Simi Valley vs Valencia in rgds of buying a new house

[user_id]

Originally Posted by OpenSky

Clearly, you haven't lived in the Santa Clarita Valley.

I'm familiar with both areas and I find your comments to be a major exaggeration. But regardless of what one thinks about the weather in the Santa Clarita Valley, the weather in Simi Valley is fairly similar so weather isn't a major deciding point between these two areas.

Originally Posted by OpenSky

Regarding air conditioning... it is very frequently over 100 degrees in the months before, during and after summer. Those are the temps in the shade -- in the direct sun, 110+ is typical. If you like to walk (as I do), you will hear the whirring of air conditioning units on block after block for five months out of the year.

Frequently? Not really...but it certainly gets above 100 on some days. But I wasn't talking about outside temps, I was talking about the need for AC. Since the Santa Clarita Valley (and simi as well) cools off significantly at night the need for AC is greatly reduced, you can suck the cool night time air into your house to cool it off in the evening and close things up in the morning to maintain a reasonable temp until the evening. This w

Regardless, AC isn't really a "must have" in these areas. It can certainly be nice on some days, but its a luxury and I imagine the people running their AC all the time are the same people driving luxury cars, etc. But obviously people vary in their tolerance to heat, seniors, those that are obese, etc may have greater difficulty tolerating heat than others.

[HSP1161]

Originally Posted by user_id

I'm familiar with both areas and I find your comments to be a major exaggeration.

"Familiar"... so you haven't actually lived an entire summer there, much less a few years as I did.

Yet I'm "exaggerating."

Got it.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by OpenSky

"Familiar"... so you haven't actually lived an entire summer there, much less a few years as I did.

Yes familiar, are you not familiar with that word? I have spent summers in both areas.....and I find it better to talk about these things in more factual terms rather than things like "its extreme weather". That means different things to different people, I certainly don't find it "extreme".

[socalmommie]

Originally Posted by user_id

No, its not "far faster".....In fact your claim is just a bit ridiculous...... Even at 7~8 am there isn't much traffic on the south 101 until you get Topanga or so but at that point Encino is just a few miles away. You hit more traffic on the 405! But the trip from Simi is 3~4 times longer......as well. The commute from Simi Valley would be terrible, the commute from the Conejo Valley is rather reasonable. This is part of the reason why the Conejo Valley is more expensive than Simi Valley, it has quicker access to key areas of Los Angeles.

Wow... actually, my husband has made the commute from Santa Monica daily both from Thousand Oaks & Simi Valley and he finds the commute to Simi far superior & lighter. As for myself, it's pretty clear that traffic on the 118 is consistently lighter than on the 101 - instead of calling someone's "claim" ridiculous, you might actually want to try the drive a couple times to see for yourself. I find that it always clogs up around Calabasas in the AM & at the 23 interchange in the PM - I would recommend the OP consider these things prior to buying/moving.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by socalmommie

Wow... actually, my husband has made the commute from Santa Monica daily both from Thousand Oaks & Simi Valley and he finds the commute to Simi far superior & lighter.

We are talking about Encino, not Santa Monica. But even there the drive from Thousand Oaks is likely to be better because the traffic bunches up around the 101/405 intersection on both highways. Someone from Thousand Oaks is likely to experience more traffic, but its a shorter distance.

Originally Posted by socalmommie

As for myself, it's pretty clear that traffic on the 118 is consistently lighter than on the 101 - instead of calling someone's "claim" ridiculous, you might actually want to try the drive a couple times to see for yourself.

I have tried the drive far more than a "couple of times". The 101 is much longer than the 118, the amount of traffic on the 101 varies from location to location. The distance from Simi Valley on the 118, to the 405 into Encino is much longer than the distance on the 101 from Thousand Oaks so even though there is more traffic on some parts of the 101 it is still faster than the Simi->118->405->Encino.

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by GeNin

Hi, I am in a process of buying house. I am originally from Europe, so forgive my English, if I make some grammatical or stylistic mistakes. I have business in US in international logistics field, in LA and NY. I am moving here with my wife, so there are two of us only. My daughter from my previous marriage is 17 now, lives here in West Hills with my ex, so I'm looking for a house for two adults I am 44, my wife is 34. I am not attached to my office, I mean I don't have to commute to the office every day, I can work from home. My wife will work possibly in Encino area. Our budget is $600-$650K. I personally know Los Angeles area pretty good , not as good as residents, of course, but I lived here in different times and traveled back and forth from Europe since 1993. We want house with private pool/spa and maximum possible privacy in back yard, with no...visible neighbors behind. We like to entertain, have many friends here, so private and nice back yard is important. Safety is important option too, we don't care much about good schools though, but I think it's connected more or less. We looked some houses in Simi Valley and we loved the area, I've never been there before and we drove around and liked it a lot. The other area we consider is Valencia, liked a few houses there - we look for newer constructions, 1999-2000 and newer, however we can be more flexible, depends on certain house. We don't mind to drive somewhat longer, but to get better house for the money.
Questions.
1. What parts of Simi Valley is better?
2. What part of Valencia is better? I know that there are better and worse parts.
3. Clean air?
4. Any other suggestions about some other areas?
5. Any opinions and advises I will greatly appreciate

Thank You very much for Your patient reading of this post and help! Good luck to all of You!

So anyway, back to the original question. This is purely personal: I like Simi better than Valencia because Simi is a calmer and slower paced city and not quite as spread out all over the place as Valencia. I also like the natural beauty and access to hiking around Simi Valley better than Valencia. Another thing that may or may not be important to you is that the two cities are in different counties. Valencia, in L.A. County, population 15 million. Simi in Ventura County, population 800,000. If ever you need to deal with the local government on the county level, Ventura County will likely be a lot easier.

The commute from Simi to Encino might be a measure easier as well. The I-5 (Interstate-5) -- a major north-south West Coast route -- in and out of Valencia from the L.A. area, has some crazy traffic and lunatic drivers. The mixture of freeway junctions and spaghetti tangle of dedicated truck routes and interchanges alongside car routes and still more interchanges, makes the entry back and forth a lot more goofy than the drive in and out of Simi Valley, which is basically a single shot on one highway, State Route 118 -- not a major route to and from the area like I-5. Nor does the 118 interact with other major highways like I-5 and there are notably fewer trucks on 118 than I-5. Just some thoughts off the top of my head. Hope it helps.

[KoNgFooCj]

Originally Posted by user_id

Yeah, I wouldn't live in Simi or Valencia if you are working in Encino. You need to be along the 101.

Wouldn't being along the 405 be just as good?