Friday, September 17, 2010

Moving my family to Victorville, CA area and need some area advice...? -

Actually, my company is located near there but all of the research my wife and I have done on the area, it hasn t turned out that well. We have 3 young kids and my wife is going to be a stay at home mom. The housing is VERY VERY cheap in the Victorville, Apple Valley area but the crime and schools in the area just look horrible. So, I was looking at Santa Clarita or Rancho Cucamanga area...any advice on these areas or nearby areas that are safe and somewhat affordable? I was looking at renting a house in the 1500 range. After staying in Victorville, CA for 2 days, I just didn t feel that safe there and don t want my family there even though the housing is really cheap. 4br NEW houses all over the place in the 150 s but the crime there is just too much. Palmdale didn t impress me either. How about Wrightwood or Phelan area? Is crime bad there as well? Thanks for any information you could offer me and my family!

The Victorville area has about the lowest priced housing in Southern California. Santa Clarita is nowhere near Victorville and housing is about twice as expensive. Rancho Cucamonga is cheaper and closer.

hesperia perhaps? safe areas in cali are hit and miss at best.. you have to ask yourself if you can walk to the local store at night without being accosted and if the answer is yes 95 percent of the time than its safe.. both areas you mentioned are a trek at best to your job location.

The desert areas are always crime ridden. That s why they are so cheap.I would stay away from Rancho Cucamonga and go for Santa Clarita if I had to choose between the two (personally I would choose neither.)Welcome to California where things are extremely expensive!

Wrightwood is a nice little town with a small town feel If you do not mind the drive I would look there

We see this every day in this forum: Everyone who wants to move here is looking for ��cheap/affordable and safe . However, such a place just doesn��t exist; the two terms are mutually exclusive. It s all about supply and demand: If it s in SoCal, then it s not going to be cheap to begin with. If it s a safe area, then it s more expensive. If you want to live here and enjoy the weather, then you have to pay for it. You put up with the smog and the traffic, enjoy the weather and pay your rent or mortgage. My advice is to start checking out craigslist, rent.com, and apartments.com if you are looking to rent. You��ll quickly see that the minimum rent for a non-war zone is about $1,000-$1,200 per month for a studio or 1BR. Average house rental runs $2000 in the LA area. Really nice areas (like the West LA area) easily run $3,000 or more. Want to live near the beach? Expect to pay a premium. Anywhere nice is going to be expensive. That s just how things are in LA. You have to decide where you are going to compromise. Or just stay where you are now.

Santa Clarita will cost more than Rancho Cucamonga. My buddy lived there for a while and a crappy apartment was like 1300 even though its pretty far from everything important. Rancho is still a drive from Victorville, like 40 miles. The drive will suck because you are going to go uphill and I think you will be passing the Cajon Pass. That part of the freeway gets slammed when it snows, often times closed. Rancho is pretty expensive as well depending on what part. I HIGHLY suggest looking into N. Fontana. It will be a bit closer and the area is decent. Plenty of newer homes off Summit on the 15. It will still be a drive but I bit shorter.