Alright, so this video is all about the five questions that I get asked the most from people that are making a move here to the city of Murrieta. People that reach out to me all the time, they ask me a lot of the same questions. So I thought this would be a really helpful video to make for you guys, and hopefully help answer some of the same questions that you would have.

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 Temecula. And this video is. All about the city of Murrieta. We're gonna talk about the five questions that I get asked the most from people that are wanting to relocate here to the city of Murrieta.

Um, but before we get to all the information, you know, if you wanna see more real estate videos like this, please do me a favor. Please hit like please sit, subscribe. Obviously it helps me, it helps my channel as we try to continue to grow it. Um, and then we have new videos that we're gonna put out each and every week, and we put those out about all the local cities.

So Temecula, Murrieta, Menifee, California. We have Winchester, we have Wildomar, just kind of the local South Riverside County area here. So if you wanna see more videos about that, you can definitely, you know, hit subscribe and you'll see those coming each and every week. And then if you guys have any real estate questions, you can feel free to reach out anytime.

So if. You're gonna see my information, you know, down either below the video or at the end. You're gonna see my phone number, my email. You can feel free, you can call, you can text, you can email me. Uh, that is my personal cell phone. So, you know, of course, would love to have help, answer any questions you may have help point you in the right direction.

Or of course, if I can help you out with your search, you know, I'd love to do that. You know, obviously that's how I earn a living. So we would love the opportunity to help you and, and your family, of course. Uh, but let's go ahead and we'll get into the video here. So again, this is gonna be about the five questions that I get asked the most from people that are wanting to relocate here to Murrieta.

And just kind of a little information about me. If you don't know, if you don't know much, um, you know, so I live here locally. I mentioned my office is actually here in Temecula. Um, but it's, which is the next city over. But I've lived here in the Temecula, Murrieta Valley for a really long time, so over 25 years now.

I went to high school out here. I, you know, I own my home here. This is where I'm raising my family. I have two young kids. Um, and we are planning to stay here in the area and live here, you know, for the next, probably forever, for at least in the next 20 plus years. I think this is a great area to live in.

I think it's a fantastic area for me to raise my family and I think living in Southern California in a somewhat affordable area, I think it'd be almost impossible to find a better fit. I know for sure in Southern California it'd be impossible to find a better fit. I think really compared to most parts of the country, I think this is just such a great area to be and that's why we're planning to be here long term.

So I helped a lot of people relocate here from, from other areas, whether that's other parts of Southern California, you know, coming from San Diego, LA, Orange County, uh, whether that's from Northern California or a lot of people that are making, you know, cross country moves from other states. Um, so you know, I have a lot of experience helping people like you know, they're making these relocations.

Um, you know, I'd love to be a resource for you and hopefully this will be some good. You got some good information for you. So, um, cool. Alright, so the question number one, so the question that I get asked the most, and a lot of you guys, when you reach out, you know, from watching the videos on YouTube, usually it's.

People that are not necessarily from the area usually are relocating here from other areas. And so, the first question that I get is, Hey, you know, we really like the city of Murrieta. It seems to check a lot of our boxes, but you know, what neighborhoods should I avoid? You know, what are the worst areas?

What areas do I want to stay away from so I don't buy a home there or move there with my family? Um, and it, it's, and I give really the same answer every time. Um, the city of Murrieta is a very, very nice city, and it's a newer suburb, right? What kind of makes this area so nice is it's somewhat affordable.

We have a lot of people that move up here from other parts of Southern California, so they move from San Diego. They move from la, they move from Orange County, right? And they move here 'cause it's so much more affordable. So those homes, those average homes, there are gonna be over a million dollars. It's probably an older home and not such a great area.

Uh, probably, probably more of a rundown house. Probably dated, probably small and probably not as great of a school district. Where, as opposed to up here, you know, you, you can get, your average home in Murrieta is about $750,000 for that house. So you can get probably just about a 3000 square foot house.

Something with a lot of space, a nice big yard, maybe even a pool, or you know, maybe slightly more to get something with a pool, but you can just get so much more for your money. Not only that, it is a suburb area, so it's a really, really squeaky clean suburban area. Um, it is very, very safe. Murrieta is constantly rated as one of the top 100 safest cities.

