Raising a family within an hour of Carson? (Long Beach, Santa Ana: house, safe area)

[smbartl5]

Hi there, we are planning on relocating from the Atlanta suburbs for a job in Carson (right at the 405 and 110 intersection) and looking at a place in Orange County to raise our 2 kids, 1 yr old and 4 yr old.

We currently LOVE our surburbia neighborhood home that's 40 min south of Atlanta with large lots, culdesac for the kids to play in and ride their bikes around, near other young families, with parks and activities in the big suburban community. However, I realize we wont have $2-3M for an equivalent house out there! (sticker shock hit bad). We don't need a lot of entertainment or restaurants, nightlife, but want a safe area with decent schools.

I also don't mind a 1 hour commute, if it's for the right area (working hours likely 7-4 or 9-6).

Budget ~$4k / mo rent, desiring detached home, 3/2 w/ garage.

We were considering Irvine, but read a lot about the feeling of the schools being just too competitive and tremendous pressure to perform, and that's not an environment we'd want our kids in.

Some other areas we are looking at, but not sure how they stack up with what we are looking for (and within that 1 hr commute time):

-Huntington Beach (targeting Huntington Harbour area)
-Lake Forest
-Placentia
-Newport Beach
-Redondo Beach (I know not OC but close proximity to Carson...)
-Laguna Woods (too far?)
-Laguna Hills (too far?)
-Mission Viejo (too far?)

Any other recommendations, anything we are missing or considering that we shouldn't?

I don't want to look too far inland; if were in OC I'd prefer to take advantage of the great coastline and better climate.

Thanks in advance for the feedback!

[saibot]

Laguna Woods is a 55+ community, so that's out right off the bat.

I'm an OC native; I currently live in South OC and love it, so I understand why your search is mainly in the southern parts of OC. But I honestly think that areas like Lake Forest and Mission Viejo are too far for a reasonable commute to Carson. If you look up commute times right now, they probably don't look that bad, but over the past eight months we've kind of forgotten how bad the traffic used to be and will be again in normal times. It used to take me nearly an hour to get up the 405 from Mission Viejo just to Westminster, and Carson is a lot farther than that. It would be an awful commute.

Newport Beach and other coastal areas are likely out of your price range. You might be able to find something in Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa or Fountain Valley. Parts of Tustin are nice. Placentia and Yorba Linda are also nice but too far. Or how about Lakewood; there are some areas that are not bad and the city is relatively well run.

Irvine, well...seems people love it or hate it. It's become the "big name" in OC and people pay a premium to be able to say they live there, but it's not all that, in my opinion.

[Keknoob]

Cerritos, Redondo beach, Torrance. Maybe palos verdes if you can find something in your price range.

[TimTheEnchanter]

I'd look in Cypress, West Garden Grove, Los Alamitos, South Long Beach (Bixby area), Seal Beach and maybe Fountain Valley.


The "big name" in OC is still Newport Beach. Irvine is where people go when they can't afford it.

[saibot]

Originally Posted by TimTheEnchanter

The "big name" in OC is still Newport Beach. Irvine is where people go when they can't afford it.

Newport Beach is also a big name, but it doesn't present itself in quite the same way that Irvine does. For what the OP is looking for (suburban family neighborhood with SFHs, lots of kids, and great schools), most would think of Irvine before Newport Beach. But if you say that's just marketing, I would agree with you.

[Ergo Para Bellum]

Originally Posted by TimTheEnchanter

The "big name" in OC is still Newport Beach. Irvine is where people go when they can't afford it.

That's a lofty statement. I am not sure I agree. Many could look at NP as simply "Irvine's beach".

[timtemtym]

I don't know what your price range would get you, but I would recommend looking at Torrance if you want that coastal weather with single family homes. You definitely aren't going to find anywhere near the space and quiet you're used to that far south of Atlanta, but Torrance is closer to work and has great schools and safe neighborhoods (especially west of the mall).

Cerritos is very nice! I love that city because you can literally see where the city limits stop. Cerritos is very well kept and has nice neighborhoods and parks. Cypress is great as well. Lakewood is an old area, but also decent. It was one of those post WWII instant suburbs that sprang up quickly, but it is nice.

Fullerton would be a good north OC choice. Placentia (in my opinion) is quite run down.

I wouldn't go much farther out. The 91 is brutal in the morning and afternoons, so is the 405.

[Racer46]

Originally Posted by Ergo Para Bellum

That's a lofty statement. I am not sure I agree. Many could look at NP as simply "Irvine's beach".

Irvine is simply one of Newport Beach's "suburbs". It used to be empty land under the Irvine company. Irvine as a city did not exist anywhere near as long as NB has.

[Ergo Para Bellum]

Originally Posted by Racer46

Irvine is simply one of Newport Beach's "suburbs". It used to be empty land under the Irvine company. Irvine as a city did not exist anywhere near as long as NB has.

This is the same as the nonsensical vision that Santa Ana has: That all of OC is a suburb of Santa Ana because it predates...

I call it silly. The truth is that southern and central OC is a pact of small cities banded together with some larger ones in north OC that few genuinely wish to fully claim as many have become ethno burbs for Greater LA.

Most of the areas in south and central OC are new or newer. The fact that one city tends to predate another by a little bit and is thus adjacent newer (often much larger) cities are its supposed suburbs, is specious.

[Gaylord_Focker]

Originally Posted by Ergo Para Bellum

That's a lofty statement. I am not sure I agree. Many could look at NP as simply "Irvine's beach".

Yep. I think Irvine is often considered the hub of OC.