All right. So today we're going to go over the top five pros and cons of living in the city of Menifee, California. I'm going to go over some of the highlights and what makes living in Menifee so great and why it's growing so much over the last few years. And then I'm going to go for the five cons and go over, you know, some of the realities and some of maybe the downsides of living there to hopefully help you and your family make the right decision and see if Menifee is the right place for you. 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 the short real estate team here at Keller Williams. In this video, it's all about the city of Menifee, California, and we're going to go over the pros and cons of living here in the city of Menifee.  So before I get into my list, you know, if you are like in real estate videos like this, Please do me a favor.

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So, the city of Menifee, California, we are located in Southern, so obviously Southern California, but it's Southwest Riverside County. So, probably the biggest city here in the area is the city of Temecula. That's probably, that's the most well known and what most people ask me about when they're moving from out of the area.

So, City of Temecula is it's right on the border of San Diego County. Okay. Uh, the next city north from Temecula is the city of Murrieta, California, and then just Northeast to that is the city of Menifee. And Menifee is an area that's grown a ton over the last decade. It's been ranked as one of.

California's fastest growing cities over the last 10 years, and that's because there's a ton of construction that's going on. So, uh, there's a ton of new build construction for homes. So, you know, new homes, new home tracks, um, condos, townhomes, single family homes. Um, and that there's a ton of construction that's slated to go in over the next decade.

So it's an area that's been growing. It's an area that's going to continue to grow as the town, as the town gets built out. And really some of that is because some of those other, the other cities that we talked about to make the Murietta are pretty close to being built out. So just kind of out of vacant land, out of space.

So because that, that, you know, that instruction wave has kind of gone up, gone up towards Menifee and there's a ton of homes that are being built. And then not even just with the homes that are, that under construction and being built. There's also just a ton of infrastructure that's going in. So there's been new freeway off ramps that are being built right now.

Uh, there's freeway,  freeway off ramp expansion. So the bridges going over the freeways that are expanding to help make traffic flow a lot easier. And another bridge just being added to help. You know, help all that traffic flow. Um, so there's a lot of infrastructure that's going in. And then there's also just a lot of commercial construction too.

So, there's a lot of shopping centers. There's a lot of strip malls. You know, grocery stores. You know, all that type of stuff that is, is, uh, being built right now. And so it's a growing city. And it's going to be growing, you know, for, for quite a long period of time here. So. Um, that is, uh,  that's kind of the general lay of the land and kind of where Menifee is located.

And it's an area that we've seen a ton of growth in and I get a lot more questions about today than I did, you know, four or five years ago, for sure. All right. So I'm going to start with the pros and I'm going to start with number one. And without a doubt, you know, the thing that makes the city of Menifee so desirable is just how inexpensive it is for Southern California.

So right now, the average home in the city of Menifee is right about $550, depending on what month we're looking in. But if you compare that to, you know, the big cities that are in the area. Like, you know, the San Diego and L. A. and parts, most parts of Orange County, the average homes are well over a million dollars.

So for most people, just a million dollar homes is just going to be unaffordable and not going to be obtainable for them. So if that's the case, Menifee becomes. You know, a really good option for people to check out. Um, you know, again, it's half the price of what those bigger cities are. And then even comparing to some of the locals, you know, bit larger cities like Temecula and Murrieta that I talked about before, the average home in Temecula is like $850. 

The average home in Murietta is like $750.  So if you can get a price break down to, you know, under $600,000. That's a big deal. That's a big difference. And really one of the reasons that Menifee has, has become so popular. So, um, that is inexpensive for Southern California. You know, just, it's, it's such an easier price point to get into for people.

And that is definitely number one. And that's the, uh, the biggest draw. So. Number two, and this is something that I hear a lot, you know, a lot from like people that are my age. So on the younger side of things is they really like Menifee because there's so much new construction. You have all those really nice new construction, open concept layouts.

So you can walk in a home. There's not, it's not all chopped up. You know, there's not a formal living room and a formal dining room and then and then a family room and all kind of diced up it. They tend to be very, very open concept. You walk in a lot of them are just one big great room where the kitchen is open to the family room in the dining area and all that.