Throughout the country. Um, so it's been as high as somewhere in the top 10. And each year there, you know, their rankings change a little bit, but overall it's just a very, very safe area. Um, they have their own police force here in the city and they do a really, really good job. Um, and then not only that, they have a really, really great school district as well, so.

The Murrieta Valley Unified School District is really highly rated, and it's really, it's one of the reasons that so many people move here to have their kids go to, you know, some really good schools, uh, that are just part of the, you know, the public school system. So that's a big advantage for people. Um, you know, with that, you know, just kinda describing this area, you know, it's that.

That's a nice suburb, right? It's really squeaky clean. It's very safe. Good schools really, I would say 99% of the city is gonna be a really, really nice place to live. Um, there really isn't necessarily a bad neighborhood in Murrieta. You know, most of the homes are gonna be built like The mid two thousands, I guess mid nineties.

So, uh, from mid nineties to like mid two thousands, you might find a few that are a little bit older, but it's a lot of tract homes. But it's not like you have a bad part of town or like an unsafe part of town or you know, where. All the bad stuff happens, right? It's just, it's so squeaky clean.

It is such a nice area. Um, there are a few areas, you know, that maybe have a lot of rentals that maybe the neighborhood driving through isn't necessarily as nice. Um, maybe, you know, it's not as well kept, right. So those areas do exist. Like there's some that I can think of that are kind of on the border of Temecula and Murrieta, where there's a lot of quadplexes and triplexes.

And, you know, that's probably an area I recommend to most people to, to avoid if you can afford the budget. But when you're looking at buying, you know, a single family home here, you know, just really across the board, most of the neighborhood's gonna be really, really nice and I  tell people, you know, your quality of life is gonna be really good, you know, depending on your, whether you're on the west side of town or the east side of town, um, you know, it's really gonna be a, a really nice area to be in.

So. Cool. Uh, question two that I get asked a lot is, you know, how long does the process typically take to make the move here and to buy a house and kind of get into the house and to actually get, get the keys? So, um, usually this is because you guys are, you know, again, making these big relocations from other areas and usually a general rule of thumb.

In short, it's gonna be somewhere about that 90 day mark. Can it be a heck of a lot quicker? Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, depending if you're financing the house or if you're gonna pay cash, you know, for the house and when, when you go to buy it, um, you know, that's gonna determine your escrow length.

But if we just kind of use some general assumptions. So once you find a home that you like and you place an offer, your offer is accepted, right? You. You shake hands with the cell, you come to an agreement, right? You're gonna, you're gonna open escrow and that process is negotiable, the timeline. But typically that's gonna be about a 30 day escrow.

So you figure you have about a month there just after you find the house, just for the escrow process, right? And then before that, you know, you, you want to factor, you know, you're gonna take some time to look at houses, you're probably gonna look at some different areas. You're gonna look at some different neighborhoods.

Find out more about what you like and what you don't like. And so for most people, I recommend that's gonna be about 30 to 45 days. And then you, sometimes it goes quicker. Sometimes it's the first time we meet up, sometimes the first place we look at, boom, we like it. We've really nailed the search down and you're gonna, and you're gonna move forward.

Right? But I do tell people the plan for about 30, 45 days. So now you're taking 30 plus that 30 to 45. Now we're about, you know, 75 days now. And then I also, you wanna factor in a little bit of a buffer before that, just to make sure you take care of that pre-approval process. So typically I'll get in touch with, you know, a lender that I work really closely with, or maybe you might already have your own, but you would go through that pre-approval process, um, that, that process itself should only, should take less than 24 hours.

So usually it's closer to like, like a six to eight hour thing. You know, once you get all your information in. But it does take, it's a little bit of a process. You gotta fill out your information, you gotta find paycheck, subs, you gotta find bank statements and do all these types of things, right? And you gotta set some time aside for it.

So, kind of rounding up being pretty conservative. I recommend that you know, plan for about a two week process for that. Um, so between your two weeks there. Fi figure 30, 45 days for your actual home search process to, you know, write an offer, have an offer accepted, and then a 30 day escrow at the end.

So with that, I would plan about 90 days. Can it be quicker? Yeah, absolutely. If a house is vacant and you're paying cash or you know, we can have a loan close quickly, could it be, you know, a two to three week process? Yes, absolutely. So definitely have had that happen and, um, you know that that's the route that you want to go or, you know.

