Best place in Southern California to relocate to with my family? (Long Beach: house, neighborhoods)

[marcellamiami]

My family is relocating for my husbands work from Miami, FL to Southern California. My husband will be traveling for work every week, but his main office will be in Santa Ana when he is in town. He mostly works from home, but will likely have to go to the office and the airport once or twice weekly. My husband, 9 and 11 year old daughters, and I, are going to visit California in March to decide which city we are going to live in! Please give me your advise?

Our Priority is an excellent public middle and high school. We are looking for a good safe community to raise our girls in. We want a single family home under $1.5 million with at least 3 bedrooms and 2000 square feet, although 4 bedrooms, a bit of a yard, and 2500 square feet would be better. The areas we are currently considering apparently within our price range and in order of school preference (from what I see online and with no personal experience) are

Palos Verdes Estates- Palos Verdes High School zone,
Newport Beach- Corona del Mar High School zone, and
Laguna Niguel- Aliso Niguel High School zone.

I was also told to consider
Mission Viejo- Trabuco Hills High School zone,
Ladera Ranch- Tesoro High School zone,
Huntington Beach- Edison High School zone,
Dana Point- Dana Hills High School zone, and
San Clemente- San Clemente High School zone.

I have gotten advise, looked at school rankings, and SAT scores and have come up with this list. However, there is no replacement for personal experience. Please share with me about your experience with these areas and schools? While I want an excellent school for my kids I also want balance and quality of life as a family. I need to narrow it down before our trip next month! It is a very important life changing decision for my family. Your input is greatly appreciated!

[Count David]

Not Palos Verdes Estates.

[marcellamiami]

Why not David?

[ExeterMedia]

Because your commute would be annoying. PV is a bit far from the freeway, then you have to deal with a South 405 commute 2x a week. Not good

[Count David]

Originally Posted by exetermedia

because your commute would be annoying. Pv is a bit far from the freeway, then you have to deal with a south 405 commute 2x a week. Not good

+1

[Joe Van Fossen]

The only place in Newport that has homes meeting your requirements is in the upper newport bay, east of Jamboree in the Newport North Villas. They are nice homes with pretty good square footage and great layouts. However, the inventory is pretty low (I see 3 active listings) so you wouldn't have much to choose from. The other areas may offer a bit more home/land for your money. In addition to Laguna Niguel, I'd also recommend Aliso Viejo...

I can give you some personal insight on Aliso Niguel as a former student -- though things have probably changed a bit since I graduated in the late 90s. I thought it offered a good amount of balance of arts, academics, technology/media and even some life skills classes. There was also a strong emphasis on physical education and fitness that I wasn't too fond of at the time, but can see its value in retrospect. Two of my best friends at Aliso scored very high on their SATs and would later go on to Ivy League schools.

[thelopez2]

PV - I commuted from South Redondo to Costa Mesa for a couple of years, at least it is against traffic. Traffic was only a couple of miles at about Beach Blvd for a couple of miles then mysteriously pics up again. The 22 E isn't bad at all.

PV would add a few minutes more because at some point you'd have to travel north with traffic to the 405 or just take PCH all the way to the 22 , a route which I never tried.

Don't buy in PV until you also drive to the house at night there. PV also has microclimate with some area , below, in the middle, and above the fog.

PV does have decent access to LAX and Long Beach air port. 30 minutes with no traffic.

Have you looked up Parras middle school in South Redondo?

[rollinslite]

I can recommend Dana Point. Homes within your budget, easy access to the freeway, nice neighborhoods and schools. Great weather, even compared to a couple miles inland. However, that's predicated on your tolerance of the commute. Day in, day out drives north of the 'Y' could be soul sucking and make you want to invest in a toll road pass quickly if he works on the west side of Santa Ana.

[socalinnorcal]

Ladera Ranch

[ExeterMedia]

Honestly with that budget I would cross Newport/CDM, PV, and Dana Point off your list. You aren't going to have many options for a 4 bedroom house and 2,500 sqft.

Mission Viejo, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Niguel, I think you would get much more bang for your bucks.