Thinking about moving to Ventura County, CA (Long Beach, Oxnard: for sale, rental homes)

[KKRA]

My family & I are thinking about relocating to this area & I've noticed some nice homes on RE sites in Somis, CA. Can anyone tell me more about this area? We need a good high school for one child, so I would like input about the schools there. Another has to finish up college, and possibly pursue a Master's Degree by the time we relocate. How far is UCLA from this town/area? If this is not a nice place to live, can someone tell me about nearby towns that do have good schools, shopping, etc. We are looking to eventually buy (and possibly rent first) a 4 bedroom house with some land (not a lot of acreage, but don't want to live in a cookie cutter type subdivision/neighborhood). I know the traffic is less intense here than in LA county, and the prices are more reasonable. We are not concerned about employment, only an airport for business travel. My spouse is taking a trip to CA in March and wants to spend a few days "exploring" different areas around where I've mentioned. Can someone suggest an itinerary for him during his visit? Your input is greatly appreciated.

[JustChar]

I have lived in Ventura County since 1978 and before that in Santa Barbara County, just north of here.

It is a beautiful place and I love the Somis area. Camarillo is very nice. Oxnard - some parts - not so good, I live there now. Ventura - better.

As far as high schools, I believe your child would go to Camarillo High. I think that is the only high school in the area, unless you go to Moorpark and I think there is only one high school there. Camarillo High I hear is pretty good, but my kid went to Oxnard High, Oxnard has 5 high schools now. Have your husband see about meeting with the principal when he is here.

Camarillo has a university now called, Cal State University Channel Islands (CSUCI). It used to be a state mental hospital, but closed down a long time ago. Now they made it into a university and it is growing. They still have limited majors though. Northridge University is in the San Fernando Valley and you can get to it fairly easily on the 118 going down behind Simi Valley, about 25-30 minutes. UCLA is in the Santa Monica area and you can get to it by going on the 101 and the 405. The 405 has bad traffic, so this could take 45-60 minutes.

The Burbank airport is about 30 minutes away and is small and convenient. Much nicer to deal with than LAX, but not every airline flys there. LAX is about 45 minutes away if you don't hit traffic. From Oxnard or Camarillo you can get there easier by driving down the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) which is Highway 1. And Oxnard has an airport where you can direct flights on American Eagle to Phoenix and other places. It is a very small airport. Camarillo has an airport, but I think it is all for private planes now.

When you husband gets here he can go to just about anywhere in Somis, it is a very small place, and ask the locals about the area. Go to Cal State Channel Islands (CSUCI) and check it out. Check out the Thousand Oaks area, which is a town just south of Camarillo, up the Conejo Grade. There is Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks. Their high schools are supposed to be pretty good. He definitely should drive PCH down to UCLA and check out the area. Just take Las Posas Road (in Camarillo) to the 1 which is PCH and head south along the coast, beautiful drive and seen in many movies. Oh, and along PCH is Pepperdine University, a beautiful campus. Stop along PCH at Neptunes Net (Rachel Ray has been there) and have a beer and some lunch. Have him check out Ventura Habor, my favorite harbor. Take the 101 North to Ventura and take the Seaward exit, turn left and the head left on Harbor Blvd to Spinnaker and turn right. The harbor has good dining (The Greek is great) and they have an arcade and 10 cent merry-go-round, not they he would want to ride, LOL. On one side of the road is the harbor and on the other side is the beach. At the end of the road at the round-about is the Channel Island National Parks tower and they have information about the Islands and a great nature display. Camarillo has one of the best Outlet Malls in the state. It has doubled in size and is THE place to shop at Christmas, if you can find parking. Ventura has another great shopping mall, Pacific View Mall and Thousand Oaks has it's mall, too. Camarillo has two wonderful movie theater complexes, the Edwards 16 and Roxy Stadium II, which is fairly new. And of course when you visit Somis you have to go to the Somis Nut House for some great nuts and gift baskets. It is a small place, but is very popular and well known.

I can think of a lot of other things, but this is kinda getting long and I don't want to bore you. If you have any questions feel free to ask or direct message me.

Char

[Charles]

Originally Posted by JustChar

I have lived in Ventura County since 1978 and before that in Santa Barbara County, just north of here.

This was a pretty good post.

