Is Riverside safe? Cause what I'm reading is scary... (San Bernardino: brokers, new home)

[surfcitydeb]

I have lived in Cali my entire life; LA County and Orange County areas. Keep in mind that Riverside has a lot of lower income households and that always translates into higher crime rates due to drugs and gangs. However, if you are working and living in a working class neighborhood within the city you are not going to be interacting with drug users and gang members, but your child will most likely be going to school with them! Consider homeschooling online with K-12 online school which is state certified or enrollment into private schooling.

[Twinkle Toes]

Originally Posted by surfcitydeb

I have lived in Cali my entire life; LA County and Orange County areas. Keep in mind that Riverside has a lot of lower income households and that always translates into higher crime rates due to drugs and gangs. However, if you are working and living in a working class neighborhood within the city you are not going to be interacting with drug users and gang members, but your child will most likely be going to school with them! Consider homeschooling online with K-12 online school which is state certified or enrollment into private schooling.

Have you ever actually lived in Riverside? You make it sound as though there are no "lower income households" in LA or OC, and no "higher crime rates due to drugs and gangs" in LA or OC. I guess, according to you, there are no wealthy people or affluent areas anywhere in Riverside. Again, have you ever lived in Riverside? Have you ever actually driven around the many different areas in Riverside? If you would ever actually take the time to check out the different areas in Riverside, you might be pleasantly surprised. You might find that Riverside isn't the ghetto you make it out to be.

[Fontucky]

According to the data here at C-D, the Riverside crime index (2010) is 315. National average is 319.

[MrTudo]

I would like to hear more about Riverside, if there's a positive view toward retiring in Riverside and if you liked a more suburban neighborhood with trees and shade at under 450K where would you like assuming a single family home is truly do able for that amount of money.

[Joe Van Fossen]

You can do very well in Riverside for under $450k. You can get a nice 3bd/2ba SFR in Riverside for under $250K in a decent neighborhood. With a budget of $450K you can find something in a good area in OC. You won't have as much square footage or yard space, but most of OC is the epitome of suburbia.

I thought more people actually left California to retire in FL or NV, not the other way around.

[Spikett]

My mom lived in Riverside for years after she retired (until last year) and never had a single problem. She really enjoyed living there. She was in a nice apt near Magnolia and Jackson. We often went out to eat in the Tyler Galleria area, enjoyed the Mission Inn area and downtown, driving down Victoria past what is left of the orange groves, etc... Loved the easy drive down the 15 to SD, or going north to Big Bear. Nice low key area with nice people. Clerks at the grocery, drug stores, etc. were always so nice. And she had many friends in her apt complex. She was a petite woman who didn't drive but walked a lot - and not one problem. When she was working and I was growing up in Nashville, TN she was mugged several times. I'm sure there are some bad areas of Riverside but there are bad areas in any city of any size. Riverside can be a great place to live and shouldn't be overlooked.

[GatsbyGatz]

Riverside is a beautiful city! It has some working class neighborhoods, but it's such a huge city that it's not surprising. As a whole though, crime is very low for a city of its size. The architecture in many parts of the city are so charming and the many hills and trees are gorgeous. Anyone who questions Riverside's beauty needs to take a drive up an down Canyon Crest.

[loloroj]

I'm in my 40's and from the Bay Area, but my dad was from Socal and had family in Riverside, and we would visit every year. Within my lifetime, I've seen what has taken place with Riverside in particular and Socal in general, and imo, little of that change has been any good.

Riverside was famous for its orange groves and vineyards, the bedrock of the area was agriculture. All of that is pretty much gone, destroyed by real estate speculation and outright greed. Both Riverside and San Bernardino counties, during the last decade, were the fastest growing areas economically in the U.S., but it wasn't based on anything sustainable. With almost no oversight in mortgage underwriting, the area had skyrocketing land values, and people attempted to cash in, including me. My buddy and I bought a 5-plex on 14th Street in the city, watched it go from $125k to over $200k almost overnight, and we were both stunned. But then, about 2005, the bubble began to burst, and we made the decision to get out. Thankfully, we listened to Marcus & Millichap analysts who said that the RE market was becoming unstable and cashed out.

The upshot is that Riverside has seen some of the worst RE deflation in the nation. New home after new home is empty, in many cases, after never been lived in. Right now, there is a echo of that good times in that homes are now selling again. But as in the case of Temecula, my friend paid $305k for a home which originally sold for over $600k. We both know that the price he paid, even if it's 1/2 of the original price, isn't a good deal because housing prices will go down again, due to the fact there is no real job growth in Socal. (He's an engineer for the Navy, the original owner was a CHP officer. He has three kids and his priorities are to buy a home due to having a somewhat secure job) So if you move to Riverside and buy a house, expect to be upside down on it sometime relatively soon. Because of the ridiculous run-up in housing, the prices are still WAY,WAY overvalued. That to me is far more of a threat than gangs or violence, though drugs are a huge problem in the area.

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by loloroj

The upshot is that Riverside has seen some of the worst RE deflation in the nation. New home after new home is empty, in many cases, after never been lived in.

That doesn't apply to the city of Riverside, which is what the OP was asking about.

[BlueyedCat]

Originally Posted by Twinkle Toes

Have you ever actually lived in Riverside? You make it sound as though there are no "lower income households" in LA or OC, and no "higher crime rates due to drugs and gangs" in LA or OC. I guess, according to you, there are no wealthy people or affluent areas anywhere in Riverside. Again, have you ever lived in Riverside? Have you ever actually driven around the many different areas in Riverside? If you would ever actually take the time to check out the different areas in Riverside, you might be pleasantly surprised. You might find that Riverside isn't the ghetto you make it out to be.

I agree 100%. There are so many nice areas in Riverside. Many upscale areas.