Where to live - relocating to Southern California
 

I am transferring with my job from UK to Southern California and have some flexibility on location.

We don’t know the region at all and are looking for some advice on the best areas to locate – some factors being:

1-We are a professional couple and looking for nice neighborhood with properties up to $800k for a 2-3 bedroom house
2-We have a daughter aged 8 and we are keen to find a good school district
3-We are a British/Ecuador couple – we speak English & Spanish and would like to find an area popular with the professional Hispanic community

We’d truly appreciate any advice, do’s or don’ts etc … even links to other forums which may help

Re: Where to live - relocating to Southern California
 

It all depends where in So Cal you will be working and how much of a commute you are willing to put up with. Most freeways are really, really busy during the morning and evening commute. Also, look at citi-data for places you are considering.

Re: Where to live - relocating to Southern California
 

Southern California is really huge, so without a more exact location of your work, it will be hard to suggest places to live.

Where is the office located in So Cal? Then we can spiral out from there.

Rene

Re: Where to live - relocating to Southern California
 

Hi Rene - I'll be home based rather than office and mainly travelling to customer sites which will be in San Diego or LA. I will also need access to an airport with decent connections. Therefore I was anticipating residing in one of these two metro areas. Andrew

Re: Where to live - relocating to Southern California
 

Thanks Joto - appreciate the tip on citi-data. I'll be home based so I am hoping will avoid at least having a daily commute, but I will need to be in one of the large metros - San Diego or LA - for customer meetings. Realistically I think it will have to be one of these.

Re: Where to live - relocating to Southern California
 

Then I would choose San Diego over LA. The closer you can get to the coast on your budget, the better it will be (more mild due to the cooling overnight fog) but the more you go inland, houses will normally be cheaper.

The following is the California School Performance map so that may give you a quick overview of how schools are ranked in the San Diego area and allow you to only look in areas that would be suitable (US schools are assigned based on address of the home). Most of the schools north of San Diego (Del Mar, Rancho Penasquitos, etc.) seem to be ranked 10 out of 10.

http://schoolperformancemaps.com/ca/...46623%2C12%2C1

The Latino communities are not high on the income scale in California and many have gang related issues and low school rankings so I doubt you'd want to live there. However, many California cities have safe areas of bars, restaurants, and nightclubs frequented by Latinos with police having zero tolerance towards crime. Gang members may be there but they act like good citizens. Although I don't know San Diego that well, I live in downtown San Jose and 10s of thousands of Latinos (including gang members) come to downtown on the weekends and the crime rate in downtown is low. So on weekends, downtown is primarily a mixture of Latinos, Asians, Caucasians, and Blacks and some nightclubs cater primarily to Latinos or Asians. So downtown feels safe on weekends even though you can see gang tattoos often. When I originally moved to downtown, the police presence was obvious to make sure there wasn't violence but three years ago, they pulled back and are seldom seen and crime has remained low but when a fight breaks out or a bounce calls, the police are there in a NY minute.

My maid (originally from El Salvador) frequents one of the downtown nightclubs that primarily caters to Latinos and she says "those Mexicans are crazy". Her husband is Indian and he also goes with her.

Re: Where to live - relocating to Southern California
 

The closer you get to the coast i.e west of the I-5 which runs from San Diego to LA, the more expensive the homes.

Yes, you could get a small 2 to 3 bedroom house for under 800K, but further inland you would find more for your money.

In the San Diego area I would look at Poway, Rancho Bernardo, Scripps Ranch, inland Del Mar, Rancho Penasquitos. These places are 30 mins drive to downtown San Diego outside of rush hour and all within the Poway school district which is considered very good. You can get to the southern edges of LA in 1 to 1.5 hours - getting across LA is another story regardless of the time of day.

I would not look at anything east or south of San Diego.

East of the I-5 in places like Carlsbad, Encinitas are also places to research.

Also loads of homes being built in the Carmel Valley area just off the I-56. (Just south of Del Mar). Most have small backyards but the homes are very attractive.

Re: Where to live - relocating to Southern California
 

I've just arrived for my first night of my new life in San Diego. There's a few expats from BE here and so far it seems lovely here.

Re: Where to live - relocating to Southern California
 

There are plenty of nice area's in the South Bay area, Bonita for example being one of them and its also not an incorporated city so its like a small community feel within a large metro area., most of Chula Vista is decent as well with just the far southern edges being a little sketchy, the west side is older but clean, and the east side newer but a good 20 degrees warmer in the summer then the west side.

You will also find more Hispanics in the community in the South Bay vs North County.

But you talk like the South Bay is some wasteland...lol

If you think you will do a lot of flying, the airport is in the Southern Part of the county downtown, can be a bit of a pain to get to from the North County, which has a small airport, but I think your pretty much limited to flights to LA from Carlsbad.

Don't know what the prices are like but parts of North Park are nice, Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach, all older but nice communities.



(Born and raised in San Diego County)

Re: Where to live - relocating to Southern California
 

We live in Mission Viejo in Orange County which is halfway between San Diego and LA.

There are a number of cities in Orange County where you would be able to purchase a 3 or 4 bedroom home in the $800K price range. Schools are pretty good in this area.

We are about 15 minutes away from John Wayne Airport. This is not an international airport but works great for domestic travel within the US.

Re: Where to live - relocating to Southern California
 

Hey! I am new to the area, so please do take that into account, but if I had a 800K budget for a house I would look at the Los Alamitos area of Northern Orance County.

Also, a great place is the Huntigton Beach area in general.

They both are low crime rate areas and their public schools are some of the best in CA. I work in education and I know how hard it is to look things up in detail.

Culturally, Huntigton- Costa Mesa area is not as Hispanic as Los Alamitos.

Both those areas are south and thus closer to San Diego.

If you prefer something inland I would say Walnut or Yorba Linda.

But I would need more info of your preferences.

KCK