Moving from WI to So. Cal - suggestions on family friendly safe cities? (San Diego: for sale)

[niknak1]

Hi-
My husband is being relocated to Southern Ca. We are looking to move out there around July/August, and currently in the process of looking at potential cities, along the coast, and inland, from San Diego county to LA. Hoping people may have some insight into these cities. We are in our 30's and have a 16mo. old baby, and a dog. Being near the coast would be our preference, but we're open to inland as long as the city is fitting for us. We're looking for something fun with things we can do w/and w/o the baby, and a place that is safe enough to raise a family. I've heard that it's not just about finding the right city in CA, but the right neighborhood, as you can't judge a city the same way out there as you can in Milwaukee. We are going to start out renting and hopefully 1-2 years in we will know if we can call Ca home permanently.
Any feedback on the following would be great:
Carlsbad
Costa Mesa/Mission Viejo/Lake Forest
Claremont/La Verne/Glendora/San Dimas/Azusa
Riverside/Corona
Lake Elsinore/Murrieta/Temecula

I've heard mixed reviews on Riverside, good things on Claremont and Glendora. Don't know a lot about the rest. My husband will work out of our home, and travel 1-3 days week to various locations, and I will need to find new employment.

Thanks.

[mrsltd]

Originally Posted by niknak1

Hi-
My husband is being relocated to Southern Ca. We are looking to move out there around July/August, and currently in the process of looking at potential cities, along the coast, and inland, from San Diego county to LA. Hoping people may have some insight into these cities. We are in our 30's and have a 16mo. old baby, and a dog. Being near the coast would be our preference, but we're open to inland as long as the city is fitting for us. We're looking for something fun with things we can do w/and w/o the baby, and a place that is safe enough to raise a family. I've heard that it's not just about finding the right city in CA, but the right neighborhood, as you can't judge a city the same way out there as you can in Milwaukee. We are going to start out renting and hopefully 1-2 years in we will know if we can call Ca home permanently.
Any feedback on the following would be great:
Carlsbad
Costa Mesa/Mission Viejo/Lake Forest
Claremont/La Verne/Glendora/San Dimas/Azusa
Riverside/Corona
Lake Elsinore/Murrieta/Temecula

I've heard mixed reviews on Riverside, good things on Claremont and Glendora. Don't know a lot about the rest. My husband will work out of our home, and travel 1-3 days week to various locations, and I will need to find new employment.

Thanks.

Just to be brief, as I'm on a break at work:

Costa Mesa is not in the exact same place as Lake Forest and Mission Viejo. Further, Irvine is between them and is quite large. Known as one of Southern California's (if not the country's) safest cities even though it feels VERY sterile (at least to me, but it is family friendly).

Costa Mesa is more varied in its neighborhoods than is Irvine.

[andrewesque]

Originally Posted by niknak1

Carlsbad
Costa Mesa/Mission Viejo/Lake Forest
Claremont/La Verne/Glendora/San Dimas/Azusa
Riverside/Corona
Lake Elsinore/Murrieta/Temecula

Mission Viejo and Lake Forest are both in south Orange County, very family-friendly, very suburban (large houses, big tracts of residential zoning which make up the majority of the city, fairly quiet), driving-dependent, very safe. A (controversial) 2007 survey named Mission Viejo as the safest city in the country, with Lake Forest as the 10th.

Riverside does get a bad rap. I'd just add that the commute from Riverside and Corona to Orange County can be horrific, mostly because there's just one freeway, the 91, that goes there. However, you mention that your husband would only have to travel 1 to 3 times a week and your place of unemployment isn't yet set, so obviously I don't know how much this would apply to you.

[Chava61]

Mission Viejo is a very family-friendly and has a nice lake for family activities.

[momfrommidwest]

We too are moving from the midwest to Mission Viejo this summer. A few questions: Can anyone tell me the TOP three neighborhoods as far as luxury type homes, fantastic schools, safe and family friendly? Are there any exceptional private schools? We have one child, in first grade, who is special needs with an auditory processing disorder so we know he will do much better in a small classroom with a good deal of attention from the teacher.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by momfrommidwest

Can anyone tell me the TOP three neighborhoods as far as luxury type homes, fantastic schools, safe and family friendly?

You can get the answer to this yourself, using this process:

Identify high performing schools:

School Performance Maps
GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community
School Search Widget - GreatSchools
Testing & Accountability (CA Dept of Education)


Use Find All the Homes for Sale & Experienced Real Estate Agents | Redfin to find homes zoned to those schools.

For family friendly, I would consider: flat streets, cul de sacs, and homes not so old that those neighborhoods are filled with empty nesters. First grader, about 7, then look at homes built in the last ten years.

Also, what I do, is literally walk up and down the street of a prospective home and knock on doors. Ask them how many kids, have them point this house, this house, this house, etc. I do this with my wife or with my own kids so they don't think I'm some sort of pervert.

One other thing, have you already decided on Mission Viejo? There are a lot of similar communities surrounding Mission Viejo. There's a good chance you'd find candidate homes/schools from Irvine to San Clemente and from Foothill Ranch to Laguna Niguel.

Finally, search the threads. Here's a thread asking exactly the same questions you are. (You might want to print out post 4 of this thread.)

friendly family neighborhood communities in MV

[momfrommidwest]

Thanks Charles,
My husband and I will be visiting in two weeks to meet with a realtor, visit some elementary and preschools and see the area. Is there anything in particular we should see if our short four days? Great restaurants to go to? He will be working in MV. We could live in surrounding areas but I would love for him to not have a terrible commute.

[momfrommidwest]

Thanks Charles,
My husband and I will be visiting in a few weeks. We will be meeting with a realtor, checking out elementary and preschools. Is there anything in particular we should see in our four short days? Great restaurants to go to? My husband will be working in MV and although we could live in surrounding communities, we would like his commute to be short.

[VeronikaW]

You should check out Aliso Viejo. It's family friendly and has good schools. We're moving there at the end of the month, and most of my family lives there.

Oh, you should check out Ladera Ranch, too!

V. =)

[Charles]

Originally Posted by momfrommidwest

Thanks Charles,
My husband and I will be visiting in two weeks to meet with a realtor, visit some elementary and preschools and see the area. Is there anything in particular we should see if our short four days? Great restaurants to go to? He will be working in MV. We could live in surrounding areas but I would love for him to not have a terrible commute.

Since it is too early to focus on a house, perhaps do a test drive in traffic from/to a candidate neighborhood if he has the time in the morning and in the afternoon. Driving down one of those long boulevards on a Sunday morning will probably be a different experience than 530PM on a week day.

As far as fun stuff, I don't know the area that well. Maybe the beach?