I want to move to Temecula California (Los Angeles, San Diego: real estate market, to rent)

[regrets]

Hi there, we would really like to move to Temecula from Wisconsin. Are there many jobs out there for someone without a college ed? Any advice about moving a family, knowing what to do first. Send myself or my husband out to get a job and a place to live first or just move the whole family at once. I would really like to know about jobs out there tho. Any info would be helpful.

[da jammer]

here is a link to the largest local area newspaper to help you do some research...(you may have to sign up to view the complete site)

PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California

[JesusisLord]

Temecula is a great place to live. It's not located in SD or LA Metro Areas, so there's alot less congestion in the city limits. You might have to commute a bit, I'm not sure, don't want to give a wrong answer. There's alot of cookie cutter homes, safe area, alot of families and good schools. My aunt lives there, but I'm big city baby. Oh and much better weather!

[cmla2]

We just moved to Murrieta which is near Temecula and love it here. Murrieta's a little cheaper than Temecula but in my opinion just as good. The school seem to be decent compared with other school in the Inland Empire, only one of my daughters is school aged though. My husband commutes to Orange County for work and I work from home (most of the time). I'd say look for jobs in Orange County or Escondido area for shortest commute times. Sometimes I drive into LA for work and it's a nightmare, try to stay away from that area for work.

[LivingLikeAGradStudent]

Did you pick Temecula out of a random hat? Moving there without any job knowledge or prospects? It's doable, but with an unsteady (putting it mildly) real estate market these days and not a diverse market for non-college workers, it would seem to be a timing challenge. Weather is nice, though.

[Chinolala]

I visited Temecula once about 3 years ago and found it to be very rural. There did seem to be lots of homes going up when I was there. In my opinion, it seems pretty far to live and work in Orange County. We went to Anaheim and then to the Laguna Beach area and Temucula seemed like it would be a far daily commute. I realize that commute times are all subjective. Right now, my commute is 13 miles and that takes me 45 minutes so the idea of driving 30+ miles, freaks me out. Maybe traffic moves faster in the Inland Empire as opposed to my hometown?

[CSchuman]

That sounds about right... depending on the direction you are leaving Temecula. Temecula also looks very different from 3 years ago; it is heavily built up and there are shopping centers everywhere! We were going to move there back when the homes were in the 300 and 400s. Good thing we didn't, because driving from Murrietta/Temecula to Riverside every day is horrendous.

To the Original Poster:

What kind of jobs does your husband have experience in? Or rather, what does your husband plan on doing when in California? That will make things easier in determining the possibility of it.

[Niners fan]

What makes you want to move to California and Temecula in particular? If you have family here I can understand that but otherwise I would look somewhere else. It is crowded and overpriced. As far as the good: the crime is not bad, the weather is nice. The schools are the best in the area, but take that with a grain of salt - they are still California schools. I would be willing to bet the schools in Wisconsin are much better than CA.

As for jobs, there are some but this whole area is more known for commuters than jobs. There are people who commute a couple of hours each way, every day. I would definitely look south in San Diego County instead of Orange County. The freeway is much better going south than west.

[CalTam]

I dont know if you've spent much time in CA or, as the other poster said, have family here...but if the answer is "no" to either, it will be a big adjustment from WI (in my opinion).

As for a plan of attack, you dont give enough information for me to help you. I dont know if you've got a huge nest egg and can afford to just move and look for jobs? Or do you need a job to pay the rent? The housing market here is very soft, so you might want to rent for a while. Then, when you do decide to buy, you'll have to have great credit and a down payment.

My husband and I moved away from San Diego, to the east coast, for 3 years for his last military assignment. We moved back to CA when he accepted a job in Temecula a few months ago.

I think there are a number of companies up here, but almost everyone I know seems to commute to some place else. My husband's 10 minute commute is NOT the norm.

I cant really comment on what jobs exist without requiring a college education. Abbott Vascular is a big employer here, but they just laid off 700 production workers.

However, if you have a family and want to live in CA, this is probably one of the least expensive areas. We have toured brand new homes in decent neighborhoods and they start in the $400Ks. In Orange County, I suspect it would be almost double for the same thing. If you look in Murrieta or Menifee, houses will be even less.

You could probably find a small, basic house (even in Temecula) for under $400K right now. If you were willing to live in a townhouse, they are even less.

Temecula IS very family/children oriented. There seem to be a lot of activities and parents tell me that the schools are excellent.

There are a lot of cookie cutter homes - it's the "stucco jungle" for sure. BUT - if you can afford something closer to $700K (maybe low $600s), there are properties to be had with more land. There is one neighborhood called Meadowview with homes that sit on 1/2 acre to 1 acre lots. Many of them are in the $1 million range, but I've seen "fixers" for as low as $649K.

I'm a city girl and miss being down in San Diego. We dont have kids (and dont plan to) so the family stuff is irrelevant for us. There are a couple of decent restaurants up here, but we find that we're driving down to San Diego to attend plays, concerts, eat out, etc. And it's 55-60 miles each way to do that.

Hope this helps.

[CA_sunflowers]

Hi,
I just moved here to Temecula from Arizona and absolutely love it here! It still has a smaller town feel living out here near the wine country yet I am still central enough to all the grocery stores, the mall, and lots and lots of restaurants. I heard that Temecula used to be really rural and just a lot of fields along with horse ranches and that wasn't too long ago. Since I have moved here, they have built new restaurants and shopping centers. Everything is practically brand new out here compared to other places in CA. I think the newness is what reminds me a lot of Arizona.

I actually got a job at Abbott Vascular and they moved me out here. It is a great company. Yes, we did recently layoff 700 employees but that was mostly due to overlap of work because of the recent buyout of Guidant by Abbott. As we streamline manufacturing, jobs can be impacted but that happens at many companies. I would recommend that you and your husband search Monster.com for jobs here in Temecula/Murrieta. I would also recommend you contact a temp agency like Manpower who can help place both of you in jobs out here. It might be hard at first, but I would recommend that one of you get a job out here first and rent a place. That way you can take your time getting familiar with the area. We are located about 45 minutes north of Downtown San Diego and 45 minutes east of Oceanside (as the name suggests, it is near the ocean), and about 1 1/2 hours Southeast of Los Angeles. I consider Temecula a great central location. I will say that I have heard the commute is bad though so try to find jobs here in town to avoid that.

I wish you both and your entire family the very best!! Take care.

New Temeculan Resident