Couple of comments...

Double every driving duration mentioned if the origin is truly Somis. For example, even with light to medium traffic, count on 1.25 to 1.5 hours to LAX. But chances are there will not be light to medium traffic. No way 25-30 minutes to CSUN, more like 45 minutes, maybe an hour or more in traffic.

No way is UCLA commutable from Somis. No way, not for a college student.

Newbury Park is part of Thousand Oaks.

Thousand Oaks is east of Camarillo.

Somis is horse property. Big expensive lots.

To the original poster:

What is your housing price range and/or rental budget?

[KKRA]

Char & Charles: thanks for the extensive info. It was not too long; if you want to post more, pls do so. I can read all about these areas in travel guides, but it's not the same as having the real input from locals or other people who've lived in these areas. We did travel down PCH last May from a brief vacation in SB; it is a pretty drive. Somis is just a starting point for us because of some of the homes we've seen posted and liked on RE sites. Our time frame for relocating is, hopefully, by the end of this year or early next year. Our budget has not yet been determined. I am curious to find out about the cost of rental homes, however, so my husband may get together with a realtor just to get a feel for the area(s) and find out rental/purchase prices. We could rent a 3 bedroom home but would eventually want to purchase a 4 bedroom. I know the drive to LAX from this area would be outrageous, so closer local airports would be a better option.
I will check out some RE sites for Camarillo, and also the Thousand Oaks area. I have seen homes for sale in Thousand Oaks and it looked like a lot of closely developed housing from the aerial map views. We wanted a little more space between neighbors than what I've seen so far. I will direct any more questions I have your way and, in the meantime, if you have any further info. pls do not hesitate to post it. Again, thank you both for the quick replies.

[jkbatca]

The previous posts are excellent, I'll try to add to this if I can, since I live a couple of miles away from there + my in-laws live in Somis

Originally Posted by KKRA

My family & I are thinking about relocating to this area & I've noticed some nice homes on RE sites in Somis, CA. Can anyone tell me more about this area?

Actually pretty rural. There is the small town Somis itself, but a lot of homes on the "other side" of 118 is considered "Somis" as well. A couple of miles drive to Camarillo, so access to stores etc is good, but there isn't anything significant within walking distance, FYI. The homes within Somis town itself are a wide range of tastes and prices, but on the outer edge of Somis (across 118) there's a lot of houses with large amounts of property (for horses) and are expensive. I would go in-person to the properties you've looked at on-line to see how you like the area.

We need a good high school for one child, so I would like input about the schools there. Another has to finish up college, and possibly pursue a Master's Degree by the time we relocate. How far is UCLA from this town/area?

Far. I commuted once from Camarillo to UCLA for an extension class, and it was a PITA. Went via Hwy 1 as 101/405 was unbearable. I see UCLA vans occasionally so maybe that would be an option, dont know . Drive to UCLA from Somis by car? I would not recommend it.

If this is not a nice place to live, can someone tell me about nearby towns that do have good schools, shopping, etc. We are looking to eventually buy (and possibly rent first) a 4 bedroom house with some land (not a lot of acreage, but don't want to live in a cookie cutter type subdivision/neighborhood).

In general, the non-"cookie cutter" property is going to be expensive, at least by my standards, but if you can afford it, go for it! Since you're looking at Somis, I would also recommend Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village. They have excellent school systems. Homes are all pricey, but so are Somis houses with any amount of land.

I know the traffic is less intense here than in LA county, and the prices are more reasonable.

Um, I wouldn't say that, how do you know that? I've driven a lot in LA and in Ventura Co. 118, 23, and 101 freeways are just as bad at rush hour. One of the worst roads I've ever driven in So. Cal. is 118 around Somis (thanks to "Save Our Somis", Google it) as TONS of traffic go through this two lane road every weekday and there are plenty of accidents on that road. It's a main road for commuters between LA / Simi Valley / Oxnard / Ventura, and these people go nuts on this narrow two lane road! Some side roads are OK but to get anywhere significant, you'll hit traffic.

We are not concerned about employment, only an airport for business travel. My spouse is taking a trip to CA in March and wants to spend a few days "exploring" different areas around where I've mentioned. Can someone suggest an itinerary for him during his visit? Your input is greatly appreciated.

