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Question to those familiar with Southern California...
We live in Orange County, and looking to spend no more than 400K. It's just the two of us, so we don't need a big place, 2 maybe 3 bedrooms and hoping to stay put for as long as possible.
So, would it be better to go with a condo or townhouse closer to the coast like Laguna Niguel,or Huntington Beach, or an older small Single Family house (with no HOA fees) in the older part of Lake Forest or North County like Santa Ana, or Anaheim?
We've already done a pro and cons thing with both types of housing, so this is a question about the better investment for the long run. We could get a pretty nice condo (although we'd be mindful of the HOA to add to our monthly expense), but finding an SFR for that price in a decent neighborhood would be trickier.
we went through that execise about a decade ago and ended with a condo in Redondo Beach. The homes we could afford had too many flaws, so we chose better area and better schools and it worked out well. But, we did look at places that needed updating and repair, which I did mostly myself. Just my opinion.
If you aren't beach people there's no reason I can see to pay extra to be close to the sand.
Still, not a lot of home choices...
Moderator cut: can only cite realtor.com
We're not on the sand/in the water beach folk, but there's a certain point where you can feel the sea breeze and take a quick drive to where you can see the ocean and beautiful sunset. We do that now from our apartment in Mission Viejo. We can feel the difference in the air at a certain point, and surely wouldn't mind being closer to that air, or live in it!
So relatively closer to the beach maybe a 5-15 minute drive that Laguna Niguel would provide rather than the 30 to 40 minute drive from Anahiem or Fullerton for example.
And yeah, inventory is "low". Bad bad banks! (again!) Grrrr...
The thing with Laguna Niguel is that, while it is closer to the beach than Lake Forest, it isn't AT the beach, so I'm not sure it would carry much of that "beach" cachet and value. My intuition (based on absolutely no data at all) would be that a true beach location (Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, etc.) would have a good chance of holding long term value better than an inland location. But I'm not convinced that Laguna Niguel would fall into that category. That said, of the places you listed, Laguna Niguel is my favorite (and indeed is the only one from that list we seriously considered buying in during our recent house search).
The thing with Laguna Niguel is that, while it is closer to the beach than Lake Forest, it isn't AT the beach, so I'm not sure it would carry much of that "beach" cachet and value. My intuition (based on absolutely no data at all) would be that a true beach location (Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, etc.) would have a good chance of holding long term value better than an inland location. But I'm not convinced that Laguna Niguel would fall into that category. That said, of the places you listed, Laguna Niguel is my favorite (and indeed is the only one from that list we seriously considered buying in during our recent house search).
Ah, happy house hunting!
Suppose we could coin the term "semi-coastal"? That area where you can sort of get a little ocean breeze, and see the coastal marine layer from a balcony or hill!
I can definitely sense that the ocean is near in LN compared to Mission Viejo, or Rancho Santa Margarita.
Also the prices go up the near the water even if it isn't right at the beach itself of course, so back to my original query...
I've heard it said "location location" and schools, but I've also heard that SFRs will always be valuable because you get your own land. (Provided the neighborhood is not a haven for gangs and such)
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