhoods within five miles of CSUF?

Thank you very much for your advice.

[RobE]

Definitely Brea. Also look into Yorba Linda. There should be houses to be had in decent neighborhoods for around $500,000. Placentia has a major gang problem and Fullerton is really seedy in many places. If you can afford the Sunny Hills area of Fullerton that might be an option.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

If it were me, I'd pick Brea out of those three choices.

[MisterDuke]

All 3 communities are basically the same. If it wasn't for the entry markers into each city, you wouldn't know where the borders of any of them are located. I've lived in all three, and am in Brea now. Focus on finding a great neighborhood, rather than a good city. People knock Fullerton because there are gang neighborhoods, but we lived in the hills where that wasn't an issue. I wouldn't write off the entire city of Fullerton just because some bad people on the other side of town.

My advice always is to start by looking at the school performance maps. Bad schools don't exist in a vacuum, and are indicative of other problems in the neighborhood such as gangs, crime, poor property values, etc.

California School Performance Maps

As far as the new houses around the Alta Vista Country Club, most of those are McMansions that have been built on land that was an oil field up until a few years ago. Personally, out of all the different housing stock in north OC, that wouldn't be my first choice. The other thing about that area is that it is next to the train tracks. Make sure the crossing at Rose isn't one where the trains are required to blow their whistles.

[Donn2390]

All those cities mentioned are nice. the area by the CC in Placentia is very nice.
Placentia has a bad side of town, but it is far removed from the CC area. A small area five miels from the CC. Every town has it's gang areas. If you aren't looking for trouble, you won't find any...
As far as the train blowing whistles in Placentia, the city had a moritorium against blowing whistles for many years. It expires a couple of years ago, so the city is installing specail rail crossing in agreement with the RR, to prevent future whistle blowing.
You won't hear any noise by the CC.
So Calif had oil wells eerywhere, so getting away from homes built near one will be difficult. Strict laws govern cleanup, no problems noted with peoperty like that..

[luhungs]

Thank you very much for your comments. I appreciate it.

[Paula Lynn]

I'd choose Brea or Fullerton. But be careful with Fullerton, as RobE stated, there are some not so great neighborhoods.

Good luck on the move!

[mdmagana]

I would avoid Brea and look at Placentia and Fullerton.

Brea is a nice place, don't get me wrong, but much of it is full of jerks! I'm not saying I wouldn't live in Brea, but be prepared for a Newport mentality minus the money. FYI - Brea has it's bad area too!

The vast majority of Fullerton and Placentia are great. The only questionable parts are the parts that border Anaheim. Just stay out of La Jolla and Atwood and you'll be fine.

The Alta Vista Golf course area is very nice. If you like golf take a look at the President Homes in north Fullerton. They don't have quite the high price tag that Sunny Hills does. They are nice homes in an established neighborhood and there are three golf courses in within a couple of blocks from them.