House rentals in Oxnard-why so low? (Santa Barbara, Upland: renters, crime, new home)

[Scentchips]

Why are houses for rent in Oxnard so low in price?

Also, help from some of you natives please. Will also be looking for retail space to lease in a nice, touristy, well established foot traffic area. (NOT A MALL)
Am having a difficult time searching the best tourist areas near LA. I would assume the beaches areas are well traveled - but what about people actually shopping?
We would be seeking a kitchy, boutique, one of a kind shoppes venue.
I like the Arcadia, Upland, La Verne and Pasaden for their Old Town areas.
Anyone well versed in this is welcome to email me directly as well.

Thanks!

scentchipsretail@yahoo.com (NO SPAM PLEASE)

[airbayforce]

If rentals in Oxnard are low Im interested. Id like to know why also. Im relocating from NJ soon.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Scentchips

Why are houses for rent in Oxnard so low in price?

Also, help from some of you natives please. Will also be looking for retail space to lease in a nice, touristy, well established foot traffic area. (NOT A MALL)
Am having a difficult time searching the best tourist areas near LA. I would assume the beaches areas are well traveled - but what about people actually shopping?
We would be seeking a kitchy, boutique, one of a kind shoppes venue.
I like the Arcadia, Upland, La Verne and Pasaden for their Old Town areas.
Anyone well versed in this is welcome to email me directly as well.

Thanks!

scentchipsretail@yahoo.com (NO SPAM PLEASE)

Things that affect price: Proximity of jobs, quality of schools, crime rate, amenities, proximity to desirable (open space, natural beauty, etc) and undesirable (factories, freeways, etc) things.

[ChangeIsGood]

Oxnard is not the best area in Ventura County because it's a lower income area. It's an agricultural area and because of this there are a lot of migrant workers and it is predominantly hispanic. This is why rents and homes are much lower than lets say neighboring Camarillo and Ventura. Ventura has a lot of cute shops and their downtown is very nice with more and more tourists. I know, Oxnard definitely has potential, because of it's wonderful location, but those with money to shop are not going to shop in Oxnard, for fear of crime etc. The beaches are still awesome though!

[2Easy]

Oxnard is way the h3ll out there and isn't all that great a place. Sometimes you get what you pay for.

[earthwatersunwind]

Oxnard has its good areas and bad areas, you just have to know where to go. I'm a native who has been away for a couple years, but I'll be moving back next month. The poster who said it's an agricultural town with a lot of immigrants is right--Oxnard is about 65% Hispanic, and that's just the ones who're being counted. A lot of neighborhoods will have "illegal homes", with up to ten families sharing a single family home. This makes for lots of cars, lots of trash, and in general they don't take care of the properties very well. You have to check out your neighborhood carefully, look out for streets with tons of crappy cars and graffiti.
It's not crime-infested, just downtown and the Colonia areas. Downtown Oxnard is basically Mexico--nothing like Ventura's historic, charming downtown shopping area. Much of it is in the process of being "revitalized"--old shopping centers I spent my childhood in are being demolished and redone, and there are tons of new homes being built.
We have just bought a home there, actually. I was born and raised in one of its nicer neighborhoods, and we found a cute, safe older neighborhood near a great school. (Christa McAuliffe.) A lot of the residents (myself included) will take advantage of the lower home prices in Oxnard, then make the 5-10 minute drive to shop in Ventura, or Camarillo. The cities are really that close. So just be careful where you look, there's lots of great little neighborhoods that are perfectly safe, and even safer than some areas of Ventura I could tell you about. (My husband is a cop...he knows the area.)
As a bonus, Oxnard has a fresh fruit stand on almost every corner, and the area has three or four farmer's markets a week. It's impossible to get fresher, cheaper, or better produce there, and Oxnard grows its famous strawberries year-round. Not to mention great beaches, a short drive to picturesque Ojai, and Santa Barbara..any wonder we're going back? In the past few years it has really begun to change its colors, and though I used to sort of look down on it, I can see its benefits as well.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

oxnard has had its ups and downs. I have lived in the area most of my life. We never bought a home in the area and are in the market now. Homes that were selling in the $500 to $600,000 range have declined to about half that price. We have several friends that live in the River Ridge Area that have seen prices plumet from $1,200,000 to around the $700,000 mark. Another friend lives in Vineyard Estates and his home is down from $1,100,000 to $600,000 range.

Rentals are down in price because former renters are buying now. When the price of rents became more expensive then purchasing land lords had to do something to keep people in the rentals.

You will find all kinds of housing at all kinds of price ranges in Oxnard.