Best oceanside city to move to in California?

[imported_Tomato]

My parents have had enough of the Texas heat, and over Memorial Day weekend I convinced them to consider moving to California. Their only prereq: it HAS to be a house/condo on the ocean and within a 2-hour drive from Los Angeles (so I can drive home and visit often ).

I think Ventura or San Clemente would be nice... not too crowded, not nearly as expensive as it'd be in Los Angeles...

What cities would you recommend?

And does anyone know where I can find more info about the California tax structure (property, state income, sales, etc.).

Hopefully I can be closer to my family soon... thanks in advance!

 

[MuffD]

I would say San Diego. The only thing is, your parents would be spending around 1 million or more for oceanfront property.

 

[nater]

I've only been to LA, and I went to hermosa beach. It was pretty nice.

 

[imported_Tomato]

Originally posted by: muffstah
I would say San Diego. The only thing is, your parents would be spending around 1 million or more for oceanfront property.

GODDAYUM that's a lot of money... even for a smaller house? I'm working and living on my own and my sister is in college... that would leave my parents and two high-school age sisters. Would it be that much for a condo, too?

Are there any cities with cheaper oceanfront property? I haven't spent much time in San Diego, but I've heard it's nice there... good family-city? (moreso than LA, I'd imagine)

 

[guapo337]

SAN FRICKIN DIEGO!

seriously. mission beach. ocean beach. cant think of anywhere better.

 

[bUnMaNGo]

Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach... or you can try up past the valley like near Oxnard... or down south towards Orange County, where it tends to be cleaner but also more expensive.

 

[imported_Tomato]

Originally posted by: nater
I've only been to LA, and I went to hermosa beach. It was pretty nice.

Very nice but extremely expensive. My dad will be retiring soon, and I think their price range is $300-750,000 (the lower the better, obviously).

 

[imported_Tomato]

Originally posted by: guapo337
SAN FRICKIN DIEGO!

seriously. mission beach. ocean beach. cant think of anywhere better.

Not familiar with the area... is it nicer than Ventura?

I'm looking into some Oxnard real estate... and considered Orange County for them, but properties do tend to be sky-high there... it's a beautiful area, though.

 

[BatmanNate]

San Clemente is awesome.

 

[gregshin]

you really dont need to live on a beach...how about torrence? thats about 10mins away from the beach...for example...when it's 70 degress in torrence its 80 in pasadena and its less then 30 miles away from each too

 

[dolph]

how about oceanside?

 

[white]

i think a better question is how close do you want them living to you? i think prices are high in LA, OC and SD counties. there are many nice areas in all counties and maybe they could visit the areas to see what they like.

 

[neovan]

san clemente is a nice area. much less expensive than LA or OC ocean-front properties.

 

[macwinlin]

Try Realtor.com and see if you can click on the coastal regions of California near LA. Hopefully that should give you some idea what kind of places and prices there are.

 

[Aves]

Hell they could have gotten a condo at the Regatta in Marina Del Rey in that price range, when they weren't sold out that is.

 

[imported_Tomato]

Originally posted by: white
i think a better question is how close do you want them living to you? i think prices are high in LA, OC and SD counties. there are many nice areas in all counties and maybe they could visit the areas to see what they like.

I'd like my parents to live within driving distance... 2-3 hours max, preferably closer. I'd like to see them at least twice a month, and it'd be nice just to go over for dinner... I didn't realize how much I missed them until I went home for Memorial day weekend. Right now, I'm leaning towards San Clemente from the replies in this thread and from coworkers... I guess it's always been my dad's retirement dream to "live on the ocean/beach", so that's what they're looking for right now.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: Dezign

Originally posted by: muffstah
I would say San Diego. The only thing is, your parents would be spending around 1 million or more for oceanfront property.

GODDAYUM that's a lot of money... even for a smaller house? I'm working and living on my own and my sister is in college... that would leave my parents and two high-school age sisters. Would it be that much for a condo, too?

Are there any cities with cheaper oceanfront property? I haven't spent much time in San Diego, but I've heard it's nice there... good family-city? (moreso than LA, I'd imagine)

Oceanfront property is expensive as hell. Southern California is expensive as hell. Put the two together and what do you think you get?

I doubt you can find a house on oceanfront property in the entire state of california for under $750,000.

 

[guapo337]

Originally posted by: Dezign

Originally posted by: guapo337
SAN FRICKIN DIEGO!

seriously. mission beach. ocean beach. cant think of anywhere better.

Not familiar with the area... is it nicer than Ventura?

I'm looking into some Oxnard real estate... and considered Orange County for them, but properties do tend to be sky-high there... it's a beautiful area, though.

Mission Beach and Ocean Beach are parts of San Diego. They're basically the oceanside parts of San Diego. I was there this weekend, and from what I saw, they are extremely nice, small communities with very cool people. Overall, a good time.

 

[kt]

Exactly how close do your parents need to be to the beach? Obviously, the closer they are the higher the price will be. My boss live right next to the ocean, about 2 minutes walk to the sand. His house cost around 2.2 million. Of course, there are other places around OC like Huntington Beach that is more affordable. About 5 minutes drive to the beach, but you get a decent size house at a decent price.

 

[amnesiac]

Oxnard is useless. It's too far from LA to be useful, and there is absolutely no redeeming value of that city except for the high immigrant population and strawberry farms.

Have your parents check out Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Hermosa Beach. Excellent locations in terms of safety and proximity to jobs and Los Angeles.

If you're more than a couple blocks from the beach the prices of housing goes way down. Don't expect beachFRONT property for that budget.

 

[bolido2000]

I love Palos Verdes. Is not ocean front and there are no beaches but the house have amazing views of the ocean

 

[ggavinmoss]

Originally posted by: guapo337

Originally posted by: Dezign

Originally posted by: guapo337
SAN FRICKIN DIEGO!

seriously. mission beach. ocean beach. cant think of anywhere better.

Not familiar with the area... is it nicer than Ventura?

I'm looking into some Oxnard real estate... and considered Orange County for them, but properties do tend to be sky-high there... it's a beautiful area, though.

Mission Beach and Ocean Beach are parts of San Diego. They're basically the oceanside parts of San Diego. I was there this weekend, and from what I saw, they are extremely nice, small communities with very cool people. Overall, a good time.

They may be "oceanside," but don't confuse them with Oceanside, CA (also in San Diego). I think Mission Beach and Ocean Beach (along with Pacific Beach) are good for younger people. You may want to consider Del Mar, Leucadia, or Encinitas.

-geoff

 

[Stark]

It depends what they mean by "on the beach." If you want to look out your window onto the beach for under 750k, try baja or up near pismo beach. Everything else is out of the price range. If you want "within walking distance" check, from north to south, pismo beach, ventura, long beach, seal beach, huntington beach, laguna niguel, dana point, san clemente, oceanside, carlsbad, solana beach, ocean beach, and finally baja.

 

[hzl eyed grl]

They could try Pismo Beach, too which is the area where I'm from. The only thing is that depending on where you are in LA, it might be like a 4 hour drive.

EDIT: Stark beat me to Pismo. I'd also recommend Santa Barbara, but it's more expensive. Also in with Pismo Beach is Shell Beach, Avila Beach, and Grover Beach. They're all in the same area.

 

[manly]

Good luck to your family.

Moving from TX to beach cities California is rather challenging. With generational lows in mortgage rates, unless you find a sweetheart rental, would it even be any more affordable to rent rather than buy?