Live in OC or Riverside? (Los Angeles, Anaheim: for sale, foreclosures, low crime)

[ferretkona]

Originally Posted by NaplesRes

An important point to consider is where in OC you are comparing. For example, living in Yorba Linda, Ladera, Coto, Mission Viejo, etc is a lot more like living in the IE ,,,,,

Plus once you get more than 5 miles off the coast the weather gets a lot hotter making the "moderate temp" argument less powerful when comparing OC to the IE.,,,,.

I must have missed that armpit part of Mission Viejo

I disagree on the 5 mile mark, it is very pleasant up to 15 - 20 miles in. When you are still at a elevation of 50 feet there is no discernible difference.

[Coldjensens]

I can tell you a little. When I am in California (about 15 weeks of the year) I live in OC, but most of my work is for clients in the IE (Rancho, Carona, Riverside, S.B., Highland).

Many of my clients are very wealthy but chose to live in Riverside. They have stunning homes compared to what they could afford in OC. However a lot of them move to an OC beach condo or home when they retire. There are some amazing neighborhoods in the IE. Some in Riverside, some in Hemet, some in between.

They do have some really good schools in Riverside, however I cannot tell you where those are. Some parts of the City of Riverside are really horrible. Others are quite nice. There is a historic neighborhood behind the park on Market Street. That neighborhood is unrivaled by anything in OC if you like beautiful architecture and dislike the cookie cutter style of new subdivisions.

Aside from that neighborhood, the fancy homes are mostly in the hills outside of Riverside.


The commute from parts of OC is tolerable. I have made it hundreds of times. Figure on 1 hour each way most of the time from Central OC (Santa Ana). Sometimes you wll be late in traffic, so you may need to leave 1 hr. & 20 minutes to make sure you are always on time. I once made it in 32 minutes. I am not sure how. I was desperate and praying all the way and suddenly I was there on time. Maybe I drove 100 mph without realizing it. I was very stressed. Maybe it was just a miracle. Somehow I did it and avoided losing my career.

You have to pay attention to where you are in OC. You can add half an hour or more depending on your location. Some parts of OC like Yorba Linda are not much different than much of the IE. (Hot and smoggy).

Riverside and the IE is hotter and smoggier, but not all the time. It is also more open (less crowded), slower paced and generally more friendly (depending on where you are and whom you meet). It is nice to be only an hour from the mountains. I like the mountains more than I like the beaches, so Riverside has more appeal to me (but I still chose OC). I know some people who live up in the mountains and commute to Riverside. It is about an hour commute. Sometimes they leave from snow and arrive in Riverside in 80 degree weather. It would be neat to live up there. Given the choice between the mountins or the foothills and OC, I think I would choose the mountains/foothills if I had children, but OC would be more likley with no kids (not better schools, but a better palce and more wholesome place to raise kids). Commuting to the mountains can be very slow on Friday nights because a lot of people go up there for the weekend. You would want to be able to leave early on Fridays. It is much cooler inthe mountains and the smog does not get very far up as far as I know.

There are problems in both places. Riverside and San Bernardino have more crime, more poor people, more hicks. OC has more snobs, more "keep up with the Joneses" mentalitly, more selfishness and materialism. It also has more educated people, more resturaunts, and entertainment venues. OC has more traffic, more crowds, less parking, and higher prices. Riverside has mucho more open space, it also has better access to things like the mountains, river, desert. It has poor accessibility to places like LA, Beaches, and City stuff.

Which you like better will depend in part on you and your preferences and values, and in part on your attitude. If you go into the IE intending to love it, you will. It has a lot to offer, if you really have your heart set on OC, go there, you will never be happy in the IE.

If it were my choice, the first consideration would be your commute. The shorter the better. Your commute distance is tiaghly linked to your overall quality of life in So. Cal. If I lived in California full time, I think that the commute to Riverside would be too far for me to tolerate on a permanent basis. But then to me a tolerable comute is 10 minutes (walking - 2 minute drive). I hate commuting although I tolerate it for other considerations.

Good luck, withthe right attitude and enough research, you cannot make a bad choice. Both options offer wonderful opportunities for a great lifestyle.

[Coldjensens]

Oh, and I wold stay away from Chino. I do nto know how people live there. THe smell is sickening. If you do consider chino, then make sure you go there when the odor is really bad (not bad at all times of the year) so that you know what you are getting into.

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

If you do consider chino, then make sure you go there when the odor is really bad

Example: 2 to 3 days after a good rain. The mixture of cow feces, urine and water has had a few days to bake in the sun and the odor that comes off that stew is nauseating.

[Species 8472]

Varied replies. Some folks have the opinion that a place like Yorba Linda is essentially the same as a quality neighborhood in Riverside.

Does anyone have an estimate (range) of commute times from Yorba Linda to UC Riverside?

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by Species 8472

Varied replies. Some folks have the opinion that a place like Yorba Linda is essentially the same as a quality neighborhood in Riverside.

Does anyone have an estimate (range) of commute times from Yorba Linda to UC Riverside?

1 hour most days. You will probably use the toll lanes just in case.

[pacific2]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

So what's the IE like?

The IE is hotter than the near-coastal areas.

[Count David]

Originally Posted by Species 8472

Varied replies. Some folks have the opinion that a place like Yorba Linda is essentially the same as a quality neighborhood in Riverside.

Does anyone have an estimate (range) of commute times from Yorba Linda to UC Riverside?

There are Yorba Linda quality neighborhoods in Riverside, at a much better price to boot.

There is no need to commute from YL to Riverside IMO. That's hours of life wasted on the freeway.

[Socalpal]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

There are Yorba Linda quality neighborhoods in Riverside, at a much better price to boot.

There is no need to commute from YL to Riverside IMO. That's hours of life wasted on the freeway.

It would not be prudent to invest money in Riverside. Yorba Linda is an executive community Riverside is a commuter community.

Before making such a blanket statement I urge you to visit several parts of Yorba Linda then make your determination that Yorba Linda neighborhoods are congruent with Riverside neighborhoods. The schools are 10x better in Yorba Linda, the quality of resident is 100x better in Yorba Linda, housing prices and quality of housing stock are much higher in Yorba Linda. Historically Yorba Linda has been a bastion of wealth, where as Riverside has been an affordable place for young families to move to. When selling your home it will be much tougher to realize any sort of gains in Riverside as opposed to Yorba Linda.

Please give me specific neighborhoods in Yorba Linda which compare to Riverside ones. This statement is not true, I have seen most neighborhoods in both areas and you cannot compare the two. Riverside is a slum Yorba Linda is a white collared community. Homes in Yorba Linda regularly sell for 3 million plus, Yorba Linda has an Average HH INcome of 120k +, You are simply wrong and misleading the OP by stating that these two communities are even on the same page. Please post some facts before making statements which have no merit.

[pacific2]

the quality of resident is 100x better in Yorba Linda,

Money ¹ Quality.