While living in Anaheim Hills, before we went deep into our house hunting, I searched the demographics data for a number of areas. I was looking for ethnically non-homogenous area with a large percentage of democrat voters. I selected Murrieta and Temecula because it seemed to match those criteria. I also was making a note of the weather, counting to land somewhere at least no hotter than Anaheim Hills.
Well, upon moving here and living for a few years, I can attest that i have been bamboozled Mr. Google. The last round of elections, pandemic, schooling from home, -- all allowed people to show their true colors (mostly red with a touch of Q). I haven't felt like i moved to an area where i would find any sort of peers, but rather to an enemy territory. Sara's school mates are either from struggling disadvantaged families, or from flag waving Trumpers. If I felt isolated in Anaheim Hills, because my income bracket did not reach the Hawaii villa vacationing school families, and my interests and hobbies did not include an LV purse shopping spree, then here I feel a whole new level of isolation. While Carlos does have some social connections via his cycling hobbies, I maintain mine only via my virtual ties with my few friends. I keep reading that this is going to be detrimental to my future health and lifespan. Yet, once Sara finishes school and we move out of state, we will surely end up in a place geographically disconnected, so this is my training for the future. I have started randomly browsing house listings in La Pine area, as well as in WA, - pretty much everywhere that looks like "away", and "in the woods". Currently inventory at a reasonable price level seems to be really low. Houses that are much older in much worse shape are selling higher than what we paid for this house a few years ago. My calculation is that local housing market will maintain its price better than the OR/WA areas i am viewing, so that when we are ready to sell this one, the next house will be much cheaper, giving us a smaller mortgage and a way to, perhaps, pay it off before retiring.
One of the biggest issues in Murrieta for me is the climate, and it goes way deeper than just wanting 4 seasons. At this point I, at the very least, would like the ability to use my "outside" for more than just 7-8 months per year. The weather, with its' warming patterns, had kicked my butt completely with June, July, August and September temps peaking above 100 on the regular. Walking the dog in the summer can only be done close to, or after, sunset. Hiking cannot be attempted on any summer weekend. Even going to the beach, where temps are much lower, is not too pleasant on a typical weekend. Also, my gardening aspirations have crumbled, aside from potted hibiscus obsession. Everything else needs to be completely covered in shade cloth to even attempt to survive in this truly desert climate. The first year here we tried an avocado tree that didn't make it passed the summer, we tried tea tree bushes that made it barely passed the initial bloom and gave up, and countless other plants that got destroyed by ants, scorching sun or clay soil. Only mulberry tree that we got from AH's friends seems to be doing well. I had high hopes for nispero, but no fruits at all this year - i suppose this is because last summer i had to constantly spray it as it was getting attacked by aphids non-stop. We finally removed all the sucker branches in the fall, so hoping to see a better result next year.
