What Are the Best Neighborhoods to Buy Homes in Murrieta, CA

What Are the Best Neighborhoods to Buy Homes in Murrieta, CA

People who live outside of our local Murrieta area frequently just don't hear about the best neighborhoods in Murrieta, because it is a bit of a well-kept secret until you run across a local insider.  Welcome!  When my husband was an active duty Marine, we lived in Oceanside from 1998 to 2001, and we heard a few whispers at that time about how big, new and inexpensive the homes were in Temecula and Murrieta, compared to Oceanside, let alone Carlsbad, San Diego or Los Angeles.  This remains true now in 2015!

To understand what are the best neighborhoods to buy homes in Murrieta, CA, I believe it helps to understand a bit of the history and local information that created this area.  In the 1990s, Murrieta and Temecula were a lot of ranch land, but as demand from San Diego and Los Angeles pushed home prices up, up, up, the incentive increased for price-conscious buyers willing to commute 45 -60 minutes to move that much farther from the outskirts of those bigger cities.  Ranches sold to real estate developers, who built master-planned communities, frequently, with amenities designed to appeal to the modern American family, emphasizing:

1. Size, look and feel of homes, with
2. Excellent school districts, and all the desirable
3. Restaurants, shopping and commercial infrastructure needed by a city of 100,000 people.  

(If interested, you can link to my blog posts on the demographics in Murrieta and demographics in Temecula.)

Being closer to San Diego (sometimes by just 5 minutes), Temecula developed sooner than Murrieta, and Murrieta stayed just that much cheaper than Murrieta (on average).

Developing a bit later (in fits and starts) than Temecula, Murrieta tended to seem a bit more "out in the country", meaning there is a bit less commercial, it doesn't have its own mall (Temecula's Promenade Mall is 10 minutes away), and generally -- not always -- Murrieta seems to have fewer tracts of homes with HOAs.  But, investigate every home!  There are plenty of homes and condos in Murrieta with HOAs, ranging from less than $50/month to over $150 at certain condos and up to $500/mo for certain condos and homes in Bear Creek.

Here is a list of some of top neighborhoods in Murrieta, separated by Taxes and HOA fees.  This list is by no means exhaustive -- really, it's a head start on your search; it may lead you to a lovely neighborhood you prefer just one or a few housing tracts or streets away, so please use it for what it is: a helpful head start.  Let's start with a map and then I'll describe the neighborhoods and link to Google Maps' Street View of each neighborhood and a map search feature of each neighborhood.

LOW TAXES AND LOW HOAs

**Copper Canyon homes surrounding Cole Canyon Elementary School -- this is probably the top-performing elementary school in the district.  Low taxes and few homes in HOAs (there are some, but they are mostly low).  Attends Murrieta Valley High School which offers the International Baccaulaureate (IB) certificate as well as the many AP courses and very competitive academic competition teams (Robotics, Mock Trial, Science Olympiad).  Click this link to take a look at the Copper Canyon neighborhood in Google Maps' Street View or SEARCH COPPER CANYON HOMES FOR SALE.  Or, link to a video and Market Report we recently did of the Copper Canyon neighborhood. 

**Countryside/Creekside homes, west of Washington and south of Vineyard -- these homes attend Murrieta Elementary (our kids did too), which is very solid.  No HOA fees, low taxes, high level of price of ownership throughout over 500 homes.  Click this link to take a look at the Countryside/Creekside neighborhood in Google Maps' Street View or SEARCH Countryside/Creekside HOMES FOR SALE.

**Murrieta Ranchos -- West and East of Washington at Santa Fe, these are larger single story "ranch-style" homes, on oversized lots, many with detached garages and views of the Santa Rosa Plateau.  The market is usually very hot for these homes.  People just love them and they're about a half mile to Murrieta Valley HS and Thompson MS. Click this link to take a look at the Ranchos neighborhood in Google Maps' Street View or SEARCH Ranchos HOMES FOR SALE.

