Relocation from Florida to Lake Forest (Los Angeles, Huntington Beach: sales, real estate market, leasing)

[Gator cooley]

I recently received a promotion offer to move to OC from Florida. The job is located in Lake Forest. I am trying to better understand and quantify the cost of living difference I will experience. The new job pays an additional $ 25,000.

I have children, ages 4 and 8. What areas should I look to live, given the school systems and commute time? I prefer not to commute more than 30 minutes or so.

I expect my home in Florida to sell for around $ 800,000. What can I expect to buy in OC in the same price range? Given the current real estate/economy situation, should I look to rent or purchase? how much has the real estate market declined in the last couple of years?

My home in Florida has an ocean view and backs up to the intercoastal waterway with boat/dock. So, I am already expecting to be shocked to see what the same money will buy in OC.

Lastly, I am interested in hearing from anyone regarding their experience with relcation packages, especially when moving from a much less expensive area. My company may be flexible in this area, so I need to know what to ask for, besides the usual reimbursements.

Thank you very much for any input you can share.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Gator cooley

Lastly, I am interested in hearing from anyone regarding their experience with relcation packages, especially when moving from a much less expensive area. My company may be flexible in this area, so I need to know what to ask for, besides the usual reimbursements.

Do you really expect to sell your home? Or, will your company buy it from you based on the average of a couple or more appraisals? I have been through two company relos so I know how this works.

My company has in addition to the standard relocation package, a matrix which each city and each city's "rating" as an expensive place to live. For example, Huntsville may be a "1" and Los Angeles a "15". From that 14 point difference, an adjustment is made to the relocator's benefit, as a multiplier of (I forgot) of something like 5%s. So, from Huntsville to LA would provide 14 * 5% = 70% of his salary (I may be screwing these numbers up..) additional money when moving from a low cost to a high cost area. It only works from low to high (meaning they don't take money away going from LA to HSV). So if the salary is $100K, you get an additional $70K to use as a down payment. (As I recall, the numbers were a lot higher than that...so I may have in fact screwed up on my numbers...)

This home website City Data has recent sales data. You should work it. Also, zillow and trulia have all sorts of tools, I think with recent sales data tool.

check www.sigalert.com during the times you expect to commute to get an idea of traffic at rush hour.

You may want to read this:

Relocation Negotiation from Monster Career Advice

Also, this should help you with schools:

http://schoolperformancemaps.com/ca/...5%2C12%2C1%2C2

[Gator cooley]

Charles:
Thanks alot for the reply and the links. Unfortunately, we are a small company and do not have such a sophisticated relocation matrix guideline. In fact, I'm the first major relocaton they've incurred from outside of California. No formal relo policy exists, so I need to identify my needs and present it to the management.

[EscapeCalifornia]

The good news is that Lake Forest is a nice area surrounded by other nice areas so you won't be forced to drive a long distance from work to find a safe place to live. $800k will get you a nice house these days in Lake Forest or any of the surrounding cities like Irvine or Mission Viejo. Look on realtor.com for active listings. Housing prices are still coming down so I'd rent until the market stabilizes. All three cities I mentioned have small man-make lakes (Mission Viejo's being the largest) so you might be able to get your water fix to a point although I don't know what houses right on the water go for.

[missionhome]

I would rent now until things stabilize. 2009 could either be a recovery or way worse than the past couple of months. You don't want to buy a house that just looses value a month later.

Lake Forest is a nice city and is surrounded by other nice cities all that can be as close as 5 to 25 minutes from work. You won't even have to get on the freeway and deal with horrible traffic. Lake Forest itself, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Rancho Santa Margarita, and Laguna Hills are probably where you should be looking.

$800k right now can buy a nice 2,500-3,400+ square foot home in these cities I mentioned above. Ocean front or view property for a nice home like you have in Florida is honestly not really in your price range. You can get ocean close though and be like ten minutes from the beach. Mission Viejo has custom homes on a man made lake but they cost over $2 million. Lake Forest has some homes on a even smaller man made lake (you can't swim in it though, you can in Lake MV), and there are some waterfront homes in your price range, but you are looking at 1,500-2,100 square feet instead of the 3,400 square feet you could get in another Lake Forest neighborhood. I am not sure about the lakes in Irvine. School Districts for the mentioned communities are: Saddleback Valley Unified (Lake Forest, Laguna Hills, part of Rancho Santa Margarita, parts of Mission Viejo), Capistrano Unified (parts of Rancho Santa Margarita, parts of Mission Viejo), and Irvine Unified (Irvine).

Please look at the "Pictures of Orange County Thread" at the top of our subforum to see a great collection of photos from Lake Forest and its surrounding cities.

[OC Investor2]

As several other posters mentioned, You are relocating to a great area and have several good housing options in your price range. My guess is an $800k place in FL on the water is pretty plush. In OC, $800m will buy you a nice home 2400-3000 sq ft home in a solid upper middle class suburb like Irvine, Mission Viejo, etc.

As Mission mentioned, seriousy look at renting for the first year. OC Real estate is projected to decline over -20% in 2009 in a recent Fortune magazine article. Given the state of the economy and the potentail loss, I would wait it out and see how things look in another 6-9 months.

As far as schools, all of the districts in the area are pretty solid, but I would say Irvine & Mission Viejo offer the best schools.

Good luck & welcome to Orange County.

[bhcompy]

and if u wanted a nice waterfront home, at least to check price comparisons, check out balboa/balboa island and lido isle for top end comparisons within 30min of lake forest

[AKgirlinCA]

For $800k I would look more in Mission Viejo and Laguna Niguel - LN is closer to the ocean than any of the others mentioned. LF is okay, but MV and the others are a bit nicer. RSM is nice too, and is a bedroom community with beautiful mtn views ( MV has these too ) . For your price range, please don't limit yourself to LF. Irvine is very, very nice as well. Excellent schools, very safe, close to the SNA airport, close to most jobs in OC, close to your job in LF etc. Irvine is very cookie cutter but lots of ppl like that. It also has the Irvine Spectrum which is fun. Just to recap, for your price range please look at the following in no particular order:
Mission Viejo
Rancho Santa Margarita (RSM)
Irvine
Laguna Hills
Laguna Niguel
Aliso Viejo
Ladera Ranch is gorgeous BUT you will have mello roos.

All will be close to LF.
Let us know if you have any additional questions. Oh just a side note, there are lots of older, nice established neighborhoods in MV that do not have the annoying HOA with the fees and rules etc.

Missionhome is very knowledgable about MV as well.

[LAMelanie]

Honestly, you can probably get a home in Huntington Beach maybe a mile from the beach or so for 800,000, but your commute will be more than 30 minutes.

[Gator cooley]

Thanks to all for the great input. At this point, I do not have an desire to be near the ocean or water. I would rather have more home for my money inland.

I am looking for a gated type of planned development, preferably with a tennis community, and activities for children, ages 4 and 8. Looking to spend around $800k for a house.
Although I will also strongly consider leasing a home in the area for a year until the market stabilizes a bit, and get to know the "lay of the land" as well.
Still needs to be a reasonable commute (no more than 30 minutes) to Lake Forest.
Which communities should I be considering?
Thanks again.