Places to live somewhat near Costa Mesa

I may have the opportunity to work from home and am looking to ideally try to find a place that is a one bedroom + loft or a two bedroom (one room for me, one room for work).

 

The reason I'm hoping to find something near OCC is that I'm looking to take some classes there (they have an awesome DBA certification course over there that I can't seem to find anywhere else).

 

So once or twice a week I would need to drive to OCC for school around 5 pm.

 

Some other things I'd like (but most likely won't get because I'm on a budget)

A place I feel safe walking around at night

A place that has some restaurants within walking distance

Finally, a place that has some street parking so friends could visit if they were so inclined.

I'm trying to find a place like this for about $1,000 a month.

 

Anyone have any recommendations?

With that budget, not so safe Santa Ana is probably your ONLY choice. *_*

$1,000 a month and meeting all your requirements is going to be hard.

there are cool, little triplexes on Costa Mesa street in eastside CM. they are usually pretty cheap and privately owned. I lived there for a couple years and loved it.

I don't have any specific recommendations, but like others have said, this is a challenge. There's not a ton of stuff out there for under $1000. My guess is that you'd probably have to settle for a studio or 1br. If you're only going to school twice a week, I'd search anything within a 30min drive, which is most of Orange County.

Yeah, no kidding.

 

I'm not expecting a ton of responses, but I know that there are some privately owned condos/multifamily buildings that don't advertise online that you guys may have come across that I've never seen before, so I figure it's good to ask.

 

When I say near Costa Mesa, what I'm basically asking is anything in a 45 minute radius of OCC (405 & Fairview,) during 5 pm traffic.

 

I certainly wouldn't mind taking the 73 from south county if it's within range too.

You location says Henderson, how well do you know Orange County?

 

I don't know about rental prices much, but south county seems to have a bigger selection of cheap condos (for sale) than north county. I would think that means lower rents also.

I grew up in Irvine and moved out here about 2 years ago.

 

Online the cheapest areas I'm seeing are Mission Viejo and Huntington Beach.

 

I know in Orange that periodically people have guest houses for rent. I think something like that would be awesome and they're usually in the price range that I'm looking for sometimes in the 1,000 to 1,100 range, but they're kinda rare.

 

I'm also open to buying, but I'm looking in the 100-150K range and well, it's pretty restrictive as well.

100-150k will buy you maybe half a small home in very few parts of OC

 

I've seen a lot of places closer to 1200 for small ish 1 bedrooms in costa mesa. If you're willing to drive from mission viejo, aliso viejo, lake forest, you should be able to find something in your budget.

 

I saw a really cool studio in coto de caza (probably outside edge of how far you want to be, but very safe) on craigslist for 1025 a month the other day.

 

Keep a lookout in portola hills/foothill ranch - I saw some nice places around 1100 before

 

I'm looking for a 2 br in OC right now. It's a tough rental market man, I'm lucky I have my girl helping out with rent.

My friend is shopping for 1 br condos in the South Coast Plaza area and says there are units in the $150-$170k range.

That's true I wasn't thinking of condos. There are places I guess I could afford to buy around here, I just wouldn't want to live there.

He said he's looking to rent or buy a 1br or 2br, so it's generally going to be apartments/condos.

The type of condo you get in the areas surrounding south coast plaza for sub 200k are places I wouldn't want to live. Townhouse, condo, apartment, mobile home, etc.

 

That's all I'm trying to say. Not meaning to argue over anything.

I don't think we have any argument, I understand what you're saying. Although, I don't know if you're saying you don't like the neighborhoods or don't like the type of units. Obviously, you can't get a single family home for under $200k.

 

I haven't looked at the places to see what's typical, but my buddy is not exactly the type to buy a place in a scary neighborhood, so I figure there's decent stuff out there.

Yeah it seems like the decent places in "decent" areas in the 100K range are land leases unfortunately. Great looking townhomes, but landleases nonetheless.

 

Not sure I want to get myself into one of those.

 

I saw that studio you were referring to. If I end up back in SoCal, but for a different company (aka not working at home) I think I'll probably end up there since I wouldn't need a separate room for an office.

aaaand I got the job and start on Monday.

 

Looks like I'll be heading back to Orange County.

 

Yeah, I know all of you area excited about my return considering I think I've met 5 of you guys...once

 

Yay Costa Mesa Hooters Meet back in 09?

Congrats. At least we get nice weather with our high housing costs.

...and state income taxes

 

Looks like I'm ending up in RSM oddly enough.

Found a nice (and very small) apt for 1100, but the area is nice, close walking distance to food/stores, and not too far from work.

RSM is nice but a lil far from everything. Congrats.

Agreed, I didn't think of it at first and then I ended up having to go down there after work to meet up with my brother and it only took me 18 minutes to get there with nearly no traffic during rush hour (5:30 pm). I was quite surprised.