Moving to Irvine, California - young family - need lots of advice

Hi Rachelle,

Welcome to expat-blog!

I suggest to download The US expat guide, you might find some useful information.

Thank you,

David.

Thanks so much; I did already. Mind boggling but a great start

Orange County divides into 2 sections - rich & poor.  The rich areas are nice, safe and very expensive.  The poor, not so much.

Elementary school is based on where you live.  Your children go to the local school unless you send them to a private school.  Then it gets a lot more expensive.

Public transportation is not so great since almost everyone has a car or two.

I live in San Clemente but my parents lived in Irvine when they first moved to California.  Irvine is a very family oriented town with lots of green space and recreation. The town is a planned community and is built on a grid between the 5 and 405 freeways there is now a toll road linking the city to towns east.  The further one gets from the ocean the hotter.  You might be able to get a cheaper or larger home inland but it will be much hotter.  There r busses that can take u wherever you need to go but it is suggested that u pick up a used car when u get a chance. There is a company called Enterprise that sells and rents cars, they will pick u up and transport u to and from their office.  I rented my spare room to a girl from Italy and she got along just fine for 6 months and saved a lot of money by only renting a car when she needed one until she got the lay of the land and felt settled.  With school public elementary school r based where u live in town.  There are also private day schools and some parents choose to educate their children from home via computer and meet 4 social activities.  If you don't want to invest in a home Irvine has many apartments for a variety of budgets. An apartment complex will allow you to sign a 6 month rental agreement up to several years if you rent a home or condo from the owner the minimum lease will be a year. Since your husband;s company is moving him here they should be able to provide you with a  relocation specialist through the firms Human Resources Department that can assist you with housing, school registration, medical dental insurance etc.. If you belong to a particular faith even if u don't attend in your home country one of the best things about the Irvine is nearly every faith is represented there and writing to a local church/temple/mosque etc is one of the fastest ways to meet friends quickly.  I have live all over the world and have always found a warm and welcoming faith based community upon my arrival in a new place eager to show me the lay of the land.  You can look online The City of Irvine has a web portal with lots of information as well.  Apartment complexes in and around Irvine are readily online with floor plans prices and amenities.  Hope that helps feel free to let me know if you need more info.  Once you locate your husband's office on the map finding a place to live that is in budget and not too far away shouldn't be that hard.

Hi there
We have been entertaining thoughts about moving from lil ol Adelaide to Cali...My aunty has lived is Cali for 20 years and is currently in La Holla, San Diego (very expensive!), but had this advice for me when I asked similar questions:
"North Park and South Park (San Diego) are just south of Hillcrest and are very safe in as its so close to Balboa park and Downtown the other areas with great schools are Carlsbad and Encinitas but the best area is La Jolla".
I looked at Irvine as well, and that was expensive for us so hope the above advice helps. I have no idea how far these areas are from where your hubby will be working.
Good luck with the move!
Connie

Thanks so much everyone for the advice and help, cant tell you how this helps!! We're also now moving much earlier than December, we will be leaving SA on 20 September so tons to do prior to departure.

Just a few more questions; do either of you know of a transition type motel/guest house we could stay in until we find an apartment to lease? We're finding it difficult to find an apartment to lease off shore. So anywhere in and around Irvine to begin with while we get used to the place.

Also with regards to school, my son is 4 and we need him to get straight into school. Would be go to Kindergarten or preschool? Are the schools public for this age? I ask  because it seems that this is private, and only when they enter a Grade school it goes public? I know greatschool.org is a great website, any idea where else I could look?

I like the idea of living further inland, so that we can get a larger home.

Also what is the weather like in the months September to December?

We will need to start up again with furniture, where are the cost effective shops and stores to shop to redo a home again?

