All right, so in this video I'm going to talk about a city that I don't make a lot of videos about. I'm going to talk about the city of Winchester, California and the 15 things that you need to know if you're actually going to live here. I've lived in Winchester for about a decade. I think I can give you some really good perspective on what it's like to actually live in the city. And I think these are things you're not going to find most places online. You're not going to find 'em on the different home search portal websites and Zillow and realtor.com and things like that. I think I can give you some really good information. So 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 at Keller Williams, and this video is all about the city of Winchester, California. Like I mentioned, I don't make a lot of videos about Winchester because it's a smaller city, but today I wanted to highlight it. It's actually, it's come up in conversation a bit over the last couple weeks and so figured it'd be some good information for you guys. And I have actually lived in the city of Winchester, so I've lived there. I lived there for about a decade. It's about 10 years. So I think I can give you guys a really good perspective on what it's actually like. So I'm going to go over 15 things that you need to know before you make the move to Winchester. So hopefully it'd be good information for you guys.

But before I get into all the information, if you're liking real estate videos like this, do me a favor, please hit like please hit subscribe. Obviously it helps me, it helps the channel. Obviously we're trying to continue to grow it. And then if you guys have any real estate questions, of course you can reach out anytime. So you're going to see my information either at the end of the video, there'll be a little card or down below. You can feel free, you can call, you can text, or you can email me. I'm happy to answer any questions that you guys may have, either educate you about the area, point you in the right direction, or of course I would love to help you out with your real estate search. So obviously it's what I do for a living. So if we can help, I'd love to help you do that and I would love to be able to help you as a client.

So feel free to reach out, but we'll get into all the information here. So we're going to go one through 15 and go over, hopefully be some good information for you guys. But first I'll give you kind of a general lay of the land. So one question that I get from people is, where is Winchester, California? What is Winchester, California? It can be a little bit confusing. There is, you will see on a map there is a Winchester Road, and so is that the city of Winchester? So just to give you some general perspective here. So where we're at, so I'm kind of more based out of the Temecula area. So Winchester's a city over, but you have the 15 freeway is a main freeway here in Southern California. It runs from San Diego all the way up to, we can call close to LA and generally speaking, but basically runs south.

And one of the exits, well where we're at, is the city of Temecula, that is the southern most city in Riverside County. So if you go any further south, that becomes San Diego County is a big suburban area and that's really what Winchester is, is a big suburban area. The advantage to living in Winchester, it is less expensive than most other parts of Southern California. So for example, the average home in Winchester is probably right around that $600,000 range compared to San Diego, LA, Orange County where the average home is going to be about a million bucks or so. And then even more so than that, Winchester is even affordable compared to a bigger city here like Temecula or Murrieta, it tends to be even more affordable compared to those two as well. So it's an affordable option. That's what makes it a draw to people. The downside is it's going to be, it's a little bit further away.

You're a little bit farther from the big city. If you're a commuter, it's going to be a little bit longer commute. So there's going to be pros and cons for everybody, but that's kind of generally of the land. Winchester is a city right next to Temecula. It's a little bit further northeast. You have that 15 freeway that runs, you have that Winchester. Winchester is a major road. It's an off ramp right off the 15 freeway that runs more or less east and West Winchester run. If you take Winchester Road and if you take it east, that will take you out eventually to get to the city of Winchester. So that's kind of in general where the area is. And the other thing that I wanted to mention about that city is if you type it into the Google, Winchester, California, Winchester is a huge area by just overall size.

So it's talking about such a big area like this. It's really broken up into two different sections. So you have your lower section, which is the southern part of Winchester. People don't really say that, but I guess that's really the truth. Southern Winchester, which is older, so that is more or less home. Those were a lot of tract homes that were built anywhere from 1999 to 2012 ish or so. That's actually where I lived in the older southern section. And then you have the northern part of Winchester, which is more off of, you'll see like Domenigoni road as you'll see on a map up there that's more the northern section. And those are homes that really have been built over the last five or six years. So it's newer, a lot of new construction that's going on right now, but that's the newer area. And the distance between those two on a drive is probably, it's probably about a 15 minute drive from the southern section to the northern section.

So there's a big gap in between where there's a lot of rural land and a lot of infill that's happening, a lot of building that is happening and a lot of development and rows being put in and shopping centers being put in, all that type of stuff. So Winchester is a very large area. You have that southern area, you have the northern area, and hopefully that's a good general lay of the land for you guys. So we'll get into all my points here. So number one, so like I mentioned the pros about Winchester, it is a very affordable area compared to most parts of Southern California. It is also a newer area. Even the older section was built in 1999. It's a newer suburb type of area. There's some rural spots as well, but it's definitely a bit more affordable. One of the trade-offs with it being so affordable is it is hot and that really rings true for the surrounding valley here.

