If you're thinking about making a move to either Temecula, California, or Murrieta, California, you should really be watching this video. We're going to talk about the pros and cons of Murrieta versus Temecula, hopefully give you some good information, decide which city is going to be the right fit for you and what's really going to be the best value for you and your family. Let's get into it.

Hey, guys. Hey. Again, my name is Justin Short. I am a realtor and team leader for the Short Real Estate Team here in the Murrieta and Temecula, California, area. I've lived here over 20 years. I've really seen these cities change quite a bit since I first got here. I think I can give you guys a really good perspective on what it's like to actually live here from someone that's been here for a long time. I've seen these cities change so much, so this video is going to be comparing the City of Temecula versus the City of Murrieta.

We're going to talk about pros and cons. We're going to talk about pricing, school districts, overall quality of life, commute times, all the shopping and entertainment. We're going to talk about pros and cons to each to hopefully help you and your family make the right decision on where's the right city to make a move to.

First, if you are liking these videos, please do me a favor. Please hit like. Please hit subscribe. We're sending these videos out once per week. We're going to give you a market update videos, talk about real estate market, what's happening here locally. We compare the different parts of town versus different neighborhoods, what are good neighborhoods, what are bad neighborhoods, where you might want to live, where you don't want to live, pros of living on the north side, pros of living on the south side, and try and give you some really good perspective that I don't think you can find very many other ways.

Again, if you are liking it, please do me a favor. Hit like. Hit subscribe. If you do have any real estate questions or you are thinking about making a move out this way, feel free to call, text, email. I would definitely love to hear from you, guys. Please go ahead and reach out. I hear from a lot of people each week and happy to answer any questions you may have or see if there's anything we can do to help you out with your move. Again, I'd definitely love to hear more from you, guys.

Again, this video is comparing the City of Temecula versus the City of Murrieta. I've lived here in the valley over 20 years. I lived in Murrieta for over 12 years. I've lived in Temecula for, I guess, over four of those years. I actually lived in the City of Winchester for about eight of them or so. I'm losing track on the math, but for a handful of years, too, I lived in City of Winchester. Again, I think I can give you, guys, a really good perspective on what it's like to actually live here.

We're going to talk about pros and cons, and so the first thing we want to talk about is just overall pricing. The City of Temecula is more expensive than the City of Murrieta. On average, the City of Temecula is about a $100,000 more than the City of Murrieta. You get two equal homes. The Murrieta home is going to be a $100,000 cheaper. That's just a good thing to know if you're not from the area and you're thinking about what's going to be the right fit. You can get a little more for your money in Murrieta.

The school district is another thing we want to talk about. Both school districts are rated super, super highly. They have a lot of schools that are rated eight, nine and 10 out of 10, rated 10 out of 10 ratings by all the different websites that rate the schools here locally. Both school districts are really, really renowned. They have a ton of good ratings, a ton of good teachers. Overall, they are both really good school districts.

Personally, I think they're really about even. As someone that's lived here for a long time, it really has never made a difference to me, district-wise, what city we're going to live in. I always felt really confident in the public schools. I think that they do a really good job. They rated really highly. I think they're good options for anyone here locally.

With that said, the City of Temecula does have the highest rated school in the area. That's the high school in South Temecula. That's the Great Oak High School. I guess, it's like a top 1,000 or top 1,200 school in the nation, which is super, super highly rated. It's won a bunch of awards, and so that would be the top school in the valley, but really here, locally, I would be very, very happy with my kids to go to almost any of the schools and definitely either of the districts. I would be more than content with that for my kids. Hopefully, that gives you some good perspective there.

The next thing that I want to talk about is just overall quality of the area, like how nice is it? How new is the area? How updated is it? How built-out is it? Do you feel like you're out on an island? That's a question I get from a lot of people when they're relocating here. When you're looking on a map, it's hard to really understand. Truthfully, they are really about the same. There are some pros to being in Temecula versus Murrieta as far as having some more businesses, things like that. We'll talk about that.

Overall, the areas, both cities were built just about the same years. Most of them are going to be mid-'90s to 2010 is when most of the houses were built, most of the shopping centers were built, so they're newer shopping centers, newer area. They're both pretty squeaky clean. They're well kept. Both cities do a really, really good job of keeping the area safe. Both have been on the top safest cities list throughout the nation over the last decade. This last year, Murrieta was one of the top 10 safest cities. Temecula was not on the list. Over the last decade, they've been on it pretty much every year, so, overall, both areas I think are very, very equivalent as far as just overall quality of a city, quality of life, safety, all that good type of stuff.

The next thing I want to talk to you about is commute times. Most people that live here, if you are not working from home, you are living here and you're commuting out, it's very much a bedroom community. People live here and they drive out. They go to San Diego. They go to LA. They go to Orange County. Because of that, those commute times are super, super important. If you are going south, being in the City of Temecula is a huge advantage especially if you're driving at rush hours. Even though the cities are really, really close to each other, you can really save between 20 to 30 minutes one way on your commute by being in Temecula versus Murrieta. If you are going to commute south to San Diego, Temecula is going to be a big draw for you as long as you can afford the price point. Again, it's about a $100,000 more.

