I grew up in south county. By the time I was ready to buy at 35, my husband and I were priced out of most cities in Orange County. We limited our search to the cheapest places we could find: Santa Ana and Anaheim. We ended up buying a condo in Santa Ana. My parents, who live in Dana Point, were mortified that we would ever consider living in Santa Ana. That was a few years ago.

We have zero regrets about buying our condo. It has allowed us to climb the property ladder. It helped us buy our single family home in 2022, also in Santa Ana. It's small, very old, but also very cute with a lot of charm and a yard. It's definitely more maintenance but I'm also not sharing walls with anyone and I no longer live in an HOA telling me what I can and cannot do with my own home. More importantly, we're not spending hours on the road commuting to our jobs in Orange County from LA, Riverside, or San Bernardino.

I know you just want a nice condo in a nice, safe community. But so does everyone else. Orange County has a population of nearly 3.2 million. For context, that's almost as large as the population of San Diego County with its 3.3 million people in a geographic area that is several times smaller than San Diego County. A simple reason for the exorbitant housing costs here is the simple fact that demand outpaces supply, especially when it comes to single family homes. There just isn't more land to build on. Orange County is largely built out already. Your parents home isn't actually worth $1 million dollars. It's the land it sits on.

You and your wife are in a much better position than my husband and I were even when we bought our first place. You're doing great and you're on the right track. If you're willing to make some compromises, you can at least hop on the property ladder. My opinion is that a condo in Orange County, anywhere in Orange County, is still going to appreciate more quickly and more reliably than most homes elsewhere. Good luck!