From high priced east coast to high priced Ventura (Thousand Oaks: real estate, insurance) - Ventura County - California (CA) - City-Data Forum

95whipstick · 03-07-2015, 07:19 PM

My wife and I live in an expensive town in Connecticut and we are looking to move to the west coast. In addition to a lifestyle change from the crappy weather in the northeast, we are looking to cut our monthly expenses. Our property taxes are $33,000 and our heating bill is is $7,500 a year.

I started looking at Thousand Oaks but another post cited Calabasas and Oak Park as better schools. We have three kids ages 5, 3 & 2 and our price range is is 1.4 to 1.6 mm with at least 4 bedrooms and 3500 square feet. Our current home is 5,800 square feet but I don't think we would need that much space in a better climate with an outdoor area.

I was able to find property taxes on Zillow, but I was wondering if there are any other local taxes and if there is property tax on automobiles? It appears you can deduct property tax and mortgage interest from California taxable income? Also, any idea what property insurance runs w/ earthquake risk, we pay like $2,750 on a 1.7mm home in CT- roughly the same or am I way off?

Finally, what town would you pick for a young family without a commute concern for top schools, programs, parks and lifestyle in Southern California in our price range? We are near Greenwich in CT but our town is not Gold Coast status which is fine with me because we are family oriented and I am not a hedge fund manager or similar. Looking for the same in CA, upscale but not cutthroat, I'm looking for laid back. Thanks very much in advance for any thoughts, insights or words of wisdom! I suddenly realized the other day, what the @$&?%! am I doing in the northeast!

jw2 · 03-07-2015, 09:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 95whipstick

My wife and I live in an expensive town in Connecticut and we are looking to move to the west coast. In addition to a lifestyle change from the crappy weather in the northeast, we are looking to cut our monthly expenses. Our property taxes are $33,000 and our heating bill is is $7,500 a year.

I started looking at Thousand Oaks but another post cited Calabasas and Oak Park as better schools. We have three kids ages 5, 3 & 2 and our price range is is 1.4 to 1.6 mm with at least 4 bedrooms and 3500 square feet. Our current home is 5,800 square feet but I don't think we would need that much space in a better climate with an outdoor area.

I was able to find property taxes on Zillow, but I was wondering if there are any other local taxes and if there is property tax on automobiles? It appears you can deduct property tax and mortgage interest from California taxable income? Also, any idea what property insurance runs w/ earthquake risk, we pay like $2,750 on a 1.7mm home in CT- roughly the same or am I way off?

Finally, what town would you pick for a young family without a commute concern for top schools, programs, parks and lifestyle in Southern California in our price range? We are near Greenwich in CT but our town is not Gold Coast status which is fine with me because we are family oriented and I am not a hedge fund manager or similar. Looking for the same in CA, upscale but not cutthroat, I'm looking for laid back. Thanks very much in advance for any thoughts, insights or words of wisdom! I suddenly realized the other day, what the @$&?%! am I doing in the northeast!

Schools between Calabasas and Thousand Oaks are all good with the nod to Oak Park. Oak Park has a unique situation that results in having more openings than local students so they open it to a lottery for the remaining spots. As a resident of Oak Park, you are, of course, in the Oak Park school district without going through the lottery.

You budget will offer you quite a variety in the areas that interest you as well.

Your property tax will be somewhere in the 1.1%-1.25% of the purchase price. A million dollar house will have about $11,000-$12,000 in yearly taxes.

There is not a property tax for cars but there is a license fee

Your utility costs will likely go way way down, perhaps 1/4 of what you are paying now.

All of the areas you listed are close to lots of parks, trails, mountains, and easy access to the beach.

If it were me, I would start the search in Oak Park as it is probably the most family oriented in that area.

wac_432 · 03-08-2015, 01:10 AM

I'd go for Ventura downtown, itself. Something up above poli st. with a spectacular view of the channel islands and an easy stroll downtown. Schools are 8 9 7, but your kids could lottery into a 10 elementary and highschool, just aim to be big fish in a small pond, or go private.

