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Old 06-22-2014, 10:05 AM
 
Location: Philadelphia PA
16 posts, read 49,681 times
Reputation: 10

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So my husband and I are looking for a place that has a relatively low cost of living and is within commuting distance to LA. During our research we came across this little town and the more we read about it, the more in love we are falling with it.
But, the cautious side of me (we currently live a whole world away in Philadelphia PA) is whom is making me post this thread.
Basically, we are a family of 6. 2 adults, 3 school age children and a grandmom.
Over the past 14 yrs. We have lived all over the US because my husband was in the military...so we love exploring new places.
Anyways, we are not looking to relocate for jobs as we are entrepeneurs and work from home.
Which leads me to the following questions:

1. How is the cell service in the area? We have verizon and sprint and thats how we stay in touch with our clients etc.

2. How is the internet service? Download and upload speeds etc?

3. When it comes to supermarkets, shops, etc. Are things relatively close or would we have to ride out for 20-30 minutes to get essentials?
We only have 1 car...so this is important.

4. When it comes to the schools? It appears they don't have very good reviews...is this just the opinion of a biased few or is it a true reflection of them? It doesn't matter really cause we are very hands on with the kids studies.

5. Is the drug, junkie and break ins problems as bad as some mentioned?
We have lived in crazy places and know how to keep to ourselves but...Still in a small town...its a bit more difficult to not have run ins with less savory characters.

6. How expensive are heating and cooling costs, trash, water etc? I seen a few houses for rent and that seems very readonable.

We are not moving looking for glamour, enterntainment or night life. A good movie theater, a bar to grab a beer here and there, a library and friendly people ( we are African American) is really all we need.

Anyways, honest opinions would be greatly appreciated. We want to get away from the craziness of the East coast and start our California adventures.

Last edited by moonray; 06-22-2014 at 10:59 AM..
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Old 06-23-2014, 03:50 PM
 
Location: Idaho
6,324 posts, read 7,669,840 times
Reputation: 14056
Crestline is not within "commuting distance" of Los Angeles. Most of the people who live "on top of the hill" work down below in San Bernardino, Riverside, or other nearby cities. It would be one long, long drive to downtown L.A. Consider also that you may not be able to get home some nights for various reasons. Primarily snow and the periodic brush fire.

Thankfully, the fires don't happen very often, but when they do, you will not be allow up the mountain. The highway patrol is kind of freaky about snow also. Anywhere outside of CA, a few inches is no big deal. Here? If they even let you up the mountain, they will make you put on chains first. (There is actually very little personal freedom around here. They gotta protect us from ourselves, right? At least that is what they say when you ask.)

Crestline would not be my choice if I were to live on the hill. Too junky, and they do have a bit of an undesirable element. Consider instead Blue Jay, Arrowhead, or Big Bear and on the other side of the 15, Wrightwood.

Since you are not tied to any urban center, spend two minutes considering a few other out-of-the-way towns. If given a choice, I'd live in Tehachapi. We have one black fellow in our vanpool who actually commutes to Pasadena from Tehachapi. Don't know how he does it. He must have a two-hour commute, one way! Then there is Frazier Park, Idyllwild, Forest Falls, etc. There are a lot of little mountain town all over Southern California. But Crestline would be far down my list.

There are a lot of options. Good luck whatever you decide.
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Old 06-23-2014, 06:27 PM
 
Location: Tennessee at last!
1,884 posts, read 3,008,861 times
Reputation: 3861
Hello,

I live in Crestline. There are some better areas of this small town than others. It is a vacation resort area. That said, numerous vacation homes left empty in a neighborhood attracts the wrong element and these elements will take your things. So if you are moving here, you want to look for a neighborhood that has year round permanent residents. My neighborhood is made up of government workers--post office, fire, police, etc. and some realtors and retired folks. There are very few 'weekenders'--people who live elsewhere and have a vacation home here in my neighborhood. That makes our area less likely to have druggies and break ins. Crestline has various 'areas' such as VOE-Valley of Enchantment included under the Crestline name, that area is rough with druggies hanging on the streets. Nice areas are north or town, around the lake and Dart Canyon. They are also the more expensive areas.

