Where to look to live in the OC (Santa Ana, Anaheim: bank owned, foreclosures)

[RRoaRRin]

Little bit about me.
Just moved to Cali ~2 weeks ago
I am a Cal Poly Pomona Student.
I am white
About to be 22
Main transportation is a motorcycle

Id like to buy some property in the OC, but I am unsure of where to look. I will be looking for bank owned/foreclosures. Id like it to be in a good area, but no HOA. Main purpose of this property is to live in while renting out to people. I was thinking Id like to be around the Santa Ana area in terms of geographical location. Id like to be ~15 miles from the beach ~25 miles from Cal Poly Pomona.

Where should I look?

[Coldjensens]

Look in the tv guide Television is the only place that "the OC" exists

[Coldjensens]

I would think that you would look in Santa Ana, Orange, Tuston, Anaheim, maybe Fullerton

[Avalon08]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Look in the tv guide Television is the only place that "the OC" exists

Ha ha, I was wondering who would bring that up. To the OP, it's "OC" or "Orange County"....no "the", only on TV.

[RRoaRRin]

haha, thanks. Obviously you guys can tell Im new to the area.

Is there any city/town I should be avoiding?

[Coldjensens]

Whole towns? No. Parts of many towns yes. Santa Ana, Westminster, Garden Grove, Anaheim, Fullerton and even Orange all have some parts of town that re pretty nasty. They all have some parts that are very nice.

Most less expensive areas are heavily populated with comparatively poor Hispanics. Some of these areas are awful some are decent. If you have a prejudice problem then you will have trouble finding an affordable place. If you are prejudiced, then you can try to avoid Hispanics by paying more. The more expensive locations are generally, but not entirely mostly white and Asian.

People who like to generalize will tell you all kinds of nutty things about entire cities. You cannot say any one thing about an entire city, that is just silly. Generalizations tend to make people sound silly, but lots of people still use generalizations all the time. Many people will make generalized negative comments about all of Santa Ana. Often those people have never really been to Santa Ana except to drive through it or to go from a locked car to a locked building. Peering out through windows does not give you any real information about an area. I tend to generalize about south county cities because it all seems the same to me, so I have to correct myself sometimes to qualify with "most" "some" etc. thus when someone says something absurd like "Santa Ana is a pit" What they are really saying is "I have seen or heard that some parts of Santa Ana are run down and dangerous."

You will probably need to look at an area, talk to people who live there, find out what it is really like. On CD you are likely to get dramatic office water cooler talk spewed back to you and some tidbits of real information from people who actually know a given location. Further, different people have different viewpoints.

Everyone has different desires, preferences and tastes. If you identify your preferences, people can give you more useful information. Personally, I think that two best non-beach places in Orange County to live are Old Town orange and Silverado Canyon. I like them because they are different. Other people like things to be all the same with no differences, no stimulation or challenges. Some people want to live as far away form Hispanics as possible. Another guy came on saying that he likes Hispanic women and wanted to live in an Hispanic dominated area. Some people want a gay tolerant area, others want the opposite. Some like charming historic homes and towns, others want only new. What do you like?

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by RRoaRRin

Just moved to Cali

A-hem

Originally Posted by RRoaRRin

Id like to be ~15 miles from the beach ~25 miles from Cal Poly Pomona.

Distance in Southern California is measured in travel time rather than miles. You'll soon see why.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by RRoaRRin

. Id like to be ~15 miles from the beach ~25 miles from Cal Poly Pomona.

Where should I look?

Santa Ana?

[ragnarkar]

Another "alternative" area to consider:

The border between Westminster and Huntington Beach.

15 Minutes to the beach? Check!


The proximity to Golden West college also makes it ideal to renting to other students.

Westminster, west Garden Grove, and Fountain Valley are in the immediate area along Beach Blvd which you can also consider. They're more boring bedroom communities, IMO but whatever suits your tastes. Avoid Stanton.

[Count David]

Price range?

The closest beach the way the crow flies (from the "triangle building"), is Seal Beach, at 27.1 miles. So 15 miles from the beach puts the point at La Habra, with 12.1 more being back at Poly.

Are you sure you want to purchase a home in an area you've only lived in for two weeks?

Are you going to be going to the beach daily? School daily?

Is the location going to matter (within 25 mi of Poly) when you finish school?

Are you sure you want to take on the responsibilities/cost of owning a home and being a landlord?