NY to Orange County

[dancingirisheyes]

Check Tustin. Its just one town over from Irvine and though there's a noticeable divide of demographics (more hispanics on the west side of the 5 freeway), its not necessarily more dangerous. Coming from NY, you're used to a melting pot I'm sure.

As long as your son isn't attending school there, I would say you'll have no issue with living on either side of the 5 freeway. You may be able to find an apt. in your price range - Tustin has plenty of apts. However, if your son IS going to be attending school here, different story. Finding a place near a good school make a substantial difference in the price range.

[Caleb22]

Originally Posted by antibes

$1200 would probably get you a studio in Irvine or a one bedroom. You could also do a share/roommate thing for about $800. That would allow some time to get to know the area better and know what is available to search for something else later on. For single people who are completely new to an area, I think the roommate option is the best. Just don't buy furniture until you find your own place... rent them instead if the room doesn't have basics.

And, there is VERY little crime in Irvine. Especially compared to a huge city like NY. You may find Irvine a bit slow and quiet. Most of Orange Country really has very low crime stats. And no one needs to worry in the evenings. I didn't even bother to lock my car for 10 years and often forgot it over night... Nothing ever happened. I never lost anything, never got subject to theft, never got robbed - never anything. In California in general people are also more honest with far less of all the oddities and scams I always run into on the east coast. For example, I had to rent two laptops in New York for a business meeting. This was on a Saturday. Not a single feature that was promised to me on the phone was real when I actually picked up the darn computers. And I didn't think of double checking everything, making sure the programs were installed on the computer etc. I got no refunds for it either. Very common with scams on the east coast, very uncommon on the west coast unless you're in LA or some other crummy area.
Once a friend of mine got his new Porsche stolen in Manhattan by a towing company... It was a fake company. About a month later he saw another truck trying to tow a mercedes, pretending it was parked wrong although it didn't seem it was standing anywhere wrong. He went to argue with the driver who finally just left without doing anything to the car. New York is very hard core. In this respect people are quite innocent on the west coast and don't have that kind of street smarts.

misconceptions all around.

first off OP wrote that he lives 30+ mins north of NYC which is not NYC it is westchester county which has many affluent areas as well as bad areas (just as your beloved OC)

as having lived in both NY and OC and can say without doubt there are just as many scammers in california as in NY. i don't believe people in california as a whole are not street smart (and not so innocent), i mean you would not take your expensive german automobile and park it on the street in downtown LA or east LA without a very good chance that it would get stolen so why would you or your friend park it on a manhattan street.

so you had an experience where you were duped it's not like you lost your life savings in a ponzi scheme and if your friend can afford a porsche he can afford to park it in a secure garage. i have been to manhattan many times and i loved it and i never had a problem with crime.

we've all been scammed at one time or another and it could happen anywhere on either coast, midwest, north or south.

[nmnita]

If you can get a transfer and have a chance to move to southern Ca good for you but 1200 isn't going to get you much. Of course if you are content with a 1 bedroom I think it is workable and utilities won't be particularly high either. I do want to add, which I think someone mentioned, you will not be living anywhere near the ocean, you will need to go inland. Most of OC is safe, not a lot of crime and pretty conservative. There are some areas with a high percentage of hispanics, that may or may not bother you.

Nita