Cost of Living in South Orange County (Merced, Laguna Niguel: sales, renting)

[buscando olas]

We are looking for some feedback regarding the cost of living in South Orange County. We are a young family with 3 young children (1 in school) who will be moving to the area in the near future and are really trying to crunch the numbers of living in the area. I understand that each family is different but I imagine that many of you will be able to provide great feedback because you have done the same thing setting up a budget etc... We are looking at moving to San Clemente, San Juan, Laguna Niguel, or LR. What do many of you spend for the following (or please add other expenses that you feel should be taken into account in the area):

* Housing (we figure to be spending about $2500-$2700 month for a 3-4 bed/ 2 bath single family home).
* Utilities bill (what is realistic cost?)
* Transportation costs (gas, yearly car registration, insurance etc...)
* Food costs (realistic monthly budget)
* Insurance (provided thru my work)
* Miscallaneous costs to consider

This list is meant to not be all encompassing but rather a rough guide for us to calculate our cost of living in the area. Thanks so much for your help and feedback. It is appreciated.

[bhcompy]

depending on build age, property tax can vary wildly(including mello roos into property tax calcs)

[buscando olas]

I'm sorry to not specify---- we will be renting as opposed to buying so property taxes are not going to be an issue for us. Sorry for the confusion.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by buscando olas

We are looking for some feedback regarding the cost of living in South Orange County. We are a young family with 3 young children (1 in school) who will be moving to the area in the near future and are really trying to crunch the numbers of living in the area. I understand that each family is different but I imagine that many of you will be able to provide great feedback because you have done the same thing setting up a budget etc... We are looking at moving to San Clemente, San Juan, Laguna Niguel, or LR. What do many of you spend for the following (or please add other expenses that you feel should be taken into account in the area):

* Housing (we figure to be spending about $2500-$2700 month for a 3-4 bed/ 2 bath single family home).
* Utilities bill (what is realistic cost?)
* Transportation costs (gas, yearly car registration, insurance etc...)
* Food costs (realistic monthly budget)
* Insurance (provided thru my work)
* Miscallaneous costs to consider

This list is meant to not be all encompassing but rather a rough guide for us to calculate our cost of living in the area. Thanks so much for your help and feedback. It is appreciated.

Where do you live now? What do you pay for these expenses now?

It will probably be easier for the forum to give you responses relative to your current situation. For example, if you live in Houston, your electricity bill will be less. But your gasoline will be more.

Also, where are you commuting to? That will drive your gasoline bill.

Groceries won't be much different.

Insurance is such a variable; people in same neighborhood probably pay significantly different amounts, depending on coverage, and depending on whether they shopped around.

Are you factoring 401(k)s ($16,500/yr) two Roth IRAs ($10,000/yr), three education IRAs (3X$2000 = $6000/yr)?

You can get a feel for what you get for that monthly expense in housing: HousingMaps

GasBuddy.com - Find Low Gas Prices in the USA and Canada will give you local gas prices.

You can visit http://www.sce.com/ and find out what power costs per kilowatt-hour. For example, here in Huntsville it is only about $0.09/kwhr, but in Southern California it varies from something like $0.15 to $0.25 depending on how much power you use. That's expensive but people in Southern California don't need to run seven tons of A/C for four months like I do. And you really only need a furnace for a couple months per year.

Finally, you can get a picture of school performance from this

School Performance Maps

[OC Investor2]

Originally Posted by buscando olas

We are looking for some feedback regarding the cost of living in South Orange County. We are a young family with 3 young children (1 in school) who will be moving to the area in the near future and are really trying to crunch the numbers of living in the area. I understand that each family is different but I imagine that many of you will be able to provide great feedback because you have done the same thing setting up a budget etc... We are looking at moving to San Clemente, San Juan, Laguna Niguel, or LR. What do many of you spend for the following (or please add other expenses that you feel should be taken into account in the area):

* Housing (we figure to be spending about $2500-$2700 month for a 3-4 bed/ 2 bath single family home).
* Utilities bill (what is realistic cost?)
* Transportation costs (gas, yearly car registration, insurance etc...)
* Food costs (realistic monthly budget)
* Insurance (provided thru my work)
* Miscallaneous costs to consider

This list is meant to not be all encompassing but rather a rough guide for us to calculate our cost of living in the area. Thanks so much for your help and feedback. It is appreciated.

