Feedback from my trip to Irvine/OC (San Diego, San Francisco: real estate, hotel)

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by OptimusPrime69

I live in Irvine and find south OC to be quite pleasant and nice as you say, but you're right....You don't get much for your money here. Need a mill just to get a decent house in a desirable area. I've looked at buying in Rancho Santa Margarita and other areas a little more out of the way, but they're just so damn boring and far-flung. I really don't understand the price of housing out here. You get much more bang for your buck in Orlando. Granted, I found Orlando to be a little "rough" when I've been there.... a little like, tick-tac in a lot of areas. The people were, um, how shall we say it?.....unsavory..?

Yeah that's the issue for us. We ended up increasing the budget to $1.5M and even then it was difficult to find something we liked unless we went far out. We found a house in Lake Forest where we almost made an offer for $1.15M cash, our realtor was ready to write the contract, so we spent a good time driving around and we felt we wouldn't be taking a step up in either house or neighborhood from our current situation. Now if that house was in Laguna Niguel or Aliso Viejo it could be a different story.



I agree regarding RSM and the far out communities. We found a couple nice homes there, but it seemed so far out. Orlando and Florida in general is definitely a mixed bag compared to South Orange County. You have really nice areas and then the next district will be really poor areas. It sort of reminds me of a tiny version of LA... it's basically a bunch of small communities in a general area with different vibes. Comparing nice areas of Lake Baldwin to Dr. Phillips to Windermere to Winter Park to Thornton Park to Lake Nona to Winter Garden to Celebration are very different atmospheres. I guess that was something my girl friend likes about Orlando is that you can drive and the architecture will make you feel like you are in a different city, even though you are still in Orlando metro.

[pacific2]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

Yeah that's the issue for us. We ended up increasing the budget to $1.5M and even then it was difficult to find something we liked unless we went far out. [b]We found a house in Lake Forest where we almost made an offer for $1.15M cash, our realtor was ready to write the contract, so we spent a good time driving around and we felt we wouldn't be taking a step up in either house or neighborhood from our current situation. Now if that house was in Laguna Niguel or Aliso Viejo it could be a different story.

Here's a thought if you would like to live in either Aliso or Laguna Niguel. Buy something for under $1.5M and then renovate the place. Treat it as a project.

For example, this $1,250,000/4bd/2.5bth/3,400 sq.ft. house looks okay on the outside, but the interior has, with a few exceptions, a "builder's basic" look that I can't stand. Also, it seems thrown together and lacks any sort of unifying design scheme:

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Aliso-Viej...6/home/5773137

If I were in your shoes and actually did want to move to this area, I would buy it, and then turn it into something to suit my family's likes and needs.

If remodeling is not your strong suit, you could hire someone to give you suggestions.

Just a thought.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by pacific2

Here's a thought if you would like to live in either Aliso or Laguna Niguel. Buy something for under $1.5M and then renovate the place. Treat it as a project.

For example, this $1,250,000/4bd/2.5bth/3,400 sq.ft. house looks okay on the outside, but the interior has, with a few exceptions, a "builder's basic" look that I can't stand. Also, it seems thrown together and lacks any sort of unifying design scheme:

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Aliso-Viej...6/home/5773137

If I were in your shoes and actually did want to move to this area, I would buy it, and then turn it into something to suit my family's likes and needs.

If remodeling is not your strong suit, you could hire someone to give you suggestions.

Just a thought.

I actually really don't mind moving or not moving as I do like Orlando a lot and while I still really liked OC, I wasn't as excited about moving after my visit because of the distance between places. I've done (not me personally doing the work, but I've organized complete renovation projections before) and I don't mind doing them. However, it comes down to price since I don't have a strong preference for either area, if I go to $1.5M here, I can get a celebrity style home and layout also matters to me too. I could only find the layouts I liked with my budget going further out. This does seem like a good deal though for that area.

