Thoughts on Irvine, CA and surrounding area?

[egoldber]

Anyone live in or around Irvine? DH is probably going to get offered a job there and he's pretty excited about it, provided enough 0's are involved. :) He may have the option to continue doing that job from where we currently live, but I'm sure that would mean he would be traveling even more, since his "office" would then be a coast away.

What's it like to have kids in that area? We've lived in CA before (SF Bay Area) so we're aware of a lot of CA issues (smog, traffic, sky high real estate). On the other hand, we really miss a lot of things about California too, so its tempting in some ways. But we didn't have kids when we lived there, so it was a different type of experience and it was SF Bay area, not southern CA.

I know nothing about Irvine. The job is in Irvine, and we would prefer to keep DH's commute at less than 30 minutes. Someone we know (without kids) recommended Costa Mesa as a place to live.

All thoughts about the area are welcome.

[Jeanmick]

Hi Beth,

I referred your question to the SoCal BBB Yahoo Group in the event that some members don't frequent the boards as much these days. There are several members who are much more familiar with the area than I am. I hope you didn't mind.

Good luck in your decision. :)

[Jeanne]

Orange Country overall is decent. I lived in LA for 5 years and loved it but did not have kids either. The beach areas are very nice if you're a beach fan.
Not sure if I would live there long term as I much prefer Northern CA to Southern, but my priorities and preferences have changed since the girls came along.
California on the whole is a fabulous state! Miss it, Miss it, Miss it! There's just so much more to do there with kids. Should you move there, you'll never be bored. And although this is a little early, if you're out there by October, don't miss the LA County Fair!

[joannect]

Hi Beth,

I live in Orange Hills which is about 5-10 minutes from Irvine. Just like everywhere else there are advantages and disadvantages to living in Orange County. Irvine is a master planned community and is pretty large. but for my tastes it is a bit too cookie cutterish (lots of tract homes). It is usually voted one of the safest places to live in So. Cal. and their school distrct has a GREAT reputation (voted one of the best in CA and possible the nation if I recall correctly) It is one of the pricer areas of Orange County to live in (less expensive than in the coastal cities, of course) but not as expensive as the Bay area. It is however VERY well maintained, lots of parks and a great community center- all very geared towards families. Think of it as one HUGE neighborhood with a lot of strip malls and that's Irvine. Yes, the traffic can be awful, yes it's smoggy, but it's 80+ degrees today and I'm running around in shorts!

If DH job is in Irvine there are A LOT of other places to live around Irvine that could probably get you more bang for your buck, so to speak. Costa Mesa is not bad, again has its plus and minuses. A little further inland (like 5 miles) is Rancho Santa Margarita- another master planned community. Its not as big as Irvine or as expensive, but is family oriented and pretty new (all tract homes built within the last 5-10 years). It has a lots of parks and shopping, but I'm not sure about its schools.

Here's a real estate site that has other great info on it:

http://www.homeseekers.com/scripts/regional.asp?menus=0&lid=0&_ver=5&_reg_id=socal

You can do a search for whatever price range and city you want (and a lot of other parameters) and then click on any house then scroll down a bit to additional property info and there is info on the schools and neighborhood.

Wow- Sorry I talk too much!

All in all Orange County is a great place to live. I've been here 8+ years and would find it hard to be happy anyplace else! Good luck and keep us posted!

Joanne
Proud mama to Joshua aka Mr. Fussy Britches 1/30/04

[mamahill]

I KNEW you wouldn't stay away for long! LOL. My DH's sister and dh lived in Huntington Beach for a couple years while he did his fellowship at UCI. My FIL and MIL lived in Costa Mesa for a couple years while FIL had chemotherapy. We went down there several times and it was gorgeous (except for the traffic). From what I saw, it was very family friendly. I thought it felt crowded, but then anything south of Ventura feels too crowded to me (or north of Gilroy!). I don't know about the other suburbs, but let's face it, you can't beat that weather. DH and I have been discussing moving (which would, inevitably, result in leaving the state), but with this recent summer weather I've been in such a great mood and have been seriously trying to figure out a way to buy a house here.

Of course, where you are right now sounds very family-friendly as well, and (perhaps?) a little less congested? If you do come out here, how about meeting up at Disneyland next year? :)

[jec2]

Well, you'll be close to a Wahoo's Fish Taco's, yum! Other than that and the UCI mascot is an anteater!

