laety

Hello! After thinking about a move to the bay area, my husband has just been offered a job in Newport beach with another company.. So im basically starting my researches once again but in another part of California!!
We had a very short (and tiring) trip this week end to visit Newport beach (while he also had the final interviews) and we took a look at Balboa island (loved it) and laguna beach. BUT we only had 1.5 days before flying back home! Looks like we could move there very shortly as they are keen to have him started very soon, and I have no idea where to start looking for an appartment
I took a look at previous postings and craigslist but not very much availabilities so far.
Questions are:
1. where is it nice (safe) to live close to shops/restaurants so we dont have to drive everywhere everytime we go out (any websites you can recommend)
2. do you have name of locals college/uni that I could start to take a look at (as it looks like i might not be able to work)
3. What do people do there to keep busy?? is there clubs etc that I could register?
Basically any help/recommandations would be fantastic!
thank you very much!!!
Laety

laety

Oh and I should have added.. I keep seeing comments about California taxes.. but not much more details..
We are planning to rent, what sort of taxes are we looking at for an appartment max 2000 usd
Also, what sort of employment taxes are we looking at? is there a website that "calculate" things for us? thank you again!!

meauxna

This one made me laugh, because a very idealistic me moved to Laguna at one point in life, without a car.
Unless things have changed dramatically, forget it.

Oh yeah, and I found out the hard way that there is a big difference between Laguna Hills and Laguna Beach.
Studio apartments were going for $800 in Laguna Beach at the time.
Per week.
1984.


I always liked Balboa too.

Bob

I haven't looked to see what your visa situation is, but if it's a new company and not a transfer, it probably won't be very soon, unless you've already got greencards etc.

Bob

Yup....plenty of them, they're mentioned in loads of threads and the wiki so you'll probably find them when searching out past threads

laety

well they reckon September for the visa but they can have a temp 90 days visa so he can come to meetings etc.. but yes he will be working from home for few months

Havnfun

Hi,

We are south of Newport in Mission Viejo. I don't know that much about the neighborhoods in Newport but do know that although Balboa Island is a neat place it is beyond crowded during the summer, I won't even visit there from June - September!

If you are renting there are no taxes on rent, the property owner would pay the taxes. Sales tax is 8.75% in orange county (I believe Laguna Beach is higher at 9.25%). You can find free payroll calculators on-line, I know I found one once but don't remember the name, sorry!

For colleges there is Irvine Valley College or University of California-Irvine.

Hope that helps a little

Bob

If it's a H1B visa, he won't be starting till October...and no, he shouldn't be working on the VWP. The company won't care, but it'll be him in the shit for it.

laety

yes they told him he wont be allowed to work until he gets the visa so they would keep him in the UK until then and he would use this visa only to attend meetings but not to work while in the US on this temp visa. they are applying for a H1b visa (i think)

shame about balboa island during the summer, I loved the fact that it was a little village style

vegas

Just moved from dallas to Huntington Beach. We are renting for 1 year so as to get to know the area before we buy. Also prices are still falling. We are renting a 2 bed 1500sqft apt on pacific coast hwy overlooking the sea. it is costing $2800 per month. We used http://www.therealtysystem.net/ the benefit of using them was we only had to fill in one application and this covered us for all the prospective properties we viewed.

md95065

There are exceptions but, broadly speaking, not the US, definitely not most of California, and very definitely not Southern California ...

laety

fair enough, beside from balboa island I guessed that a car is a must.. so generally where is a nice/safe place to live (without having to drive miles for entertainment)?

C_C

My husband has family living very close to Newport Beach and Balboa Island (which, by the way, I loved too ).
They live in Corona Del Mar and that is a very nice (green, residential and also within a short distance to the water) and a very safe place to live (suffice to say that it's highly popular among families and retirees).
Where they live is also just a 5-minute drive away from a very long main street (sorry, I don't know the name) with lots of shops, restaurants etc. that seemed to have entertainment opportunities for every taste.

With regards to your questions:

1. I'll second everyone who's said that this is quite unrealistic in Southern California. It's built around the "car" concept, and you will find that commercial and residential areas are in most cases very distinctly separated. So you do have to drive to pretty much everywhere, but it's usually no more than a 5-10 minute drive to the closest food store, mall, bank, drug store etc. so not all that bad.

2. UC Irvine is probably the closest "big name" that immediately pops to mind and it's considered a good university, but I'm sure you can also find several community colleges that offer associate degrees etc. I'd google "newport beach community colleges" or something. If you don't mind an hour's+ drive, you can also look at UC Riverside, but Irvine definitely has a better reputation.

3. Well, most people work, so don't have much free time during the day. Depending on what you like doing there's a range of outdoor activities you could join, such as tennis and golf. Or you could join your local fitness club. Or you could volunteer with one of the local charity shops (my husband's aunt has been doing that since she retired - incidentally, that shop is on that big main street I mentioned above). Pretty much anything you'd like to do, you'd most likely be able to find it there, as long as you can pay for it and you don't mind a bit of driving to get there

lndn2nbca

I moved my family from London to Newport Beach last summer. Great place to live, but a couple of points:

* Everywhere is safe, there are no dodgy areas.

* Balboa is great, but not practical for most people. It's a tourist attraction in its own right. Balboa Island and Balboa peninsula are very different places.

* You'll seriously struggle to find anywhere beyond a one bedroom place for $2000 pcm. If it's just the 2 of you and you're ok with a nothing special 1 bed place then you'll find something.

* Corona Del Mar (CDM) is the only place in Newport Beach that is walking distance to anything, and even then it's stretching it.

* There are loads of things going on, so don't worry about finding something to do. we quickly found we were getting involved with more things than we had time to handle.

Good luck!