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EEEk! The state is called California. The abbreviation is CA. Cali is some imaginary place referred to by people from other places trying to sound hip and cool. That term annoys a lot of Californians. Just so you know.
Some people think it is fine and will not care, others will get annoyed. No one will be impressed or like you better because you say "Cali". However some people will have a negative reaction. Better to use the name of the actual place that you intend to live.
"1. Where to live? I have family in Mission Viejo who love it, but it seems far from LAX. What are the best family areas? Are there any public schools that are decent?"
That is a crazy commute to LAX unless you go there in odd hours. Even then it is a long way.
Seal Beach, Parts of Long Beach, Rancho Palos Verdes, Cerritos, Anaheim, Fullerton are all closer and have nice areas and some good schools. Hawthorne is not bad to live in if you do not mind the planes, but I do not know about the schools in Hawthorne.
There are good public schools everywhere. Some of them take a bit of work, or reqruie payment of some kind (charter schools). How good do you need? Good, great, execellent, beyond execellent? Our kids attended poorly ranked schools, but did very well, even after we moved to a super competitive school district.
The commute to LAX can be awful. You will be looking at 1.5 hours up to 4 hours each way. It can be less if you manage to avoid traffic. I have made it to LAX in 40 minutes (not counting parking and getting from parking ot the airport).
2. Would you move? I've been in NC for 20 years, but am open to a move. I just hear so many negative (and positive) things about CA. I've only visited a handful of times, and only ever for vacations (so I've never gotten a good idea of what it would be like to live there.) I'm excited about the weather and produce...not so much the traffic and housing costs.
We moved away from Southern California. There were several reasons:
Too far from our extended family.
Poor moral and general atmosphere for raising children (materialism, sexual promiscuity, abundant drug use, everything is supposed to be acceptable).
Housing in places with good schools is too expensive.
No water, clean air, trees, or open space.
Only the first reason was enough to really overbalance the positive side of things. Those include:
Great weather
Mountains, desert and ocean right at hand.
Nearby parks like Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Joshua Tree, etc.
Loads of things to do and great resturaunts everywhere.
Would we move back? Without kids, certainly if we had a reason to (we like it where we are). I still work in Sothern California at times and I am there for about 15 weeks of the year, so I do not miss it too much.
With kids? Not sure, it would take some careful consideration and a strong reason to do so.
3. We just bought a house in a fabulous neighborhood. It's 3100 sq ft, 4 bed/2.5 bath. Great school district. We paid around $400k. We're trying to tell his company that a comparable house will cost us at least $900k. Is that reasonable? I don't think his company has fully realized how much more expensive it is. I want at least a family-friendly, safe neighborhood. Doesn't have to be Newport Beach, but I want a nice community.
Depends on the community, but the $900 K is not out of line for 3100 sq feet. It is pretty high thoug, prices have fallen quite a lot. Keep in mind that you will have a tiny tiny property. Also you do not need as large a house since you do not have to store winter clothing and you do not need to spend that much time indoors. We were fine with 5 kids in a 2680 s.f. home on a 7100 s.f. lot. Did we wish for more space? Sure. Was it uncomfortable? No.
We sold our house for $757,000 in 2005. It is now on the market for $525,000. You are not going to choose where we lived, but $750,000 would buy you a nice place in the kind of area that you want.
4. What are your favorite things about living in OC? What are your favorite things to do?
Hiking at Silverado Canyon, Holy Jim Falls, Bridge to Nowhere, Red Rock Canyon, etc.
Beach stuff.
Scuba Diving.
Eating at neat resturaunts.
Walking or riding bikes almost everywhere we went.
Keep in mind that school, sports, hanging out with friends, church, chores, shopping, work, etc. Do not leave all that much time for doing neat things. Mostly you live your life. You will spend an inordinate amount of time sitting in traffic, looking for parking, and waiting in line. There are a lot of neat things to do when you have time. Pertty much anything that you might want to do is reaosnably available. All that is missing is fresh water (lakes rivers creeks streams and ponds) and real trees (palm trees to not count as trees, they are telephone poles with a hat).
Hi Everyone!
We are currently located in Greensboro, NC. The company my husband works for has plans to expand to Cali, and wants us to move so he can run the Real Estate function. There would be some flexibility in where we could live, at least initally, but it would have to be southern Cali. He would like to be within reasonable distance to the airport, because he does travel some.
Here are my concerns:
1. Where to live? I have family in Mission Viejo who love it, but it seems far from LAX. What are the best family areas? Are there any public schools that are decent?
2. Would you move? I've been in NC for 20 years, but am open to a move. I just hear so many negative (and positive) things about CA. I've only visited a handful of times, and only ever for vacations (so I've never gotten a good idea of what it would be like to live there.) I'm excited about the weather and produce...not so much the traffic and housing costs.
3. We just bought a house in a fabulous neighborhood. It's 3100 sq ft, 4 bed/2.5 bath. Great school district. We paid around $400k. We're trying to tell his company that a comparable house will cost us at least $900k. Is that reasonable? I don't think his company has fully realized how much more expensive it is. I want at least a family-friendly, safe neighborhood. Doesn't have to be Newport Beach, but I want a nice community.
