Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > Ventura County
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 03-11-2007, 11:12 PM
 
5 posts, read 28,563 times
Reputation: 10

Advertisements

My family currently resides in a somewhat affluent area of Colorado where my husband's commute to work is approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes, one way. The schools here are great and the neighborhoods are very family-oriented and safe. I stay at home with our 3 yr old and 1 yr old. He might have the opportunity to work for a company in Thousand Oaks, CA. They would pay well enough to make up for the difference in housing costs, but I'm concerned about all of the other things I hear about why people leave CA to move to other states. Things like, crime, gangs, schools, traffic, smog, rudeness, self-absorbed people, etc. Is anyone from Thousand Oaks? Do all of the aforementioned words also fit the Thousand Oaks area? What about the surrounding areas of Moorpark, Camarillo, Newbury Park, Simi Valley? Where would you live if you worked in Thousand Oaks? Can you raise a values-based family in Thousand Oaks or the surrounding area? Thanks for your input.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 03-11-2007, 11:17 PM
 
Location: Sherman Oaks, CA
6,588 posts, read 17,556,201 times
Reputation: 9463
There are many other posts on this forum about Thousand Oaks, but let me just say that you guys got lucky. If I could afford to live there, I would! Great community to raise a family in. Very safe, good schools, etc.

Welcome to City-Data!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-12-2007, 05:43 AM
 
989 posts, read 5,926,742 times
Reputation: 867
Quote:
Originally Posted by thettpfam View Post
Things like, crime, gangs, schools, traffic, smog, rudeness, self-absorbed people, etc.
Good Schools, No crime, no gangs, a little smog, friendly people, very courteous, very family friendly, traffic is only an issue around the 101 during rush hour.

Pace of life is relaxed. You'll love it!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-12-2007, 11:35 AM
 
Location: Thousand Oaks, California
10,408 posts, read 2,598,092 times
Reputation: 1493
Thousand Oaks is a great place to live. There are lots of great threads about Thousand Oaks, see if you can do a search and find them.

I have lived here about 30 years and could not imagine living anywhere else. My kids are both teenagers now, and I think it has been a great place to raise them. There are tons of kids activities (sports/dance/scouts/church groups/drama, etc) in the area, lots of very involved parents, good schools, nice family neighborhoods, mom groups, our mall is being renovated and should be great once its finished.

All the surrounding cities are nice, too. Camarillo has an issue with its schools, so I am not sure I would recommend moving there. Newbury Park and most of Westlake are in the same school district as Thousand Oaks, so you really cant go wrong there. Moorpark has a good school district, too. Their high school wins the Academic Decathalon a lot

Depending on where your husband will work in Thousand Oaks, you may NOT want to choose Moorpark or Simi Valley. Traffic is pretty bad going into TO on the 23 freeway.

I find people in Thousand Oaks, for the most part, pretty friendly. With small children you will certainly meet lots of people. The park & rec has lots of inexpensive, fun classes for toddlers - many include Mommy, too - thats an easy way to meet people with kids similar ages.

Climate in Thousand Oaks is pretty nice, too. Smog? I have never really noticed it being a problem.

Gangs? We do have some wanna be gangs (mostly graffiti & even that is very rare). The city cleans the graffiti almost immediately. You wont notice gangs 'hanging on street corners' or anything like that. In fact, I doubt you'd ever see them at all.

I feel very safe in Thousand Oaks & I think its a great place to live! If you have any questions, I'll be happy to help
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-12-2007, 02:10 PM
 