So the Temecula, Murrieta, Menifee area as well. It is quite a bit hotter here than it is in other parts of Southern California. So the average temperature in the summer months, so two hottest months are August and September. The average temperature is about 93, 94 degrees. We definitely get heat waves north of a hundred. So you get heat waves up to a 100, 102, 103,104, even 105, 106 on a really crazy heat wave. So the average they show is that low to mid nineties. I would say the days each year that you're going to get over a hundred degrees, it's probably about 20 to 30 days or so and that is going to be over a hundred degrees per year. So it's going to get pretty warm. Obviously everyone has central ac, but it's going to be hot and that's definitely going to be a trade off compared to say San Diego, LA or Orange County.

But again, it's so much more affordable. That's a sacrifice that a lot of people are willing to make. Everyone has air conditioning. And then the other benefit is just where we're at, we get a really nice breeze later in the day. So we can easily have a day, let's say it's a hundred degrees, it's miserably hot outside and by the time the evening rolls around, you get a nice breeze that comes in by five o'clock, six o'clock, it's cooled down to 78 degrees. It's actually pretty comfortable. You can go sit outside and enjoy yourself and make it a lot more enjoyable. So that's a lot different compared to other just true desert areas, let's say like Phoenix or Palm Springs or Las Vegas or something like that where it can easily be 99 at nine o'clock at night. It's just miserable outside. So that is a plus.

That does actually cool down here. So something to note, point number two that I wanted to mention are the school districts. So if you're going to buy a home in Winchester, it is really, really important assuming that you care about your school district that you live in, that you pay attention. And I would even search online and verify what school district, the home that you're buying is going to be zoned for. So the reason being is there are actually three different school districts that your home may be assigned for when you buy a home in Winchester. So kind of like we mentioned there is, or I mentioned there is that southern section of Winchester and that area is actually typically zoned for a better school district. So that area is usually going to be zoned for the Temecula school district or the Murrieta school district.

Both of those are very, very highly rated school districts. They are pretty much eights, nines and tens out of tens across the board from elementary school, middle school to high school, and they're very, very desirable. That is one of the areas and one of the reasons that people decide to live in this area because the school districts are so highly rated, if you buy a home in that northern section, for the most part, those schools are not rated nearly as highly. So that actually becomes part of the Paris Valley Unified School district. They don't have the same ratings, they don't have the same scores. I will tell you a lot of the elementary schools there do have some pretty good ratings, but across the board, the school districts are not going to be the same. So you really want to pay attention if you care about what school district or if you have school age children, you want to make sure you pay attention to that.

Not only that, even if you don't have school age children, one of the surefire bets to keep good property value in the future is to have your home associated with a good school district. So if you can live in a home that is zoned for a higher rated one, that's probably a pretty good bet that your home is going to retain value and increase in value long term as opposed to a home that it doesn't have that same school district associated with it. So it's really something you want to pay attention to and not everyone knows that. So you want to make sure you look at that. Alright, so point number three. And while I'm talking about school districts, I think this is a pretty cool piece of information. This is something I actually did not know until over the last couple years and I've lived here in the valley for a long time, but we hear so much about the rest of the school district being rated so highly, the myriad of school district being rated so highly.

But inside the city of Winchester actually has the highest rated school in the whole valley. I think it's actually in the entire county of Riverside. So that is Temecula Prep. Now it is part of the Temecula Valley Unified School District. So that was one of those higher rated districts I was just talking to you about. But Temecula Prep across the board has the highest rated schools. It is a free school, it's a free prep school, usually there's a wait list to be able to get in and you have to apply and be accepted. But they are rated super, super highly and they are a K through 12. So they have elementary school, middle school, and high school. So if you can get your kid into Temecula Prep, it's definitely going to be a big plus, especially if you live in Winchester, which means you're going to live relatively close to where the school is located.

That's going to be a big plus for you. All right, so number four. And like I mentioned before, Winchester is still growing. It's still building. There's a lot of new construction going on. I mentioned there's a lot of vacant land between that southern section in the northern section, but because of that, there's really not many restaurants in the area. There's just really only a handful of chain restaurants and maybe three to five non-chain restaurants in the area. So because of that, for restaurants, you're probably going to be making a drive to some of the bigger cities, whether that's Menifee or Temecula or even Murrieta for a lot more food options or even fast food options. To be truthful, Winchester is growing, it's still building. There's not a lot of restaurant options there for now. Your commute to Temecula for some nicer restaurants is probably 10 to 15 minutes.

