SoCal Peeps: Places to Rent

[viffergyrl]

A friend of mine from another forum has a daughter who just got accepted into a graduate program at UC Irvine. She has two cats and is looking for a place to live within 30 minutes commuting distance from campus.

Needs to narrow her Internet search so suggestions as to areas to look or other resources would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!  

[Giaka]

There are apartments all around the campus that range from $800 to $1200 (and up) a month. They allow pets but in So Cal that usually jacks the price up a few hundred more a month and or there is a large "pet deposit". As far as safe, ANYWHERE in Irvine is safe. We are talking about one of the safest town in the US here.

I lived here when I first moved to So Cal. It was ok and its walking distance to the campus.

http://www.rental-living.com/UCI-Living/Communities/Stanford-Court/

[viffergyrl]

Thanks - passed on to my friend.  

[Rogue]

Here are the cities within 20 minutes of UCI in order with the $ sign to denote how expensive they are.

Irvine - $$
Newport Beach - $$$$
Cost Mesa - $
El Toro - $
Laguna Hills - $
Lake Forest - $
Mission Viejo - $$$

All of them are going to be very safe.  But the top 3 safest will be:

Mission Viejo
Irvine
Newport Beach

[viffergyrl]

Very helpful - you all are soothing a doting father's mind.... it's his eldest and she rides!  

Thanks much.

[stew71]

...and she rides!  

Thanks much.

If she's from out-of-state, she's gonna love lane-sharing.  

[Giaka]

All of them are going to be very safe.  But the top 3 safest will be:

Mission Viejo
Irvine
Newport Beach

Aliso Viejo and Laguna Hills are to the South of UC Irvine by about 20 to 30 minutes. Both are really safe as well and have nice rental properties. I lived in Aliso Viejo for a few years. Its a very trendy poor mans Newport Beach.  

[Rogue]

I forgot about Aliso Viejo.  My 22-year old daughter lives in an apt complex there and she really digs it.  AV is where so much of the young people are in south Orange County (besides Irvine due to UCI).  AV is also just 15 short minutes to Laguna Beach, another trendy coastal city next to Newport Beach.  Laguna Beach is very expensive to live in though.  

I will add this:  if you like to ride bicycles, Irvine is the place the live.  Irvine has miles and miles of bicycle lanes.  One can ride from UCI to many parts of the sprawling city of Irvine and rarely hit any road.  Having said that, riding a motorcycle is even better.  Walking sucks though as distances are much farther apart everywhere in the OC.  Plus, many parts of south Orange County, CA is hilly.