Decide to go then, uh, that that is definitely doable. But for most people, general rule of thumb, I would plan about 90 days or so for, until you actually get the keys, just so you can be conservative to kind of line everything up. Um number three, question number three that I get a lot is about HOAs.

So, uh, this question, you know, a lot of people ask me, um, they say, Hey, you know, do I have to buy a home in Murrieta that has an HOA. Some people just do not like HOAs. They might hate HOAs. They might think it's unnecessary rules and just some extra layer. Some even have some extra governing body they don't wanna deal with.

It might be, Hey, I don't want to pay somebody, I don't want to, you know, pay somebody, pay somebody each month that doesn't own my house. Or, you know, maybe, you know, I want to be able to park RVs and whatnot and not have somebody tell me what to do. So, um. When you're looking online, you're gonna see a lot of neighborhoods here locally that have an HOA.

Um, you can definitely buy a home in Murrieta that does not have an HOA. So they do definitely exist. I'd say actually probably about 50% of the homes, at least of the tract homes. Do have no HOA, um, so about half do, half don't. Um, in Marietta, I would say across the board, you know, for, for the most part, I would say 90% of the HOAs are relatively minor as far as the rules and restrictions and things like that and cost.

So there's, there's a lot of 'em that are out there that are. Maybe 50 bucks a month, 40 bucks, 50 bucks, a hundred bucks a month, somewhere in that range where they're not necessarily super strict, um, but they are in place to help keep the neighborhood looking nice. Um, I personally, I do like an HOA, like that, kind of like a low cost, you know, under a hundred dollars a month, HOA.

Um, in this area, as you get more expensive HOAs, so they call it north of 200, uh, they tend to get super, super strict. So you do start to get some more amenities there. You might get, you know, like a gated community or a guard gated community, or, you know, more pools and spas and, you know, clubhouses and things like that.

Um, and so if you, if you like those things, they definitely do exist here. You know, I actually, I live in a community like that now. I'm actually not really a big fan of those big high cost HOAs. Uh, to me they, they can, they start to become more of a nuisance, start to have more rules in place and they become, can become quite a bit stricter.

Um, and to me it's not the most fun thing in the world to deal with. So you kind of have. You know, 50% of the houses have, no, HOA probably 40%. They kind of have that low, low cost HOA under a hundred bucks. And then, you know, maybe that extra, you know, 10% or so that has that high cost HOA, that's gonna be a little more specific and a little pickier with some of the rules and stuff.

So you just gotta know what you're getting into. Um, and that would be in our, in this area, you know, once you get over a hundred bucks, I would consider that to be a high cost HOA in Murrieta. Cool Uh, question number four that I get is, Hey, you know, I live out of the area now, you know, how can I buy a home in Murrieta?

Like, Hey, I'm relocating, I'm moving from Georgia, right? You know, how can I pull this move off? And, you know, what's the, what's the best way to do it? So it can definitely be complicated when you guys are making these big outta state moves. Um, and this is something that's starting to change a little bit with the market.

So right now, this is summer 2025. Um, the real estate market has definitely cooled a little bit over the last few months. Homes are not selling quite as quickly. They're starting to sit more and more. Uh, with that, there's some advantages as a buyer as far as not only just your ability to negotiate price, price wise, but your new ability to negotiate, like the terms and the type of offer that a seller will accept.

So, uh, general rule of thumb, if you are making a move from outta state, the best thing to do if you're gonna finance, we wanna take care of that pre-approval upfront. That'll be relatively easy. Like I said, I should be able to get that taken care of in a day or so. Uh, if it takes you more time, you know that that's, that's okay, but um, should be relatively quick.

So, but once you have that pre-approval in place, then it kind of depends on your scenario. So if you are looking to buy your first home or you're gonna rent out your current home, or you're not gonna sell another property, then really we can do the home search. Um, we can either, if you're able to come make it trip out, we can do that in person.

Uh, we can do a lot of that virtually, if that's what you decide that you want to do, kind of depending on your comfort level and maybe your. Your tech savviness there. Um, so those are options that you're gonna have. And then if you are going to be selling a home, then you know, really what you need to do is be able to, as we go through the process, before you can get your offer accepted, you're gonna have to take your home, that's in your current city, put it on the market, find a buyer, accept an offer, and open escrow with that buyer.

