Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > Orange County
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 03-08-2018, 06:16 AM
 
Location: Wilmington, DE
4 posts, read 4,857 times
Reputation: 10

Advertisements

Considering a job offer in Santa Ana where I would be making between $100k/$125k. Wife can hopefully find something in hospitality or senior care making $25k/$35k So a combined income of $150k+

We have a daughter that will be entering 11th grade in HS coming from a top ranked Charter School where she is doing very well. A son that is graduating this year and going to school in Burbank for a year. (he will commute in his Prius or live near school)


Questions:

Where is an affordable and safe place to rent a 3br house/townhouse?

Is it possible to find a decent community at our salary or will we end up homeless or in the ghetto?

High School transfer for my daughter is extremely important to me as I don't want her in a sub standard HS to finish her last two years.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

We do have friends in Newport Beach and my brother lives in Venice.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 03-08-2018, 06:44 AM
 
Location: Charlotte
2,411 posts, read 2,690,627 times
Reputation: 3339
What do you consider affordable?

Is $2,400 a month affordable to you? $2,800 a month?

Getting in a good high school district + affordable don't typically go hand in hand, so what is your budget?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-08-2018, 08:23 AM
 
14,299 posts, read 11,677,294 times
Reputation: 39059
There are excellent and highly ranked high schools throughout Orange County (School Rankings for the Orange County, California).

Working in Santa Ana, which is in the middle of the county, I'd suggest looking north to Fullerton, Placentia, or Brea. Many of the southern and coastal cities are going to be out of your budget and/or make for an unpleasant commute.

Rentals with three bedrooms are going to be $2500 or more in any decent area near Santa Ana, so you will need to run the numbers to see if that is doable on your salary.

Be careful when looking because there are some bad areas of Santa Ana, Anaheim, Garden Grove, etc., that may very well be cheaper but you don't want to live there.

Also, Santa Ana to Burbank is about 1.5 hours, one way, through horrible traffic. That's not a commute I would wish on your son. Is having him live near the school going to be a strain on your budget?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-08-2018, 09:17 AM
 
Location: San Diego, CA
3,416 posts, read 2,452,880 times
Reputation: 6166
Quote:
Originally Posted by veganmike311 View Post

We do have friends in Newport Beach and my brother lives in Venice.
Looks like a great backup plan, if they’re willing. Use your friends Newport Beach address whe enrolling your daughter in school, and have your son stay with his uncle M-F for the year. You and your wife should have no problem finding a good rental with your income.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-08-2018, 10:00 AM
 
14,299 posts, read 11,677,294 times
Reputation: 39059
Quote:
Originally Posted by TacoSoup View Post
Looks like a great backup plan, if they’re willing. Use your friends Newport Beach address whe enrolling your daughter in school, and have your son stay with his uncle M-F for the year. You and your wife should have no problem finding a good rental with your income.
Ha, not a bad idea.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-11-2018, 11:55 AM
 
Location: Wilmington, DE
4 posts, read 4,857 times
Reputation: 10
What about Irvine?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-11-2018, 08:45 PM
 
14,299 posts, read 11,677,294 times
Reputation: 39059
Irvine is extremely safe and has great schools but is expensive. It is majority Asian and a magnet for wealthy Chinese investors. There are other OC cities that also have great schools and are safe, but are not the "big name" that Irvine is, so they are a little cheaper.

It really would be helpful to have an idea of your housing budget.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-15-2018, 09:50 AM
 
1,221 posts, read 1,046,669 times
Reputation: 1017
Quote:
Originally Posted by veganmike311 View Post
Considering a job offer in Santa Ana where I would be making between $100k/$125k. Wife can hopefully find something in hospitality or senior care making $25k/$35k So a combined income of $150k+

We have a daughter that will be entering 11th grade in HS coming from a top ranked Charter School where she is doing very well. A son that is graduating this year and going to school in Burbank for a year. (he will commute in his Prius or live near school)


Questions:

Where is an affordable and safe place to rent a 3br house/townhouse?

Is it possible to find a decent community at our salary or will we end up homeless or in the ghetto?

High School transfer for my daughter is extremely important to me as I don't want her in a sub standard HS to finish her last two years.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

We do have friends in Newport Beach and my brother lives in Venice.
Decent 3 bedroom rentals will cost around $3k in the nicer parts of OC. you can find 3 bedrooms lower than that but you'll be looking at homes that are somewhat older.


If your son will live with you then I would look at Fullerton or Brea. Fullerton has both Troy and Sunny Hills High which are ranked among the top schools in California. Brea Olinda high school is also pretty good and Brea is also a desirable place to live. Yorba Linda also has great schools but even from Brea/Fullerton it's already a painful drive to Burbank and Yorba Linda is even farther.


If your son ends up living near his school then I would choose Irvine due to highly rated schools and easy drive to Santa Ana. But do keep in mind that Irvine has a certain master planned (cookie cutter) feel that some like and some don't.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-20-2018, 09:31 AM
 
Location: Grosse Ile Michigan
30,708 posts, read 79,764,742 times
Reputation: 39453
Does your daughter have any artistic talent? OCHSA is a decent high school, and you could live in some of the nicer areas of Santa Ana, Tustin or Orange and still be reasonably close. These areas are considerably less expensive.

https://www.usnews.com/education/bes...-the-arts-3371

https://www.niche.com/k12/search/bes...nge-county-ca/
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > California > Orange County
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:55 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top