Depends, what do you want to see? If there's time, go to Santa Barbara also, it's really nice there!

[Charles]

Originally Posted by KKRA

Somis is just a starting point for us because of some of the homes we've seen posted and liked on RE sites. ... Our budget has not yet been determined.

OK, let me put it this way....Can you narrow your price range down to plus or minus $1M? That's the ball park we're talking about.

[Winston Smith]

Just want to throw in that Metrolink and Amtrak serve Burbank Airport from Oxnard, Camarillo and Moorpark. Train platform at Burbank is walking distance to the airport's terminal, which is also served by a shuttle in case of extra luggage, wheel chair, etc. United Express serves LAX from Oxnard Airport. It's very convenient, but kind of pricey since UAL holds a monopoly. There's also an express shuttle bus from Oxnard to LAX. Most of the time it uses PCH. Kick back and look at the ocean... Don't discount Santa Barbara airport as an option. No easy transpo options to it from Somis, unfortunately. It's a 40-or-so minute drive in normal traffic.

Commute from Somis to UCLA would be a tad on the difficult side; it's far with a lot of traffic. Although, I believe UCLA has vanpools that serve Camarillo and Oxnard.

Others have mentioned it, so I won't belabor the point. Somis is in one of the last true bastions of rural southern Ventura County, a beautiful part of the area. The town center of Somis is situated roughly at the corner of State Routes 34 and 118, both two lane roads. Burgeoning populations in Moorpark and Camarillo have put a lot of traffic pressure on both highways, so traffic lines up for miles during rush hour. Converting the 118 to a freeway from Moorpark has been proposed for years, but thankfully funding has not been available and will hopefully never be built. An extension of the 118 as a freeway through Somis would destroy what's left of this very special part of the county, IMO.

[KKRA]

Originally Posted by Charles

OK, let me put it this way....Can you narrow your price range down to plus or minus $1M? That's the ball park we're talking about.

We realize the price that has to be paid for living in CA, and especially places like Somis (if that's where we'll wind up) and other nearby beautiful areas, so our range would start at $1M. My husband will be checking all this out when he visits next month, along with the schools.
To answer others, we did take a look at SB last year during a mini vacation there, and liked it. But I would not want to live in any of those "cliffside" dwellings or city-like homes with very small property lots. The avenue shopping was very nice as were the restaurants. I'm not sure about the quality of the schools and don't want to have to pay extra for a private school just to move there, if that's a factor. I'm glad that cre8 wrote about the beauty of Somis, which sounds more like what we have in mind.

[dbaMommy]

I know your original post was focused on the Somis area but knowing your price range starts at $1mil, you have high school and college aged children, airport proximity is a factor and you're looking for non-cookie cutter housing, have you considered the beautiful coastal Palos Verdes Peninsula?

Palos Verdes schools are amongst the highest rated in the nation. Our high schools produce some of the largest percentages of graduates into 4 year colleges as well.

PVP is a destination so traffic here is limited largely to locals, no commuter traffic. Crime is low in this area and the people are friendly and welcoming.

Home choices here are diverse. Everything from subdivisions (long established) to horse properties to a gated area in Rolling Hills.

Travel to the airports (LAX or Long Beach) is easily doable in 30 minutes with several routes to choose from to avoid peak freeway traffic.

Ucla is comfortably commutable as well as other local colleges in the area. My husband and his siblings all commuted from here to USC during their college years. Many of our friends' children currently commute to UCLA and USC (as well as live on campus).

And last but certainly not least being on the coast is beautiful---views abound with lots to see and do outdoors.

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by KKRA

I'm glad that cre8 wrote about the beauty of Somis, which sounds more like what we have in mind.

Thanks for the mention. I should point out that the beauty of the area IMO comes from its rustic feel. With few exceptions, the area around Somis is rural with all of the accompanying rough edges. Again -- with exceptions -- this in not an area of contrived "ranchettes" or planned "country living." It's a working rural area of horse ranches, avocado and citrus groves, nurseries, ag fields, and until recently a smelly chicken and egg farm. I eat both, so I put up with the smell though as little as possible.

Partly what makes Somis and areas like it (Santa Paula/Fillmore/Piru) so special is that they manage to stay rural and rustic with momentum in the face of constant threats to their existence from urbanization and "master planning" all around.