Once you do that, you will be in position to be able to get your offer accepted here in Murrieta, and you should be able to do that relatively easily. Um, if your home is not quite sold yet, you're not quite in that process, as the market slows down, it's becoming more and more likely that we might be able to get your offer accepted.

Before you find a buyer, um, that is, it's a case by case scenario. It's gonna depend on the house, you know, if, uh, if it's per house that just popped on the market and it's beautiful and it's priced, you know, below market and that they're gonna have three offers on it right away, well, it's probably not gonna work out for us just based on your timeline.

Uh, but if it's been on the market for 40 days and it's stale and there's no other game in town, no other offer that's out there, then it's definitely realistic that your offer could get accepted while still needing to sell your home. So it's just really gonna depend on, on the scenario and, uh, you know, where it's going on with the seller and really how long the property's been listed and how, how motivated they are.

So. Cool. Um, and then number five, you know, if you guys are gonna make this move to Murrieta and you wanna buy a house, you know, what do you need to do in order to buy a home here locally? So, like, like I mentioned, you wanna make sure pre-approval is taken care of. You wanna make sure you know, if you're gonna, if you need a home to sell, you want, you're kind, getting the ball rolling.

Hopefully you've had an offer accepted on that already. Um, but in the case of just the actual ability to buy and kinda how that process would work, the most ideal thing that I tell people when you're making these relocations. Take a trip out here to Murrieta. Come spend a day. Maybe, maybe do this a couple times, take a day trip, maybe a few days.

Um, drive around the area, drive around the city Make sure that you like it. Make sure it feels like it's a great area for you. Make sure you feel comfortable. Maybe do some research on schools and neighborhoods, things like that. Um, we can also definitely get together when you do your research trip so we can meet up.

You get together face to face, um, grab a coffee, potentially go out and take a look at some homes, depending on, you know, the scenario, go, you know, pop in some different neighborhoods, kind of see what that's like. Hopefully that'll help you guys decide that Murrieta is the place for you. Um, after that happens, if you are able to be here locally for showings and we can schedule appointments and things, you know, that's definitely the most ideal scenario where you're here in person.

We can go take a look at houses and, you know. But if you, if you live in Arizona, you're probably not gonna be able to do that every weekend. Right? So, it's just gonna depend on the scenario. But if you do have that ability, that's the most ideal situation. Um, if you don't, then we can definitely do a virtual showing.

So I do this a lot with clients that are relocating to where. I go out to the house, uh, we can do, you know, like some type of a video call. Um, I'll do a, I'll do a tour, kind of do a walkthrough or record a video, send it to you guys, and hopefully, you know, that will help you experience the home while you're not here and you're outta state.

Um, so we can definitely do that. Um, if. If you're gonna do that. The other thing that I recommend is once you find a home, once we have an offer accepted, and once we open escrow, when we have that home inspection, I would highly, highly, highly recommend that you guys make the trip back out to be here in person for the home inspection.

So, um, I think that is a great time for you to come back to the house. We're gonna be in the house for a long period of time, usually 2, 3, and a half hours. It's your opportunity to kind of really take everything in, make sure that you really. Like the neighborhood, they really like the house and why the home inspector is telling you everything that's going on, all the things that are wrong with the house.

Um, it's really helpful for you to be there in person so you can understand exactly what they are saying. They can show you examples. If they say, Hey, that sink is leaking. Uh, we can walk over, open up the cabinet, take a look at the sink so you can make sure you guys understand exactly what you're getting into.

Yeah, ultimately, you know, this house purchase is gonna be your decision, not mine. I'll give you my recommendations on what the things that I think are best and your kind of best practices. But if you decide that, Hey, I don't wanna ever come to Murrieta, I just wanna buy a house, um, we can definitely do that.

I've had a lot of clients do that over the years. Just do everything virtually. So if you're comfortable with that, we can definitely do it. But I would recommend planning to make a couple trips out here. You know, when you. Finding a place to live in for the next multiple years. I think it's really, really helpful to be able to see a lot of that in person to make sure you guys are happy with what you're getting.

So cool. Anyways, I hope that helps. Um, if you guys have any questions, feel free to reach out. You can call, you can text, you can email me, and hopefully I will talk to you soon. Thanks.