So very open. Um, and that, that's, that's what people like, right? That's what's popular. That's what you're gonna see on HGTV. That's what people want to be in their home. So, and because these are newer homes, that's, that's just, that's how they're built, right? So you don't have to do modifications. You don't have to knock down walls or do any of that type of stuff.

Um, and then in addition to that, just because they're new, they also have all the right finishes and colors that people like, right? So, they have the shaker cabinets. They have quartz countertops. Some you can get something with like a waterfall island. Uh, you have islands, you know, you have walk in pantries.

Um, just all the things that are popular that people like to have in their home. Now, when you're buying new construction, you know, they're going to come with all those things that are, that are already. Um, already there, already built from the building, so. Alright, so number three on my list, um, is the elementary schools.

So, the elementary schools that are located in the city of Menifee are pretty highly rated across the board. Um, they are definitely the highest rated schools throughout the district. So, and, and they're pretty consistent everywhere, so. There's a lot of reasons for that. Sometimes when a builder is building a new community, a big mass community, you know, say 3000 homes or whatnot.

A lot of times the city is mandating that they build an elementary school as part of the community. So a lot of those schools are going to be newer as well. Um, and there's, there's, Because just kind of the nature of elementary schools, you know, there's more elementary schools than middle schools or high schools.

And so they tend to be pocketed in, uh, throughout the different neighborhoods. But across the board, most elementary schools are going to have really good, really good ratings. And that tends to be a really big draw for people to be able to get into a good area that's newer and has a good elementary school for their kids.

So  number four, uh, just kind of general geography of where Menifee is. So even though it's relatively affordable, you know, kind of like we had talked about, right. And you have all this new construction, you are still located in Southern California, and so you're only about an hour away. from all the other cool stuff that Southern California has to offer, right?

So Menifee is, by no means a big city, it is a growing suburb, but you can still make the trip out to those big cities really, really easily. So, uh, where we're at, you're, you're about an hour's drive away to get to like downtown San Diego. You're about an hour's drive away to get to most parts of Orange County.

You're about an hour or so drive away to get to the beach. You're about an hour or so drive away to get out to the beach. the desert towards, you know, the Palm Springs area. Um, you're maybe about, you know, closer to two hours or so of a drive to get to LA and then you're maybe a couple hour drive or so to get out to the mountains.

But because we are such a central, you know, location in Southern California, you can easily make a day trip to all the other cool stuff that's out there. So if you wanted to go, you know, make a trip to, you know, downtown San Diego to catch a big concert or something like that, you can, you can definitely do that.

You can definitely make the drive, um, you know, make the drive back at night or catch a hotel or whatnot, but those are all just really, really obtainable and really easy to be able to do because we do have such a good location and then you can make those, uh, make those easy trips to some of the bigger cities if you wanted to do some of that.

So, all right. And then number five on my list, the fifth biggest pro of the city of Menifee, and it really kind of ties everything together. But because it's relatively inexpensive compared to the other areas, you know, because they're newer homes, because they have good elementary schools and we're still located in Southern California, it tends to be a great market.

For first time buyers. So it tends to be a great city for first time home first time home buyers to buy their first home in, you know, the hardest thing when you buy your first home is to be able to save up your cash to have that down payment to put on a home, right? And so for people that can take a year, it could take two years, three years, five years, you know, however long it's going to take for you to be able to save up that money.

And that's always the biggest barrier to entry to be able to buy your first home, right? Is having that down payment that you need. And the truth is when you compare it, when you start looking at, you know, homes in San Diego, where you're looking at a million dollar home. And if you start calculating, you know what, say you're going to put down, you know, 5 percent on a million dollar home, right.

That's about $50,000 that you're going to come up with, with the down payment. And that's just an unsurmountable amount of money to save up for some people to be able to put towards a home. Right. And so if, if that's the case, you know. Coming up with 5 percent on a $500,000 home is a heck of a lot easier, right?

That's, that's half, it's $25,000. So that barrier to entry is a lot, lot lower. Um, and then even comparing locally, you know, if we're going to look at a home in Temecula, it's $850,000, you know, coming up with the down payment and being able to qualify for that as opposed to a $550,000 home, that's a huge difference.