The area is NOT commutable to LA on a regular basis but is easily commutable for a trip to the museums or zoo. Regular daily traffic would make for a very long commute for work--traffic is horrid in CA.

The schools are as bad as you have heard. About 1/3 of the kids up here are homeschooled either directly or through a homeschool charter school. The schools are spread out in the community so bus transport (or parents driving) is required. Bus use is NOT free. Last time my kids attended, a few years ago, the bus passes were $180 per kid per year. That does NOT allow any transport for after school activities. The schools are poorly managed by the District--teachers are older and do not care about education. Bullying is happening without recourse to the bullies, who often are special education students.

They have lots of fun and activities without teaching the kids the basics. For example in first grade my kids came home with 185 pages of math to do over the 2 week break at Christmas and a note that they 'got behind, so please do the work over the vacation'. Well--that was OVER TEN PAGES OF MATH WORK PER DAY! But the kids had a fun first part of the year, doing cooking classes, music, art, etc. They just never got around to math and reading. So they completed the year a year behind by the testing. About 5% of the first grade kids were retained that year. (And most years I have been told.) The schools have been under state oversight for years because of the poor test scores. The elementary schools have 1/2 day so the teachers can be 'trained'. There is a strong teacher's union and the schools will not change. However, if you want you kids to have a great time, and do not care about college or educational level, and you kids is not targeted by a bully, the schools can be nice.

If you live here you need to be prepared for the snow. It is NOT like in PA--I lived in Paoli for 10 years and the snow was never much of a problem there. The snow was plowed and the roads cindered. Here no one will spend the $ to plow the roads as much as they need to, and not much if any cinder is used. There is not that much snow, but they will close the roads due to the ice/snow. You will need a 4 wheel drive vehicle or put chains on the drive tires of your vehicle. The plows come to my road generally a day AFTER it snows. Not at all like PA where they started plowing when it started snowing.

And there is a high fire risk here. I have been evacuated a few times due to wildfires. You need to be prepared to leave and say away in a shelter (Red Cross type) or on your own.

Now for your other questions--Verizon cell works well, not any others. Fast internet speed is available, but costs more.

The town has 2 grocery stores, plus a 7-11, post office, radio shack, hardware store, card/candy/souvenir type store, 9 restaurants, 2 gas stations. You can survive with what is here, but it is a resort area and most people will drive 15 - 20 minutes to a market (Stater Brothers) for lower grocery prices.

My electricity is about $65 month for a 3300 sq ft house. Gas in summer about $15-20, then about $75-100 in winter, trash about $75 a quarter for pick up, sewer about 75 a quarter, water about $60 (we use more than most). Most homes do not have air conditioning. BUT I know of people with much higher costs--insulation on the houses and the temperature range on the thermostat matters a lot.

There is a beautiful library, 3 bars, most people are friendly. There is a theater is Blue Jay or down the hill.
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Old 06-23-2014, 09:45 PM
 
Location: TOVCCA
8,452 posts, read 14,946,733 times
Reputation: 12528
Here's a link to past posts about Crestline:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/searc...rchid=11782138
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Old 06-24-2014, 11:12 AM
 
Location: Philadelphia PA
16 posts, read 49,681 times
Reputation: 10
Wow...you guys have given us a lot to think about. I mean, we are definately not tied down to any urban center and proximity to LA is mostly for enterntainment purposes etc.
We are trying to stay within a lower budget rent wise that is why we were looking at Crestline.
Education is very important to us though, so unacceptable lazy teachers are NOT ok with us.
We want our kids to go to UCLA or Brekley when they get ready and a good education/test scores are a must.

The are we are looking at in Crestline so far is a 4 bds house on Pine Lane. Seems to be close to the school.
Would you be able to give me an idea if that is a desireable area or one of the craziest ones?

We have lived in the mountains before (Poconos in PA).
And we are home bodies...so we ok with being shut in here and there as long as we have internet
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Old 06-24-2014, 12:20 PM
 
Location: Philadelphia PA
16 posts, read 49,681 times
Reputation: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by volosong View Post
Consider instead Blue Jay, Arrowhead, or Big Bear and on the other side of the 15, Wrightwood.
Since you are not tied to any urban center, spend two minutes considering a few other out-of-the-way towns. If given a choice, I'd live in Tehachapi.
Then there is Frazier Park, Idyllwild, Forest Falls, etc. There are a lot of little mountain town all over Southern California. But Crestline would be far down my list.

