Well, I love living in Murrieta. My wife and I and the kids moved out here a year ago from Orange County. The schools are top notch. We live off Murrieta Hot Springs and the 215 and have access to everything within 5 minutes. If you want you can give me a call or email me direct and I can answer any questions that you have.

Sun Jun 29 2008, 21:31

I live off of Winchester Road in the French Valley area. It is not as developed as Murrieta or Temecula. So you will see large land parcels with horses, cows and even llamas. The schools are a part of the Temecula Valley Unified School District and most of them are fairley new and they are slated to build more in the future. Actually most of the homes in the area are less than 10 years old. The French Valley Airport, seems more like a place for people who bought their own planes and love to fly. It is not a commercial airport and I see the planes more than I hear them. They are building the French Valley interchange so it is a little conjested right and we do not have a lot of shops in the area. There seems to be a lot of houses on decent parcels of land and so you do not feel like you can spit on your neighbors house if you happen to spit out of your window, I see a lot of that in California and in Murrieta as well. Some people like the more developed areas, but I tend to like this area. It is slower and not as crowded and the good thing is that I can drive in less than 30 minutes to any place I need to go. They are building more stores in the area so in about 10 years it will resemble Temecula and Murrieta. If you are thinking about the Temecula area, keep in mind that Pechanga was given a nice chunk of land recently, so just make sure the lots you are looking at do not fall under there newly aquired land.

Sat May 24 2008, 10:33

Murrieta has some excellent buys right now, Look for REO properties and Short Sales and try to spend less than $100 per square foot. We can help!

Thu May 22 2008, 18:56

I lived in Crowne Hill in Temecula, which is a lovely area, but after Pechanga expanded and 79S was expanded to fit all of the new shopping areas, the exit became too congested. I moved to Corona for two years, but it was too hot and smoggy. I moved to Murrieta in 2005 and love my area. I live off Clinton Keith in Paseo Verde. My house backs to the Santa Rosa Plateau and it is cool and breazy. Regading the traffic, the 215/French Valley has much more congestion than the West side. We drive the streets to get to the mall or wineries when there is traffic on 15. If you take the back route, it is usually smooth sailing. I agree that Winchester is a scary exit and never use it. My tax base is 1.1 with no HOA. I paid 600K for my house, but most of the sales are priced in the low 400s and almost all are banked owned. The area is beautiful and well maintained all around the Bear Creek area. Good luck.

Sun May 18 2008, 16:04

HOA depends on the neighborhood you chose. The new one's typically will have one. Currently I live in Temecula and about 2 days out of the week, the offramp to get on the 1-15 S on Winchester can take about 5 minutes especially around 8 o'clock in the morning. If you get there earlier, it is fairly easy to get on.

As for the price of the home, it depends on what you are looking for. One of the downsides of alot of the homes built is that while the master bedrooms are spacious, the extra rooms are tiny that are made to fit a crib or a twin bed and nothing else.

Personally, in the French Valley area, it's like a no-man's land in terms of whether it is Temecula or Murrieta. I think technically it is Murrieta but if you check the school boundries, you will see that some homes are considered to be in the Temecula school district.

Taxes. Once again, it depends on where you live. Where we live, we pay 1.5 but a 3 minute drive up the street, it can be 1.9 or if you go the other way, it's 1.1% .

Do you have a particular development in mind? I might be able to help you out as we just purchased a home here.

Tue May 13 2008, 14:43

Both areas are nice. However, for me, both have way too much in-city traffic. Seriously, I kick myself anytime "I have to go there". Temecula has the added problem that it really has only 3 off-ramps to the 15 freeway. This means that there are seriously backed up off ramps during peak times, really dangerously at times. Winchester, in particular, backs up over a mile down the freeway at times.

Everything is relative however, if you come from an even busier place, then Temecula could almost seem rural. The area, as a whole, does have every amenity you could need.

Which way are you traveling? North or south? If your commute heads north out of the area also consider Wildomar or even Lake Elsinore. Both areas are not as "nice" as Temecula/Murrietta but congestion is much less, and large lots (1/4 acre +) are common if that's a consideration for you.

If you commute south towards Escondido/San Diego I can't comment as I only rarely travel that way.

Sun May 11 2008, 14:34

Hi there Demy, You have many great questions. Both area's attract a lot of people for different reasons. The acceotable price depends on the house. With regards to the Amenities , Taxes, HOA's etc. I would be happy to review these in person with you and review the Bedt Buys in these areas. I work with many clients in both areas.

Kind Regards
Michael Barron
First Team Real Estate
www.ntustinhomes4sale.com
(714) 552-6717

Sun May 11 2008, 13:50