It's a $300,000 savings. And that can, that is going to be the difference for a lot of people from being able to afford it. Or, or not. So because of that, uh, Menifee tends to be a great place for first time buyers. Um, I think it's a great city that's gonna continue to grow and it will for sure with all the construction that's coming.

Um, but, and, and these aren't necessarily lifetime commitments either, right? So you can go in as a first time buyer. Buy your first home there, let it appreciate over time, and then maybe in 7 years, you decide to sell it, and you make a move to something that's a little bit more expensive, so you make a move to, whether it's Murrieta, whether it's Temecula, whether it's San Diego, whether it is out to Capistrano, or wherever it is that you want to go, but yeah, you've now built some equity over time, and maybe you're in a better position to be able to buy something more expensive, that is what you want to do.

All right. So con number one and definitely the biggest downside to living in Menifee. It's going to be the weather and it's going to be the heat in the middle of the summer. So I think most people understand, you know, we're in Southern California. We don't get a ton of rain, right? There's a lot of sunshine, especially this year.

I'm recording it. It's winter. We have got almost no rain all year so far. Uh, it's kind of, it's a pretty, pretty dry, pretty dry year this year. But, um, in general, we just, we have a ton of sunshine. and not very much rain that we get each year. Right. And in Menifee, it is even hotter than most other places.

So right now, the average temperatures that they're showing in the months of July and August are about 93, 94, 95 degrees throughout the month. So, um, it definitely makes for a super hot summer. Um, it can be a little miserable. It can be pretty hot. It can be a little unbearable, and we definitely are going to have heat waves that take you well over 100.

So you'll get heat waves up to 101, 103, 105, and even sometimes you're going to get up to even a little bit higher, 106, 107. Um, it's definitely going to be, it's pretty miserable when it's hot, when it's that hot out. But, um, it is just for a short period of time. It's going to be those couple months. Now, on the flip side of that, everyone out here has central air.

We all have air conditioning. So you're going to run your A. C. all day when you're dealing with a heat wave like that, right? So it's going to make it a lot more, you know, palatable and you can deal with it. But when you walk outside, I mean, it's It's, it's a, there's no joke about it. I mean, it's hot outside and it's definitely going to be, uh, it can be a little bit miserable and until it cools off a little bit later in the evening.

So, um, that is definitely the biggest downside to living in Menifee is going to be, be the heat and the weather.  Uh, number two, uh, second biggest con of living in Menifee and this ties into all the new construction. But in this area, when you buy a new construction home and anything that's been built over the last 10, 15, 20 years, that tends to mean that you're going to buy a home that has higher property taxes.

So these new construction homes, the builders have PA passed off a lot of these different bonds and whatnot that they used to just pay for outta pocket to build your home. So they're all the infrastructure. It's like they're paying money for fire stations and to bring out water and for fire, fire hydrants, and sometimes for schools and for parks and all this other infrastructure that they have to put in.

Um, a lot of these builders have passed off some of those costs onto the homeowner. in the form of special assessment taxes. So basically that makes your property taxes go up. And so when you buy a new construction community, your taxes can be closer to a 2 percent tax rate, as opposed to an older home that might be closer to about a 2 percent tax rate.

And it might not sound like such a big difference, you know, it may be a 1 percent or a 0. 8 percent difference, but on a monthly payment that can turn into an extra. $300 bucks, $400 bucks, or $500 bucks a month that you're paying just in higher taxes on the new construction. So that's the downside for people.

If you want that, that new construction, that open concept layout, that's pretty and court style and all these, all these fancy finishes, well, you're going to be paying the piper in the form of those higher property taxes. So that's just, just something to know.  It's going to be really hard to get away from that in Menifee unless you're going to buy an older home.

Um, you know, there's going to be pros and cons to everything, but it can definitely be a con for people when you're going to pay those higher taxes. Con number three. Um, we talked about the schools before. So the elementary schools in Menifee are rated really highly, pretty much across the board. But the middle school and the high schools are not rated quite as high.

