My mother was the manager for Panda Express in MV for many years. If anyone ate at Panda Express there years ago, you might have seen her (Nancy).
Once she got in an auto accident in the parking lot, someone who was intoxicated backed into her car. 3 police cars and 1 accident investigation car showed up. The drunk driver told the cops that his neck hurts and they called an ambulance for him immediately. My mother asked if her car was safe to drive, and one of the officers took her keys and drove around the block to make sure it was OK.
In contrast, when she was rear-ended in a parking lot in Torrance/Gardena, 1 police car showed up and told her to exchange info themselves, then drove way.
My mother's opinion of Mission Viejo is very high, and I like the Lake area a lot. But I'd also note that MV is a declining neighborhood, where shopping plazas are showing signs of decay. MV was Irvine before there was an Irvine yuppie community.
Generally speaking, neighborhoods next to the freeway in MV and Lake Forest are less desirable. But if you're using the "Irvine standard", I think only the upper end housing areas in MV would satisfy you.
I had a discussion about this with my GF recently. She lives in Lakewood next to my old HS and they had 2 shootings on her street over the past few years. To her, seeing broken down cars on her neighbor's drive way is normal. But to yuppie Irvinites, we pay a premium to not see that. And when you buy "cheap" in MV, you lose that "premium.
