All right, so this video is all about some helpful tips for living here in the city of Temecula, California. This is going to be a handful of things that I want to go over with you guys. I think this is information you're not going to find most places online. You're not going to find it on Zillow, you're not going to find it on Redfin. You're not going to find it on those different home search portals that are out there. And I think this is some perspective that you're only going to get from someone that actually lives here in the area. So hopefully it's of good information. Let's go ahead and get into it.

Hey guys. Hey again, my name is Justin Short. I'm a realtor and team leader with a short real estate team here in Temecula, California and Murrieta California here at Keller Williams. And this video is all about some tips for living and moving here to Temecula, California. So like I mentioned, these are just, this is going to be a shorter video. It's going to be a handful of things that I think are going to be super useful to know if you are thinking about making a move here. And I think this is information you're not going to find most places online, so we're going to get into it in just a minute. But the first thing, if you are liking real estate videos like this about the local Temecula, Murrieta, and Menifee area, do me a favor, please. Hit like please hit subscribe. So we have new videos that we're putting out each and every week, and then we have dozens and dozens of videos that we've posted over the last couple years talking about best neighborhoods, worst neighborhoods, best parts of town, school districts, best schools, all types of stuff.

We have new home video tours, market update videos that we do each month, all types of local real estate information. So if you want to know more about the local real estate market, definitely want to hit follow and subscribe. And then we will continue to post that each and every week. And then if you guys have any real estate questions, of course, I would love to hear from you. So you're going to see my information at the end of the video and then down below you can feel free, you can call, you can text, you can email me. I'd love to hear from you guys. That's my personal cell phone. It'll come straight to me. And then myself and my team would love to help you of course. So we'd love to either once answer any questions you may have, maybe give you a little information about the area, see if it maybe help you find out if it's a right fit for you or not.

And then if you are looking to actually make a move here and help want some help with your home search, we'd love to do that as well. So we'd love to be a resource and help you through that process. And like I said, when you reach out, that'll come directly to me. So we'd love to hear from you, but we'll go ahead and get into the video. Alright, so we're going to start with a question that I get from a lot of people when they are thinking about making a move here. And really the question they ask me all the time is, what makes the city of Temecula so desirable? Why should I want to move there? Why would it be a good place for me and my family to want to be? And so they want to know what is a good thing, what is interesting and desirable about Temecula.

So my response to them is, number one, and really this is the number one driver of why people move here, is it is a relatively affordable area to live in southern California. So bottom line, you can move to the city of Temecula. The average price point right now is right about $750,000. But for under a million you can get a beautiful home, you can get a home. Condos probably start around 450 a home, starting probably around 500, 550, maybe 600 all the way up to a million dollars. And we have nicer luxury homes over a million as well. But for under a million dollars to live in a really nice community in southern California, it's really going to be hard to beat. So compared to other parts of Southern California like San Diego, la, orange County, where really for less than a million dollars, you're going to get a shoebox, probably in a crummy area, probably in a school district and probably not in the safest city in the world.

And it's going to be an older home that was probably built in the forties, fifties, or sixties, that long-term, you got to worry about some construction issues, et cetera. So that is what makes Temecula so desirable is the affordability compared to other parts of Southern California. Alright, and the next thing that makes this area so desirable, it is a great school district. So the Temecula Valley Unified School District is super, super highly rated all across the board. The schools are seven out of 10, eight out of 10, nine out of 10, and then 10 out of 10, it has one of the top high schools in the state of California. So that's going to be Grade Oak High School that's located in South Temecula. So that's going to be the most desirable school for people to be zoned to. But in general, the school district overall is really, really highly rated, especially compared to some of the other more affordable parts of Southern California.

It's really, really hard. It's really, really hard to beat. Alright, and then one of the tips that I wanted to mention to you guys, which people, when they're looking online, you're looking at different houses and you're looking at different neighborhoods and seeing what's available. One of the things that I don't think people pay enough attention to is if you are going to live in Temecula and you are going to make a commute south to San Diego, you really, really, really want to try to buy a house that's located in the South Temecula area. So South Temecula where that is, we have the 15 freeway that runs pretty much north and south through the city of Temecula. One of the off-ramps off the 15 freeway is Temecula Parkway. That is a major off-ramp, major road, anything south of Temecula Parkway is going to be considered South Temecula.

So you can look at a map, you can see where that is. But South Temecula, what makes it so desirable. If you're commuting to San Diego, it's so much easier to be able to jump right on the freeway, right from that off ramp, right off of Temecula Parkway and then jump on the freeway and head south. And you would be surprised, there is so much traffic here, especially at rush hour to where you can live in the city of Temecula and let's say if you live over on the north side of town over close to where the mall Winchester is or kind of on the outskirts out that way. And compared to living in South Temecula, if you are commuting from San Diego, the traffic time that's going to take you to get to your house, even though it's probably a three mile difference, maybe a four mile difference in actual distance that can commute time at rush hour might take you an extra 20, 25, 30, even 35 minutes just to get those couple miles.

