Moving to Mission Viejo/Aliso Viejo/Ladera Ranch? Help! (San Diego: fit in, coop)

[Dbazan1]

Looking for a large single-family home with good sized yard (bigger the yard the better - have lots of pets).

We are relocating to the Orange County area, and are trying to find a great kid-friendly neighborhood with excellent schools. Our son is 13 and needs an area with lots of kids to hang out with. We are coming from Palos Verdes, and are looking for a similar feel, clean, safe neighborhoods, and our budget is $650,000-$775,000. We'd prefer something more rural, where we can have a backyard chicken coop, (our son is heavy into the 4-H Club activities) horses would be great, but probably not going to find horse property in that price range in that area. Hubby will be setting up a warehouse wherever we end up, so we can pretty much settle anywhere.

We've been told to look in Temecula and Murrieta also, but I'm concerned about air quality (we all have asthma) and being so far inland from the beach.

I was thinking Mission Viejo would be the best choice, and not too far from the beach, but many people have told me it might not be a good area. I'm a little worried about San Clemente due to the San Onofre Nuclear Facility there. Laguna areas look great but too pricey for a decent sized house.

We'd appreciate any suggestions y'all might have about the Orange County area and where to focus our searches!! Thanks!!

[pacific2]

Mission Viejo, Aliso Viejo and Ladera Ranch are all master-planned suburbs ( Read: HOAs with rules & regs and no chicken coops). The areas are all safe and kid friendly with good schools, but lots in South Orange County tend to be quite small since land is scare (valuable). Also, I can't swear by it, but I would guess that 4-H involvement is rare in Orange County.

They are especially small in Aliso Viejo and tend to be somewhat larger as one heads just a few more miles away from the coast.

Orange County itself looks like one huge sprawling suburb.

If you are still interested in this area, then you might want to add Rancho Santa Margarita and Lake Forest to your search.

Exploring San Juan Capistrano for more of a semi-rural site, is another possibility, but I don't know about the quality of the schools there.

Have you looked into Fallbrook, San Diego County? It might have more of what you need.

[BRinSM]

Originally Posted by Dbazan1

Looking for a large single-family home with good sized yard (bigger the yard the better - have lots of pets).

We are relocating to the Orange County area, and are trying to find a great kid-friendly neighborhood with excellent schools. Our son is 13 and needs an area with lots of kids to hang out with. We are coming from Palos Verdes, and are looking for a similar feel, clean, safe neighborhoods, and our budget is $650,000-$775,000. We'd prefer something more rural, where we can have a backyard chicken coop, (our son is heavy into the 4-H Club activities) horses would be great, but probably not going to find horse property in that price range in that area. Hubby will be setting up a warehouse wherever we end up, so we can pretty much settle anywhere.

We've been told to look in Temecula and Murrieta also, but I'm concerned about air quality (we all have asthma) and being so far inland from the beach.

I was thinking Mission Viejo would be the best choice, and not too far from the beach, but many people have told me it might not be a good area. I'm a little worried about San Clemente due to the San Onofre Nuclear Facility there. Laguna areas look great but too pricey for a decent sized house.

We'd appreciate any suggestions y'all might have about the Orange County area and where to focus our searches!! Thanks!!

I'm very familiar with both LA and OC and the closest thing to PV in OC is Anaheim Hills (minus the cliffs and ocean of course). this area is not very close to the cities you mentioned though. North Tustin (technically in Santa Ana) is another option for something similar to PV and a bit closer.

[Joe Van Fossen]

There isn't much of a rural feel in South OC. I haven't really seen/heard much about keeping chickens in the area, but apparently it's allowed in Lake Forest (Lake Forest, CA - BackYard Chickens Community) and Laguna Niguel (Laguna Niguel, CA - BackYard Chickens Community). I'm not sure about Mission Viejo, but Silverado is a more rural area nearby that would probably allow chickens. There are parts of Fullerton and Orange that could probably work too. I actually viewed a home in Fullerton that had a chicken coop earlier this summer.

[DinsdalePirahna]

Santiago Canyon

[goozer]

Orange Park Acres is an equestrian community in east Orange that would meet the chicken coop and horse needs. Many homes in the million plus range but also a few that might fit in your price range.

[ExeterMedia]

I've seen horses in Coto (rattlesnakes too unfortunately).

[pacific2]

There are also horse properties at Nellie Gail Ranch and riders can be seen along Pacific PKWY/ Oso, but the homes are over 1M and out of the OP's budget.

[scgali]

San Juan Capistrano has land and good schools. Then there's north OC like previously mentioned in Tustin.

[shunt4]

Temecula and Murrieta are wonderful places to raise a family. The air quality is good, being far south west of Riverside - San Bernadino smog. There's a mountain pass south of Temecula that winds blow the air clean. You can have livestock in custom homes toward wine country or the Meadowview neighborhood. You will pay heavily for homes you can have livestock in OC. Yes not real near the beach, about 45 minutes down the 15/76 but it's a trade off. Good luck with your move.