Utilities: Basic Cable/Cable phone/Cable internet pkg: $140/mo, Electricity, gas water will vary based on type of heat, size of lawn etc how close you are to the water (will drive summer AC use). For comparions, I have a small house, Gas heat, infrequent AC, postage stamp lawn with all the newer low flow this & that. My water runs $30-40/month, Gas about the same, Elec. 40-100/mo depending on season.

Transportation: Gas is one of highest in the US. Count on it being 15-20% higher then the nat'l average. Car registration is outrageous. It is based on the value of the car. A newer near luxury vehicle can be 6,7,800 dollars a year. Insurance is not higher then any other coastal urban area.

Food is also expensive. expect 10-15% higher then the national average.

Additional expenses: Taxes. Will be very high. Both sales & income. If you are contemplating any major purchases (Car,furniture, new electronics, etc - any big ticket item) do it before you come here to avoid the 9%+ sales taxes. Also childrens activities. My kids are young and just starting to do sports, etc. but my perception is it is much more expensive here then in other parts of the country. I have co-workers who talked about thier kids involvement in high school football and it cost them hundreds of dollars.

[oc2nyc]

I live farther north from where you are looking, in an unincorporated areas called Rossmoor. It is near Seal Beach. I will tell you what we pay in this area but I cannot say if it will be more or less than where you are looking. I think it is comparable but don't quote me.





* Housing: Renting a 3 bd/3 bath house here (approx 1600 sq ft) will cost about $2700.00 and it's a typical rental.
* Utilities bill: We have a four bedroom 2 bath (1600 sq ft) with central air, our bill in the summer runs $250-$300 but we have crappy insulation and old thin windows so we try not to run it unless it is REALLY unbearable. Fall and winter my bill is $150 a month. Water is $75-$100 a month and Gas only $30 because we have electric appliances. Most of the new homes around here have gas. I am not sure how much their gas bill is.
* Transportation costs (gas, yearly car registration, insurance etc...) We have four cars and two teenage drivers so our car insurance will probably be more than you will have. We pay $266 a month through Mercury, (the best insurance if you have teens!) Gas is another story. My husband's company pays for his gas. I have an SUV and probably put in $80 a week (?) I use Costco for my gas. I also have two kids that I still cart around to activities. Car registration for my husband's 2003 Mercedes was $343 last month. I think it depends on the make and how old your car is right? My 2004 GMC is around $200 and my daughter's 2006 Jeep is about $140.
* Food costs (realistic monthly budget) I have four kids (11-20) and my food bill would not compare to yours in the slightest. I feed most of my kid's friends as well, so it is highly inflated. Produce is pretty cheap here though so if you eat healthy it shouldn't be too bad.
* Insurance (provided thru my work)
* Miscallaneous costs to consider- This is where you can really run into some $$$$ here in So. Cal. Yes, we have great weather and lots of things to do but everything costs money, even a trip to the beach. Our kids are in sports and take accelerated classes so we sometimes have tutors to pay. There are a plethora of eating places in OC which makes it easy to blow your budget. It's always easier to grab something to eat instead of making it. We make an effort to only eat out on the weekends. We didn't even do that for awhile. It really depends on how active your family is and what their interests are. It is not cheap to live here if you try to keep up with the neighbors. I shop at Target/Kohls for clothes but my girls shop at Urban Outfitters. Two of them have jobs so they pay for their own clothes if they want to spend more than my budget allows. I have a friend who does our hair and other than touching up the grays we don't get highlights or major color. I was spending $140 before to cut and color and $40 for my girls to have a trim. I have 3 girls so it gets expensive with hair and makeup, etc. Orange County is all about the way you present yourself. It's hard to get away from it so you have to find ways around it.

I hope this helps. Good luck with the move!