Inland Empire, Menifee, Corona, Riverside Area (Moreno Valley, Temecula: mortgage, student loan, relocating)

[hockyis1]

Hi all!

To give you a little background, my wife and I are currently living in seperate cities (I'm in Cleveland, OH, while she is in Winchester, CA) and I will be moving out there in another year and a half. In the mean time we're looking to buy either a house or nice condo, but are not quite familiar with the different areas surrounding Riverside, CA where my wife works. She is renting a single bedroom from some friends in the Winchester area and is commuting to downtown Riverside. Together, we make about $130,000 and that'll be steadily rising each year - although we have quite a bit of consumer and student loan debt (it's slowly getting paid off - but having two households is tough and with a law degree we also have a mortgage without a house..haha).

I had a few questions for you all that live in her area. Since we still don't know whether we want a Condo or House, we can't figure out where to live. From what we know, homes in the Corona/Riverside area aren't normally in the best of neighborhoods (for the $350-400K price range) but the homes around Menifee are (brand new homes for 400K too!!) However, a nice 2/2 condo in Corona or Riverside will run 350K. So the first question (sorry for the long preface) is which would be the better value/investment? A condo closer to work in Corona or a 4/3 home in Menifee? We don't plan on having kids, and a condo sounds like the better choice, but if we're going to be living in this home for the next 8+ years, would owning out in (growing) Menifee be a better investement?

The second question is that since this will be our first mortgage, we have no clue what our TOTAL costs will be...meaning, after the mortgage, taxes, and insurance, what are people paying for a $400,000 home? The closest I could estimate is a $400K mortgage is about $2300/month, taxes should be about 700/month, and insurance will be about 300/month....does $3300/month sound about right? Or am I totally off on the insurance part? Could anyone with this size mortgage give me a more accurate number??

Thanks in advance. Can't wait to get out of this dreary and cold Cleveland weather!

[lisajean]

Well, welcome to California!! a place for most people who were born and raised here you both love and hate it here! Anywho back on track, I come from the Riverside area and I have only one thing to say STAY AWAY FROM MORENO VALLEY, and PERRIS!! they are the new compton gang are, trust me on this I have tons of friends in the police force for both of thos cities, a really good friend of mine is on gang unit, and boy do I have tons of stories to tell. Please just take my advice commute from Meniffee or Temecula, but please don't move to Moreno Valley, or Perris! Good Luck with the move!

[Sage of Sagle]

I agree. I would do a condo in Corona (off the 15 fwy, avoid "old" Corona) simply because I think you'll grow very weary of commuting as traffic gets worse, and you have to drive through MV and Perris to work, and Menifee gets HOT. Like 115+ on a bad summer day (I used to live in Canyon Lake 5 miles from Menifee so I know of what I speak...we saw 118 sometimes)

[YOU-CANT-EAT-SCENERY]

I live in Norco (north Corona). My mortgage at 440K runs right about 3K month PITI (taxes based on assesed value of 360K). I agree with other posters here. Stay away from Perris, Moreno Valley, and downtown Riverside. I think the Gavilan Hills area (south of Lake Mathews) is pretty nice, but not sure of home prices there. Some areas of Riverside around Victoria ave. are nice also. It also get hot here too. Over this last summer it was over 100 for 30 straight days.

[hockyis1]

Originally Posted by Sage of Sagle

I agree. I would do a condo in Corona (off the 15 fwy, avoid "old" Corona) simply because I think you'll grow very weary of commuting as traffic gets worse, and you have to drive through MV and Perris to work, and Menifee gets HOT. Like 115+ on a bad summer day (I used to live in Canyon Lake 5 miles from Menifee so I know of what I speak...we saw 118 sometimes)

It looks more and more like the wife is interested in the Corona area just because of the commute to work. She's been hearing that as the area around Menifee starts to grow, the traffic will just get worse and her commute time will go from 50 minutes to an hour and a half if there is any type of traffic/crash.

