The Best Place - Camarillo, Port Hueneme, Oxnard or Ventura (Los Angeles: apartment, foreclosure)

[macsret]

We, my wife and I (retirement age, are still trying to get some fairly indepth and personal opinions, sorry to harp on our questions but we really need some CD Forums style input about the following:

1. Cost of Living - A very important factor as we will be living on a fairly fixed income, about $5,000 mo take home / after taxes. Appreciate you opinions on what kind of life style we would / could have on that amount. Could we afford to rent a 3 br/2+ bath house or a condo, living on that?

2. Crime, another important issue, have read many posts on the subject but none seem to go into very much detail, hope someone will. Which city is the over all worse / best?

3. Health issues - How would you rate the hospitals in these cities and which city has the best hospital(s).

Believe me your opinions are going to be really appreciated and helpful. We are considering either moving to one of these cities or Albuquerque NM.

Thank You, and hope we aren't making a pest of ourselves.

[Charles]

All of these places have gorgeous weather. Cool in summer you don't need air conditioning. Not cold in winter.
Camarillo is probably a little more family oriented.
Ventura has fun places and suburbs.
Oxnard and Port Hueneme are suburbs with some coastal housing.
Lots of retired Navy people live in all of these towns.

There are at least three hospitals in this region (called the Oxnard Plain).

None of these places is dangerous but Oxnard would have a few neighborhoods that are sketchy.

If you are retiring then any of these places would be pretty nice for amenities, medical service, proximity to Los Angeles. None of these places is "retirement cheap" though. I would be almost certain NM would be cheaper. But as I wrote above, the Oxnard Plain has perfect weather, lots of outdoor activities, and supports a healthy lifestyle.

I would consider retiring in Ventura or Camarillo or maybe Carpenteria or Santa Barbara, Pismo Beach, Morro Bay, or somewhere up north along the central coast.

If you can swing it these places are worth considering.

[macsret]

Charles,

Thanks for the reply. I have, not my wife and children, have seen all of the cities and sure do agree with you about the fantastic weather. If I remember correctly Ventura was selected, some years ago, for having the best over all weather in the country.

When you say that "Lot of retired Navy people live in all of these towns." To me that would mean that they would have somewhat the same retirement income as I am retired Navy, 1984, and the big thing for us is CAN WE AFFORD TO LIVE THERE. That is why I keep harping on the Cost of Living. Naturally, we don't want to move there and find out we can't afford it.

Charles - You are very good in replying, you make your points very well and sure hope you will be so kind to address COL issue. Right now, would approx $5k take home/after tax be sufficient to live a fairly good life style. Not just exist.

Are the three hospitals very well equipped, conduct major surgeries and the like?

CRIME - Very happy to hear that you don't consider any of the cities to be 'dangerous' and I do agree every city USA is going to have some crime problems. All of the cities show, statistic wise, that they are either right at or below the Calif and National levels.

Your statement about the amenities, medical service and proximity to LA was well received. Naturally, my kids (almost adults) especially liked the part about the outdoor activities and healthy lifestyle.

Appreciate the other cities recommendation. Don't know anything about Carpenteria, Pismo Beach, or Morro Bay will have to do some research on them.


Again, thank you for your excellent reply.

jOE
Angeles City
Philippines

[Charles]

Originally Posted by macsret

Right now, would approx $5k take home/after tax be sufficient to live a fairly good life style.

Are the three hospitals very well equipped, conduct major surgeries and the like?

All I can say is it isn't a wise idea to spend more than 1/3 of your gross on housing.

The hospitals are great - I have never heard a complaint. Plus there is Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks. Almost too many hospitals.

Did you check apartment prices? There are several internet apartment rental databases. When you factor in what you make and what you get in a rental or purchase, are you satisfied? A lot of people feel housing prices will continue to go down. This often means rental prices go up - as there is a certain segment of people foreclosing and in need of rentals.

By the way, there is a huge Filipino community in Oxnard and Port Hueneme; not sure if that is important to you.

[macsret]

Charles post: "All I can say is it isn't a wise idea to spend more than 1/3 of your gross on housing."

I do agree and we have set our limit accordingly, meaning our limit would be set for 1/3 after taxes. Before and after taxes are very different which is why I asking for clarification. Which are you referring to, may I ask?

Again, you are on target regarding the housing prices and rentals going up due to the lack of housing sales. We want to rent for a year, then we would most likely buy, within our means. I don't want to have to go through a foreclosure myself.

Appreciate the thumbs up for the Hospitals. Makes my family feel better, they are thinking about me.

No, I haven't checked out the apartment prices, yet. Will do my best to Google them, I'm not the 'puter guru' that most are.

Certainly appreciate the thought about the Filipino communities, would be great but not a BIG one. Both of my children, will be adults when we move, are dual citizens and white as the driven snow. They speak Tagalog and some Visaya. My wife, I would bet, would certainly appreciate meeting some Filipinas, we all would.