[pacific2]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

I actually really don't mind moving or not moving as I do like Orlando a lot and while I still really liked OC, I wasn't as excited about moving after my visit because of the distance between places. I've done (not me personally doing the work, but I've organized complete renovation projections before) and I don't mind doing them. However, it comes down to price since I don't have a strong preference for either area, if I go to $1.5M here, I can get a celebrity style home and layout also matters to me too. I could only find the layouts I liked with my budget going further out. This does seem like a good deal though for that area.

Gotcha except for the bolded, and I'm scratching my head on that one. Aliso Viejo is very compact at about 7.47 sq mi (Smaller in land area than Laguna Beach) and designed so that a resident does not have to travel more than about 1.5-2.5 miles (I've forgotten the exact figures) from home to Town Center (Scheduled, btw, for a major renovation).

What's more, there are 22 parks within the city, a dog park, numerous gyms, an aquatic center, Barnes & Noble, urgent care centers, Hoag Clinic, a golf course, hotels (2), a performing arts center, restaurants, grocery stores, numerous tech & biomed companies, etc., all within its boundaries.

For other needs, we simply drive to a nearby city. For example, we don't have a Costco, but there are about three relatively close by in Laguna Niguel (2) and Irvine (1). My dog's vet is also in Laguna Niguel (Easy drive).

The same is true for other South County cities. Their residents mostly have what they require, but people don't hesitate to drive elsewhere if needed.

Thankfully, the 5 freeway does not cut across Aliso, but it's not difficult to reach it. The 73 does cut through the city.

[NewbieHere]

I’m glad you didn’t move, it’s not worth it to upgrade even for $1.5million.

[capoeira]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

I want to thank everyone who answered my previous threads regarding moving to Irvine or a surrounding community. We drove around 800 miles in OC to really explore it. I get a lot relocation threads in the Orlando forum and never hear back from the OP, so I thought some of you might appreciate me taking the time to tell you our decision.

How did your San Diego trip go? I guess you probably did not like their older 70's & 80's housing stock.

[pacific2]

Here's a drone's eye view of Aliso.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISgGMqlB4W4

[capoeira]

Originally Posted by pacific2

Gotcha except for the bolded, and I'm scratching my head on that one. Aliso Viejo is very compact at about 7.47 sq mi (Smaller in land area than Laguna Beach) and designed so that a resident does not have to travel more than about 1.5-2.5 miles (I've forgotten the exact figures) from home to Town Center (Scheduled, btw, for a major renovation).

It seems very obvious to me. Aliso Viejo is 23-26 miles to Garden Grove Koreatown, about 50 miles to the Chinese area of Monterey Park and 50 miles to Little Tokyo. When I lived in Tustin I made weekly visits to Little Saigon and GG Koreatown.

I also probably drove up to Monterey Park at least once a month. It was too far from Tustin and would have been even farther from South OC.

If I relocate back to Orange County I would never live south of Irvine. If I had kids in school my first choices would be Cypress, Los Alamitos, parts of Fullerton and Cerritos(in LA County).

[Vic Romano]

Understand the decision. My cousin bought a new house in the Great Park area of Irvine for a lot of money. The house is nice, but the lot is no better than my old house in the IE. It would be hard for me to justify spending that much to live there. However I would expect the houses in appreciate over time.

There are large older ranch homes in the foothills of North Tustin. Those are the houses to buy!!!

[pacific2]

Originally Posted by capoeira

It seems very obvious to me. Aliso Viejo is 23-26 miles to Garden Grove Koreatown, about 50 miles to the Chinese area of Monterey Park and 50 miles to Little Tokyo. When I lived in Tustin I made weekly visits to Little Saigon and GG Koreatown.

I also probably drove up to Monterey Park at least once a month. It was too far from Tustin and would have been even farther from South OC.

If I relocate back to Orange County I would never live south of Irvine. If I had kids in school my first choices would be Cypress, Los Alamitos, parts of Fullerton and Cerritos(in LA County).

Ah, it's far away from Koreatown, the Chinese area you mentioned and, Little Tokyo and Little Saigon. True, the OP did once mention his desire to be close to, I think, Asian restaurants.

Still, that's probably not at the top of the list of priorities for most people in this area who don't share that interest. So, "things" don't seem to be far away.

As far as your not wanting to ever live south of Irvine, hey, have at it.