Other than the traffic of Old Corona, is there any other downside to that part of town? Is downtown or "old" corona considered the "bad part of town" to live in?

I hear ya guys loud and clear to stay away from Moreno Valley and Perris. Even if we did find a decent area to live there, the resale would suck because of the reputation. No thanks...

[hockyis1]

Originally Posted by johns65vette

I live in Norco (north Corona). My mortgage at 440K runs right about 3K month PITI (taxes based on assesed value of 360K). I agree with other posters here. Stay away from Perris, Moreno Valley, and downtown Riverside. I think the Gavilan Hills area (south of Lake Mathews) is pretty nice, but not sure of home prices there. Some areas of Riverside around Victoria ave. are nice also. It also get hot here too. Over this last summer it was over 100 for 30 straight days.

John,
Thanks for the info on the mortgage...looks like that's about what I estimated - but thanks for the confirmation.

I'll definitely check into the Gavilan Hills area. We've even looked into Norco but thought that the smog would be a little worse than up near the hills of corona. How do you like the Norco area?

Thanks again for the great info!!

[YOU-CANT-EAT-SCENERY]

Originally Posted by hockyis1

John,
Thanks for the info on the mortgage...looks like that's about what I estimated - but thanks for the confirmation.

I'll definitely check into the Gavilan Hills area. We've even looked into Norco but thought that the smog would be a little worse than up near the hills of corona. How do you like the Norco area?

Thanks again for the great info!!

I love the Norco area. If it wasn't for just being so crowded all around outside of Norco, we would never leave. We are looking at relocating to the colder climates of WY, MT, ID. Older parts of Norco where it is more horse friendly are a little dirty, I guess, is the best way to describe it. Only because you have houses on 1/2 acre dirt lots, and there are no sidewalks, only horse trails. You really gotta love animals to live here I guess.
As far as smog goes...not really an issue at all. The wind blows pretty regularly out of the Cajon Pass, so it does stay pretty clear most of the time. There are a few days during the summer, when the air get "stagnant" and some inversion type stuff happens, but it usually doesn't last long.
I'll try to post some pics of the area.

[jvazjr]

I wouldnt recommend buying a home in this area at all...right now. The timing is real bad. Thes 500k homes use to cost 120k about 5 year ago. Way over priced.
If you buy property now solely on its appreciation...your screwed. Rent a nice place in the OC for the same price of a 400k mortgage in COrona. When the market drops, which it will, come back to Corona and get your home.

[YOU-CANT-EAT-SCENERY]

[quote=jvazjr;413198]I wouldnt recommend buying a home in this area at all...right now. The timing is real bad. Thes 500k homes use to cost 120k about 5 year ago. Way over priced. QUOTE]


I would agree about the waiting portion, but the 5 year time frame is off a bit.

5 years ago my house in Norco was 340K, now it's 620K or so.

When I moved to Corona in 2000 I bought my house there for about 160K. When I divorced 2 years later (2002) I got 240K I think. So maybe about 7 or 8 years ago houses were around the 120K mark.

[YOU-CANT-EAT-SCENERY]

Just wanted to add another thing about the smog issue. I grew up here in So Cal, and I can remember as a kid my lungs burning on smoggy days, but I can honestly say in the last 20 years it has gotten way better. When there is offshore flow it stays pretty clear in the IE, but when it shifts to onshore flow, then it can get a littel goomy looking. I would say it's worse in the summer (May/June through Sept). Oct. through April/May are usually pretty nice.

Oh and to correct my last post, I bought my first house in Corona for 260K and sold it for 340K in 2003 not 2002. But either way homes in Corona have not been in the 100K mark for quite some time, but waiting awhile will be a good idea. Give the market a couple few years to stabilize. I'm sure housing prices will still drop another 10-30%.
I plan to still be here another 6 years, so hopefully prices will go up by then.