North and South Park in San Diego are 90 min by Train in each direction from Irvine even further by car in traffic.  Towns  slightly south of Irvine that r budget friendlier would be Aliso Viejo, Laguna Hills and Laguna Nigual.  They all have good schools for your youngest child will need to enroll in private pre-school as public pre-k starts from age 4.  The eastern portion of Irvine which is called the Northwood section and the western portion of town near the University of California will probably find you the most budget friendly choices in the city.  Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point are all very expensive.  San Clemente where I live has it's advantages, it is a beach community, a train station (your hubby could take the train ti Irvine and keep a motorcycle there or ride share from the station to his office (depending on where the office is) or drive but depending on traffic it could be a bit of a commute. We have our share of Irvine commuters these days since our city annexed some land a little further inland and has been building new homes. Rents r decent but home prices have gone up.  Towns east of the 5 both south of Irvine are hotter and less money.  Keep in mind Orange County is one of the most expensive places in America to live and for the folks interested in San Diego County.  The City of San Diego (proper) is one of the most expensive cities in the US because of it's climate, coast and the military it doesn't suffer as much during economic downturns.  San Diego also has some of our best hospitals and the UCSD Medical and Dental School still boast free tuition (if u can get in) which draws a loth of people to the area.  My mother lives in Oceanside (she is retired) the schools r so so but getting better. For the Australia folks if u want that small town feel go east to Ramona incredible schools and more rural with agriculture.  Nice small town feel but inland so again HOT! Since it is so expensive in Orange County many of the apartment complexes have a few units put aside for what they call low income which is different from Government low income.  If you go online you can find the median income for a family of 4 and if u r below that u may qualify for a reduced rent.  These folks r a far cry from the working poor of the projects that one might see on a tv show.  I make over 50k a year but qualified 4 a rent reduction.  If your husband is working for a big company you may get discounts on all kinds of things.  I get a discount on my mobile phone, car insurance, apple computer products,  the list is long..just because I work for an Airline.  Anyway so many people were kind to me either when I live or have traveled overseas so I hope this helps

Stunning, thanks so so much for your help. DO you know of temporary residence where we can stay? like a guest house or transition homes? We are finding it difficult to lease an apartment to move into straight off the bat.

Yes, for a Hotel with transport, I would suggest the Residence Inn by Marriott because they have kitchens, living area, pool for the little ones, shuttle van etc.  Or since the summer season is officially over try the website VBRO (vacation rental by owner) you would have to rent a car but can rent fully furnished places and do feel free to negotiate with the owner sometimes it's possible to get them to reduce the price.  Also look at Craig's List Orange County under housing "short term".
For furnishings it would depend on your taste.  People often sell furniture  so you can find items listed for sale on Craigs List.  There is a huge  Ikea home furnishings store in Costa Mesa just north of Irvine and directly south in Lake Forest/El Toro there is a furniture mall right off the freeway at what we call the "Y" where the 405/5 freeways intersect.  U can take either freeway to where they merge and become the 5 south exit at "Lake Forest Dr" and follow the signs You can see it from the freeway. There r companies that rent furnishings so if u need the basics until u can find something to suit your taste there is that option. The town Rancho Santa Margarita is south east of Irvine and less expensive schools have improved a lot in recent years. The weather cools a bit in Sept/Oct but we get what we call "Santa Ana" winds (hot dry desert air) that blows in from the east and it can get very hot at that time of year it all depends on what your used to.  Living in a beach community as I do we tend to be 10-15 degrees cooler.  It is the only time of the year I wish I had A/C.  U will need A/C any where but beach communities.  Even here in San Clemente the newly developed Talega community is inland just enough that folks need A/C.

Gotta run u can e-mail me directly at [email protected]

Suzan

Thanks Suzan this is totally awesome and helpful!! Thank you.
One final final thing please - can you tell me how we could go about leasing a car and from where? Would you suggest buying a car cash rather?

For transition living, hotels would be your best bet. Don't rent an apartment or house without seeing it first as you want to get a feel for the neighborhood and it's surroundings. I like using the website yelp to read reviews on hotels. People write reviews (and you can too) on places they've been. There's many hotels you can rent but it can get expensive. Marriott, Doubletree, Hilton, Best Western, Motel 6, Hampton Inn, etc. Some may offer kitchenettes and monthly rates. Try and find a place closest to your husband's work as traffic can be bad.

Your kids will need vaccinations before they can enroll in school. Once you get an address, you can look up which school your child can go to. They're based on location. You can find the school's website online to look up enrollment info. It will show you the immunizations your children need.

As for cars, you're going to need one. Everyone drives there. You can either lease or buy, up to you. You'll typically go to a dealership to do both. A lease is where you borrow the car for a certain amount of time, about 36 months (3 years) and make payments on it every month. At the end of your lease, you return the car. There will be mileage limits so if you go over about 12,000 miles per year, you have to pay extra when you return it. (Most people I know drive more than that.) When you buy a car, it's yours. You can buy it cash but most people don't do that unless it was used and cheap or they have a lot of money. Most people get loans to buy cars. You can get a loan at a bank or credit union or the dealership can have you fill out a loan application and finance you there. There is a large auto dealership lot near Irvine. I just can't think of where but you should be able to look it up online. Choose the brand of car you want and there are dealerships all over.

You can rent a car in the meantime temporarily. Hertz, Budget, Alamo, Avis are a few companies.