Location: Las Flores, Orange County, CA
26,329 posts, read 93,793,178 times
Reputation: 17831
I grew up in the San Fernando Valley and lived in Lang Ranch area of Thousand Oaks from 1998 to 2006. I lived in Moorpark from 1988 to 1997. I am 45 years old. I have three kids 3, 5, and 7. TO is one of the best places in Southern California to live. The schools are excellent, the populace is educated and health conscious. Moorpark and Simi Valley are slightly less expensive per square foot. Last June I moved from TO to Monument CO, about halfway between Colorado Springs and South Denver. Paid cash for a custom 6200 sqft home on 2.5 acres. Housing prices in TO are in the $400/sqft range. Equivalent class and demographic areas in COS and Denver are about half that. Property taxes are slightly above 1 percent in TO so if you buy a 2200 sqft house WITH NO BASEMENT on a 7000 sqft foot lot for around $920,000 (these are the numbers for our sale last June, we paid $330,000 in 1997) your annual property tax bill is at least $10,000 year. That is sick. IF you live and work in the TO area (Conejo Valley) permenently than you will not have a problem. When you get laid off or fired or can’t stand your job anymore, what are you going to do? Commuting anywhere east of the west San Fernando Valley (that is east of the Topanga/101 is brutal after 7AM. Forget about West LA, El Segundo, Downtown LA, Pasadena, etc. The traffic will kill you. Forget about EVER going to a Dodger game – even on the weekends. Your access to the beaches (Malibu, Topanga, Zuma, Ventura County) however is very good. I went the beach maybe two times in the past five years.
When your kids get older they WILL venture to the 3rd world San Fernando Valley and perhaps Hollywood clubs (like I did). They will meet “undesireables”.
My dad worked, as an aerospace engineer, in the the San Fernando Valley and near LAX in the 1950s through the 1980s. Back in the ‘50s and ‘60s LA was truly paradise: traffic was much less, housing was affordable, the glory of the Dodgers, Lakers, Rams, USC, Rose Bowl, visions of orange trees in the foreground with snow capped San Gabriel or San Bernardino mountains in the background…. That’s why they moved to LA from Buffalo in ‘58. The vision was real and it sold. Things have changed. It’s still a vision but it isn’t real. Eighty percent of Southern California is a third world jungle – too much multi and not enough cultural. If that’s not bad enough, the region is crowded, dirty, overpriced, crime filled, disgusting, impersonal, and full of morons. Who else would pay $500K for a 1400 sqft dump located next door to a guy who parks his car on the lawn? Answer: Appearance obsessed idiots who worship the celebrities that (can afford to) live in overrated California. It isn’t a beach party in SoCal. It’s a traffic filled quagmire of slime and insensitivity.
My impressions: We went from A+ weather to B weather, F (potential) commute to B commute, F home affordability to B affordability, D job opportunities to A job opportunities, A local demographics to A local demographics, D regional demographics to A- regional demographics, A+ schools (Conejo Valley) to A+ schools (Lewis Palmer D38).
Sincere recommendation: DO NOT move to the LA area. We have a beautiful state here in Colorado. You would be making a huge mistake.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-12-2007, 02:17 PM
 
436 posts, read 682,287 times
Reputation: 243
Go ahead, move to LA/the Valley/Inland Empire/etc. Plan on loads of wear & tear on your lungs and immune system. Get the kids off & running to early tissue scarring.

Life is about trade-offs. Will you trade yours for 'fun in the toxic particulate'?

I know a good oncologist to recommend. Are you feeling lucky?

ps. Clint breathes better in the Carmel Valley.

Last edited by brian_2; 03-12-2007 at 02:27 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-12-2007, 02:26 PM
 
436 posts, read 682,287 times
Reputation: 243
"I grew up in the San Fernando Valley.."

Insightful post Charles.

Still they will come..

But that's there problem.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-02-2007, 10:05 AM
 
2 posts, read 9,630 times
Reputation: 12
Stay in Colorado! My husband and I both grew up in Thousand Oaks. It was a great place to raise kids 30 years ago, but now we're packing up and moving to Colorado to raise our future children. It isn't the same Conejo Valley of yesteryear. The L.A. type have moved in, shoving everyone off the road with their obnoxious Hummers (last I checked this wasn't a war zone) and the "Do you know who I am?" attitude. There is little to no crime, (except the fact that people pay $650k for an 1100 sq. foot house) no gangs, it is clean, the school system is great, the area is educated, etc. I am biased, but gone are the days of kids riding their bikes around town, catching crawdads in the local brook and building forts in the oak trees...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-02-2007, 10:55 AM
 
Location: West LA
723 posts, read 3,000,092 times
Reputation: 300
Leave Colorado as soon as you can. It's a dump compared to Thousand Oaks.

Personally, I can't live in Thousand Oaks, because my job isn't there; but, if your job is near there go for it. I would if it was closer to where I worked. Great area. 10,000x better than anything Colorado has to offer!

(Ps- I moved from Colorado to LA back in 2004, and I lived all over Colorado. From Boulder to Colorado Springs and EVERYWHERE in between. I say get out of that place if you can!)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-02-2007, 12:31 PM
 
2 posts, read 16,168 times
Reputation: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by thettpfam View Post
My family currently resides in a somewhat affluent area of Colorado where my husband's commute to work is approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes, one way. The schools here are great and the neighborhoods are very family-oriented and safe. I stay at home with our 3 yr old and 1 yr old. He might have the opportunity to work for a company in Thousand Oaks, CA. They would pay well enough to make up for the difference in housing costs, but I'm concerned about all of the other things I hear about why people leave CA to move to other states. Things like, crime, gangs, schools, traffic, smog, rudeness, self-absorbed people, etc. Is anyone from Thousand Oaks? Do all of the aforementioned words also fit the Thousand Oaks area? What about the surrounding areas of Moorpark, Camarillo, Newbury Park, Simi Valley? Where would you live if you worked in Thousand Oaks? Can you raise a values-based family in Thousand Oaks or the surrounding area? Thanks for your input.
One of the safest and cleanest communities in the country.

Pre foreclosure homes and rentals for sale.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > Ventura County
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:37 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top