Charles, you are one big help and we do appreciate all of your information. Best to you and yours.

jOE
Angeles City,
Philippines

[Winston Smith]

Macsret, what kind of housing arrangement suits you best? Single fam home, condo, low-cost manufactured-home (there are some very nice parks in Ventura and Oxnard). You like beach, harbor, downtown living, retirement complex, suburb? Between Ventura and Oxnard there is a lot of variety in housing, neighborhoods and developments. The area is a mish-mash in many ways. I made the mistake once of looking only at cost. Ended up in a nice burb of Oxnard in a comfortable house, but the nearest store was a mile away and it was an area poorly served by public transpo. I've since changed my arrangement to where everything is within a ten-min walk, the buses run often, and I only moved five miles.

Oxnard and Ventura are both safe cities. Crime in both is below the national average for cities of their size. Oxnard is very focused on senior housing. In fact, the old St. John's Hospital on F Street, on the edge of the Historic District, is in the process of converting to senior housing, and by the looks of it so far, it'll be nice.

Will say that your income is plenty to support you. You had more questions, but I'll stop with this so far.

PS. You say you're in the Philippines. Just this past Saturday Oxnard celebrated the Filipino flag with a ceremony in honor of the local community.

Local Filipinos celebrate nation's independence from Spain : Oxnard : Ventura County Star

[macsret]

cre8,

Thank you for an excellent reply. I just hope mine is half as good.

Originally Posted by cre8

Macsret, what kind of housing arrangement suits you best? Single fam home, condo, low-cost manufactured-home (there are some very nice parks in Ventura and Oxnard). You like beach, harbor, downtown living, retirement complex, suburb? Between Ventura and Oxnard there is a lot of variety in housing, neighborhoods and developments. The area is a mish-mash in many ways. I made the mistake once of looking only at cost. Ended up in a nice burb of Oxnard in a comfortable house, but the nearest store was a mile away and it was an area poorly served by public transpo. I've since changed my arrangement to where everything is within a ten-min walk, the buses run often, and I only moved five miles.

We hope to be able to afford a single family home, if we can't then a condo. If we have to live in a "burb' of Oxnard then so be it, however, like you we would like to live in a neighborhood close enough to walk to the shopping place(so). Naturally, if we can't afford one of those and still have enough income to enjoy life. Then, we do have a back-up plan, but, we don't want to do that. Like you we want it to be close enough to walk to some good shopping.

Originally Posted by cre8

Oxnard and Ventura are both safe cities. Crime in both is below the national average for cities of their size.

That is very encouraging and

Originally Posted by cre8

Will say that your income is plenty to support you. You had more questions, but I'll stop with this so far.

Thank you and I do believe we should be able to afford such a house/condo as you have described and being a retired U.S. Navy and a Disabled Veteran, with many others just like me living all over the VP area.

cre8, we really enjoyed the site you recommended, a very good article. Just proves that the Filipino social life is alive and well. Thank you very much.

Hopefully we will get more replies as good as yours, thumbs up, and that some might cover our most important issue; the cost of living.

jOE
Angeles City,
Philippines

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by macsret

Thank you for an excellent reply. I just hope mine is half as good.... we would like to live in a neighborhood close enough to walk to the shopping....

Very nice reply, thank you. You'll be encouraged to know that all cities in west Ventura County are heavily focused on letting people walk, ride a bike or shuttle instead of having to drive all the time. In this regard, you might focus your search on newer developments in Oxnard, certain areas of Port Hueneme (downtown and north PH west of Ventura Road) and the midtown section of Ventura. A lot of the older neighborhoods in Oxnard were built in the 50s, 60s, 70s when car-based planning was the convention. Ventura's east-end is newer, but built mainly for cars not people.

As an aside, Oxnard's Traffic Initiative, if it passes in November, will aggressively address the concerns of pollution and degraded quality vis-a-vis too much automobile use. Don't mean to get into politics here, but if you're considering the area with a focus on living close enough to walk to things, you might as well know what the issues are, and what the local mindset is that could shape the area going forward. Hope this helps.

Oxnard Traffic Initiative

[macsret]

cre8,

Your post sure does provide encouragement and paints the picture that we were hopping for. I won't be doing much bike ridding, well not sure about that, but sure do enjoy walking.

Again, appreciate your providing yet another website for us to check out. Yes, do believe it will be important to start following the issues.

cre8 & Charles, please don't stop here, want to know anything and everything about these fine cities, yes, the good and the bad.

Thank you!

jOE
Angeles City
Philippines

[ZhugeLiang]

For your demographic, I'd stick to Ventura or Camarillo. The 'Nard and Port Hueneme are a little rundown.

Ventura is a blast and is a bit cooler than Cam.