[Melanie]

It's nice. VERY expensive, so make sure there are a lot of zeros in his salary to match the housing market. I have a friend who just bought a 40 yo home in Garden Grove (not even one of the pricier OC areas) for over half-mil and it needs work! Housing in So Cal is pricey, but OC is really pricey. I don't think the air is too bad there...I personally find the traffic there daunting if I had to live there, so you might want to consider if you can live near your husband's work.

Costa Mesa is nice. I also have a friend in Mission Viejo which is nice. The more inland places get really hot in the summer. Huntington Beach stays cooler. I'm not sure how long from HB to Irvine, though. Check the maps.yahoo.com when you start narrowing down your cities.

Oh, and please don't flame me if you are from there, BUT, from what I know and have seen of OC, it tends to be a more materialistic area. Speaking of, Newport Beach is nice, too, but a little further.

[papal]

I didn't know Wahoo's was a chain. It was fav place in Denver, CO.. mmmm.. mahi-mahi fish taco.. delish!

[Melanie]

Beth, I cannot BELIEVE I forgot the BEST part...they are putting in a Hanna Andersson store in Newport Beach next month!! Now, you've just GOT to move. We can have a SoCal group meeting at the HA store. =)

[MommytoDylan]

Beth,

I think Orange County is a WONDERFUL place to live and raise children! I live in Foothill Ranch which is 15 minutes from Irvine. Irvine does have a wonderful school system, great parks and libraries, and so much to do. We have several wonderful malls close by (15 min.or so) and the beaches are terrific. Irvine is broken into small communities that all have names like Woodbridge or Northwood or Northpark. Each community has its own personality and sometimes theme. I used to live in Northwood when I was single. It is expensive in Irvine but all of Orange County is expensive. To give you an idea...My parents bought an attached home in Northpark in 2001 (brand new) with 4 bedrooms for $350,000. Now their home is worth almost $700,000. So your home will most likely be a wonderful investment in the long run. Homes in our area are now all selling for more than the asking price after bidding wars between buyers.

Irvine has so many companies in it that the traffic on the surrounding freeways is usually terrible. I would avoid living anywhere north of Irvine as that commute is especially hard. Areas like Foothill Ranch, Mission Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita would be very doable if you wanted to live outside of Irvine. Costa Mesa is a much older community so most of the homes are either remodeled or in need of it. It has a wonderful ocean breeze in the summer, however, but the traffic is worse.

I could ramble on forever. Just ask if you have any questions.

Meredith

Edited to add: There is a marvelous homeschooling program for the county which provides all your curriculum and teacher support.

[Dcclerk]

I grew up in OC (now live in LA) and used to work in Irvine so can help a tad, I hope.

Overall, I totally agree that Irvine is a very family friendly area. If you lived in Irvine, your DH would probably have a commute that only requires side streets and a relatively happy suburbia existence. It has amazing schools and lots of things to do. There are tons of parks, lots of activities for wee ones and at least a billion people with kids your age. You can get season passes to all kinds of amusement parks, regularly go to beaches (either with waves or without, depending on your preference), go do some great shopping, have fun walking through lots of trails in various natural preserves and have a pretty darn good suburban life.

However, it is very expensive. My understanding is that you would be hard-pressed to find a 2 bd townhome in Irvine for less than $375K or so. There are certain areas that are more expensive than others and the oldest communities are from the 70's, I believe. It is a master-planned community with all the pluses and minuses that it entails. For me, personally, I prefer not to have rules about what colors I can paint my home, but then, again, I really wish that my neighbor down the block did:)

There are plenty of other areas that you could buy with anything west more expensive and many places east less so. The last I checked, Seal Beach was the cheapest coastal town and really quite cute (but not likely to be cheaper than Irvine). Also, a general rule is that the more north on the 5 freeway you go, the older the area and the more south, the newer.

In general, I moved from Orange County after college because I did find it to be a little more materialistic and cookie-cutter than I preferred. But I do think that it is also dependent on where you live and who you are around. If I didn't have all kinds of pre-conceived notions about the place from when I grew up, I could probably move back there, raise a family and be happy as a clam:)

[jec2]

That's right. they have them in CO. too. Yeah, they are in So. Cal too. When we were living in Pasadena I was so excited when they opened one there. Then, we moved :( bye bye wahoos

[brubeck]

Sarah where are you thinking of going if you head out of state? DH and I have been tossing around the idea of Las Vegas recently.

[neosr]

I have to agree with you Kerry. Moved down to Irvine (Oak Creek) over 2 yrs ago and moved back to LA last summer. It's expensive in Irvine and other south OC cities due to the pluses--clean, safe, family-friendly, good school district, nice parks and open spaces, etc. A nice suburban life if that's what you're looking for. Just a tad too sterile and plastic for my tastes. Oh well, can't have everything.

