10 Things You Don't Know About Living In Mission Viejo

10 Things You Don't Know About Living In Mission Viejo

Hi. I’m John Alesi and today I want to talk about 

10 Things you don't know about living in Mission Viejo and the surrounding area...so let’s get started.

1 Is Mission Viejo for you? It's a suburban, bedroom community of nearly 100,000 people, with more single family detached homes than condos. The master plan of the city, as one of the first planned communities in the USA. There are 52 parks and open spaces and most streets are designed to not have straight grid-like streets and most main thoroughfares are below grade of the houses to help with noise reduction. The focal point of the community is the 125 acre private, freshwater lake with plenty of recreational activities like swimming, fishing, boating and more. 

2 Jobs. Tech, medical, sales and retail are key employers in the area. Disneyland in Anaheim employs 30,000, University of California Irvine - or UCI - employs another 23,000.  St Joseph Health, Kaiser Permanente, Hoag, Memorial Health Care, United HealthCare have 37,000 combined employees, Target and Walmart, Home Depot. Tech companies like Boost Mobile, CoreLogic, Google, Blizzard Entertainment, Ingram Micro, Kingston Technologies make up another segment of jobs

3 Schools Two public school districts serve the community with elementary, middle, high school and special needs students as well some private schools.

Mission Viejo is just minutes from some of the best universities in Orange County. UCI, SOKA, Cal State Fullerton, Chapman plus Saddleback Community College

4 Salaries - Salaries are higher but come along with a higher cost of living. Pay for clerical workers is around $15 per hour and RNs as high as $60 per hour. Executive jobs 

5 Sports Although no major sports franchises call mission Viejo their home, there has been a long history of athletics in our city. In the 70s and 80s, the Natadores Diving team was a powerhouse that produced several record setting divers including Olympians Shirley Babashoff, Brian Goodell, Dara Torres, Greg Louganis and others. Another citizen Olympian was track and field medalist, Florence Griffith Joyner.  During the 1984 Olympics, Mission VIejo hosted the cycling events on the streets around Lake Mission Viejo. Several Pro football and baseball players have lived in Mission Viejo including former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez and current pitching ace for the Chicago Cubs, Kyle Hendricks

6 WEATHER  You just can’t beat the weather in Southern California. The sun shines 91% of our days and temperatures are mild to warm. Average high temperatures are 68 degrees in the winter up to 80 degrees in the summer The evening low temps usually drop by 20 degrees so it’s comfortable and cool when the sun goes down. In fact most people layer their clothing even in the summer. We usually keep a sweat shirt or light jacket in the car in case the temperature drops a little in the evening. At the extreme we will get a few weeks in the high 90s to 100s but it still cools in the late afternoon. Humidity is low so we are not plagued with very many bugs. 

7  Housing costs are high with the median selling price of $770,000 in MV. Rents average $3800 for SFR; $2500 condo. 

The housing is currently booming with prices rapidly increasing due to low inventory and high demand. While the number of closed sales is only off by 2% from July, a year ago, prices are up 9%. It's not unusual to have 15 or more buyers competing for the same property. Good listings are selling in just days not weeks or months. Competition is stiff and it’s not uncommon for buyers to drive up prices by $20-30,000 dollars. 

8 traffic  Although Traffic is a fact of life for Southern California with freeways jam packed and bumper to bumper during the drive times, it has just become a fact of life. We never gauge travel by distance but rather by times. For example, "It takes 30 minutes to get to Disneyland at 10am but 60 minutes if you leave at 5 in the afternoon". Fortunately, local traffic in Mission Viejo is well controlled. Streets are wide and well maintained with many of the thoroughfares divided by well manicured medians. Traffic lights are timed so you can drive across town with a minimum of stops at traffic lights and many intersections have two and even three left turn lanes to handle the traffic flow.

9 Things To Do - As i already mentioned, Mission Viejo has so many parks within the city and our gorgeous Lake Mission Viejo. We have 2 city maintained swimming pools and several recreation centers offering tennis, pickle ball and workout rooms. Due to the Covid-19 situation, many of these facilities are temporarily off-line but will be back operating when the conditions warrant a return to activities. 

If you want to drive a short distance, the blue Pacific ocean, with its fabulous beaches is just 20 minutes away. And just a short drive to the inland areas, you'll find national forest, mountains, beaches, hiking, biking, camping, day trips, lakes, fishing and boating. 

Mission Viejo is definitely the place if you enjoy the outdoor lifestyle. On a winter day, you could go skiing in Big Bear, sun tan in Palm Springs and still make it to the beach for a great sunset! If you like entertainment, this is the place. We're just one hour from Los Angeles and Hollywood, close to great amusement parks and other diverse cities with world class shopping, recreation and entertainment. We really do have it all!

10 And finally, you have a support system when you move here.  We will, of course, handle all of the details of moving into a new city but will be available when you need professional services for home repairs (you know - plumbers, electrician, handyman, HVAC etc), personal services like a barber or hair salon, gym, yoga studio, auto repair shop, dry cleaners or just a recommendation for the best Taco Tuesday or brew pub in town. 

So if you’re considering a move to Mission Viejo or any of the surrounding cities like Rancho Santa Margarita, Coto De Caza, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Lake Forest or the surrounding south Orange County cities, we can help you find the perfect home. 

You know, we’re talking to people every day about moving to the 

Southern California lifestyle 

right here in Mission Viejo and we’d love to hear from you.

Just give us a call, send us a text or email and we’ll connect. We can’t wait to hear from you.

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