**Golden Triangle -- multiple neighborhoods between and around California Oaks Sports Park are a bit older home with solid values, solid Murrieta schools, lower price point than Copper Canyon or Greer Ranch.  Click this link to take a look at the Golden Triangle neighborhoods in Google Maps' Street View (zoom out and check the various ones) or SEARCH GOLDEN TRIANGLE HOMES FOR SALE.

**Historical Old Town Murrieta -- for those who want lower price points and not to be in a tract, these include stick-built and manufactured, and look and feel of the neighborhood varies street to street.  Click this link to take a look at the Old Town Murrieta neighborhood in Google Maps' Street View or SEARCH Old Town Murrieta HOMES FOR SALE.

HOA WITH COMMUNITY CLUBHOUSE, POOL, ETC.

**Greer Ranch -- this is a gated community north of Clinton Keith Rd, between the 215 and 15 freeways on the hill.  This makes for lovely views from many of the homes, and all the amenities of an active HOA: community pool, clubhouse, etc.  Click this link to take a look at the Greer Ranch neighborhood in Google Maps' Street View or SEARCH GREER RANCH HOMES FOR SALE.

**East side of Murrieta, mixed builders -- out Murrieta Hot Springs Road and West on Winchester, you will find several newer developments.  BE CAREFUL!  Many around Monte Vista Elementary and McElhinny Middle School can have tax rates that are over 2%!  Use a real estate agent who knows how to add in Supplementals! Click this link to take a look at the East side of Murrieta neighborhoods in Google Maps' Street View or SEARCH East Side of Murrieta HOMES FOR SALE.

You can LINK TO MURRIETA's SCHOOL LOCATOR (by Street), or look at the maps:

As I think through all these neighborhoods, we start to realize how many good, great, solid and safe neighborhoods we are blessed with in Murrieta.  Consistently one of the top 5 safest cities on FBI lists per Murrieta's website, Murrieta has lots of reasons for home buyers to choose it.  We did.  See Murrieta's list of top 10 reasons to locate a home or business in Murrieta.

WE ARE BUYERS AGENTS IN RIVERSIDE COUNTY CALIFORNIA.  WE UNDERSTAND RIVERSIDE COUNTY REAL ESTATE, WHETHER YOU ARE LOOKING FOR NEW CONTRUCTION OR RESALE HOMES, STICK-BUILT OR MANUFACTURED, AND ESPECIALLY MILITARY VETERAN BUYERS AND SELLERS.    

EXPERIENCE and TRAINING matter: if you are buying a home, you can appreciate having our many years of serving home buyers in most areas of RIVERSIDE COUNTY CA since 2004, with top negotiating skills and experience to get the home on the best terms possible for each buyer.  We provide buyers with the following: 

• Personal tours,  
• Comparative Market Analyses (CMAs) as you focus your search and consider any particular homes,
• Experienced financial analysis on different loan choices available to buyers in Riverside County CA, 
• Comprehensive home search features,
• Personal handling of home inspections, termite inspections, negotiations,

AND SO MUCH MORE -- See authors Tyson & Brown, "Good agents spend at least nine hours working behind the scenes for every hour spent in the presence of their clients."  We are good agents.  

Meet your top Buyer's Representatives for RIVERSIDE COUNTY CA and note that Frank is a military (retired) Realtor®-Broker, and his brokerage Sand to Sea Properties is veteran-owned.

Lisa Delzompo, Ass't Broker and Frank Delzompo, Broker.

SandtoSeaProperties.com, 951-704-4559, email: lisa@sandtosea.us, or frank@sand2sea.us

For a tour of homes in Riverside County CA, contact SandtoSeaProperties’ Frank, 951-326-7330 / mailto:Frank@sand2sea.us.  We'll arrange a lovely tour and you can get to know the county, shopping, recreation, the real estate market and some of the most effective Buyer Agents here.