Job relocation to Oxnard - where to live? (Los Angeles, Orange: for sale, real estate)

[bluejayne]

Hi, My husband has been offered a job in Oxnard CA. We live in a very safe small town in Illinois and the move is a little scary. Where is a good place to start looking for a home (up to a max of $700k)? We need good schools and a safe area, with a 30 - 40 minute commute to Oxnard. Kids are Middle and High school aged and their safety and education are paramount! Any help and advice much appreciated.

[Winston Smith]

Hollywood Beach School is one of the top schools in the Oxnard area. You need to be in Hollywood Beach, Silverstrand or Port Hueneme 93041 zip.

In terms of housing, what are you looking for, standalone house, condo/townhouse, manufactured? Oxnard is a patchwork with many different kinds of housing choices.

Safety: would avoid La Colonia and Southwinds. Safe neighborhoods in southeast (College Park), west and north Oxnard, generally speaking. Riverpark is brand new and prices there have come down, though Melaroos and other fees drive your effective property tax to somewhere around 3+%, River Park Overview.

[Charles]

Where abouts (intersection) is he working?

This is your friend:

School Performance Maps

This is your other friend:

Find All the Homes for Sale & Experienced Real Estate Agents | Redfin


Candidates in order of distance are Oxnard/Port Hueneme, Ventura, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Simi Valley

Finally, check out the thread I started; It's a little skewed towards Orange County but most of the tools on here are for most of CA:

Useful Househunting tools

[bluejayne]

Thanks for your replies. Really thinking of a stand alone house. My husband will be working near the intersection of E. Channel Islands Blvd and S. Rose Ave. (hope that means something to you?)
If we looked further out towards say Thousand Oaks what would the commute be like?
What is a Melaroo? Are property taxes so high in all this area - are you saying we would pay over $20K on a $700k house? That is huge! Appreciate your help.

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by bluejayne

Thanks for your replies. Really thinking of a stand alone house. My husband will be working near the intersection of E. Channel Islands Blvd and S. Rose Ave. (hope that means something to you?)
If we looked further out towards say Thousand Oaks what would the commute be like?
What is a Melaroo? Are property taxes so high in all this area - are you saying we would pay over $20K on a $700k house? That is huge! Appreciate your help.

Rose and CI Bl. is near commercial/industrial zones. It's also near Oxnard College. The area is called College Park and is where the annual Strawberry Festival is held. College Park will eventually have five regulation soccer fields. It now hosts a skate park, dog park and a native landscaped all-purpose park. In that area, I've always liked the Silverado Townhomes off Pleasant Valley (PV) Road.

Personally, I would not buy in Thousand Oaks and commute to Oxnard. The commute wouldn't be too bad; it's a reverse commute, but what is the reason you would buy in TO over Oxnard? The two cities are very different, so you may have a preference based on what TO offers (mainly Caucasian, very, very suburban, hot) vs. Oxnard (ethnic mix, a bit more rustic, beach climate). But just in terms of saving yourself 40 miles a day on the car to commuting....

The thing about Oxnard is that it's ethnically mixed -- Latin, Caucasian, Asian. You will hear languages other than English a lot. The foreign-born population is nearly 40%. If this is a turnoff, TO might be a better fit. You just have to ask yourself.... Oxanrd's planning is also gearing more for "new urbanism" whereas TO would like to stay suburban as much as possible. Again, ask yourself what's a better fit.

Base property tax is 1.25%. Oxnard and Ventura County have several bond measures that add about another .10%. A house costing $300,000 will run you around $4,000/yr. in p. tax. Mellaroos (sp?) fees are special assessments where the development pays for city services that were negotiated into the project. In the case of Riverpark, the residents there pay mellaroos for, say, a portion of the city's cost for landscaping and street maintenance. I don't know the specifics for Riverpark, but you get the idea.

For standalone houses, aside from College Park, look at the neighborhoods west of Ventura Road. It's modest, working-class, nothing special but safe. Also the neighborhoods along H Street north of 5th Street might have something for you. These are all older areas, houses built 30 - 60 years ago.

Northeast Oxnard around St. John's Hospital are newer houses built in the 90s. Nice areas, but a little cookie cutter. Northwest Oxnard is a little more expensive. Big houses, "golf-course-type" living, gated communities. Living there you'd be neighbors with the mayor, city council members and county supervisors.

