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Thanks so much for all your time and insight, Derek. It paints a great picture of both places, it will be interesting to see how we feel when we visit. Your absolutely right, you just have to go and see how the vibe hits you when you arrive in different areas. Should be interesting for sure! Thanks again :-)
My daughter bought a house in South Salinas, and worked in Monterey. South Salinas is a nice area, and if you look up the area on spotcrime.com, it's not bad in that area at all. Other parts of Salinas, that's not true.
But, you might have better luck finding a place you could afford with a yard and that will let you have your dogs.
If you don't care about being close to the coast there are more options, but I think to find the vibe and people you are looking for, you should look for a town with a university. Like Davis, up by Sacramento, or Berkeley.
Remember, that not all of us on this forum are rich people, yet we all afford to live here. As do all the people who work at the restaurants, grocery stores, etc.
I wanted to throw in my two cents regarding what someone else said about an area being heavily hispanic. It's not that so much, as the blue collar atmosphere, that makes me think those places wouldn't fit your desires. I grew up in a blue collar household in the East Bay (dad was an Oakland cop), but I find Marina and Seaside to be kind of .....ghetto, including the white folk. It actually feels less that way in South Salinas to me. Even Monterey has that feel a bit to me, other than the touristy area downtown.
Obviously, there will be exceptions, but that's the kind of thing you feel when you live somewhere that you maybe can't quite describe to someone else who is not from an area. Hope that makes sense. Sorry for not being 100% PC, but you can't be, if you want to give good feedback sometimes.
Thanks for the great advice, it is invaluable. I totally understand what you are saying. We want to be around people that are respectful, take pride in where they live, are kind of earthy crunchy, intelligent, care about the community, are active and inviting etc. You understand what I'm saying. Again, don't really care about the ethnic thing if someone is kind and fits the bill. I grew up in Boston and went to Boston Latin, very well diversified but intelligent kids.
We are totally not interested in living in ghetto areas, we'll stick out like sore thumbs. Again, I hear you on the PC front. You can have any ethnicity in a ghetto area. Just because you are white, it doesn't mean you can't be ghetto (white trash, redneck, whatever you want to call it). Believe me, we live in Maine and there are tons of redneck hicks that just want to live in trailers (not that that makes you trashy), hunt, drink beer and accumulate things on the front lawn. Anywhere outside of the greater Portland Maine area, you will find that in this neck of the woods. We also found this in living in Chapel Hill, NC near UNC Chapel Hill and Duke. Once you travel outside of the greater Chapel Hill and Durham area, forget it, tough place to be.
My wife and I are very odd in the sense that we are:
Intelligent (both have masters degrees and well schooled in New England) but not snooty or money obsessed
Liberal and progressive but can get along with anyone
Mid 30's and actually don't have kids (if you can imagine that!) We have the dogs, they are our children :-)
Don't subscribe to the consumer driven culture of accumulation but value just a few possessions and live minimally and cleanly
Won't obsess about a career but value that it plays a part in the balance of life
Feel at home in nature and wide open spaces but love to be around (good energy) people and things going on
Have worldly perspective and are open minded as opposed to many being stuck in their "bubble" and not being open to things outside their own world.
So I understand what you are saying about being near a University because many times a lot of these things come with educational institutions. We need to be near the coast though and couldn't be in the Bay Area (way to busy, visited there).
Based on what I'm learning on the forums, I'm wondering if this might be the right area for us. I was targeting mid coastal CA because it seems to be less populated and there might be a community of people that fit bill to get involved in (based on meetup.com) Someone suggested Carmel Valley which seems beautiful, away from the hustle and bustle but within a short drive. But we don't want to feel isolated so maybe a we need to visit to get a sense of things.
I have visited San Diego before and while it was a bit of a blur (in my mid 20's so it was just partying) it seemed like a great energy city. I do think it is way too busy for us though and obviously expensive as well. Maybe on the outskirt? But I think that is quite populated as well. I think we were hoping for a mid range population city like Portland, ME around 50-60K people and "a smaller town city feel" and be able to live a few minutes outside in a quieter section of that and go in for professional stuff or other activities when we wanted to. Any ideas (does that sound like Carmel Valley or one of the towns outside the peninsula)?? Again, having access to outdoor activities (biking, running, trails, ocean, etc.) is a must.
Yes, I think you would enjoy Carmel Valley. However keep in mind it is a very desirable location for many reasons including next to perfect, mild weather year round. It also has the best school district (Carmel) in the area. So families are drawn there as well. But if you are willing to live in a smaller place it may be doable. Carmel is so dog friendly some think its a bit over the top, like dogs allowed inside some restaurants, dog running free on the beaches, etc... That said you may have a harder time finding a rental simply because owners don't want dogs tearing up the place. Even though you know how well behaved your dogs might be, they don't. I'm guessing a smaller home with a yard would be ideal.
Regarding Seaside there are parts that are more run down than others. Seaside Highlands and upper Seaside are the nicer parts. The central area is a bit more run down with one way streets, sometimes multiple beat up cars up and down the streets, driveways, yards, etc... It's simply a blue collar town still in many ways. Here is one example of a smaller home with a yard in upper Seaside that isn't bad http://www.mlslistings.com/PropertyD...spx?id=9442334.
One more: http://www.mlslistings.com/PropertyD...spx?id=9488048
South Salinas is the nicer part of Salinas. I agree with NoMoreSnow there. This is where actually driving the area and seeing them for yourself really helps.