Other nice "newer" areas with tract homes to consider are Aliso Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita and Foothill Ranch. But older neighborhoods like Laguna Niguel, Dana Point and San Clemente are a bit more charming. My advice if you're considering moving to south OC is to rent an apartment (plenty of nice ones) in Irvine for six months and familiarize yourself with the various OC cities as well as school districts before you choose a more permanent residence. Also, keep in mind that Irvine is a fairly large city all by itself and has several distinct neighborhoods and schools (e.g., Turtle Rock, Northwood, Walnut Village, Oakcreek, Westpark, Woodbridge and newer developments like Shady Canyon and Quail Hill). Check out www.irvineco.com for more info.

[egoldber]

Thanks all! I'd really prefer to live near the ocean. That would be the one thing that would really get me to move back to California (assuming DH even gets the job, LOL!).

And the housing prices you mentioned were in line with what we were looking at on-line, so thats not a shock. We experienced something similar when we had a house in San Jose a few years ago. Bought it for X and sold it for nearly 2X! Of course, we then went to a housing market where 2X got you a really big house. But our house here has done really well too (maybe 2X + .5X) LOL! :) We;d have to downsize from our current house (which is heartbreaking to DH) but I think we have too much crap anyway...

Any suggestions for beach communities within a 30 minute commute to Irvine?

[MommytoDylan]

Laguna Beach is beautiful and you could take the 133 (a new road) and be in Irvine quickly, though I've never driven the route during rush hour. Many celebrities have homes there and there are many cute shops and small town feel. San Clemente/Dana Point has a new toll road that may make them an option too. Laguna is more "elite" and San Clemente is more "working class"--don't know how else to say it and hope no one is offended. Newport Beach has VERY expensive homes (accompanied by the O.C. attitude seen on the t.v. show) and then some rundown VERY expensive homes with the laid back surfer attitute around downtown where all the action is during the summer. If you want specific information on any one town let me know.

Meredith

[C99]

Too funny that this was posted today. I had never even heard of this and then I saw a reference to it (in regard to Boulder and Denver, CO) in the flight magazine today! It sounds like a neat place.

[mamahill]

NOT Las Vegas - it's so HOT there! Either the Denver Metro area or the Portland area. Denver is sunnier but Portland is near(er) the coast. But then we have this weather and I think we should stay here longer...

[Melanie]

Beth I sent you an email via the boards...LMK if you don't get it.

[daisymommy]

>The last I checked, Seal Beach was the cheapest coastal town
>and really quite cute (but not likely to be cheaper than
>Irvine).

Sigh...I used to live in Seal Beach :) I miss SoCal so badly that I bug DH daily to move back there.

Beth, Irvine really is wonderful. Before I moved away, I was all set to go to Univ. Irvine to study Psych. At the time it was ranked #1 in the country for it's program.

[Melanie]

> Newport Beach has VERY expensive homes
>(accompanied by the O.C. attitude seen on the t.v. show)

Did you know that if you take off from Orange County/John Wayne airport you will go shockingly straight up so that they reach a certain altitude before getting over Newport. For noise reasons. LOL.

[Sandy]

Ohhh, Come to the Portland area. I have family there and would love to meet up with you and little Miss A. It's a fun place to visit. Than you could also head on up to the Seattle area. :P



Sandy mom to Alexander Thor 3/16/02

[DDowning]

I'm out of town so I just saw this post. I'm sending you a private email.

[mom2kandj]

Beth -

We just got back from vacation, too! :)

We live just inland of Laguna Beach(7 miles) and it takes us about 15 minutes to get to the beach. Call me a snob, but we prefer living on the ocean side of the I-5 freeway as it is closer to the ocean, the temps are a bit cooler, and somedays, there is less smog. You'll find that the newer master planned communities are geared towards young families with lots of amenities such as parks, playgrounds and swimming pools. The downside to the master planned communities are the high tax rates(special assessments known as Mello Roos can add several hundred dollars to your monthly mortgage), small lot size(average lots run 4000-6000sq ft), HOA fees, and lack of charm in cookie cutter houses. That being said, we happily live in a 1700 sq ft cookie cutter house in an established master planned community with tons of young families, but we are looking for more space. We are really looking to move up to about 2500- 3000 sq ft, but if you are looking, you already know how expensive that will be. If you are interested in browsing some new houses, here are a few links:

http://www.irvineranch.com/villages/villages.asp
http://www.laderaranch.com/homes/

HTH and please email me with any questions!

Rose
mom 2 Katie 12/02/00
& Jack 04/16/02