where should we live?? Southern Cali. Family neighborhood? (Long Beach, Garden Grove: house, neighborhoods)

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by Chava61

I suggest Mission Viejo. It is a good place to raise a family. It has a nice lake for recreation. It is very close to Santa Ana/John Wayne airport (which is in Irvine).

Yeah, I second Mission Viejo as well as Rancho Santa Margarita and Laguna Niguel. I never really cared for San Clemente. I just didn't like the vibe down there. YMMV.

Derek

[bhcompy]

I'd second Lakewood. Grew up there myself, pricing may fit nowadays, but they are old houses and generally smaller. Going to be hard to find a decent size 4bd. Lakewood was built with 3bd ranch homes

[jac1yn2]

Thanks for the detailed opinions.. they really help get a feel for the communities. I looked into Lakewood but don't see to much in our pricerange that is the size we need. But it does sound like a great community

[bhcompy]

One thing you may consider for Lakewood is that many homes have detached garages in the backyard. I've had a few of my friends that converted the garage into their bedroom/gameroom

[EelRiver]

Originally Posted by jac1yn2

Thanks for the detailed opinions.. they really help get a feel for the communities. I looked into Lakewood but don't see to much in our pricerange that is the size we need. But it does sound like a great community

Your welcome, I hope you find something that fits. We do not own a home yet and are getting ready to buy pretty soon here in Lakewood. There is no way we can afford the size that we would be comfortable in right now so we will most likely end up getting a small 2 bdrm/1bath home and hopefully add on later.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by EelRiver

Your welcome, I hope you find something that fits. We do not own a home yet and are getting ready to buy pretty soon here in Lakewood. There is no way we can afford the size that we would be comfortable in right now so we will most likely end up getting a small 2 bdrm/1bath home and hopefully add on later.

Careful on resale of a 2BR.

[bhcompy]

Originally Posted by Charles

Careful on resale of a 2BR.

That kind of sentiment is what got us into this mess in the first place! It's a dwelling, not a cashcow!

[alk3grly]

Although it's a little more inland than you may be looking for, I live in Chino Hills and am very happy with this area. It's about 30-35 miles to the beaches or to LA, an hour from the mountains, and 20 minutes from Ontario Airport. It ranked in the top 15 for safest cities in the US, and is a great area for families. Within the last 5 years or so, a lot of the major restaurants and retail stores have moved into the area, so you don't have to go far to shop or eat If you're into outdoorsy stuff, Chino Hills State Park has hiking/biking trails and Prado park has camping, fishing, etc. It's a nice mix of open space, while still being close to everything. Many of the homes are newer (1990+) and are slightly more affordable than bordering Orange County. Homes are going pretty quick in that price range, but it's possible. You mentioned San Clemente and Laguna Niguel which are both beautiful places but I'm not sure how much the housing prices have come down there. There are a lot of great places to live here, so wherever you end up, good luck!

[jac1yn2]

just giving this a bump

[ehcsrop]

I lived in Mission Viejo for 13 years. I don't know of any 4 bdrm homes that will go for 400K even to this day. Maybe, but they will need work. You won't necessarily be that close to the beach, 30 minutes min. I gets hot in MV just like most of N SD county, Riverside and San Bernadino counties. I don't have that great of an opinion of any of the south OC areas. It's spread out and nothing but white bread. The arts are non existent, you need to travel out of the area to see anything but suburbia and strip malls.

I live in Long Beach, but most of LB is a sewer. Where you would want to live will cost you more for a 4 bd than you have to spend. If you do look at LB/Lakewood, stay east. Well Lakewood is east anyway. But there are some trashy areas in Lakewood as well.

If you are into diversity, all the cities in LA County are very diverse unless they are a majority of what most call a minority. That's where OC is different. There are quite a few pockets of more concentrated Asian residential communities in OC. Cerritos, Westminster, Garden Grove and Fullerton come to mind.

Huntington Beach is nice and it's cooler. Parts of Garden Grove and most of Fountain Valley are slightly lesser versions of HB, but you can hardly tell the difference as one city borders the next and so on. It looks like one huge housing tract driving around that part of OC.

There are lots of canyon and hillside communties in OC. The homes in some of those cases tend to be more eclectic and some times a large home can be found for less. Hardly anywhere in OC would you not be near a school or shopping. But, you can get further and further from the beach.

BTW, regarding the beach: you will tire of beach going after awhile, so keep that in mind. Unless you like boating, surfing, etc., you won't have the impetus to go as much as you think. Some of the more interesting areas get pretty crowded on weekends and parking can be a serious problem.

Get out your map and ask more about specific areas and you will get more specific info. I tried to paint a very generalized picture.