And maybe that doesn't sound like such a big deal if you do that as a one-off, yeah, maybe not the end of the world. But if you're going to do that five days a week, it's the same going there, it's the same going back, that's an extra hour on the road each day, 30 minutes each way, five days a week, that's an extra five hours a week sitting in traffic. Honestly, it's going to wear on you. So if you are going want to live in Temecula and you're going to be commuting south to San Diego, especially if you're going to do that five days a week, you really want to focus on that South Temecula area. If you can afford it, it tends to be the most expensive part of town. So that's something to keep in mind when we're fighting budget. So think about how that's going to affect you, make sure it's going to be affordable, et cetera.

But if you have the budget and if you can afford it and you're going to make that commute and it's really, really going to help your quality of life, I mean again, an hour a day in traffic, it's something you really, really want to consider. Alright, and the next tip that I wanted to go over is all about property taxes. So again, this is a conversation I have with our buyers, our clients all the time, but if you are planning to buy a home here in Temecula when you're online looking at different home prices, et cetera, you really need to take a look at the tax rate that each home has and make sure you compare that to each property in each home. So people don't realize that in this area, different areas can have really high special assessments or it can have really low special assessments.

And what those special assessments are, they're extra taxes that you're going to pay each and every year. And so with those special assessments, we see tax rates that'll be on the low end, right around the 1.2% all the way up to the 2% tax rate. And even though that's like a 0.8 difference probably doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but if we're looking at, let's call it a million dollar home, if we have a 0.8% difference in property tax, that's going to be about $8,000 a year in taxes. You're going to pay for the higher tax home compared to that lower tax home. So that's a lot of money that's going to be, I'm trying to do quick math in my head, but that's probably like, I don't know, $700 a month right around there. But it's significant. That is a huge difference in your monthly mortgage payment if you are not paying attention to the taxes.

So actually a lot of times people from out of the area on our listings, we will get an escrow with buyers and they did not do their proper homework or their agent did not help them do their proper homework on tax rates and how that's going to affect their payment. And once they get those first payment examples and estimates from their lender, it scares 'em away and they're like, I can't afford that. It is out of my price range. It's way more than I was thinking as far as what my mortgage payment's going to be. So that's something you really want to know. That is an advantage of using a local lender. They're aware of that and then different rates and the different neighborhoods, et cetera. But you really want to pay attention to tax rates, really want to pay attention to special assessments when you're buying a home in Temecula.

Alright, and then just to wrap up the video, there's a few things that I just wanted to list out that it feels like this is a conversation that I always have with people that they're not always aware of about Temecula. So Temecula is one of the safest cities in the country. So it's constantly rated anywhere over the last decade. Now anywhere from the top 10 safest city in America, top 20, safest city in America, top 100 safest city in America. But it is a really safe area and that's one of the things that makes it so desirable. Also, there is a casino here locally, so there is a Pechanga Casino here in Temecula. It's a really massive casino. They've done so many expansions over the last 10, 15 years or so. It's massive. There's all types of conferences there, there's concerts, there's massive hotel and pools and all types of cool stuff.

There's a golf course that's on the casino. There's just so much that it offers. It's a big attraction. So some people maybe don't necessarily like casinos, but there are if you don't want to gamble and do that. But there are a ton of events that the casino puts on a ton of activities that are just associated with such a big place like that. And they're massive. They sponsor a ton of teams. They sponsor, they sponsor the Lakers, they sponsor, I'm pretty sure the ducks still. They put a lot of money out into the community and they're continuing to trying to grow their brand and try and can grow the casino. So a lot of people don't even realize that we have a casino here in Temecula. And then also, I always like to point out that when we live here in Temecula, you're about 45 minutes to an hour from all the other cool stuff that Temecula Southern California offers.

So you're about 45 minutes an hour away from downtown San Diego. You're about 45 minutes an hour away from the beach in San Diego. You're about 45 minutes away from Disneyland from most parts of Orange County to go out to the desert out in the Palm Springs area. You're a little bit farther by an hour, hour and a half away from the LA area, and then just a few hours away you have up in the mountains, up in the Big Bear area. So it's really a central location to get all the other cool stuff that Southern California has to offer. Then the last thing I wanted to mention is there is a big military presence here in Temecula. There are several military bases in San Diego County. There's one in Riverside County as well, but there's a ton of military bases. And with that you're going to see there's a lot of American flags, there's a lot of Marines, there's a lot of Navy, there's some army, there's some Air Force, there's a big military presence and a military community that lives here, which I think is cool. I think it's a good thing. I think it's a really cool thing, but that's something that people are always surprised about, just how much of a military presence there is here in the area. So hopefully that's some cool stuff for you guys to know. Some of the things I don't think you're going to find most places, hopefully it's good information. Feel free to reach out. Please hit light, please hit subscribe. Love to hear from you and hopefully talk to you soon. Thanks.