Moving to OC Looking for Good Places To Live (Santa Ana: apartment complexes, rental)

[elpch]

Hi there,

I currently live in MI and a job offer has come up in Irvine CA that I'm going to take. I have lived in MI all of my life and have only been to CA/LA area once. I'm only 22 but I really like the laid back, calm and quite lifestyle.

I have about 1,600 per mo to work with and I'm just living by myself so I only need 1 bedroom. I'm looking for the most luxury as possible even if the space is really small.

I was looking directly around the Irvine area but I wanted to know if there were any other good areas whiten a 40 min drive to Irvine that I may like more.

Thanks for your help in advance !!!

[mrsltd]

Originally Posted by elpch

Hi there,

I currently live in MI and a job offer has come up in Irvine CA that I'm going to take. I have lived in MI all of my life and have only been to CA/LA area once. I'm only 22 but I really like the laid back, calm and quite lifestyle.

I have about 1,600 per mo to work with and I'm just living by myself so I only need 1 bedroom. I'm looking for the most luxury as possible even if the space is really small.

I was looking directly around the Irvine area but I wanted to know if there were any other good areas whiten a 40 min drive to Irvine that I may like more.

Thanks for your help in advance !!!

Yes; Tustin, parts of Santa Ana and Costa Mesa to the north and west (but SA and CM are more bustling) and Lake Forest, Laguna Hills and Mission Viejo to the south. Rancho Santa Margarita is also good (to the east of Lake Forest, etc.).

[Joe Van Fossen]

$1600 will get you a nice 1-bedroom/studio in the area, but I'm not sure how luxurious they'll be. Since you like a laid back, calm and quiet lifestyle, Irvine should suit you. Aliso Viejo, Laguna Hills, Tustin and Lake Forest could also work. You might want to check out Rental-Living.com - California Apartment Communities and see if there are any places there that meet the luxury requirement.

[pacific2]

22 and single, but not searching for night life, any of the above ^ should do. Of those, I would suggest Aliso for a young person since AV has relatively few SFRs, and lots of apartments, townhouses and condos clustered around a town center; making it a very dense setting. It's not a traditional suburban town.

The density (Just under 50K people in about 7.45 sq mi), layout and demographics increase the probability that you will be able to meet----------------other single young people.

BTW, all of these towns are so close together that selecting one over the other really won't make a huge difference.

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by pacific2

22 and single, but not searching for night life, any of the above ^ should do. Of those, I would suggest Aliso for a young person since AV has relatively few SFRs, and lots of apartments, townhouses and condos clustered around a town center; making it a very dense setting. It's not a traditional suburban town.

The density (Just under 50K people in about 7.45 sq mi), layout and demographics increase the probability that you will be able to meet----------------other single young people.

BTW, all of these towns are so close together that selecting one over the other really won't make a huge difference.

Yeah, Aliso wouldn't be bad for him, but honestly, why not look for a place in Irvine itself? And if Irvine's one bedroom's are too much, don't they also have studios? The place should be near a shopping center, a gym in the apartment building, etc. I found this for OP to consider.

[psichick]

My XH lives in one of these:

The Park
The Village

He really likes it because there's a lot going on and it's got a ton of things on-site. Heck, there's a park and they have food trucks come, he gets to watch women doing downward dogs as they do yoga there, etc. He can walk to The Spectrum (mall). For your $1,600, you can get a studio. I've been in his, not too bad, but it is small. Granted at least you get a washer/dryer in your unit. And expect rent to go up about $50/mo when you have to renew your lease.

IMHO, those are "luxurious" because of all the amenities that it comes with, they are new, however to me, it's like hotel living.

[pacific2]

Nice places. Here are also a few from AV to consider:
City Lights Apartments | Aliso Viejo Apartments in Orange County


City Lights Apartments For Rent - Aliso Viejo, CA - YouTube

Alicante

Alicante Apartments | Aliso Viejo, CA | Sequoia Equities - YouTube

[pacific2]

Those places have their own gyms, but since Aliso is so tiny, he would also only be a skip away from this place if he decided to move here:

Renaissance ClubSport Aliso Viejo Spa, Sport Club & Hotel - YouTube

[pacific2]

The Azarian National Gymnastics Training Center is another Aliso sports option:


M61 Kim Goodwin, 20-ft Rope Climb, 1st climb, 5.37 sec - YouTube

{Ok, I know everyone has seen this stuff and I'm folding up the tent for tonight}

[AyeScotland]

First off, congratulations on your job offer! It is a nice change of pace to hear of a 22-year old landing a job these days.

I am not positive whether your budget would be enough, but, if you don't necessarily mean by "luxury" that you want a place with a pool, gym, etc., I think it would be worth researching studios for rent in Corona del Mar (aka "CDM"), which is part of the city of Newport Beach. (Lots of houses in CDM have garage apartments, or other small apartments where young twenty-and-thirty-somethings tend to live.) In Corona del Mar, your "luxury" would be that you could walk to the beach (a very nice one, at that), use the beach as your free gym (whether you do ocean swimming, running along the beach, playing volleyball, hiking up the long, steep hill at one end of the beach, and/or climbing the stairs at the other end, yoga, etc.); walk to restaurants, walk to a grocery store, walk to the weekly farmers' market, walk to (oh, never mind, I was about to say "the library and the post office," but as a 22 year old, you probably won't frequent those places!), and when doing said walking, you will walking amongst some very nice-looking houses/townhomes/condos. It is very much a calm and quiet lifestyle, unlike some other beach areas (such as certain parts of the Balboa Peninsula). Another part of your "luxury" would be that every evening as you drive home from Irvine, you will crest a hill (right by the very nice, outdoor shopping mall Fashion Island), and, on a clear evening, you will be rewarded after your long day at work with a breathtaking, luxurious view of the sparkling ocean and Catalina Island off in the distance -- I can say from personal experience that it is a great de-stresser (and have heard that from many other people as well). With this option, though, there would be less of an opportunity to meet people than there would be at some of the large apartment complexes mentioned above, but, if you are fine with mostly just knowing people from your job at first, that would not be an issue.

It has (sadly!) been years since I had the joy of living in CDM. I have no idea what rental rates are like there today (other than expensive, of course!), so again, I am not certain if $1,600 would get you even a studio in CDM, but, if it sounds appealing, it is worth looking into.