We want to move to SoCal from Illinois. Any suggestions on where to move to?

Question

We have a limited budget but we want to live near the ocean. We know it's close to impossible to find a home for an affordable price. We were think of Long Beach or Huntinton Beach, but there might be a better place to find.

Answer 1

Must be our earthquakes (we had one Monday) and wildfires that attract you.

Jobs in California are hard to find so I hope you are getting transferred. 'Limited budget' and 'living near the ocean' don't belong in the same sentence.

The beach in Long Beach is a misnomer. They are very polluted, nobody goes to them and they have been shut down 4 times this summer for sewage spills.

Even with the housing slump, the average house in a crappy (85% of the city) part of Long Beach will still be $500,000 and in a nice,  safe neighborhood close to the water $950,000. I live 2 blocks from the beach in a great neighborhood and I pay $800 per month for a 400 square foot apartment. 1 bedrooms run about $1100 per month.  

Personally I think Huntington Beach is overrated, they have torn down everything that made it a cute beach town and built c**p you find in the suburbs. There are nice, expensive (million plus) homes close to the coast, but most of HB is made up of 3 bedroom, 2 bath homes built in the 50's. They are characterless and your neighbors house will have the same layout, but reversed. The boring little home will also run about $700,000. In HB they have created cement canyons by building cinder block walls along the streets with no green space. HB is filled with trailer parks and it has its fair share of run-down homes and apartments. Apartments in HB will be more expensive than Long Beach.

Maybe you should try the northern neighborhoods of San Pedro close to Cabrillo Beach, it's on the coast and is less than LB and HB. If you go farther inland to Lake Forest, Los Alamitos and other inland Orange County cities you 'might' find more affordable housing.

Answer 2

If you live close to the water anywhere in So Cal, it's going to be expensive (probably surprisingly so). I grew up in Long Beach and it's a very spread out city. You can live in the city limits and still be like 15 miles from the beach. Same with Huntington Beach.

Personally, my favorite place I've ever lived is San Diego. Problem is, while there are fairly affordable parts of San Diego, they're usually in pretty sketchy neighborhoods.

I would suggest you go to www.realtor.com and do a map search of So Cal to see what properties are going for around here. You may change your mind about coming out here, especially near the ocean.

Answer 3

Good jobs are hard to find, you may want to pick the town in which you are able to find employment.