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Topic

Living Environment in Irvine

Daily life
#1
  • ESKA
  • mail
  • 2023/06/05 11:16

Hello, I have been an expatriate since June and arrived in our area before my family.
I am thinking about living in Irvine, but I wanted to start a topic to let you know where I should live.

We have two children, ages 4 and 2.
My wife is not good at English and would like to join a Japanese community if possible.
We have not decided on a kindergarten yet.


We have heard that West Park and Woodbridge are usually good places to live, and we were going to look in those areas, but there are not many apartments （ and even if there are, they are over our budget ）. So the following areas came up.

Northwood
Cypress Village
Oak Creek
Great Park

I have a boss who told me that the area above Route 5 has few expats and many Chinese people. I have heard that the area above Route 5 has fewer expatriates and more Chinese people.
I am hoping to live in an area with a certain amount of expatriates, but I wonder what the actual situation is like ？

I would like to hear various opinions from people who live in each area or are familiar with the area.
Thank you very much.

This text has been translated by auto-translation. There may be a slight difference between the original text and the translation. (Original Language: 日本語)

#3

Hi, I live in West Park, Irvine.
I am a long time US resident and not an expat, but I am a mom with an elementary school aged child. There are many Japanese expatriates and other Japanese people in West Park. I have lived in the US for a long time and am not an expatriate, but I know many Japanese expatriates and other Japanese people who live in Westpark. If your wife can drive a car right away, I don't think you have to worry. The West Park area is very livable and beautiful with many parks, and is close to Costco, Whole Foods, Sprouts, Korean supermarkets, Target, etc. It is very comfortable for housewives. Many people live a normal life even if they don't speak English. Our family also rents a condo. The West Park area is very popular and townhouses, condos and apartments are going up $200-$400 a month a year. Even if you try to buy a house, there are very few properties available and the price is usually $ $1,500,000 for a normal 4 room house.
Prices have gone up so much that it is hard to keep up. Prices have gone up so much that they can't keep up with it. There are people living in the Irvine Spectrum, but if you want to raise your children in a park, I wouldn't recommend the Spectrum.
In the Great Park area, new houses are being built all the time and there are many new families. But of course renting a house or condo is also expensive because they are new. It is the same in all areas, but I have known several people who had to move out of their apartments when their children were young because of complaints of noise from the people below them. I know that you are going through a lot of hardship since your wife and children are coming to the U.S., but at first it will be like you are on vacation and it will be fun, but when you live in the U.S., there are many things that will be different from Japan and you may get homesick, but please do your best.

This text has been translated by auto-translation. There may be a slight difference between the original text and the translation. (Original Language: 日本語)

#4
  • ESKA
  • 2023/10/04 (Wed) 08:49
  • Report

Dear Latte

Thank you for your comments and useful information.
（ I am very sorry for the delay in replying ）
In the end, we looked at a lot of places and finally decided on the Great Park area. West Park never came up with any properties in the first place. I also liked Cypress Village and Oak Creek, but they already had several applications, and as a foreigner with no FICO, there was no way I could win. In the end it took over 3 months and a lot of hard work, but we found a good owner, the place of residence was confirmed, and my wife arrived in our area recently.
We still have a lot of work to do in the future, such as finding a license for my wife, finding a community for our children, finding a kindergarten, etc. We are floundering to start up our lives, but as Latte said, we will be homesick when we get settled. Thank you for sharing the information, including your support.

This text has been translated by auto-translation. There may be a slight difference between the original text and the translation. (Original Language: 日本語)

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