Lastly, the beach and harbor areas, though I'd say the Harbor is probably beyond your budget ($1 million+). You might look in Oxnard Shores (Wooley Road/Harbor Bl.) or Silverstrand (end of Victoria to the south). Who knows, might find a nice little treasure in one of those two areas during these economic times. Good luck.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

The name comes from its co-authors, Senator Henry Mello of the Monterey area and Los Angeles assemblyman Mike Roos. Mello-Roos enabled “Community Facilities Districts”

What that means is that when California voters passes Prop 13 in the late 1970's city's went scrambling for another way to raise money. New communities place a Mello-Roos in to the package deal to pay for increased services such as police, fire, street sweeping, maintenance of public areas surrounding the homes. In some tracks the owner may not have to maintain the front yard because the Mello-Roos pays for that. Also some communites have common pool areas that are covered by the "tax" fee or what ever you choose to call it.

As far as homes within your $700,000 range you have a pick of the litter. Chances are you wont find anything on the beach. Victoria Estates a newer development near Gonzales Road and Victoria has homes in your range. It is gated and off the River Ridge Golf Course. Also homes at River Ridge would fit the bill. These homes were going for the low $1,000,000 mark a few years ago but I have seen them in the high $500,000 range now.

[bluejayne]

Thanks for all the info. It gives us a great starting point when we fly in to look around in a couple of weeks. Just looked at TO based on the school performance map that Charlie included. Looked like all the schools there were rated well whereas Oxnard's looked a bit mixed. Also browsing through other threads people seem to talk about high crime and gangs in Oxnard, which is a bit off putting. Won't really know how these places "feel" though until we come visit. Good point about the climate being a bit cooler nearer the coast. We are from the Uk originally and are used to lower temps. maybe Ventura is worth a look? Talking of soccer fields both my boys are soccer mad and play at a high level. Are there good teams/ facilities in this area?
Thanks again- this site is just great!

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by bluejayne

Also browsing through other threads people seem to talk about high crime and gangs in Oxnard, which is a bit off putting. ... maybe Ventura is worth a look?

Do your own research on crime. It is about the same for both Ventura and Oxnard per 1,000 residents and well below the national average. Oxnard's crime is less than Santa Barbara, and way below when it comes to violent crime. A lot of people have a knee-jerk reaction to Oxnard. I've seen posts here on City-Data that are patently false in terms of Oxnard being a high-crime city. It isn't. As I wrote earlier, it's a mixed city ethnically with a high percentage of foreign-born residents (I am one, European). Sadly for some this equates to crime and misery.

Suggested reading: City Of Oxnard California | Oxnard Police Department

[ExNooYawk]

We lived in T.O. for five years and loved it. The schools are very good (for California) and it's a lovely, albeit homogeneous community. The commute to Oxnard may get sticky at times due to the Conejo Grade. You'll find out when you get there.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Camarillo. It has some nice areas and Cam High is supposed to be good.
I wouldn't choose Oxnard simply because of the schools. I'm from the northeast so I think all the schools in the west are pretty terrible. T.O. and Westlake were the exceptions. Our kids went private.
Ventura could work for you but you have to look around and decide what you want. I'd choose it over Oxnard.

[Nedely]

I worked weeks in Oxnard, while living weekends at my real home in LA County. For nine months. But now I've forgotten a lot about the areas. I went back to Oxnard and found that it has grown considerably since I left in '05. I liked it! I'd move there as opposed to Ventura any day. Don't get me wrong, I liked Ventura, but some of the beach areas (where stores were located) looked pretty dilapidated. I traveled to many schools in the Ventura area. The drive from the 101 to De Anza middle school took me through some parts of Ventura that were very unattractive. And whenever we would go to dine, we'd sometimes eat at a recommended place near Downtown Ventura. It's an area that seemed to be populated by a number of young transients, for whatever reason.

There are some nice areas of Ventura. It seemed as if the closer you get to Oxnard, the "nicer" Ventura looks. And, I'm forgetting the exact route I took, but it was some street that would take me across Ventura and in to Saticoy, to visit Penfield school (Special Ed). I remember that part of Ventura being kind of nice.

Camarillo is more rural. More farming. More expensive. I wouldn't move there for the same reason I wouldn't move to Thousand Oaks. I'd rather be closer to the beach. Oh, if you want small towns, you could look in to Santa Paula, Filmore, or Piru. Piru is REALLY small, Filmore is a little bigger, and Santa Paula is the biggest of those three. The commute would be interesting. I don't remember it being too congested in either direction in the morning or afternoon. But you would have to look at a map and see exactly where HWY 126 will take you too. I know you can get on it from the 101, but I believe you could also get to it in Oxnard by surface streets. I think.....?

Anyway those are small towns. Not sure you're going to find what you're looking for there. I'm not sure about Santa Paula or Filmore High, but I don't think they're among the best out there. They're not bad, but...... well I don't know. I worked with different elementary schools mostly. As for crime, I'm not sure about that either. But if you want small town, that's your choice in Ventura Co.

Good luck!