Relocating to Irvine area? (Garden Grove, Fullerton: apartments, rentals, crime)

[Bostonof4]

Hello

I have been reading some of the threads and looking at this site and it seems Irvine is a nice area including its surrounding cities. I will be working in Santa Fe Springs. I am wondering how long of a commute I should expect and is that even practical. We have two kids 7 and 4, and would like to move to a very family oriented community. Is there any part of Irvine I should rule out? Is there neighboring cities I could look into as well that has good schools and is family oriented?

[BRinSM]

fyi, santa fe springs is going to be at least an hour commute each way from irvine during normal commuting hours. i used to live in anaheim and commute to SFS and it was 30-45 minutes. if irvine is in your budget, you may also consider cerritos or fullerton, which also have good schools from what i hear.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Add Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, Cypress, Seal Beach, or even the far west ends of Garden Grove and Westminster to the list. Irvine to Santa Fe Springs is way too far and don't even think about taking the 5.

[Bostonof4]

I looked into Fullerton once. I heard though there were some bad areas in Fullerton. I will be deciding on an apartment before I move so I don't want to end up in the wrong area with my kids.
I hear Irvine is nice everywhere. The only issue I was worried about in Irvine was ending up near a Frat house or something. Is there an area in Irvine that is heavy with students?
I will look into Cerritos. I have not heard of that city before.

[Bostonof4]

I looked into Los Alamitos once. It did look nice. I will look into that more. Thank you for your help. Wouldn't Seal Beach be just as much of a commute as Irving?

[bhcompy]

I've you're looking for an area with a good selection of apartments to fit your needs, hard to go wrong with Los Alamitos. Excellent family neighborhood, excellent schools, large selection of apartments, etc. Most of the apartments are located in Apartment Row south of Katella and east of Los Alamitos Blvd. Commute to Santa Fe Springs isn't too bad, my wife does it every day in about 20 minutes or so.

Cerritos is next door to Santa Fe Springs, has good schools, is a solid family community, and is upper-middle class, but there aren't too many apartment options in the community. The best ones you'll probably find are on South Street east of Moody/Carmenita.

[bhcompy]

Originally Posted by Bostonof4

I looked into Los Alamitos once. It did look nice. I will look into that more. Thank you for your help. Wouldn't Seal Beach be just as much of a commute as Irving?

Northern Seal Beach borders Los Alamitos/Rossmoor, so not bad, but the main portion of Seal Beach would be an added commute, but not nearly as bad as Irvine.

If you were dead set on Irvine, there is a Metrolink train that runs from Irvine through Santa Fe Springs that would improve your commute, but you'd have to find a way to get from the station to your place of work.

[Bostonof4]

Originally Posted by bhcompy

I've you're looking for an area with a good selection of apartments to fit your needs, hard to go wrong with Los Alamitos. Excellent family neighborhood, excellent schools, large selection of apartments, etc. Most of the apartments are located in Apartment Row south of Katella and east of Los Alamitos Blvd. Commute to Santa Fe Springs isn't too bad, my wife does it every day in about 20 minutes or so.

Cerritos is next door to Santa Fe Springs, has good schools, is a solid family community, and is upper-middle class, but there aren't too many apartment options in the community. The best ones you'll probably find are on South Street east of Moody/Carmenita.

Ya. I looked into Los Alamitos once. I liked it actually. The crime seemed low, the schools are nice. I however had a hard time finding an available apartment. It did not seem like they had many apartments or townhouse rentals. I have been looking on rent.com, and hotpads.com. Both have been very valuable in my search for a nice apartment, but neither had that many choices for rentals.
Thank you for your help.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by Bostonof4

Ya. I looked into Los Alamitos once. I liked it actually. The crime seemed low, the schools are nice. I however had a hard time finding an available apartment. It did not seem like they had many apartments or townhouse rentals. I have been looking on rent.com, and hotpads.com. Both have been very valuable in my search for a nice apartment, but neither had that many choices for rentals.
Thank you for your help.

Not every place advertises on the web. Sometimes just driving around and looking for "for rent" signs is good enough. There's tons of vacant apartments in OC right now.

[mrsltd]

Originally Posted by Bostonof4

I looked into Fullerton once. I heard though there were some bad areas in Fullerton. I will be deciding on an apartment before I move so I don't want to end up in the wrong area with my kids.
I hear Irvine is nice everywhere. The only issue I was worried about in Irvine was ending up near a Frat house or something. Is there an area in Irvine that is heavy with students?
I will look into Cerritos. I have not heard of that city before.

I hope you will take a trip out here before moving.

Yes, there are some "bad" areas in Fullerton, but not enough to considering striking the entire city off your list. There are several universities there so there are lots of apartments. The trick is to find the best place. PM me if you want more details.

There is also La Mirada, which is over the line in LA County and chock full of apartments; Whittier is another place to check out.

Irvine may be "nice" everywhere but it is not the only place to live and it is expensive.