TO, Moorpark, Simi Valley or Oak Park (Los Angeles, Thousand Oaks: best neighborhoods, real estate)

[crosscountrymove]

My family and I are moving from Florida to California in a month. My partner's job will be located in Thousand Oaks. We have a son who will be starting kindergarten this fall and we would love to be in a great school district but aren't opposed to driving him to a different district if need be. We will be visiting the area next week to get an idea of neighborhoods and schools but I was wondering if anyone had an opinion between Moorpark, Simi Valley and Oak Park as far as most family friendly. We don't want to live in Thousand Oaks or Westlake, too close to work, but then again we don't want to be more than a 30-45 minute commute away either. Any advice is most welcome. It seems like all of this area has the things we want (neighborhood feel, access to parks and playgrounds and hiking, good schools, etc) but some areas must be better than others?

[ImRandy]

If you don't want to live in Thousand Oaks or Westlake then Oak Park is the better choice among the cities you're looking into.

[user_id]

Thousand Oaks, and especially Westlake, have the best schools in the area so if good schools are a major concern then avoiding these communities doesn't make much sense. Furthermore, Oak Park is a small community (its not a city) that is connected to Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village. As a result, if you want to avoid Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village for whatever reason, then you'd want to avoid Oak Park for the same reason.

Moorpark, Simi Valley and Oak Park are all family friendly....they just differ in demographics.

Also, I don't get the comment about driving to a different district, you won't have that choice.

[crosscountrymove]

Thank you.

From what I understood, Oak Park has it's own school district and will take out of district transfers for students not living in the area. From looking online TO is CVUSD and Augora Hills is LVUSD. It looks like all of three districts have good elementary schools. I guess I thought Oak Park was its own little town a little farther from the TO/Westlake area.

[Pammyd]

Originally Posted by crosscountrymove

My family and I are moving from Florida to California in a month. My partner's job will be located in Thousand Oaks. We have a son who will be starting kindergarten this fall and we would love to be in a great school district but aren't opposed to driving him to a different district if need be. We will be visiting the area next week to get an idea of neighborhoods and schools but I was wondering if anyone had an opinion between Moorpark, Simi Valley and Oak Park as far as most family friendly. We don't want to live in Thousand Oaks or Westlake, too close to work, but then again we don't want to be more than a 30-45 minute commute away either. Any advice is most welcome. It seems like all of this area has the things we want (neighborhood feel, access to parks and playgrounds and hiking, good schools, etc) but some areas must be better than others?

My sister lives in Moorpark and is a real estate agent there. I have seen pics of the area and of her house..beautiful. I can't give you her full name on here but her first name is Phyllis. If I can get any further info for you be glad to help. Have a safe trip and good luck with your move.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by crosscountrymove

From what I understood, Oak Park has it's own school district and will take out of district transfers for students not living in the area.

Though I don't know the details, yes, I think in the case of Oak Park they do this because the number of young families in the community has declined. But the drive to Oak Park from Moorpark and Simi Valley can be pretty bad and there is little point in doing this transfer if you're in Thousand Oaks/Westlake as the schools are, if anything, better.

Originally Posted by crosscountrymove

I guess I thought Oak Park was its own little town a little farther from the TO/Westlake area.

No, its primarily a residential community with very little in terms of shopping, dining, etc. To do anything, you'll have to go to Agoura, Westlake or Thousand Oaks.

And just to note, Westlake confusingly refers to two things here. There is a city, within Los Angeles county, called Westlake Village. Then there is a part of Thousand Oaks, connected to Westlake Village (the city), also called Westlake Village. The reason for the confusion is that Westlake use to be an unincorporated community within Ventura and LA counties, but ~30 years ago the LA county part was incorporated into the city of Westlake Village and the Ventura county part was annexed by Thousand Oaks. Oak Part is an unincorporated community of Ventura County that borders Thousand oaks (Westlake portion), Westlake Village and Agoura Hills.

I'm not sure why you'd want to avoid Thousand Oaks/Westlake, but by doing so you're missing out on some of the best schools and best neighborhoods in the area. Oak Park is turning into an old folks community.....

[terrible one]

Of all the locations you listed Thousand Oaks is the best one. Great schools, shopping, eating, etc. Oak Park is a tiny residential community but not much else.
Simi Valley is OK, but I'd still prefer TO. Moorpark is growing and has some decent areas, but still pales in comparsion to Thousand Oaks. Depending on where you work your home doesn't necessarily have to be close by in Thousand Oaks. It is a pretty good size city.

[jgarretson]

What about cost of living? Oak Park, Westlake, Agoura and large parts of T.O. are all prohibitively expensive. If you don't have a budget of $500,000, you won't be living in the nice areas going to the nice schools.

Moorpark has a great area along the southern ridge which is somewhat less expensive and I'd contend Moorpark has the best weather of all of eastern Ventura County. It will be ten degrees cooler than Oak Park/Agoura/Westlake and gets much better sea breezes. Simi Valley will be similar weather to the Conejo Valley but can be very windy. Simi is now the least expensive portion of eastern Ventura County.

[heckynoodle]

Hope it all worked out for you.
To me, all those areas are the same. Concrete, bland areas areas on the constantly noisy 101 freeway.
Westlake Village is the richer area so the schools would be better.

[user_id]

Must be thinking of a different place. The 101 doesn't go through Simi Valley or Moorpark and Thousand oaks is filled with trees, preserved open space and national forest land.