Morning traffic from beach cities to inland

[Coldjensens]

There are or were some affordable bargains in Balboa Villiage in Newport Beach. A lot of college kids live there. It is not a popular family place. The bargains are hard to find. We had a great realtor (Jana at Mel Fuchs, but she is probably long gone now.) She woudl always notify us of any neat places at reasoanble prices that came up even if were were not looking to move at the time. We also kept aware of what was available in the villiage and what the prices were. Sometimes we watched a place sit empty for a year before making a lowball rental offer. Sometimes if it has been empty a logn time, they will go cheap. Others would prefer to let it sit empty.

Costa Mesa might be a decent option for you as well. It is not on the beach, but some parts are within walking or biking distance and it is cheaper and closer to the 55.

[teeej]

Originally Posted by ragnarkar

Don't underestimate the traffic in that area.. those 5 miles could easily take 10+ minutes.. and traffic on 405 is usually slower than surface streets.

I'd estimate moving to Newport Beach will probably cut your commute about 20-30 minutes each way.

That's definitely something to consider - what area of Newport Beach would you recommend that is both convenient to the freeway and relatively close to the beach? (...and maybe not horrible expensive)

There are or were some affordable bargains in Balboa Villiage in Newport Beach. A lot of college kids live there. It is not a popular family place. The bargains are hard to find. We had a great realtor (Jana at Mel Fuchs, but she is probably long gone now.) She woudl always notify us of any neat places at reasoanble prices that came up even if were were not looking to move at the time. We also kept aware of what was available in the villiage and what the prices were. Sometimes we watched a place sit empty for a year before making a lowball rental offer. Sometimes if it has been empty a logn time, they will go cheap. Others would prefer to let it sit empty.

Costa Mesa might be a decent option for you as well. It is not on the beach, but some parts are within walking or biking distance and it is cheaper and closer to the 55.

Is there a certain part of Costa Mesa that you are thinking of? (zip code or major streets?)

I am not looking to purchase, so no need for realtors.

[Coldjensens]

In costa Mesa, there is a cheap arpatment on Suprior called the Beach House. It is not very nice, but it is very affordable. You can walk about a mile to the beach, or ride your bike to a nicer beach. It is not a bad place to live if you are young and do not mind traffic noise and neighbor noise. (One of our neighbors was a pron actress who had the film crews come during the day, I did not realize this until I stayed home sick one day).

On the other side of Newport Blvd, once you get in past the resturaunts there are some nicer homes and apartments. We had some close friends who lived on Orange Ave (I think it was) and about 18th or 20th street. The apts were ok. It was a bike ride to the beach and a long walk to some fun places like Goat Hill Tavern. There are smallish Apts scattered all over that area. No big complexes that I cna think of just little 8-12 unit two or three story apartments. If you want fancy, NEwport and Irvine have the pricy apt complexes. (Try Prometory Point).

[shadow91]

I use to drive from Huntington Beach to Fullerton on the 7p-7a shift down beach blvd and it was almost an hour each way to drive that little bit of way. Horrible traffic, lights are not synchronized, don't miss it at all.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by shadow91

I use to drive from Huntington Beach to Fullerton on the 7p-7a shift down beach blvd and it was almost an hour each way to drive that little bit of way. Horrible traffic, lights are not synchronized, don't miss it at all.

Beach and Euclid now have synchronized lights so its a lot better than it used it be.

[Caralho]

From HB you can take PCH or Victoria down and pick up the 55 in Newport. It's a nicer drive (not Victoria) and there's rarely traffic. If taking 241 is not out of the question, Laguna would work. That's where I live. I did a similar commute for a while, leaving the beach for an hour of freeway gnarliness every morning was not fun. Eventually I found a job closer to home. Win..win!

But even when I did have the awful commute, I was still glad I lived by the beach.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by teeej

I am not looking to purchase, so no need for realtors.

Jana @ Mel Fuchs was a rental only agent. You will not get the cool places without a rental realtor. People do nto put up signs in Balboa (usually) and there are no big complexes.

[htgoliath26]

I live in Santa Ana of the 22 fwy and planning to take a job with the Loma Linda V.A. hospital. I have no idea what traffic is like in the morning going from 22 east to 55fwy to 91 east to 215 N (just 2 miles on the 215N). Also how about coming the opposite way home back to Santa Ana? I would greatly appreciate any help. Thank you. My email is : [EMAIL="htgoliath26@aol.com"]htgoliath26@aol.com[/EMAIL]

[BGS91762]

Originally Posted by ragnarkar

Don't underestimate the traffic in that area.. those 5 miles could easily take 10+ minutes.. and traffic on 405 is usually slower than surface streets.

I'd estimate moving to Newport Beach will probably cut your commute about 20-30 minutes each way.

I work in Corona and some of my coworkers come up from Costa Mesa. 40 minutes in the morning tops and up to an hour in the afternoon.