Westside Costa Mesa Opportunity Zone vs. Great Park Neighborhoods (Cadence Park) (Long Beach: for sale, renters)

[SPCorBUST]

Any thoughts on this area? Seems to be a lot of ~$1M homes going up and sold in the Westside Costa Mesa area, and it's piqued my interest. I've read older threads and heard anecdotes about it night being so nice (gangs, drugs, homeless) around the 19th street area, and heard conflicting accounts in the same threads as well as experienced differently myself. The places I'm looking at are further south/west towards the intersections of 17th and Pomona and 16th and Placentia. I'm concerned about safety, but also the social aspects (demographics, vibe of people living here), as well as schools, it seems like the development(s) are zoned for Newport Heights, Ensign, and Newport Harbor. Seems like its a bit of an "across the tracks" situation withe the 55/Newport as the divider...? We're a young family (3 under 5, one almost teenager) considering the move, so just trying to get a handle on this.

I'll be comparing notes to my living experiences from Culver City, northwestern Kentucky, Oahu (Windward side), downtown Chicago (Merch Mart area), Minnesota (Brooklyn Park), Long Beach (north-ish), Irvine (south of 405 and north of 5), and Placentia (CSUF exit).

We're also considering the Great Parks neighborhoods, specifically Cadence Park area near Portola. Really not keen on the proximity of the OC landfill, it has me concerned about air and water quality, and besides beach proximity it's pretty hard to beat everything else they've got going on.

[Finper]

East side Costa Mesa has long been considered the best side. I lived there in the 90's and loved it. My friend lives at Harbor and Adams and the houses for sale are all over a million there!! Your right homeless is out of control and I saw a couple hookers on Harbor. I'd never buy or even rent on the West side but think it's rapidly gentrifying so in 10 years it might be worth the crazy house prices. I wouldn't be surprised.

[ElDiabloJoe]

Originally Posted by SPCorBUST

Any thoughts on this area? Seems to be a lot of ~$1M homes going up and sold in the Westside Costa Mesa area, and it's piqued my interest. I've read older threads and heard anecdotes about it night being so nice (gangs, drugs, homeless) around the 19th street area, and heard conflicting accounts in the same threads as well as experienced differently myself. The places I'm looking at are further south/west towards the intersections of 17th and Pomona and 16th and Placentia. I'm concerned about safety, but also the social aspects (demographics, vibe of people living here), as well as schools, it seems like the development(s) are zoned for Newport Heights, Ensign, and Newport Harbor. Seems like its a bit of an "across the tracks" situation withe the 55/Newport as the divider...? We're a young family (3 under 5, one almost teenager) considering the move, so just trying to get a handle on this.

That area is largely Spanish (ONLY) speaking. High percentage of renters in dense 4 or 16-plexes, most in the service-industry (if legal) or day-laborer (if illegal). Many people aimlessly walking around in the middle of the day. Many, many, many addicted-homeless wandering around 16th/17th/18th all hours of day and night.

That's just from my observations. Your mileage may vary.