Retiring near LA but not in LA (Los Angeles, San Diego: to rent, house)

[allieoops]

Our daughter lives and works in West LA; we live in Southern Fla on the water. We want to begin spending summers by her and possibly relocate, and / or purchase a 2nd home. We are renting a home in Santa Barbara for two months this summer, but to buy even a small great house in a great location is well over $1 mill. I would like to know if there are any areas within a two -three hour drive of West LA that can offer us these things;
1. Quiet community that has a walkable downtown, quaint area offering cultural
things, great restaurants, etc. on the water would be great.
2. We would like to stay at around $1.3 mill (give or take).
3. If we rented we would like to stay at $5,000 (give or take)
4. We can go anywhere from San Diego up to LA. Or Santa Barbara down to LA.
5. We are not opposed living in a country club community (I am not sure if Cali offers these gated communities like Fla ?) where one can meet friends easily.
6. We would like to be where there are good medical care, hospitals (we are in late fifties)
7. One last thing we would like to be where there is a temple or synagogue...
Any and all advise on these forums are so greatly appreciated...!!
Thanks

[DynamoLA]

$1.3M will get you a nice house in a lot of places.

Palm Springs is a big retirement area, and it's not expensive for the most part. Very very hot in the Summer though. But lots of golf, retirement communities, etc., with decent cultural and downtown attractions.

Personally I love Laguna Beach, which has a lot of characteristics you are looking for plus gorgeous weather. It's very expensive, but I'd think you'd be able to rent or buy something within the budget you described.

[impala666]

Its a buyers market $1.3M will get you a very nice little place in Malibu.

[CalProperties4U]

There are so many places. Since you will be living in Santa Barbara during the summer months, would you ever consider living there permanently or do you want to move in closer? From Santa Barbara, travel south and stop in at the beach towns, such as Ventura. Walk the areas and decide if you would like to live there. From Ventura to West Los Angeles, it's about 2 hours or less, depending on the time of day. I can't suggest an area. You have to drive around and see what each community has to offer.

This is a buyer's market. If the property is priced right, it does not stay long on the market. You might want to go to Welcome to Listingbook.com. You can view properties and see what is offered. To get a listingbook account is free. Go luck and I hope you find a property soon.

[LAjorge]

in Costa Mesa 5 min away from the beach, the 3rd largest mall in america, South Coast Plaza, you can walk in lots of parks, Downtown Irvine By John Wayne airport, also the south coast metro home to many theatres like for example a mini Broadway, and great dining in newport beach, about 10 min away, also if you are interseted in theme parks Disneyland, and Disney California Adventure is 20 min away and Knott's Berry Farm is 25 min away, and with 1.3 million dollars you can buy a 6 bedroom 4 bathroom home or larger, my house in costa mesa has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and cost 556,000 dollars, so costa mesa would be a great retiring place, in fact two blocks down a couple just moved here from chicago to retire, hope this is some good advice and hope you choose costa mesa in Orange County.

[pacific2]

I would suggest Laguna Beach, and Orange County’s largest synagogue can conveniently be found in neighboring Aliso Viejo.

YouTube - Laguna Beach

[lalagonegaga]

I agree with a lot of the suggestions. But I'd also suggest Oxnard and parts of Ventura county (little quieter, less traffic, LOADS of retirees and maybe more bang for your buck vs. Santa Barbara). But I also really think you'd just as soon buy in Santa Barbara. Really, it has all that you are looking for and then some.

[allieoops]

Thank-you all for your suggestions. We did check out Laguna Beach, Newport Coast & Newport Beach. Though we did like it we felt the 405 was pretty brutal with traffic driving to LA. Laguna Beach seems to have only one main road going in and out. We do love Santa Barbara and was curious about the smaller towns surrounding it such as Carpenteria and Summerland ? Ventura also seems like a great suggestion and we have not visited it as yet. What parts of Ventura would anyone suggest ?

[PalmTreeLife]

If you're expanding your search to 2 to 3 hours from LA I might look in San Diego.

BTW, I used to live in South FL near the beach as well.

[LAjorge]

also check out villa park or yorba linda