Moving Family to Redlands? Opinions plz (Riverside, Ontario: foreclosures, crime rates, houses)

[foreverblesd]

We are looking to relocate our family (4 kids ) from Washington state to California and so far Redlands looks pretty good . I would love to here your opinions on the current enviroment in the city. If you are living there now or have lived there let me know what you think!

[BennyPhoenix]

Redlands is overall a nice town. I think they are having issues keeping business in the downtown area.
Some beautiful homes in Redlands.
Positives: Nice place, low cost of living
Negatives: Smoggy, long commute to L.A.(if you are commuting), SanBernardino and Riverside economies are sinking faster than SoCal as a whole.

[jschek]

Like most cities in California, Redlands is unable to manage their budget or to understand basic economics. Insufficient investment in infrastructure (crappy roads) and some anti-business/growth attitudes are prevalent in the community and city council.

Otherwise, it's a nice place. Decent commerce and increasing focus on activities for the youth. The schools are decent and I'm told they score pretty well on the standardized tests. Farmer's market, concerts in the summer, community theater, etc. If you're looking for broadway quality shows, you'll have to drive to LA.

The south end of town (92373) is generally considered nicer and upscale. Personally, I think the housing is overpriced in that area, but the neighborhoods are "charming".

As Benny said, air quality isn't the greatest and the commutes can be horrible. If you are from inland Washington, the AQ won't be such a shock... Even a short drive from Redlands to Ontario can be an ugly drive in the morning.

[timon1988]

We just moved our family of four from Minnesota to Redlands. Redlands is a gorgeous town that has a great deal of community pride. Schools are generally excellent. Commitment to the arts is exceptional. Overall crime rates are low for the region, but there are still a disturbing number of auto thefts in Redlands. Housing rates are low for SoCal but high for the Inland Empire.

We decided to live in Yucaipa (Chapman Heights) to be able to afford a much larger, newer house at a much more reasonable cost. There are foreclosures available in Yucaipa that were built around 2002 with over 3,000 square feet in the $350,000 range. Air quality is probably better than Redlands. Schools are also quite good in Yucaipa, but we are further from movie theaters, Citrus Plaza, etc. Taxes are also higher in Yucaipa than in Redlands. Crime in Yucaipa is much lower than in Redlands. We would make the same decision again for our family, but once my kids are gone, we might move to Redlands. Redlands is just too charming!

Welcome to the area, and good luck in your relocation!

[Countrylvr]

Redlands is a wonderful town, We unfortunately moved from Redlands to Beaumont, almost 3 years ago. I want to move back so bad, and I will as soon as the market changes or we walk away from our house and from this hell hole of a city. If you do decide Redlands is the place to go, stay on the south side of the freeway. The north side is nothing but old,ugly houses, gangs, drugs and undesireables.

[DesertDweller3]

Yes, the areas on the north side and south side of the freeway are different worlds. As you'd imagine though, the further south you go, the higher the prices go as well. Ironically, I've lived in both Bellevue, WA and also Redlands, CA so I know it will be a change. Redlands is quite lovely but as a previous post mentioned, there are plenty of overpriced homes. However, there are also a lot of historical homes.

There are numerous pros and cons to Redlands. As someone mentioned earlier, the city has had some internal budgeting issues and everyone can see the fruits of that labor. Homes can be a little on the pricey end and maintaining merchants has proven to be somewhat of a challenge for some reason.

The schools are in fact pretty decent, it's a college town, it's wonderfully kitchy and diverse with its small-town culture and they have the best coffeehouses anywhere (and I'm not talking about coffeehouses of the Starbucks variety). Most of the neighborhoods are very well established; good, bad or otherwise it's bascially "what-you-see-is-what-you-get"... I feel it's preferable that way as it gives you a good indication of what's to come.

Good luck to you!