If you are going north, being in Murrieta is a much better thing. You're positioned more north. You're right off the 15 Freeway or you have a really good access to the 215. You can be right off the 215 as well. If you're going north, Murrieta is going to make a big difference. It's not as much, maybe a 10, 15-minute savings in the commute. The reason being, when you are going to San Diego, there's a ton of traffic coming up whether you're going down that way or coming back up on the 15 right between the counties, so between San Diego and Riverside County where that county line is. A ton of traffic, it really gets super jammed up and also where the freeway split is.

You can see it on a map where the 215 starts. If you're driving north in the 15 Freeway and the 215 splits off, there's a ton of congestion, a ton of traffic at rush hour, really gets jammed up, and that's why, if you are coming from San Diego, it's such a big advantage to be able to get off in Temecula because, once you get close to that freeway jam, it's a nightmare at rush hour. It's gotten worse and worse each year. I mean, more and more people move to the area. I mean, it's Southern California traffic, so it's going to be there. That's just something you got to know and you got to be okay with if you are going to live in Murrieta and commute south.

The next thing I want to talk to you, guys, about is just overall shopping. As far as your daily shopping, grocery stores, convenience stores, big Kohl's and Target, Walmart, big everyday shopping items, Temecula and Murrieta are both really, really, really the same. They both have really good selection. We have all those places in both cities. It's really not much of a difference, but if you are looking at more specialty or a nicer clothes or mom-and-pop, maybe not like those big-chain brand stores, those type of things, that's really going to be more in the City of Temecula.

Murrieta has again the daily stuff, but if you wanted something that's maybe a little bit more in style or, I guess, more hip or just trendy or it's going to be bought from not like a large Kohl's or something like that, temecula is going to really be your option. Temecula has the mall. There's no mall in Murrieta, so you're going to drive to Temecula to go to the mall, which obviously has all the stores there. As far as shopping goes, daily stuff, they're really about the same. As far as specialty or trendier stuff, Temecula is really going to be the winner there.

That really ties into the same thing with the next category, which is entertainment. Both cities have movie theaters. Murrieta is really lacking in the rest of the entertainment stuff though. There are some, a couple restaurants, here in Murrieta, but really it's mostly the chain restaurants like the Chili's, the Applebee's, stuff like that. There's a handful of small mom-and-pop restaurants in the old town Murrieta area. There's just a few of them that are there. They're great restaurants. We actually go there a lot with my family, but there's just not a ton of selection.

Temecula just has so much more entertainment. They have more movie theaters to choose from. They have many more restaurants to choose from. They have the old town area which has dozens of restaurants now, so all types of different gastro pubs and steakhouses and Mexican restaurants, all types of stuff. There's definitely more nightlife in the old town area as well. They also have the casino. Pechanga Casino is in Temecula, so obviously you have restaurants at the casino. You have the gambling. You have nightlife stuff that happens there and then you have all the wineries. There's over 60 wineries in Temecula. Obviously, you have the wine tasting that you can do, but there's also just like a lot of concerts that happen at the wineries, a lot of different events, a lot of get-togethers. People will do events and rent out their ballrooms or whatever it is they're doing.

We've had our real estate office, holiday parties at the ballrooms there. That doesn't happen in Murrieta because there's nowhere really to rent out. Temecula is definitely going to have a lot more of those entertainment options. There's restaurants, definitely more of the higher-end shopping stuff that we talked about before, and definitely more of the nightlife or adult activities are going to be in Temecula, for sure. You're going to see more options there, for sure.

With all that being said, so Temecula definitely has its pros. There's more entertainment. There's some more shopping options. If you're commuting south, it's going to shorten your commute, but Murrieta really, to me I think it's the better value for a lot of people because it's a $100,000 cheaper. A $100,000 will let you take a lot of trips down the freeway. When we're talking about the distance, again, the cities are so close together. If you look on a map, they really run together. Very often, when people are here from out of town, we're going to look at homes in Murrieta and Temecula. When we cross over the city limits, most people... You can't tell where that happens. It just kind of blends together. It really feels like one town.

When we lived in Murrieta, we would pretty much go to Temecula for all those restaurants and all those types of things that we talked about. Really, that drive, it's not bad. I mean, it's like a 10-minute drive, 10, 15-minute drive. It's not like it's a 30-minute haul to get to your favorite restaurant. They're very close together. Most people, when they come to town, they do look at both, homes in Temecula and homes in Murrieta because of the savings. You want to see what that money is going to be able to get you, and so I do recommend to most people to be able to look at both, but those are going to be the pros and the cons. You can get a little more for your money in Murrieta. You're going to be a little bit more in the center of the action in City of Temecula. Both have great schools. Both I think are overall great areas. I think it's an area that hopefully you guys will really like.

Cool. I guess that gives you my perspective. If you, guys, have any questions, you can feel free to reach out anytime. Again, call text, email. I would love to hear from you guys, answer any questions you have and, hopefully, talk to you soon. Thanks.