So it's not the end of the world, but just something to know it's going to be a little bit less convenient as opposed to that restaurant was right on the corner for you. Alright, so number five, French Valley. So this is a term that you will see a lot online. You're going to see it on Google Maps. If you're looking at maps, you're going to see the French Valley area referred to quite a bit by different people. And it seems like mostly when you're researching it probably pops up more in research than it does when you actually live here. That's not really a term that comes up too much here locally, but when I talk with clients, they always ask about the French Valley area and really what French Valley is is that southern section of Winchester. So Southern Winchester is French Valley, really, that's where the first tract homes were coming in.

That's actually where my family lived. My parents bought a home there in 1999 and like I said, I went to high school here locally and that's where we lived. So that southern section, which mostly is zoned for Temecula school district, some of it's zoned for Murrieta school district, but that would be considered the French Valley area, that older southern Winchester area that is closer to Temecula and Murrieta. Alright, so number six, we talked about a lot of growth happening in Winchester, a lot of new construction happening and there's so much. So there's actually right now I counted 11 new home communities that are currently under construction. So 11 different master plan communities and within the next five years they're thinking they're going to build up to 10,000 new homes that are going to be delivered to homeowners. So that's a ton of construction and plus there's also a lot of just infrastructure stuff from new roads, new shopping centers, new storage facilities, all that type of stuff is currently going in.

And so I think you're going to continue to see more and more of that over the next decade because there is so much vacant land there in the middle where it's really just going to be built out. Alright, so number seven, entertainment options. The city of Winchester really has zero entertainment options. There's no movie theaters, there's not really any big shopping areas, there's nothing resembling like casinos or gaming or anything like that. Really the closest thing to any type of entertainment options. There's a shooting range in Winchester, so that's probably the one thing. But other than that, you're going to be driving to some of those other more developed cities for a lot of the entertainment stuff. So whether that's local suburbs like Temecula, Murrieta, Menefee, or making the trip out to a big city for a big concert or something. San Diego, Orange County.

Alright, so number eight in the area, in the general area, it applies to Winchester and the surrounding cities. There is a huge military presence here. So Southern California has a lot of military bases. I think there's like five military bases right now that are active because you have people that live here locally and make the commute to those bases for work. So those are people that are in the Air Force, the Marine Corps, the Navy, the army, all the different military branches. And they do live here because it is so much more affordable than a lot of the bigger cities like San Diego. So there's a huge military presence. You see a lot of military flags, you see a lot of patriotism are those things I think are great, but really I've lived here for a long time. I'm used to it. For me, if we didn't have that, I think that would be weird.

But when I have clients that are relocating here, they're always a little bit surprised and like, oh, they're always comment, oh I didn't realize that there's so much military here in the area. So I think that's good information Bri have. Alright, so number nine, politically, this area. So the city of Winchester tends to lean more red than blue, so tends to be a little bit more of a Republican area as opposed to democratic. That is something that people are surprised about quite a bit. Being at Southern California, it just kind of has a general reputation for being super, super liberal that's more associated with the bigger cities. Again, San Diego, la, Orange County, but here, southwest Riverside County is pretty red leaning. Not to say that that's good or bad, but it's just, I think it can be different than what a lot of people expect.

Alright, number 10, there is an airport here in Winchester. So a lot of times people are surprised, but there is a small airport and it's called the French Valley Airport. It's located right off of Winchester Road, which I think is a pretty cool thing to live next to. There's really not like commuter traffic. People aren't usually flying in from different areas too often. Maybe they'll make a trip out from Palm Springs or something like that. But usually it's someone that lives here, they store their plane there or they're taking flight lessons and they're putting around their Cessna and taking lessons or whatnot. I think it's kind of cool you can go, they actually have a restaurant that's there right at the airport has this big old glass windows. I have kids sitting in the booth and watching the planes take off and watching people do their lessons and stuff.

So I think it's a pretty cool thing. I think it's fun. Some people do comment that they feel like it can be a little bit noisy to me, it doesn't bother me at all, but maybe if you're super sensitive to noise, that's something to know on a Saturday or Sunday you hear some planes cruising by and putting by. My kids like it, they like looking at the planes in the sky. So I don't think it's a big deal. I think it's kind of cool, but something to know. Alright, so number 11, there is a large horse community in Winchester. So kind of like I mentioned, there is a large rural area right in the middle of Winchester between that southern and northern section where there's just a lot of vacant land and there's also a lot of houses which are really more ranches that have a house on them that are big lots.

So they might be anywhere from three acres, four acres, 10 acres, 15. I have a family friend that has 20 acres in Winchester and those people have very, very prime horse property where there's rolling hills, they have plenty of space for corrals and barns and all their other stuff. So there's a pretty big horse community here locally, which means people are really invested in that. If you have friends in the horse community, usually it's a pretty tight knit thing. And if that is at all of interest to you, there's definitely a lot of horse properties that are for sale and options to be able to own a home, own a home with a horse on your property in the city of Winchester. Alright, so number 12. The surrounding cities here are really a medical hotspot locally. So there's a lot of medical options. There's four hospitals, there's a Rady's Children Hospital, there's two Kaiser locations and really a couple of those hospitals are even expanding right now.

