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Old 04-07-2013, 02:02 AM
 
Location: Calgary, AB
241 posts, read 711,158 times
Reputation: 141

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Currently living in Huntington Beach and I am looking to buy a house in a year or so. Budget is probably up to 750k (but I would love to spend <600k) and I want something with a half decent grassed yard for a large dog. I tend to like renovated homes from the midcentury and earlier or fairly new construction. Homes from the 70s-early 2000s around here seem to be fairly butt ugly or run down. I am currently single and anything over 1200sqft would be great.

Wondering what areas within 30 minutes of HB (I work on Beach near PCH) are relatively close to some outdoor activities/hiking etc and are non big box store/strip mall centric...have some kind of a character to a central downtown area without everything being a chain store/restaurant.

So far I have been to The City of Orange which seems pretty cool in terms of housing, tree-lined streets and a super cool downtown area. It seems to have some proximity to the hills/mountains (at least I can see them from the town).

So...a decent house with a yard within 30min of some decent hiking trails and close to a cool downtown.

Suggestions?

Thanks.
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Old 04-07-2013, 09:54 AM
 
Location: Las Flores, Orange County, CA
26,338 posts, read 93,446,398 times
Reputation: 17827
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daveydoe View Post
Currently living in Huntington Beach and I am looking to buy a house in a year or so. Budget is probably up to 750k (but I would love to spend <600k) and I want something with a half decent grassed yard for a large dog. I tend to like renovated homes from the midcentury and earlier or fairly new construction. Homes from the 70s-early 2000s around here seem to be fairly butt ugly or run down. I am currently single and anything over 1200sqft would be great.

Wondering what areas within 30 minutes of HB (I work on Beach near PCH) are relatively close to some outdoor activities/hiking etc and are non big box store/strip mall centric...have some kind of a character to a central downtown area without everything being a chain store/restaurant.

So far I have been to The City of Orange which seems pretty cool in terms of housing, tree-lined streets and a super cool downtown area. It seems to have some proximity to the hills/mountains (at least I can see them from the town).

So...a decent house with a yard within 30min of some decent hiking trails and close to a cool downtown.

Suggestions?

Thanks.
Review this thread:

//www.city-data.com/forum/orang...ing-tools.html

"Currently single", might that change and might there be kids in the next five years?
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Old 04-07-2013, 07:12 PM
 
Location: Calgary, AB
241 posts, read 711,158 times
Reputation: 141
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles View Post
Review this thread:

//www.city-data.com/forum/orang...ing-tools.html

"Currently single", might that change and might there be kids in the next five years?
Being single will likely change, kids not so sure
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Old 04-08-2013, 10:31 AM
 
Location: Grosse Ile Michigan
30,702 posts, read 79,379,373 times
Reputation: 39415
Old town offers most of what you want. The closest real hiking is in the Cleveland National Forest out of Silverado Canyon. You can get there in half an hour with no traffic and a sports car. It will take a little longer otherwise.

"non big box store/strip mall centric...have some kind of a character to a central downtown area without everything being a chain store/restaurant." Is very hard to find in Orange County. You are pretty much looking at Old town Orange, Fullerton and some of the beach towns. Silverado Canyon itself would be a neat place to live, but there are few houses available and it is more than half an hour from Huntington Beach. Many of the houses are small - former hunting/prospecting cabins or resort lodges.

Another neat place to look is in the foothiills north east of Tustin. There is a lot of variety in there, well settled homes with big trees and lots of decent sized yards.

However we have always had giant dogs and they need less space than a little dog usually because they are less energetic. We were fine on 7000 - 8000 foot lots. Except for the newer subs, you get that pretty much anywhere.


Whiting ranch offers some decent hiking for short hikes. It is all cookie cutter around that area, but you might find a big enough yard for your dog if you look into less new offerings (but that puts you into the 1960s and 1970s stuff).

You probably will not find all of the things you are looking for in one place, so you may need to prioritize your preferences.
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Old 04-09-2013, 01:21 PM
 
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
38 posts, read 118,672 times
Reputation: 23
Looks like I'm not able to make "recommendations" until I have 10 posts, but personally I also like midcentury homes and two of my favorite mid-century architects/developers are Cliff May and Joseph Eichler (Eichler was not an architect but commissioned some very good architects in the mid-century modern style) and coincidentally, there are homes by these people near Huntington Beach. Hopefully that doesn't qualify as a recommendation or an advertisement (especially since both people are long since dead).
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Old 04-09-2013, 06:18 PM
 
Location: Grosse Ile Michigan
30,702 posts, read 79,379,373 times
Reputation: 39415
Went back and gave you a rep for not saying "the" OC.
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Old 04-09-2013, 07:21 PM
 
Location: LA/OC
1,083 posts, read 2,159,632 times
Reputation: 605
Orange sounds like a good place for you. There are definitely some nice mid-century modern homes in other areas of OC too, Cliff May homes in Tustin, Palmer and Krisel homes in Fullerton, etc. The only problem will be finding one on the market. They come up every once in a while though. Here's a recent Eichler home that was sold after about 11 days on the market:

814 East FERNDALE Avenue, Orange, CA 92865 - Listing #: P846295

It's not super close to the Orange Circle, but not too bad of a drive from Irvine regional for hiking.
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Old 04-09-2013, 10:16 PM
 
Location: Orange, California
1,576 posts, read 6,328,532 times
Reputation: 758
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Van Fossen View Post
Orange sounds like a good place for you. There are definitely some nice mid-century modern homes in other areas of OC too, Cliff May homes in Tustin, Palmer and Krisel homes in Fullerton, etc. The only problem will be finding one on the market. They come up every once in a while though. Here's a recent Eichler home that was sold after about 11 days on the market:

814 East FERNDALE Avenue, Orange, CA 92865 - Listing #: P846295

It's not super close to the Orange Circle, but not too bad of a drive from Irvine regional for hiking.
Love these houses!!! Between the three Eichler tracts and the historic bungalows in Old Town, Orange definitely has some of the coolest homes for under a million dollars. You can also find some great cottages in Newport and Laguna beach but they are ungodly expensive.
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Old 04-11-2013, 12:11 PM
 
Location: SE Portland
254 posts, read 440,701 times
Reputation: 138
Orange is a fantastic community to be a part of, and I second the thanks for not referring to it as "The OC".
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Old 04-14-2013, 12:21 AM
 
Location: Laguna Niguel, CA
153 posts, read 269,051 times
Reputation: 75
What about Costa Mesa?
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