Considering move to Murrieta area, lots of questions (Los Angeles, San Diego: HOA, homeowners insurance)

[maverick-mover]

Hi everyone! My husband and I have been considering the possibility of moving to California in the next year. Between the two of us, we have lived in Orlando, FL, Daytona, FL, NYC, Long Island, NY, Providence, RI, Boston, MA and Chicago, IL. Some great neighborhoods, some just alright. Some lively...some boring and suburban, etc. We've done both the city life and the suburbs so we are familiar with what we'd be getting ourselves into.

We are mid 30's currently own a home in RI in the burbs just outside of Providence. We have 13 year old son that is an excellent student. We are pretty bored with the east coast and are ready for something new. My son is very open to the idea of moving and has his sights set on college in CA, so this makes it much easier.

We are looking for an affordable community ($250k and below) in a safe area with good schools. Based on Budget, schools and crime data it seems like Murrieta would be a good fit for us.

1. From what I see online the $200-250k range could buy us a 1,700+ sq. foot home with 2 car garage in a nice subdivision. Does this seem accurate, or am I seeing things online that are too good to be true?

2. Taxes seem to run anywhere from $2500-4500 for the homes I have seen. Why such a broad range for homes that seem to be assessed at similar values within the same town?

3. Do most homes in Murrieta have this "Mello Roos" tax in addition to standard property taxes?

4. Here in RI we have a ridiculous vehicle tax. EVERY YEAR you are charge a car tax just to simply have a car in your driveway. This runs us nearly $2000 a YEAR. It does not include registration fees, inspections, etc. it is simply a tax that goes to the town for each vehicle, based on it's blue book value. I did not know of this before moving here, so it was shock to find out about that. Should we be aware of anything like this?

5. Car insurance for our 2011 Nissan runs us about $145 a month for full coverage and perfect driving records over the last few years. This is with a discount for having my homeowners with the same company. Is this comparable to out there?

6. Approximately what are homeowners ins rates for a 2,000 sq foot home in this area, without a pool?

7. Are the schools in Murrieta as good as they seem to be? Greatschools.net has the high school rated as a 9 out of 10 but I don't know anything about schools in CA and if those numbers mean much.

8. I understand there is a lot of traffic in this area, is that just for commuters or throughout the town just to do basic grocery shopping, drive to schools, etc.? We are fortunate to own our own business and be able to work from home, so I do not have to commute. So basically I am just wondering if every time I need to run to Target or the grocery store...will I be sitting in a traffic jam? Or are we just talking rush hour commutes?

9. How pet friendly is it out here? We have 2 dogs and 3 cats.


From our perspective, we don't stay anywhere forever...so we are not looking for our retirement spot...just a safe neighborhood for our son to go to high school and LARGER home for us to enjoy in a decent community. We pay almost $5k a year in a taxes for a SMALL home that was just reassessed for less then $190k...it just seems that it makes more sense to live less cramped in a larger house for the same money, less taxes and a better school (if in fact the schools are decent).

Lastly, if I am missing something or sound naive about anything, PLEASE CORRECT ME! We are going to take a weekend trip out in the summer to check out neighborhoods but any help from the locals would be a huge plus!

Thank you!!

[ecnorton]

I lived in Murrieta for almost 8 years with the military.
Currently 250K will buy 2000-2250 sqft house and a 3 car garage. Just about all houses in Murrieta have 3 car garage. The taxes run about 1.1% (including special assessments voters agreed to) in the older (late 1980's) parts of Murrieta and there is not a mello roos. However newer areas will have higher tax rates, but probably not over 1.5%. Also, in CA taxes are capped at 1% of value and 3% growth per year under prop 13, so longer term owners would have lower taxes. The difference over 1% of assessed value is from taxes voters agreed to (i.e. parks).

Traffic is really only bad on the freeway and major cross streets around rush hour. Other times are not too bad.
As I was not a CA resident, I can not speak to the car insurance and fees. Our homeowners insurance was about $1100 on a house in the 225 to 250 range.
Happy house hunting.

[maverick-mover]

Hey! Thanks so much for the response. I really appreciate it. After posting I sort of thought maybe the ambush of 20 questions was a bit too much. I just thought it would be easier to post it all in one.

Thank you for answering my questions, it's a big help. I didn't know if it was too good to be true and we should even waste our time flying out, etc. Are there any particular areas you would recommend?

The tax cap is quite nice. When we moved here our property taxes went up by 18%!! 3 months after moving in. They just were raised again but the residents have been fighting it. Town reassessed our property values as they are supposed to, but decided to raise the taxes 22% to make up the difference!!!

So, do the taxes get reassessed there based on purchase price when you buy?