Oh, and congrats on waking up from the ec nightmare. We left Boston because after 4 feet of snow every other weekend, just... Why?

You'll run heat some nights in the winter and summer. Ac almost never, just open the windows. You'll need more heat and cooling up in the hills away from the coastal plain. Also, the Kardashians live out that way, so you might be harder-pressed to live the laid back lifestyle you envision. Ventura is about as relaxed a beach town as you are going to find. Heck, I go surfing on my lunch break, along with a bunch of white, blue, and no-collars.

My property taxes are about 1.09% for reference.

24hr7 · 03-08-2015, 02:46 PM

Oak Park schools for sure especially with children that age group. I have 3 co workers with children at Oak Park schools and they love it. 2 of my co workers live in Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks and they enrolled in the lottery program to send their kids to Oak Park. Before you decide on a school, aside from looking at the stats on paper; Go visit the schools and you will see Oak Park is nothing like the rest of the schools. Oak Park is a classy town low key and not flashy as Calabasas. Thousand Oaks has good schools but you have a range of type of people there. If not Oak Park then look at Agoura Hills, but yeah if you housing budget is what you referenced above then I would look at Oak Park.

95whipstick · 03-08-2015, 03:54 PM

That's great info. I have an opportunity with my company with better pay in Woodland Hills. I also think the state Universities are a big draw as everyone goes private around here which will be $500k per child by the time they get there. I would rather do this while they are young before they settle in with their group of friends. I was out playing paddle tennis today with some friends and mentioned what we're thinking, it will be sad to leave but better in the long run. Hard to believe such a move could be practical, and even save us significant money. We'll take a hit on this house in CT but this area is in decline and if I can buy in an area on the upswing with a lower cost of living and better pay, seems like a win win. A lot of people are stuck in the Northeast because of their jobs, I guess if this works out I should count myself lucky.

nightlysparrow · 03-08-2015, 09:00 PM

You can live in Oak Park, but you will go to Thousand Oaks for culture and a lot of shopping. Oak Park is really just a small neighborhood and a few businesses. Kanan Road has strip malls and grocery stores near the freeway. Otherwise, just houses.

Do you understand Prop 13 and real estate taxes? You will find them to be quite a relief: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Califor...ition_13_(1978)

95whipstick · 03-09-2015, 06:16 PM

Great info on the prop 13- warm and fuzzy. I did a mock California income tax return and figured that you are capped at 7900 standard deduction. I used to pay a water and sewer tax but I'm sure that is peanuts. I did some looking in Oak Park and couldn't find anything over 1.4. Don't get me wrong, I would love to spend less but most of the homes seem to be on smaller lots and the only larger lot I could find was an older home. Makes me a little nervous buying "the high end" of a town. Westlake 1.6 seems the low end of the high end and Calabasas and Agoura 1.6 seems in the middle. I made the mistake of buying the high end in CT and wished we lived in community where we were the low end of the high end. Westlake schools were ranked highest by U.S. news, any thoughts on that community? Maybe a little more urban closer to the highway?

nightlysparrow · 03-09-2015, 06:38 PM

Not sure why lot size matters to you, but the newer and larger the home, the smaller the lot. Homes in Old Agoura (different than Agoura Hills) have large lots and room for horses, but that's the only area where you're looking that is like that. Westlake sits half in Ventura County and half in LA County and different laws and taxes apply, so be aware. All the areas are adjacent, and there is school choice so keep that in mind. Also, further home building is limited...no land available.

95whipstick · 03-09-2015, 07:10 PM

Nightly, we live on a 6 acres and with three young kids, looking at these tiny but beautiful back yards with awesome outdoor areas but postage sized grassy areas, it leaves us wondering, where are the kids going to play soccer? I'm guessing the parks are the answer. I used to live near the water in CT on.13 acres as a bachelor but admit I felt cramped with no elbow room between neighbors. I can see us on a half an acre but it would have to be fairly level. Seems like from your answer and from what I am seeing, either you pay up or buy an older home. Thanks for the tip on Old Agoura, our current home is along those lines so worth a look!