So they're adding more wings and levels and things like that. So there's a ton of medical, I guess it's my fault I refer to this area as a bedroom community quite a bit. And when I do that, a lot of people ask, well hey, are there hospitals? Are there shopping centers, normal everyday conveniences? And the answer to that is yes, there's a ton of medical, there's a ton of hospitals, there's a ton of shopping centers, we're just not a big city, we're just kind of more of like a suburban town where people live here and most people do end up making a commute out for work unless you're lucky enough to be able to work from home. Alright, so number 13, a lot of the communities that are here set up in the city of Winchester are really set up to suit kids and families.

So there's so much support locally for growing families and children and whatnot. And really the last STAs, I show the average, average person that lives in the city of Winchester, it's about 36 years old, which kind of implies they're of the age to have younger children, to have children. So there's so many programs and leagues and get togethers that all seem to be geared around families. And I think if you have a young family, I think that's a really good thing to know. So there's a ton of sports leagues, there's multiple baseball leagues, there's multiple softball leagues, multiple soccer leagues, there's multiple community events at the parks for Easter egg hunts and you go see Santa and all these different things, which I think are really cool living here. But that's just something to know about how the city is geared up. It's not really geared up for someone that's say in your early twenties for a party scene type of deal.

It's that suburban lifestyle which I really enjoy. I think it's how I want to live, but definitely something to know. Alright, number 14, most people that live in Winchester end up spending a good amount of time in some of the bigger surrounding cities, mostly Temecula and Marietta. So kind of like we talked about, Winchester's still growing, it's still building, it's still pretty spread out. There's not much entertainment options, there are not many restaurant options. There's a ton of houses but not much else. So because of that, most people end up making that drive to Temecula or Murrieta and spending a good amount of time there. It's not that it's super far, it's going to be anywhere from probably 12 to 17 minutes depending where you're at and where you're going. So it's definitely doable. It's not a super big inconvenience, but to buy a home and to own a home in an area that's a little bit more affordable, Winchester, you're going to sacrifice a little bit of that time to get some of those entertainment options that are in some of the bigger, more established suburb cities.

Alright, so the last thing I want to go over, number 15 is tax rates. So if you're going to buy a home in Winchester, you definitely got to know that the tax rate for the home that you buy can vary greatly depending on which neighborhood it is that you're buying a home in. So what that means is, let's say if you're going to go buy a home, let's say it's a $600,000 home, you might find a home that's a little bit older that is say built in 1999 or 2000. The home that I lived in that has a low tax rate, it might be like 1.15%. So you're going to buy a $600,000 home and you might spend about $6,500 a year in property taxes. Okay? Sounds high, but it's actually, it's on the low side. And on the flip side of things, if you go buy a 600,000 home and you buy something that's on the newer side and has a higher tax rate, which definitely exists, you might be at a 2% tax rate.

So you on that home might end up spending about $12,000 a year in taxes. So that difference from 6,500 to 12,000, it's almost $6,000 a year. It's about 500 to $600 a month that you're going to spend extra in taxes. And that's something that you as a home buyer, you're definitely going to want to know. So the rule of thumb, it's really cut by year built. So if you're going to look at an older home that's say 2003 and older, that tends to have those lower taxes closer to that 1.1, 1.2% tax rate. And if you're going to buy a newer home, so 2004 and newer, that's when you started to see those higher taxes. So 2004 and up you started to see those extra special assessments. And as you get even newer 2010 and newer, you get higher and higher and higher. So if you're going to buy a home, you definitely want to pay attention to what that tax rate is going to be because that's going to affect what your monthly mortgage payment's going to be and that's going to affect if that home's going to be affordable for you and really if you're even going to be able to qualify for that home.

So your real estate agent, hopefully me, which should be able to easily point that out for you and be able to mention and discuss with you what that tax rate is for each different neighborhood. But really it's by neighborhood. The year built is a really good indicator on how it's going to affect you and just something you as a home buyer you're really going to want to pay attention to because you don't want to be surprised when it comes time to make that first mortgage payment and the taxes are an extra 400 bucks a month higher than you thought they were going to be. So please pay attention to that. Anyways, hopefully that's good information for you guys. Be stuck with it all the way through here. Hopefully you learned a thing or two. And if you guys have questions, feel free to reach out. Please sit like please sit, subscribe, feel free to call, text or email me and hopefully I'll talk to you soon. Thanks, bye.