Moving from midwest to Newport SOCAL are, school, social, community help? (Santa Ana: fit in, how much)

[myers1222]

I have a family of 5 that includes children ages 13, 10, eight. we currently live in a city in the Midwest and have Midwest values. we will find out on Monday 8/21/17 and will have less a week to make a fast decision on if my husband to take a new position in Newport Beach. we will be visiting next Thursday for two nights to tour the area. i'm writing in hopes of gaining a lot of information quickly since I do not have a lot of time.

my priorities: Schools, social, warmth, neighborhoods and a sense of community.

schools:are there Catholic private schools in the area? which come highly recommended? what is the average price range of a tuition at private school? we currently attend Catholic private school in the Midwest and the price is $15,000 + per year, looking to understand how much more we will pay. on these threads I have read the public schools are also great, can someone less the top schools top to bottom near Newport Beach?

Social: how easy is it to find a sense of community, fit in, and find friends? even though we are in the Midwest, we have found it's hard to connect here as well. We both grew up in a separate state outside of this one, and feel that people already have their lives going on and no one has room to add more. any advice on how to make friends with other families if we move to Newport? I also worry about my kids and their friendships? we live in an affluent area in the Midwest, and are too familiar with those that are flashy. We have found friends that are not flashy just as us. How easy is it to find the same families in Newport? are there schools you would recommend over others to find this?

warmth: how friendly are people in the area? seems to me if it's a laid-back lifestyle, most would be friendly, warm, and inviting?

neighborhood: currently we have 1.5 acre lot with 4000 square-foot home that could sell for $1.2 million , Could someone tell me how this translates for a home in the Newport Beach area? would like to see what type of home we would get, I assume we would have to downsize on square foot size. I would think we would be excited in a 3000 square-foot home if we could find one in our price range with a pool in a warm friendly community. we would not want a home that looks like every other home on the block, and do not like homes being extremely close to each other.

I realize most of this is going to be a give-and-take, just want to see how much I will be giving up to enjoy the area. Everything I have read has been wonderful, just concerned about the above issues since it's hard to really get a pulse on them without living there myself for a few years. This decision will need to be made very quickly, which is why I am hoping for a quick replies to this post.

[Electrician4you]

Originally Posted by myers1222

I have a family of 5 that includes children ages 13, 10, eight. we currently live in a city in the Midwest and have Midwest values. we will find out on Monday 8/21/17 and will have less a week to make a fast decision on if my husband to take a new position in Newport Beach. we will be visiting next Thursday for two nights to tour the area. i'm writing in hopes of gaining a lot of information quickly since I do not have a lot of time.

my priorities: Schools, social, warmth, neighborhoods and a sense of community.

schools:are there Catholic private schools in the area? which come highly recommended? what is the average price range of a tuition at private school? we currently attend Catholic private school in the Midwest and the price is $15,000 + per year, looking to understand how much more we will pay. on these threads I have read the public schools are also great, can someone less the top schools top to bottom near Newport Beach?

Social: how easy is it to find a sense of community, fit in, and find friends? even though we are in the Midwest, we have found it's hard to connect here as well. We both grew up in a separate state outside of this one, and feel that people already have their lives going on and no one has room to add more. any advice on how to make friends with other families if we move to Newport? I also worry about my kids and their friendships? we live in an affluent area in the Midwest, and are too familiar with those that are flashy. We have found friends that are not flashy just as us. How easy is it to find the same families in Newport? are there schools you would recommend over others to find this?

warmth: how friendly are people in the area? seems to me if it's a laid-back lifestyle, most would be friendly, warm, and inviting?



neighborhood: currently we have 1.5 acre lot with 4000 square-foot home that could sell for $1.2 million , Could someone tell me how this translates for a home in the Newport Beach area? would like to see what type of home we would get, I assume we would have to downsize on square foot size. I would think we would be excited in a 3000 square-foot home if we could find one in our price range with a pool in a warm friendly community. we would not want a home that looks like every other home on the block, and do not like homes being extremely close to each other.

