Opinions wanted: Best place to live in SoCal?

My wife and I have lived in Irvine for the last 3 years - We love it.

 

I live in Newport Beach. No complaints!!!!

 

There are lots of places that are great to live in so cal...
With $125k/yr, you definitely have some options, but there are also some that are out of the question...

I also live in Irvine... for about 20 years now. I have to say that I love the orange county area b/c of its close proximity to airports, beach, mtns... If I want to go to SD or LA, both are only 45min away. I would pick any town near the coast b/c there's nothing like the coastal breeze.

With that said, however, I think some great cities/areas to also live in are: West LA, San Diego - La Jolla/P.Beach area, South OC (Mission Viejo, Laguna, CDM), Huntington Beach, and inland areas as Anaheim Hills, Pasadena/La Canada areas...

 

I have lived in Orange County since I was in high school. For only two years have I lived in a city while I was going to college. Live in Orange County but not a city.

Bonzi

 

Corona del Mar is nice, but not on 125k.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Where you live in Southern California depends on where you work. I am a pilot that needs easy access to LAX so Manhattan Beach is the best for me but I could see living in Palos Verdes as well. Just depends on how old a crowd you want to hang with.

The Hollywood Hills are great if you are making the run to the Valley or Beverly Hills on a daily basis.

If you plan to have children and like real white bread communities try Irvine and the rest of Orange County...but I go nuts there looking for good ethic food and the place bores me like Switzerland. It's beautiful but much too controlled and planned for my personal taste.

If you can stand the commute Malibu is terrific, best place to drive your car too, but you have to have a PHD in Malibu real estate to safely buy something there.

The Valley can get you a much nicer house for the money but you will pay for it in time on the freeway. Plus the most of it is without redeiming social value.

I have several rentals in the area, (Manhattan Beach, El Segundo, PV & Downtown LA) contact me via e-mail if you want to have a more complete rundown.

I live part time in Manhattan Beach and part time in Manhattan, NYC. If you are not from those places the real estate prices are going to shock you something fierce. But if you buy right it can be the cheapest place to live as the house appreciation is amazing and you can live for free after a few years if you sell your home right.


Good luck

 

If you don't mind commuting, Claremont is the town to live in.

If you can't commute, Westwood is cool, Rancho Palos Verde is pretty damn nice, Silverlake, ahhh......a few other nice places.

 

You've got a thing for Manhattan, don't you

My son, also a pilot (UAL), and also living in Manhattan Beach, loves it there, since he rarely has to venture out from the immediate area, thereby avoiding the truly obnoxious LA traffic.

Gary

 

Westlake is nice, so is Thousand Oaks. It really depends on were you are gonna be working and what your price range is. As for weather you can't beat Oxnard. It is the best kept little secret in SoCali.. It pretty much stays between 68 and 73 deg all year long. But it is an hour drive from L.A.

 

Well, everyplace listed so far is awsome I would not argue with any of them! But the question you need to first ask your self is what you want? We can sit here and tell you how nice it is where we live. But we might not be telling you the cheapest house goes for 1.2 mill. What I'am trying to say is Almost ANYWHERE from OC to S.D on the coast and somewhat inland is amazing!
But you need to ask yourself and your wife what you want? How old are you?
Do you want to be live where its a younger crowd?
Do you want to live in a Town like area? or more like city type area?
To you wan to build or buy? How much do you want to spend?
Where do you think the firm is, who might hire you?

 

I grew up in San Diego,
and most of the coast is great, But...
No matter where you live, I would not want to be making payments on a car as old as a 328.
Do yourself a favor, save for the Ferrari and pay cash.

 

If you're in Newport in Jan, be sure to look me up, along with a few of the other guys in the Irvine/Newport area. We can definitely show you around.

Byron

 

Yeah, at 3AM - try more like 2 - 2 1/2 hours during normal commute times.

 

I'm in Palos Verdes. But the best place ot live is the nicest place you can afford near where you work. Orange County has the best Ferrari dealers. The roads are better in OC. OC and LA traffic is a toss up. Get here at the right time in jan 04 and meet us for a day at the racetrack. I think it is 1/17/04. Every area has a nice city to live with riff-raff right next to it...that's so cal. Personally, I have met more people in Manhattan beach who think there sh*t don't stink. They think it is so hot to live in MB right next to the chevron refinery and neighboring smellsegundo and the airport I don't get the attraction. Land value there is highest per sq ft in the so bay...they can have it. Congestion and traffic. PV is quiet and full of old established people with few kids relatively speaking. It has the highest percentatge of "old money" in the so bay. If I was not in PV I would be in Newport beach, Old malibu, Lemon heights in Tustin.

 

Best idea is to get out of the area a little bit, a nice home near Mr. Baldy, easy commute to LA for legal work.

 

i live in simi valley

there are lots of nice law firms in calabasas

i can hop on topanga canyon and be in ucla/santa monica/westwood area rather swiftly



houses here are about 700+ for something decent

 

I'm not sure, but I put Mt. Baldy and downtown Los Angeles in Yahoo driving directions and came up with 55.8 miles and 1 hour 46 minutes - again, assuming no traffic or weather issues. I could see that averaging close to 2 1/2 to 3 hours each way.

 

Uh, o.k. On the other hand, you probably DON'T find a lot of fatbillybob's in Manhattan Beach. Maybe they just don't know what to say...

Gary

 

The three biggest questions to living anywhere in So Cal are:

Where will you work
How much are you willing to pay
How long your willing to commute

Until you get out her permanently, there are so many nice areas, you almost never live and work in the same city or suburb.

Sunny

 

LOL PSP. Yeah it does depend on what time you are on the road. I can get to Hollywood in about 50 to 55 minutes with the cruse control set at 65mph at 9:30 at night. But during the morning or evening rush it takes anywere from an hour and fifteen minutes, to and hour and a half to go the same distance. The worst is the holiday traffic. The day after Thanksgiving I got off the freeway all together and took the surface streets. Actually anywere in LA is bad depending on what time it is. At 2:00am I can get from Hollywood to Beverly Hills in about 10 minutes. But try that during lunch hour and you are looking at 30 minutes minimum to go the same distance.