4. What are your favorite things about living in OC? What are your favorite things to do?
You have no idea how much I appreciate ANY info/advice you can give. This is such a stressful decision for us to try to make. We have a 21m old daughter, and are hoping to try again for #2, so I'd like to get this decision behind us! We don't necessarily WANT to move, but it would be AWESOME for his career, and we are at least open to the idea.
Thank you!
1. As mentioned earlier there is always SNA. But the other question is does your hubby have to go into an office when he is not travelling and if he does, where is it? Quality of life in So Cal in inversely related to length of commute. If he - or you - have to go into an office, use that location as your anchor and begin exploring options from there.
2. Most of what you hear - good and bad - has some element of truth to it. Only you can decide if its right for you and your little girl.
3. There's no way around it, you just have to embrace the fact you will have to live with less house in OC then NC. People looking at OC often want the house/ yard they had back in fill-in-the-blank, but the reality here is houses and lots- particularly in South OC - are smaller and the housing dollar does not go as far. The good news is the mild climate lets you use you yard/patio as part of your house. The OC lifestyle includes cooking out, hosting outdoor family dinners, backyard pools, Kids playing outside, etc that can be done 11 months a year.
4. Given your lifestage - Young family, toddler, etc. - South OC is a great place to raise young kids. I have concerns about raising my kids here when they are Jr. high & hogh school age - Materialism, drugs, etc - but all the parks, beaches, climate, etc. make it is a great place for kids under 10. There is tons of infrasturcture here - sports leagues, child care centers, ball fields, all kinds of classes and clubs for every interest, etc - for parents to tap into. South OC is a very family focussed enviroment. ( I used to joke that there was an unwritten zoning ordinance that you MUST have a child to buy a single family house south of the El Toro Y)
1. As mentioned earlier there is always SNA. But the other question is does your hubby have to go into an office when he is not travelling and if he does, where is it? Quality of life in So Cal in inversely related to length of commute. If he - or you - have to go into an office, use that location as your anchor and begin exploring options from there.
2. Most of what you hear - good and bad - has some element of truth to it. Only you can decide if its right for you and your little girl.
3. There's no way around it, you just have to embrace the fact you will have to live with less house in OC then NC. People looking at OC often want the house/ yard they had back in fill-in-the-blank, but the reality here is houses and lots- particularly in South OC - are smaller and the housing dollar does not go as far. The good news is the mild climate lets you use you yard/patio as part of your house. The OC lifestyle includes cooking out, hosting outdoor family dinners, backyard pools, Kids playing outside, etc that can be done 11 months a year.
4. Given your lifestage - Young family, toddler, etc. - South OC is a great place to raise young kids. I have concerns about raising my kids here when they are Jr. high & hogh school age - Materialism, drugs, etc - but all the parks, beaches, climate, etc. make it is a great place for kids under 10. There is tons of infrasturcture here - sports leagues, child care centers, ball fields, all kinds of classes and clubs for every interest, etc - for parents to tap into. South OC is a very family focussed enviroment. ( I used to joke that there was an unwritten zoning ordinance that you MUST have a child to buy a single family house south of the El Toro Y)
If you can make John Wayne Airport work - go for it. It is a much more pleasant airport to fly in or out of. It is reasonably close to most OC cities and parking is easy and pleasant.
The downsides of Joyhn Wayne are that the flights often (not always) cost about $100 more than out of LAX and there are limited flilght times and locations with far fewer direct flights.
Another option is to look at the inland empire (Corona, Rancho Cucamonga, etc) and fly from Ontario. Inland empire is Hot hot hot. I am nto sure where the good schools are. Keep in mind that prior to Jr. High, there are probably no schools where you child cannot learn what they need to learn unless they are the only english speakers in their class.
I am a little bit familiar with where you are coming from. I currently live in Ladera Ranch but we spend our summers in Mooresville, NC. I love Orange County and especially love Ladera Ranch. Taxes and HOA dues are expensive so other areas may be more comfortable. I think most places in South Orange County have good schools. If I had to make a second choice and keep my expenses lower I would choose Mission Viejo. It is an older city but does not have the high taxes and you can find a moderately priced home. I would probably move somewhere that feeds into Mission Viejo High School. It's a great school with down to earth people. The only high school I would avoid is San Juan Hills High School in San Juan Capistrano. I am just not comfortable with some of the environmental issues surrounding the school but others may see it differently. I love Orange County because there is such a variety of things to do here. Earlier this year my daughter went surfing in the morning and we were in Mammoth Mountain (snowing) by dinner. I don't see kids outside in NC, probably due to the weather, and I have a very closed in feeling in NC. The weather in OC is so pleasant I spend a lot of time outside. My husband travels out of LAX to Charlotte a lot and it is not a problem. He just takes flights that are not right in the middle of traffic hour. Good luck.
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Love OC