In addition you have a whole bunch of smaller neighborhoods in the hills off of Hwy 68 such as Las Palmas, Toro Park, San Benancio Canyon, Corral De Tierra, etc... Some can be more on the exclusive side depending on the house or subdivision. But if you are looking to buy a place with more land that can be a good option, especially if you don't need a larger home.
Another option not mentioned yet for greater affordability would be a little further south down the Central Coast in San Luis Obispo County. Places such as Los Osos, Morro Bay, Santa Margarita, Atascadero and Arroyo Grande would be worth a look as well.
Derek
Last edited by MtnSurfer; 07-15-2013 at 11:25 PM..
Awesome information Derek, thank you! I'll hit the research for sure in all those areas but again, your right. You have to be there and get a feel for the areas, usually it doesn't take long to get a feel for what will be a good "fit". Yes we only need a small home (600-1000 sq. ft.) depending on layout. One floor would be great, open layout. Some sort of a yard for the dogs is paramount. We would definitely rent first being outsiders to get a feel for the area and understand it is always hard with two dogs (even well trained, and clean) to find a good rental. It does sound like Carmel Valley would be ideal but of course, it sounds like it would be ideal for many so difficult to get into. I'll check out the other areas and mark them down as possibilities when we can finally plan a trip out there. Thanks again for your time and advice :-)
Just to give you food for thought, my daughter is renting out her South Salinas house for $1395/mo, and she allows pets. It's about 1,000 sq ft, is a 2/1 with a huge backyard and large separate garage, all fenced. Was built in the 30's and has hardwood floors.
I'd put you in touch, but she's decided to sell it LOL! She doesn't like being a landlord. But, wanted to give you an idea of what you might be able to get in South Salinas.
Houses for rent on Craigslist for Monterey in South Salinas, will specify that they are South Salinas (as it's the desirable area). So, when you do a search on craigslist, put "south salinas" in the search bar.
Thanks so much NoMoreSnowForMe, I will definitely add that into my research. I'm a a craigslist junkie and love to see what is out there. I wish her luck in selling her house and understand the landlord thing. We own two houses right now and have rented them sporadically in the past. Both houses are actually on the market right now and we need to sell and have a clean slate before we make the trek out west. It would be super stressful to be a landlord from all the way across the country. We're trying to free up emotional energy and be able to enjoy life more. Thanks again!
Farther into the Carmel Valley is the Village, where there are homes in the village, & more homes rural all over the area going over toward Los Padres Dam, & Arroyo Seco (where folks camp & fish along the river) Carmel Valley Village, California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
My wife and I are from the East Coast. I'm from Boston and my wife is from Portland, Maine. We have lived in the Northeast our entire lives except for a couple of years in Chapel Hill, NC (we moved back because we missed living near the ocean). Long story short, we are contemplating an adventure to live out in California. We are in our mid 30's, we have two children, both of which have four legs and are rescue dogs. They are our children 100% and are our top priority. We both work via phone so our clients come with us although we are toying with the idea of getting into real estate on the side because we both enjoy it. We'd obviously be renting for a while to test the waters before making any solid commitments. We've saved up roughly 500K and at some point in the future would want to buy a tiny cottage or possibly condo of 700-1000 sq. ft. We are minimalists - low on materials and high on experiences. We want to be outside as much as possible so a small safe place in a decent neighborhood would be great at some point :-)
I'm posting in the Monterey forum because after reading hundreds of posts and doing tons of research online, it seems (on paper) that this might be the best area for us. We're coming from the Portland Maine area which is a population of about 70,000 in this area, which I know can be peanuts for CA. So we'd be looking for something small city-ish or smaller town - ish, not a huge metropolis. We've been to San Diego (liked the vibe and weather a lot but way too congested) and San Francisco (again, good vibe but too overcast and again, way too congested). What we would be looking for in our ideal community (we've been around the block enough and traveled enough to know we won't find everything we are looking for, and that is fine. Most of everything is your attitude and we are very positive!)...
Meeting great friends and having a great community worth investing is of the utmost importance
Sunshine! (obviously, living in Boston and the Portland Maine area, the weather is awful 3/4 of the year, it is severely depressing for us - also my wife suffers from poor circulation so she gets frostbite easily)
Great places to walk the dogs (hiking, beaches, neighborhoods, parks, wide open spaces)
Pretty close to the ocean or relatively easy access 10-15 min drive (obviously not on it for budget reasons)
Nothing too overpopulated (we want to be in a good community but nothing like a huge city)
Nothing against people having kids at all, but we want to meet friends that don't only talk about their kids
Laid back environment for the most part (I often wonder how much more intense the northeast can get)
Tons of outdoor opportunities (we want to live outdoors as much as possible - we love running, biking, rollerblading, swimming, hiking, kayaking, obviously walking the dogs - anything outdoors!)
Safe areas to live (Obviously, I don't know anyone that wants to live near crime)
Would love to be able to ride a bike to farmer's market, around town (limit use of car)
Close to things going on around town (we aren't party animals but don't want to live in a dead community)
Population accepting of transplants (we can make friends with anyone, we are very friendly)
Would be nice to meet other vegans
Would love to meet lots of likeminded individuals (outdoorsy, vegan, active, loves dogs and animals, couples, progressive, forward thinking)
Also, I did a quick scan on meetup.com and it looks as though there are some wonderful meetup groups in the area for outdoorsy type stuff, socialization, hiking, and raw food - vegan. That seems like a good start.
We're going to take a vacation out in the area at some point soon and see how it feels. I'd love and appreciate any input, guidance, and advice from the locals and from those who are transplants (especially from the northeast and east coast). Do you think we would fit in well here and if not, which direction in CA would you point us? Thanks so much!
You just described Monterey
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