I realize most of this is going to be a give-and-take, just want to see how much I will be giving up to enjoy the area. Everything I have read has been wonderful, just concerned about the above issues since it's hard to really get a pulse on them without living there myself for a few years. This decision will need to be made very quickly, which is why I am hoping for a quick replies to this post.

Depending where you move people are no different. They may be friendly but not friends.

Your house wants are somewhat unrealistic because you need more give than take. Houses here are built relatively close to each other. 4,000 sq ft in Newport is going to run into 3-4 mil or more. 1-2 mil gets you 25/2700 sq ft and it's going to be tight quarters. You're not getting the Ponderosa Ranch that's for sure. You will find houses in your price range. It just won't be anywhere near 3000 sq ft in NB. As for catholic private schools there are a few. Mater Dei HS if the kids are HS age

[Farink]

Hi there,
I don't live in Newport (we live in Laguna Niguel), so I can't address most of your questions. However, 3,000 sq. ft for $1.2 is not something that is realistic in Newport. Take a look at Redfin and filter out for homes within your price range and you'll see what you can get for $1.2. Good luck with your decisions! Also, have you tried searching this forum for "newport"? You may find other discussions addressing these issues. Sadly, OC is the land of tiny lots, cookie cutter, right on top of each other homes.

[pacific2]

You won't get what you want in Newport Beach because it's very expensive. Other places you may want to look at include Dana Point and San Clemente, but still, tone down the expectations in terms of house size.

As someone else suggested, try https://www.redfin.com/city/13193/CA.../sort=lo-price

[loveautumn]

Agree, you may need to look outside NB proper to find something, Newport and Laguna are very wealthy areas. Hope your husband is getting a salary increase to match the COL here. Not sure, Maybe check out Lake Forest? and the SoCal culture is very different than Midwest.

[myers1222]

thank you, would you recommend living in Laguna Niguel to get a bigger home within our price range? how is the commute into Newport? For my husband?

[RosieSD]

For Catholic schools in Orange County, check out the Diocese of Orange County Schools website:

https://occatholicschools.org/

Once you decide on a specific area, you can search for Catholic schools convenient to that area on this website and check out tuition at them. Plug in the city where you're looking and the site will show you a map of where nearby schools are located.

Mater Dei H.S. in Santa Ana is excellent, so if you plan to send your kids to Catholic schools through H.S., you might want to also consider some inland areas (i.e., Costa Mesa, Orange, Tustin) that would be close to Mater Dei. You'll likely come closer to fulfilling your house wishlist by looking a little inland as well.

If you want to stay right on the coast, you might also look at Huntington Beach when you're out visiting.

[Electrician4you]

Originally Posted by myers1222

thank you, would you recommend living in Laguna Niguel to get a bigger home within our price range? how is the commute into Newport? For my husband?

Yeah you'll get more house in Laguna or South OC for that price. As for the drive he will be limited to either workingbhis way to PCH and going 5n/PCH north into NB or PCH to 133n/405n/55s or PCH/5n/405n/55s or 5n/73n or toll depending where in NB he works and what time he goes in. I had a discussion with another member about traffic from south OC on the 5. Bolt n the morning there is traffic. It's moving but one wreck kills it.

[ysr_racer]

Originally Posted by myers1222

neighborhoods and a sense of community...

Ha, ha, you're not in Kansas any more Dorothy

[LuvSouthOC]

The 73 toll road (one of the nicest roads to drive on in SoCal) means that Newport is less than 15 minutes away from Laguna Niguel.

No traffic. Fast. Nearly everyone has a performance car here so the 73...is "dangerous".

Beautiful trip.

1.2m will get a decent tract home here.

Here is an example. Here is another. One house is over 2500 square feet and the other is about 2000. Update: the 2000k square foot one is a little over 1.2 and is sold. Both have very small lots if you are looking for 1.5 acres, in which case you will need to spend a lot more.