Where to live in the OC?

DannyLlama

DannyLlama

Elite Member
Wife and I are thinking to move in the next few years, so we started looking at places to live..

Where are the hidden gems? neighborhoods near mountains or not too close to the madness of suberbia?

I'm a little familiar with Trabuco Canyon, so that's a maybe.
 
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I feel like price range, # of bedrooms, Sqft, etc. is important before posting a helpful reply....however, I have a friend down there, walking distance to the beach is a plus!
 
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DannyLlama said:
Wife and I are thinking to move in the next few years, so we started looking at places to live..

Where are the hidden gems? neighborhoods near mountains or not too close to the madness of suberbia?

I'm a little familiar with Trabuco Canyon, so that's a maybe.
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Need a budget and priorities. Where do you work?
 
The idea is to get unfiltered feed back. I realize prices are from mid 400's to millions. I guess Under 800k is the only criteria, and not that I can even afford that, I just want to see what everyone thinkgs.
 
Trabuco Canyon would only be good if you work close by. Driving to get anywhere from there SUCKS and that can be said of most of south OC. It also gets very hot in the canyon durung the summer. I have lived in Fountain Valley for nearing 30 years and love it. It's close to everything including 3 freeways, beach, malls and tons of eating places. I lived in Huntingtion Beach before that and liked it as well but when it came time to buy a place it was about 40K cheaper in FV.
 
San Clemente is pretty nice, seems to be what you are looking for, it is out of the way, and just close enough to the mountains and desert to have a good time. not to mention housing pricing is decent for OC and it's right on the beach.
 
e-caban said:
San Clemente is pretty nice, seems to be what you are looking for, it is out of the way, and just close enough to the mountains and desert to have a good time. not to mention housing pricing is decent for OC and it's right on the beach.
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Mountains? In San Clemente?
 
There is only one mountain near OC and that's Saddleback. The only city close that's not "suberbia" is Trabuco Canyon and I stated my feelings about living there in my earlier post. There are other neighborhoods close to Trabuco like Silverado Canyon and Modjeska Canyon.
 
Do you care about school districts? Where will you commute to?

Almost anything in south OC built within the last 25 years is subject to Mello Roos property taxes. Watch out for that.
 
OC doesn't really have "mountains" if you're looking for snow and stuff. The closest actual mountain is saddleback, but I don't think it snows much there. Most of us drive our happy butts to mammoth or big bear. Maybe consider farther south like San Diego? My friend has family that lives in Julian, and it's a very small town where the houses are acres apart, it snows, and stars are bountiful. It is just out of the way.
 
I'm relatively happy in my Tustin Ranch condo but I've been eyeing homes for sale in Foothill Ranch, Portola Hills and Rancho Santa Margarita. I love to mountain bike and the proximity of those neighborhoods to nearby trails appeals to me.... but most of those areas are also subject to high property taxes (reference my comment above about Mello Roos).

I also have a gut feeling we're nearing a peak in the market.

Chances are I'll stay where I'm at until I'm ready to pull the ripcord and exit the rat race and California for good.
 
Being born and raised in Michigan, I'm with AKmoney. I'm chained to a desk in Irvine right now, but some day, im breaking free and doing my own thing with the wifey. I can assure you, It will NOT be in SoCal. I miss my liberties and the space to exercise them.

You can take the kid out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the kid.

That being said, I have found Laguna Niguel to be a nice spot since you are close to the FWY and close to the beach. Good schools and pretty darn nice neighborhoods in rolling hills. We get hit nightly by the marine layer as well which keeps it a good 10 degrees cooler than most nearby places.




AKmoney said:
I'm relatively happy in my Tustin Ranch condo but I've been eyeing homes for sale in Foothill Ranch, Portola Hills and Rancho Santa Margarita. I love to mountain bike and the proximity of those neighborhoods to nearby trails appeals to me.... but most of those areas are also subject to high property taxes (reference my comment above about Mello Roos).

I also have a gut feeling we're nearing a peak in the market.

Chances are I'll stay where I'm at until I'm ready to pull the ripcord and exit the rat race and California for good.
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I lived in a condo in Foothill Ranch for 3 yrs and loved it. My wife and I spent a lot of time mtn biking, and a lot of time in general in Whiting Ranch, Trabucco Canyon and Silverado Canyon. Getting anywhere though was a trek. 15 minutes to a non toll road fwy kinda sucked. Fortunately neither of us had to use the fwy to get to work.
 
SoCal

SoCal, north county, West end of Garden Grove has been great. Good schools for the kids, 2 jobs for me, 14 & 17 years. Beaches, theme parks and mountains nearby. We have it all.

There are too many others that like it too and going to work, an event or beaches and mountains has been not as easy and enjoyable as it should be.

Gave up, and going 950 miles north to Oregon; wall to wall green, rivers, streams and waterfalls everywhere and water just falls out of the sky.
Google traffic map is green at 8a and 5p most of the time.

SoCal has been good for us.
Had a few great off-road trips with members of the forum. El Gringo Loco and Quatre Coureur led good trips that helped me get started and I met good people on those trips.

I think Danny Llama took the following photo on one of my early off-road trips. It's one of my favorites. (3N16 Holcomb Creek)
 

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That's a pic from my Big Bear run that started out in GreenValley/CrabFlats. Thats the crossing right by the CF campground. That was a great one. Leaving the rat race! Lucky you Bob! :wave:
 
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