Army husband being transferred to Mission Viejo... (Santa Ana, Anaheim: for sale, real estate)

[Tuff*Army*Wife]

Hi all! First time poster w/many questions. One thing at a time though. My husband is an Army recruiter & is about to be transferred to Mission Viejo. We're trying to decide where to live. Neither of us know anything AT ALL about CA. We're in the process of selling our house here in VA, and are planning on renting in CA.

He's willing to drive a bit every day, but no more than 30-45 minutes each way. We have 4 small children from 8 yrs down to almost 2 yrs. We will be homeschooling though, so the local schools will not be an issue for us. I would like an area w/other young families w/children, parks, etc. for the kids to enjoy.

Our budget for rent is about $3000/month max. I've found decent rental homes in the following areas that aren't too far from Mission Viejo as far as I can tell. But, I know absolutely nothing about these areas, and I know pics of a nice house doesn't necessarily mean the area is nice. Any advice/input about these areas?

-Plancentia
-Aliso Viejo
-Huntington Beach
-San Clemente
-Santa Ana
-Orange
-Laguna Niguel
-Yorba Linda
-Anaheim

Thanks so much in advance for any advice!!

[AKgirlinCA]

With your budget, you should be able to rent a home IN Mission Viejo, which is a very, very nice community. Is there any reason you aren't considering MV itself? Down here, you don't want to be commuting.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Tuff*Army*Wife

My husband is an Army recruiter & is about to be transferred to Mission Viejo.

I wonder if it will be challenging place to recruit from.

[NaplesRes]

I would rent in MV. There are parks, etc there and lots of kids. Plus the commute will be great which is very important in Socal.

[bhcompy]

you shouldnt need to go farther than Mission Viejo, but if you do, just stick to neighboring cities. Lake Forest, Irvine, Aliso Viejo.. shouldn't need to look anywhere else

[Tuff*Army*Wife]

We would LOVE to rent in MV itself, but I haven't found anything in MV yet that is within our budget and up to our standards. Of course I've only looked online, so I haven't seen it all yet. We need at least 4 bedrooms, but I'd prefer 5 (so we can have a room exclusively for school), or a 4 bedroom w/an office/bonus/gameroom. We also have 2 dogs. One is a 100 pound labrador retriever. He's trained though, and crated when we are gone, so no worries there about damage. But, I don't know how easily I'll be able to convince a landlord of that. If we can find a place in MV, we'll take it in a heartbeat. The husband has a long enough day without a commute. I was just looking at our options if we couldn't find a house there.

As for it being a tough place to recruit out of...It's probably going to be a challenge, but he's up for it. The things that usually sell kids on the Army these days (paying off student loans, signing bonus, etc.) probably won't mean much to these kids, so he'll have to approach it from a different perspective. We'll see! We're very excited about our upcoming move!

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by Tuff*Army*Wife

-Plancentia - TOO FAR AWAY
-Aliso Viejo - DECENT OPTION.
-Huntington Beach - TOO FAR AWAY
-San Clemente - NICE PLACE, BUT YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO FIND
SOMETHING CLOSER.
-Santa Ana - TOO FAR AWAY AND NOT AS NICE UNLESS YOU WANT TO AVOID COOKIE CUTTER NEW STYLE SUBDIVISIONS, DO NOT LOOK HERE. SANTA ANA IS MOSLTY HISPANIC AND IT IS A LARGE CITY THAT IS MOSTLY WORKING CLASS.

-Orange - GREAT PLACE BUT A BIT OF A COMMUTE. OLDER COMMUNITY.
-Laguna Niguel - GOOD OPTION
-Yorba Linda - TOO FAR AWAY
-Anaheim - OTHER PLACES HAVE MORE TO OFFER AND IT IS FAR AWAY

Like everyone else I will advise you to minimize the commute. We cannot overemphasize that enough. We lived at the beach which was wonderful, but my commute was half an hour in and an hour to hour an a half home. Sometimes it took two hours. I moved to within a mile of work and it completely changed my life. I left for work 5 minutes before I needed to be there (unless I walked and sometimes my family would walk to the office with me and then walk home). I came home or met my family for lunch. I more than doubled the amount of time that I was able to spend with my family each day and I did not arrvie at work or home totally drained from battling through traffic.

you do nto want to commute in Orange COunty (especially south orange county) at all if it can be avoided. It is very unpleasant and time consuming.

[Mach50]

I see 80 listings near MV for 4-5bd <3000k

HotPads.com - Real Estate, Apartments, Homes for Sale and for Rent, Rental Houses, Sublets, Roommates

What sold me on going into the Navy, was the travel...that may work in OC. Just show them pictures of Heidelberg:

[Wurzig]

Half of the towns you listed are too far if he doesn't want to commute....this area just has I-5 and the 405, (starting at the 'Y', which is right by Laguna Hills and the Lake Forest area)....and the toll road.... What I am saying is that the freeways are very crowded during commute hours because it was poor planning and we don't have a lot of freeways in this area..... in earlier years, S. OC used to be bean and strawberry fields, cattle ranches and orange groves for the most part....they didn't plan for the huge population....

Aliso Viejo is fairly new.....I am not sure if they have homes big enough for you, but if you see some online, it's a nice family area....convenient shopping, parks, etc. Laguna Niguel is nice, the air is cooler.....(AV and LN are both on the ocean side of the freeway. San Clemente straddles I-5, but it is not hot there...)...

Check out the Telega (Talega? sp), development in San Clemente......and other developments by it.....several tract developments there, most homes are not huge, but maybe some have the bedrooms that you need... San Clemente will get more fog than other areas, so that will keep it cooler.....

Keep looking in Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Laguna Hills, AV and LN......Rancho Santa Margarita is inland (and it gets pretty hot there compared to the towns closer to the ocean), but it might have something, I dunno.... RSM is not that old, Ladera Ranch, Foothill Ranch and a few other towns by RSM, but they are all going to be hotter because they are inland (but butt up against MV, LF, etc, so commute won't be much at all), ...but they might have something for you, so don't rule them out....

[Wurzig]

Originally Posted by Mach50

I see 80 listings near MV for 4-5bd <3000k

HotPads.com - Real Estate, Apartments, Homes for Sale and for Rent, Rental Houses, Sublets, Roommates

What sold me on going into the Navy, was the travel...that may work in OC. Just show them pictures of Heidelberg:

I am suddenly very thirsty and in need of a giant pretzel......and I have NO CLUE as to what brought this on!