$850k-$1.3mill house wanted, but WHERE??

Deezy455

New member
Hi everyone!
I am a complete newbie to Orange County, as I'm originally from the Bay Area.  My wife and I are looking to  buy a house here, as we love the safety of it and the houses seem very nice.  We have a 1.5 yo and are expecting another one in May.  I would really love some of your help with location and/or finding a house!
My wife works in downtown LA, and I work in commerce, so somthing closer to LA (but still in OC) would be nice.
Here's some things we are looking for:
- 4 bedroom
- love new builds, but not limited to brand new as long as it's no older than 15 years old.
- good schools
- not too far from LA
- safe neigborhood to walk around
- parks nearby for the kids

Any help at all is GREATLY APPRECIATED as I don't even know where to start looking!
Thanks!!
 
Congrats on your new addition. Do you currently live in OC and do you have a feel for the traffic? I occasionally commute to LA and it can take 2.5 hours each way. My suggestion would be to look near the Irvine (or Tustin) Metrolink station so your wife can go by train to Union Station. The Irvine station is also close to Great Park, good school district, etc.
 
Cerritos.

Great neighborhood feel. Good schools and feels like "OC"

the drive from Irvine to LA/Commerce is horrible and you will find yourself getting burned out within a month.

The train is nowhere near as frequent or reliable (and expensive ~$280 from Tustin to Union station) as Caltrain. And there is no such thing as a bullet train down here. Good luck with the move
 
IrvineBS said:
Cerritos.

Great neighborhood feel. Good schools and feels like "OC"

the drive from Irvine to LA/Commerce is horrible and you will find yourself getting burned out within a month.

The train is nowhere near as frequent or reliable (and expensive ~$280 from Tustin to Union station) as Caltrain. And there is no such thing as a bullet train down here. Good luck with the move

I was thinking the same thing...  Cerritos would be my advice also for the same reasons listed above.  Another option would be rowland heights/Walnut/Diamond Bar.  The schools in those areas are at par with Irvine and have the typical OC feeling. 

If you truly want to be in OC, since all these other cities are technically LA county, I would consider fullerton but obviously its a bit further drive.
 
Irvine is definitely safe and family oriented, probably no better options.  And the commute to LA is time consuming, but any commute here blows, imo.
 
Brea is still pretty white .
Fullerton is full of Koreans.

Both have good schools.
 
LongIrvine said:
Irvine seems to check a lot of the boxes that your referencing.  Los Alamitos would be worth checking out.

I have friends who live in Rossmoor and they love it. The home will be older, requiring renovations, but the lot will be bigger - fair trade-off if renos don't make you cringe. My friends are typical. They bought with a full reno plan a few years ago, but of course, their house is still stuck in the 70s.
 
It will be at the top of your budget, but check out San Marino and Arcadia.

I believe those cities have even better schools than Irvine and very close to downtown.
 
Oh come on guys, OP has his eye on Irvine and sounds like you guys are trying to talk him out of it.  :)

 
If I worked in LA, I would not live in Irvine.  But I do know plenty of people who do so (and I don't know how they do it).  If you had flexibility to work from home a couple days a week and can get in super early, then maybe it becomes doable. 
 
lnc said:
Oh come on guys, OP has his eye on Irvine and sounds like you guys are trying to talk him out of it.  :)

HAHA my bad! Irvine is the best!
Who cares about the commute when you have the best schools and neighborhood?!

Here's your solution: Go buy a Irvine house and get a tesla.  I just went on a test drive event at costa mesa and I'm sold on the autopilot!! It won't be much of a commute when you put it on autopilot mode.  Just sit tight and let it do its thing and relax in your Irvine home  >:D
 
if your wife works in LA and you work in commerce you should live there.  esp with a 1.5yo and a new baby.  you will want to spend a lot more time at home and not waste it in traffic.

if you are dead set on irvine though, my home is for sale PM me.
 
We have lived in both the OC and L.A and I can tell you right now, that commute from Irvine, or anywhere in Orange County will wear on you, especially with 1 child, and 1 on the way.

L.A traffic is insane, and so unpredictable, sometimes it can take an hour to get home (Which is on the good side) and other times it can take 3 hours to get home.

Depending on what time of day you are working, expect hellish commute times.

If I were you, and given your budget, I would be looking at a home in either La Ca?ada Flintridge or San Marino - they are not close to the beach, but the schools are A+ in that area, San Marino has some of the top ranked schools in California.

The homes are in your budget, and you won't be dealing with the long commute from Orange County.

Just speaking from experience, if we had to do it all over again, we would NOT commute from OC to L.A or vice versa. I can't even stand going up there for a weekend trip let alone a daily commute. But everyone has varying tolerance for traffic, and our tolerance level for traffic and congestion is practical nil.;)

Another thing you could try is renting before buying - if you are dead set on the OC, rent for 6 months, and see how your commute is. If you end up hating it, at least you didn't purchase a house before fully knowing just how bad that traffic can be.
 
I would AVOID living in Irvine if you're going to commute to downtown LA.  I know how far away it is.  You have to leave BEFORE 5am in OC just to escape some of the traffic.  Brea, Fullerton, West Hollywood, and Glendale seem ok. 
 
You will have two kids in school very soon. One of your biggest priorities should be buying a home very close to your workplace, or the area where you can reasonably expect to be working for the foreseeable future. That's the biggest reason we chose Irvine.

You want to see your kids (awake) during the week, the maximum amount of time. Working close to home affords you this luxury.
 
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