Floral Park - pros and cons (Santa Ana, Irvine: best neighborhood, HOA fees, crime)

[elsa137]

My husband and I are planning a move to Orange County later this year. We have a three year old son. My husband will be working very close to South Coast Plaza mall. I am not sure where I will be working yet, but probably in education administration or hotel management (both are areas in which I have experience).

We've had a lot of planning trips out and the huge selection of areas from which to choose is doing my head in.

I really loved Floral Park, and there are some very decently-priced houses there at the moment, but worry about the schools. Does anyone know what the schools are like in that area?

I'm interested in public and private - the $1000-1500 a month I can save living in FP as opposed to Irvine et al with their Mello Roos and HOA fees can go towards tuition!

We don't need more than 1800SF and we don't like townhomes, want a bit of garden and we're used to a very multicultural environment. Looking to spend ~ $500k.

Driving around the newer developments was just too depressing, we loved the Floral Park vibe. That said, if there are any other great pros or cons that I should be aware of please feel free to educate me!

Thanks for all useful responses

[nurserosie]

Originally Posted by elsa137

My husband and I are planning a move to Orange County later this year. We have a three year old son. My husband will be working very close to South Coast Plaza mall. I am not sure where I will be working yet, but probably in education administration or hotel management (both are areas in which I have experience).

We've had a lot of planning trips out and the huge selection of areas from which to choose is doing my head in.

I really loved Floral Park, and there are some very decently-priced houses there at the moment, but worry about the schools. Does anyone know what the schools are like in that area?

I'm interested in public and private - the $1000-1500 a month I can save living in FP as opposed to Irvine et al with their Mello Roos and HOA fees can go towards tuition!

We don't need more than 1800SF and we don't like townhomes, want a bit of garden and we're used to a very multicultural environment. Looking to spend ~ $500k.

Driving around the newer developments was just too depressing, we loved the Floral Park vibe. That said, if there are any other great pros or cons that I should be aware of please feel free to educate me!

Thanks for all useful responses

if you have to have two incomes...make sure you look for a job first...our healthcare facilities are laying off like crazy..not sure about hotel management..but keep in mind that our unemployment rate is high..so even if you are overqualified..so are lots of others..just a hint..

I think Floral Park is charming..but don't think I would live there..very close to the evil Santa Ana!! schools are not as good
also remember that not all Irvine areas are new enuf to have Mello Roos..those with HOAs are not that high in fees....yes they are cookie cutter..but Irvine has great schools yes you could live in FP and pay for private..not sure 1 K a month would get you private tho..plus then you have to arrange YOUR life to get the kid back and forth..
life is a series of setting priorities..

[Bob's Burgers]

PRO:Floral park is a beautiful , charming, isolated housing area in Santa Ana that is well kept up.
CON: It is in Santa Ana...avoid Santa Ana at all costs

[legal_eagle]

I grew up in Floral Park. It's very centrally located for the purpose of getting around So Cal., since you have the infamous Orange Crush (5, 22, 57 freeways coming together) in your backyard. Five minutes to the county and federal buildings, 10 minutes to the Angels and Disneyland, 15 minutes to South Coast Plaza on the weekends, 30 minutes to the beach, 30-40 minutes to downtown LA. I know some families that still live there and I get the sense that the residents are quite organized and very protective of their neighborhood. The public schools are probably the biggest drawback. People talk trash about Santa Ana, but my sense is a lot of that sentiment is racially motivated. Santa Ana is nothing like a true inner-city, but I guess it seems scary when you live in a neighboring town that controls what color your garbage cans have to be.

[Socalpal]

parts of Irvine are also in the Santa Ana School District

[nurserosie]

Originally Posted by Socalpal

parts of Irvine are also in the Santa Ana School District

where?? we have lived in the area since 70.....you may mean "north tustin" which has santa ana address..but our kids go to Tustin schools..not santa ana

[flo2900]

Floral Park has Victorian homes, it trully is a unique community just like a nice island surrounded by illegals pushing strollers and gang bangers...homes values are strongly influenced by the School District in which they are and there aren`t any good schools in Santa Ana. In my opinion not a good investment. Just my 2 cents...

[antarez]

Floral Park is like many areas of L.A..

Just drive a few blocks away and the neighborhood deteriorates drastically.

[Coldjensens]

1. Ask someone who actually lives there. Many of the statements you find on CD including this thread are untrue

2. Floral park is terrific IMO. Possibly the best neighborhood in OC.

3. There is an elementary school that serves floral park that is supposed to be rpetty decent. I do not recall the name.

4. Santa Ana schools have "Fundamental schools" these are better schools. They are nto top schools but they are decent. We used John Muir. It was very good and more than sufficient for our kids to excel. There are several other fundamental elementary schools and some middle schools as well (We used Villa, but there are others that are better rated).

5. For an amazing school experience in your price range (at the high end). Take a look at El Dorado School for Gifted Children in Orange. It is a fantastic school. Class size is very small (often 10 or less at lower grades). No homework until 5th grade (I think homework is optional in 5th grade). The philosophy is (or was) that if the teacher cannot teach elementary kids all they need to learn without homework then the teacher is failing. Kids coming out of El Dorado have always doen phenomenally well.


OCHSA in Santa Ana is one of Orange County's top high schools. If your kids have decent talent they can get in. The academics are (or were) fantastic. Some really great teachers there. They also have a small jr. high with awesome teachers. Now there is an elementary school (charter school) focusing on the arts, it is not connected to OCHSA, but it is nearby. No idea how good it is. Another charter school Del Sol or El Sol is an immersion program and supposed to be good for elementary.

Rancho Santigo College (Santa Ana College) has a higschool called "Middle College" that is very good.

For a time, some of our kids went to Tustin Memorail Academy on an intradistrict transfer. It took some work, but was not unreasonably hard. That school was very highly rated, but we found it absurdly competitive and unpleasant for the kids.

We live in Santa Ana for 9 years raising 5 children and they all did very well. It can be done, just takes a little more work and some originality. It is nto a jump on the bandwagon and let the system work for you kind of place.

[elsa137]

Thanks all for your replies; especially Coldjensens who took a lot of time to post very useful info.

We will have another look while we're out there next week. We live in Houston now so Santa Ana is not that scary to us, it seems quite familiar if not even safer! Looking at crime statistics here on City-Data it appears I'm right - we have about twice the rate of crimes (types combined) of Santa Ana.

I appreciate any thoughts on schools especially, this is not a surprise expense since we were resigned to having to enroll our little fella in one here anyway