Thousand Oaks or Mission Viejo (Long Beach, Santa Ana: fit in, transplants, HOA)

[MovingfromWI2CA]

Please help. We are moving from Wisconsin (formerly of FL) to California. I have really enjoyed the change of seasons and the friendly people here in the Midwest. We never liked the heat and humidity in FL. Time to move again, I've done a little research and found that Mission Viejo and Thousand Oaks are especially safe. That's a start. I'm looking on realtor.com for houses around $1M and it's so hard to narrow things down without driving around. We will have limited time to look and make a decision so I'm asking for some help from the locals.

We'll need to be located about an hour or so from L.A. I've looked in some areas north of L.A. such as Thousand Oaks, Camarillo (nice big lots, but I'm reading that the schools are not good), Agoura Hills, Moorpark, Westlake, and some areas in the south such as Mission Viejo, Irvine, San Juan Capistrano, Lake Forest.


Here are things we love in this order:
safety
good schools...not 100% test driven, but child-centered, focused on age appropriate expectations, driven by academic achievement, as well as social social skills & character education
a sense of community - friendly, down to earth neighbors
family oriented activities, churches
parks, recreation, YMCA, little league, nature, wildlife, TREES, GREEN
1/2 acre - 1 acre lot with room to play and relax - but not isolated
cooler summers around 85 ....breezes would be nice too.
farmer's markets, orchards, petting zoos (ok guess I need to accept the fact that we won't be in Wisconsin anymore, huh?)
some diversity - not everyone else being just like us, different races, religions, and socio economic status is good
good restaurants & Starbucks not too far away
shopping not too far away: Target, Walmart, Mervyn's Costco,
cultural activities not too far away
well kept homes but that don't all look the same...some personality

Here are things we want to avoid:
high crime
houses right on top of each other
keep up with the joneses, superficial, drive the right car, wear the right clothes, plastic surgery obsessed, out do everyone else, mentality
FIRES (are trabuco canyon and portola hills known for this?)
HOT SMOGGY SUMMERS in the 90-100 range
Home owner's associations - been there done that...if i have a quarter-sized rust stain on my driveway, I don't want a letter

So what do you think? Both areas have nice houses in our price range. I'm having difficulty finding larger lots near Mission Viejo. Which area is cooler in the summer?

Thank you for any input you may have.

[Cali_Okie_Girl]

Well Oak Park the only thing i can tell you about that is that the schools r good but the area its self i very rich and all the dislikes u posted they have. Agoura Hills is good if u live in Old Agoura its kinda spread out, TO is great but im not sure about their schools...if you have any questions feel free to pm. i use to live in those areas!

[BRinSM]

Having experience with both south OC and the TO area, I can tell you that both are very similar. Both of these areas are "white flight" places with lots of cookie cutter housing and goods schools. Because of this, both are safe and fairly expensive. I think that both areas meet all of your requirements, but just remember, minus a few pockets of asians, these areas are nearly completely white, which may or may not deter you.

The only real difference that I've seen in the two areas is the type of white people that you will be dealing with. TO was developed as a suburb to LA, so the people there tend to be more liberal, and even though a lot of these people don't like LA, they are very much influenced by LA behavior. In south OC, your quite a ways from LA, so the people have more of the OC or SD state of mind and tend to be more conservative and lead more of a "beach lifestyle". Being from the midwest, my guess is that you'd probably fit in better in OC than TO, but I could be completely wrong. I have found that OC people tend to be very judgemental, on par with any wealthy area in southern CA. So the fact that your from the midwest might be turn off to people you meet there. However, I think as long as you are friendly and nice to people and don't go on about where you're from, you should have not problems getting along with people.

Other areas you might want to consider with more midwest transplants are the IE (inland empire) communities. It is definitely a bit warmer here, but houses are cheaper and there are plenty of safe communities with good schools (ie Corona and Norco, Rancho Cucamonga, Temecula, etc...)

[bhcompy]

Trabuco Canyon has fires, though maybe not as much as other places. They had a significant one last year during Santa Ana wind conditions right off the toll road I believe. It will also have a slightly higher temperature because of the mountains/hills blocking some of the sea breeze.

As far as HOA, well, thats going to be a problem anywhere you're looking at million dollar residential homes. A rural property maybe not so much, but you'll find it difficult to find that south Orange County.

Honestly, at your price point, you may want to try Rolling Hills, Palos Verdes, or Rancho Palos Verdes. Stays cool because its right on the coast, people aren't jerks as much as some other richer areas, and you will find some larger properties here. There is a little shopping district on top of the hill and the rest can be reached down in Torrance or San Pedro when you drive down the hill on Crenshaw or Hawthorne Blvd. It puts you inbetween LA and Long Beach and not too far from OC as well, so you have access to most of the Greater LA area relatively quickly.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by MovingfromWI2CA

1/2 acre - 1 acre lot with room to play and relax - but not isolated

There are two very beautiful neighborhoods with character (not cookie cutter) in Thousand Oaks that might get you those large lots for your budget of $1M. Every other requirement you wrote is satisfied.

Lynn Ranch: It is the neighborhood NW of Lynn Road and the 101. Large lots, older, well maintained, well cared for homes. Conejo Valley schools. A lot of the streets start with "Calle".

The (I call it the "La Granada" neighborhood): It is bordered by Janss, Erbes, Hillcrest and the 23. Gorgeous homes, well maintained, leafy, trees, large lots, rolling streets, Conejo Valley schools.

Where will you be working? One hour in SoCal might only be 20 tough miles away.

[Snort]

You've got a million to spend on a house, and you're thinking Thousand Oaks or Mission Viejo. To hey with those places, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, or Monterey.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Snort

You've got a million to spend on a house, and you're thinking Thousand Oaks or Mission Viejo. To hey with those places, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, or Monterey.

One of his requirements was one hour from LA (whatever that really means).
Another was 1/2 acre.

I still want to know what he means by LA. Canoga Park is LA. So is the the 50 yard line at the Coliseum.

[missionhome]

I live in Mission Viejo and it is a great area. It pretty much has everything you wanted except the big lots. Also, everything around here looks Spanish style, unless you can get into a custom home which usually costs more money or into some really new developments where they have began introducing different styles. The new developments (2001 or younger) have even smaller yards usually. It is similar to Thousand Oaks, but I think the South Orange County area is a little bit more built out and you get a lot smaller lots. Trust me, a nice house with an acre cost $$$ and a really old house with an acre will still cost a ton. I think you will be surprised how down to earth most people are though. I know there is the stereotype that south Orange County is just for conservative white people, but it isn't. Hispanics, Asians, and Middle Easterners all live here.

Also, don't plan on driving to LA every single day from Mission Viejo. You will go insane. It is just too far during rush hour. During bad traffic, it is probably more like 1.5 hours to 2 hours. Is LA still close by for Friday nights or weekends, definitely, but it is not close enough to commute to daily unless you want your car to become your best friend.

[laysayfair]

Thousand Oaks, Westlake, Westlake Village, Newbury Park,
Oak Park and Agoura have everything you want except the petting
zoo. It's mostly White but there are Hispanics, Indians (from India),
Asians, Blacks and lots of mixed couples and families.

[calistro]

westlake village has the best schools, followed by Madrona in Newbury park and the rest in thousand oaks. i lived in TO & found that the things you listed were either in town or within a very short drive(petting zoo in simi valley...) you want land? its going to cost you...we lived at the top of a mountain in a nice subdivision with families from different backgrounds, which did holiday activities geared towards family, temp there was cooler than the rest of the city, but the HOA rules were ridiculous. I suggest westlake or TO.
calistro