There are a lot of options. Good luck whatever you decide.
I have been having such little luck with rentals in the areas you have mentioned. Most, if there are any at all do not meet my need for a 4 bedroom and budget of about $1200 a month

I just don't want to get locked into a higher rent until I explore all of my options. Basically, I need a place I can go to where I can set my base.

Thanks for your help and taking the time to reply, this information is greatly appreciated
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Old 06-24-2014, 12:31 PM
 
Location: Philadelphia PA
16 posts, read 49,681 times
Reputation: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by nightlysparrow View Post
Here's a link to past posts about Crestline:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/searc...rchid=11782138
The link is not working
I tried to scourge the forum for previous posts, and found a few, mostly negative. Ugh...getting really frustrated as I thought I had found a little hidden gem, now it is turning out to be more of a pebble in one's shoe.
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Old 06-24-2014, 01:16 PM
 
Location: Tennessee at last!
1,884 posts, read 3,008,861 times
Reputation: 3861
That is Valley of Enchantment area. The main street -138- has a grocery store of sorts and lots of druggies hanging out in front of it. The house may also be much older, like built in the 30's, so you need to ask that. The costs for heating is a lot more if its an older house, and it likely will be very small such as 800 square feet, so ask about the size too. And see if the bedrooms would meet current code--2 exits a window and door. Many of the older homes have 'attic' bedrooms that are a death trap in a fire....no way out.

As for Crestline, I actually love the town. It is very family/community orientated. For example, coming up is the 4th of July parade, family picnic with games, etc. at the lake, they actually close the main street by the lake and everyone puts blankets and chairs in the street to watch the fireworks, etc. It is a nice community.

A go around for the schools is to sign up your kids for a charter school, but you will do the teaching on a day to day basis, The charter has a teacher who will meet with you every 20 days to plan the next 'learning periods' work. They have field trips, etc. for the kids in the charter schools. And your kids can go as fast or slow as they want. They also give you a budget of about $800 or $1600, depending on the school, to hire someone for extras such as karate, music lessons, or to buy stuff such as books or supplies. Some charters have 'learning centers' that you can take your kids to, but they are not close, and the parent has to drive the kids. The learning centers have basic stuff like math, but also special subjects like engineering with Legos. Kids can go to the learning center one day a week to full time. And some families join a homeschool co-op where the families share teaching the kids, one mom doing math and another doing science, etc.

You are unlikely to get a nice big home, good schools, and low rent in CA.
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Old 06-24-2014, 01:24 PM
 
2,145 posts, read 5,049,034 times
Reputation: 1666
Quote:
Originally Posted by moonray View Post
The link is not working
I tried to scourge the forum for previous posts, and found a few, mostly negative. Ugh...getting really frustrated as I thought I had found a little hidden gem, now it is turning out to be more of a pebble in one's shoe.
I have relatives in crestline with kids. They attend private schools. Public schools are as bad as you have read/heard. [Besides the homeschool charter option] Also, based on your stated interests in addition to schools, I don't think Crestline is what you are looking for. Check out Murrietta and Temecula instead. Excellent schools, great family areas. Plenty of activities and infrastructure as such. They are small cities, so larger than Crestline, but I think you'll find more of your list of desires/needs than in the more rural areas further away from the metro areas. In fact, Temecula schools have a snowboard/ski club in the winters-traveling to Big Bear (not that far away). Weekends in the mountains is a nice option to have, while not struggling day to day just to get the basics that you need.
Check out great schools dot org if you haven't already, for school reviews and ratings.
And CD forum has lots of posts on temecula and murrietta. You should be able to find plenty of info.
Good luck!
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Old 06-24-2014, 03:42 PM
 
Location: SoCal desert
8,091 posts, read 15,358,180 times
Reputation: 15035
Quote:
Originally Posted by moonray View Post
The link is not working
http://www.city-data.com/forum/san-b...g-springs.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/san-b...stline-ca.html

Other areas close by:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/san-b...g-springs.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/san-b...reas-stay.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/san-b...-big-bear.html
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