Um, that is starting to change a little bit. There's the newest high school in Menifee. Um, is, uh, that's heritage that's starting to become rated higher and higher. And so that's tend, that's tend to become a more desirable and more highly rated school. Uh, but the middle school and high schools across the board are not rated as high as some of the other areas in the cities of Murrieta and Temecula.

So, um, I still think it's going to be a really big, really good trade off as opposed to like a bigger city. Like buying a home in San Diego, most parts of San Diego or not a great area in San Diego, etc. So it is, uh, by, by no means are they bad schools that are just not rated quite as high. Um, so sometimes people, first time buyers will buy a home in Menifee, have their kids go through the elementary schools and once it's time to get to those higher, you know, older middle schools and high schools that they'll maybe relocate, buy a home in a different area where you can get a little bit better, better ratings.

So, um, that's just, just one idea and, uh, you know, obviously everyone makes their own, own decision there. But just, just across the board, middle school and high schools aren't rated quite as high. Number four, um, is the commute. So the biggest con number four is the commute. And if you are making a, if you live in Menifee and you're making a commute to San Diego, um, which a lot of people in this area do again, we talk a lot about the cities of Temecula and Murrieta.

A lot of people commute South to San Diego, but if you buy a home in Menifee to get that more affordable home, you're definitely going to sacrifice some time on the road. Um, that difference. It's an extra commute from living in Temecula versus Menifee. That can easily be an extra 30 minutes each way on the freeway.

Um, so if you do that, you know, coming and going each day,  it could be an extra hour a day on the road to live just a couple of cities over. So there's a lot of traffic that comes through at rush hour. It gets super jammed up, especially getting onto that 215 freeway. And so if you are going to be making a commute to San Diego.

So you really want to just plan out your route, get on Google Maps, get on Waze, plan out, you know, hey, what time you would be leaving, kind of see what that would look like, um, and see if that would be something that's going to be doable for you. So, uh, this is a conversation I have a lot with clients . Hey, you know, we just want to buy a home, just a couple cities over, you know, what is that going to look like?

You know, on a daily basis with our quality of life with having that extra commute, it's just something you got to wrap your mind around. And it's definitely an easy thing to say that it's gonna be an extra 30 minutes each way compared to the city of Temecula. So if you are commuting north, that's not the case.

It's going to be a lot of times it's going to be a shorter commute, especially if you're going towards, you know, the Riverside, Moreno Valley area up that way. But if you're commuting south, you're going to add quite a bit of time to your commute for sure. Um, and the number five, so the fifth biggest con, and this is something that I hear a lot from people that are relocating here from other areas.

For me, it's this kind of, it's pretty commonplace for me, you know, across the board, kind of in this, you know, suburb area. You know, Southwest Riverside, Riverside County, but I work with people a lot of times when they're moving from other states when they come to Menifee, they do have a complaint and they say that all the homes look like cookie cutter tract homes.

So, and there is some truth to that, where a builder is going to come in, they're going to buy a plot of land, right? They're going to buy. 20 acres, 100 acres, whatever it is they're buying, and they're going to subdivide it, right? They're going to chop it up in all these different lots, and they're going to build all these different tract homes on these little cookie cutter lots, and they're going to have these different models, and they're going to paint them, you know, different shades of brown, right?

Different shades of gray, stucco boxes. And because of that, when you drive through some of the neighborhoods, you know, a lot of them can definitely all look the same. You know, they all have same color roofs. They all have maybe different shades of brown on the outside, or different shades of white, or whatever it is.

But there's just not much variance and much necessarily, you know, character, uh, difference between the different houses. And so that can be a complaint from people, especially when they're coming from the East Coast, where maybe the, you know, the homes are older and, uh, there was more, more variance. So definitely going to be a good amount of cookie cutter tract homes here in the area.

So not everything, but definitely over 80%. So anyways, hope that's some good information for you guys. That's my cons list. So I gave you five pros, five cons. Hopefully it's a good, some good perspective on someone that actually lives here in the area. If you guys have any questions, you can feel free to reach out.

You can call, you can text, you can email me and hopefully talk to you soon. Thanks.