[Danalysd]

We are not in Murrieta but just south of there in Temecula. I cant answer some of your questions since I don't live in Murrieta but the 2 places are pretty similar.
We don't have a yearly vehicle tax but we do pay registration every year on our 2 vehicles and its around 250-350 per car and I think it's based on the cars value. Some of this registration is tax deductible.
Car insurance for a 2010 Toyota and a 2005 MINI for us is 125/month. We have our homeowners with the same company and that runs us about 850/year. House was purchased in 9/2009 for 280k and is 2700 sq/ft.
Traffic sucks on the freeways during rush hours but other then that its not to bad in the murrieta/Temecula area. This also depends on your perspective of what bad traffic is. Some might say its bad all the time.
We have 2 cats and a dog and the area (Temecula) is very pet friendly. Lots of places to walk the dog and most people have them.

Good luck

[maverick-mover]

Thank you! I have been looking in Temecula as well. Is the area that borders Murrieta okay? Schools good in both towns? I have looked through the other threads comparing both and in terms of neighborhoods, shopping, etc. it seems that most feel that both towns are pretty similar.

Glad to hear the towns seem pet friendly, that is important to us. Are the neighborhoods equally as friendly with kids, riding bikes, playing outside, or are a lot of the subdivisions full of rules that don't allow that?

Lastly, I forgot to ask this above, but I have seen a lot of reference to air quality. I have never lived anywhere that this was even a topic of discussion. Is this really going to be an issue for a relatively healthy young family in this area? I have lived in some big cities with pollution and smog, etc. but I'm not sure what people are really referencing when they discuss this.

[Spencers]

I just moved to central Temecula in January and I haven't noticed any major issues with traffic (other than rush hour or near the Promenade Mall) or bad air quality. Los Angeles has bad air quality, Temecula not so much.

It's safe here and very affordable. I relocated from San Diego and couldn't be happier. For the most part all the schools are great compared to the urban ones we were faced with, the people are friendly, it's family oriented (LOTS of activities for kids), everyone seems to have a dog, and where I live there's beautiful views of wine country. You really can't go wrong here.

[maverick-mover]

Thanks, Spencers! What major cross streets would be considered the central Temecula area? I'd like to have an idea of where I am looking when I'm searching online for now. Views of wine country sound like a big bonus!! Not sure if that area would be in our budget though.

How hot are the summers? I am under the impression it is a bit cooler in this area due to wind coming in from the ocean or is that wrong?

[vahnessuh]

Murrieta and Temecula are super friendly. I would even go as far to say that the cities grew from being sleepy towns in the middle of nowhere because of families. I know most of the families that live in the area have moved here from San Diego County because they want a nice, affordable and safe place to raise their family with good schools. You cannot get all of that in SD. You always have to sacrifice affordability to get into good schools or vice versa.

We only moved to Temecula almost 2 months ago but we couldn't be more happier. People here tend to be much nicer and more patient with children. People are also more apt to smile and talk to you. We don't have a dog yet but I see a lot of neighbors walking their dogs on our street. The pet stores seems like they're always busy and in the puppy store near our house, you never really see a puppy for more than 2 weeks so I'm guessing their turn around rate is pretty high.

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by maverick-mover

How hot are the summers? I am under the impression it is a bit cooler in this area due to wind coming in from the ocean or is that wrong?

Hot. For Temecula and parts of Murr there is a refreshingly moderating influence from an ocean breeze through the Rainbow Gap after 1pm on most days. You can reverse that when the Santa Ana winds are blowing, however they're usually a late-September through May weather feature and aren't a constant thing even then.

But when they do blow, you'll see why they're also called "Devil Winds". "Hot and bone-dry" is an understatement.

[Danalysd]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

Hot. For Temecula and parts of Murr there is a refreshingly moderating influence from an ocean breeze through the Rainbow Gap after 1pm on most days. You can reverse that when the Santa Ana winds are blowing, however they're usually a late-September through May weather feature and aren't a constant thing even then.

But when they do blow, you'll see why they're also called "Devil Winds". "Hot and bone-dry" is an understatement.

To the OP, I agree with all this. It does get Hot here in the summer. Normal summer time weather is around 100 everyday and then a few weeks out of the summer where is even warmer and around 110. We are in Redhawk and are the farthest point in Southern Temecula, any further south and you would be on the Indian reservation. We have great mountain views all around us, many areas in Temecula do. We do have a great breeze that cools it down in the afternoon. In the summer thats great, in the winter it sometimes makes for some cool afternoons.

Everyone talks about the smog. The only time I see the smog is when I am looking towards the North. I am a runner and I have never felt like my lungs are burning or any of that.

We have an HOA but there aren't any rules against kids playing outside. Most newer areas in temecula have an HOA. I never thought I would say this but I actually like living in a neighborhood that has one. It keeps the areas looking nice. We looked at some tracks that didn't have an HOA and the common areas/pathways weren't as nice. Some people don't care about that stuff, I guess I do. Drive around Redhawk or Wolf Creek and you will see some nicely maintained areas.