Trying to find the perfect place to raise my family (San Diego: fit in, to rent)

[calimama]

I am currently living outside of Sacramento in Roseville (which I hate). We moved here from San Diego where we lived for 5 years and miss very much. I have come to the conclusion that I am happier in Southern California and I am too far away from the ocean, but we don't know where to settle. We have narrowed it down to a couple of areas: Ventura, Santa Maria, Newport Beach, Carlsbad, and Monterey. We want to be in a very safe area with really good schools, and we will be living on an income of about $70,000. I would also like to find a city that has a strong sense of community and not a lot of snobs. Any suggestions would be great! Thanks.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by calimama

I am currently living outside of Sacramento in Roseville (which I hate). We moved here from San Diego where we lived for 5 years and miss very much. I have come to the conclusion that I am happier in Southern California and I am too far away from the ocean, but we don't know where to settle. We have narrowed it down to a couple of areas: Ventura, Santa Maria, Newport Beach, Carlsbad, and Monterey. We want to be in a very safe area with really good schools, and we will be living on an income of about $70,000. I would also like to find a city that has a strong sense of community and not a lot of snobs. Any suggestions would be great! Thanks.

Originally Posted by calimama

.... Our income will be about $85,000 and....

What did you hate about Roseville?


Do you want to rent or buy? What is your down payment for a purchase?
What line of work are you in?
Where will you work?
Kids, ages?

If you have a normal 20% down payment and if you have kids, then your housing price range is around $210K (or $255K). Have you searched for homes in that price range in those towns you mentioned? What did you find?

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by calimama

We have narrowed it down to a couple of areas: Ventura, Santa Maria, Newport Beach, Carlsbad, and Monterey. We want to be in a very safe area with really good schools, and we will be living on an income of about $70,000.

Well, that is a pretty tall order. But since you have lived in SD and Sac. hopefully you have come to realize that no place is perfect. We moved out of CA with our family to CO several years ago for all the common reasons - overcrowding, pollution, inflation, crime, fires, etc...

But even though CO is much better in almost every one of those areas I really miss the coast which is where I grew up. So we are looking at moving back to the west coast - Portland, Monterey or San Jose right now. Monterey is looking really good, especially since homes have dropped 47% in value in Monterey county over the past couple of years. And there are tons of things for families to do there, especially if you enjoy the coast.

It is less crowded than the other places you have mentioned. But I don't know if crowds are an issue for you. If so then I would skip Newport Beach, Carlsbad and Ventura. I am not going to speak to the 'snob' factor since snobby people can live anywhere, as well as genuinely nice people. Like anywhere it is a mixed bag and largely what you make of it. Santa Maria sounds nice if you can find work there.

How does finding a job fit into your decision? The reason I ask is that we looked looked into the Santa Maria/Pismo/SLO area. But I didn't see much work up there at least for what I do which is software. So the whole cost of living to employment ratio didn't work for us.

As far as good safe areas I think most of those places listed have some good and not so good areas/schools as well as influences on children. Once you narrow it down more I recommend asking specific questions about a particular area - eg drug usage in Newport Beach schools or gang crime activity in Ventura county, etc...

- Derek

[calimama]

Derek, thank you for your suggestions. I am a stay at home mom of 3 and my husband is a police officer, so the job thing shouldn't be too much of an issue as long as we can find a city that is hiring. Also, 70,000 will be the low end; in some areas his salary would be considerably higher. We kind of figure we will have to rent for awhile, which is fine, we just want to be in a nice, low crime area with good schools. And I am glad you mentioned gang activity in Ventura and drugs in NB, because I had no idea, and that would probably be a deal breaker.

[Fontucky]

Has he ever considered the CHP? My cousin got hired by them, and after spending 4 years in the crucible of the Central LA CHP, he snagged himself a resident post in rural Fresno County. He makes $$$$ when OT is factored in, and his wife can stay home with their two little girls.
And they live in the country alongside the Kings River.

[J1ndo]

I think you have to consider the opportunity costs of living near the ocean in Southern CA. I mean really put a dollar figure on it, then weigh it against other things you could do with the money you'll now be spending to live in coastal Southern CA.

At 85k, it will be exceedingly difficult to get ahead. You can get by, but saving for the future would likely prove difficult. That might be ok, or it might not. It all depends on you and your family, but you really owe it to yourself to do a clear-eyed analysis of the plan.

[laysayfair]

Originally Posted by calimama

I am currently living outside of Sacramento in Roseville (which I hate). We moved here from San Diego where we lived for 5 years and miss very much. I have come to the conclusion that I am happier in Southern California and I am too far away from the ocean, but we don't know where to settle. We have narrowed it down to a couple of areas: Ventura, Santa Maria, Newport Beach, Carlsbad, and Monterey. We want to be in a very safe area with really good schools, and we will be living on an income of about $70,000. I would also like to find a city that has a strong sense of community and not a lot of snobs. Any suggestions would be great! Thanks.

I hear that a lot of cops live in Simi Valley. It's very safe but I don't know about the schools. It's pretty inexpensive and snobby people don't live there (for the most part).

[carp killer]

Originally Posted by calimama

We have narrowed it down to a couple of areas: Ventura, Santa Maria, Newport Beach, Carlsbad, and Monterey.

Santa Maria is cheap but the schools have a bad gang problem. Look to live in Orcutt or Nipomo. Arroyo Grande is VERY safe but not affordable on a cops wage. Although San Luis Obisbo cops just got a huge raise. I heard something like $71000 to start, up to $97000 per year, for a beat cop!

[the city]

Yeah, the public schools in the Santa Maria area have a bad gang problem.

The mall has a gang problem, the schools have a gang problem, the ghettos have a gang problem, the downtown has a gang problem, etc....

Some one really needs to fix Santa Maria. More tax revenue into that city, more jobs, more newer buildings, more schools, and a good remodeling to the mall would fix that city up.


I would have to say Newport Beach, and Thousand Oaks-Simi Valley is best. Next to Simi Valley is Filmore, Santa Paula, and some other good small rural communities with good schools. And next to Thousand Oaks are some good urban communities with good schools.

[CA central coast]

SLO Co. Atascadero and Paso Robles have a strong sense of community in my opinion. In general, all the communities in SLO are nice. Santa Maria has nice weather. Orcutt is the preferred part. SM is too big for me. I'd live there, but not raise my kids there. But that's me. Monterey is wonderful, but very expensive. At least it was the last time I visited. Monterey was hiring a p0lice officer. I just saw the job lisiting a few weeks ago. So was Cal Poly. I always thought being a university cop, especially at Cal Poly, would be a great job. Nice campus and beautiful SLO weather. I grew up in Morro Bay, great place. But for kids, Los Osos would be better in my opinion. It's a nice place, if you'd like to live right next to the ocean.