Santa Barbara beaches.. http://travel.yahoo.com/p-reviews-1...sortorder-4;_ylt=AiWqEAYdTorXSTYqDHa64jVDFmoL Also according to city-data.com SB crime is higher than similar areas of San Diego.
If I were very rich AND married, I'd say Santa Barbara is one of the best places in the U.S. to live. Home prices are in your face expensive but what a great place to just chill out. For my tastes and budget, Miami is king. Great climate, "major league" events, 4 pro sports teams, any top concert tours stop here, great food, and as El Cubano mentioned, the women........ Miami is an alluring, amenity packed mixture of Manhattan and Havana.
You won't find any good housing under a mil (maybe a 3bd/2ba cottage in OK condition in an OK area) easily over a mil for a good neigborhood in SB proper. 1.8-2.5 mil there is some really good stuff. Montecito minimum entry is 1.4-1.6 mil and goes into outer space from there... 20,30,40 mil is not that uncommon. Gas is about 3.70 a gallon, property taxes are 1%, CA state tax absolutely BLOWS... pretty much everything is expensive so yeah, its probably one of the most expensive areas to live but its worth it
There are areas here known as "mexico" where you won't find many white people walking down the street, but thats what its like all over southern CA. Let me put it this way; in the 15 years I've lived here, never once have I locked my doors. In fact my door is wide open at all times during the day, night, even when I leave town. That's the community aspect we have here, locals out for locals... EDIT: Nice ES 1286 break just now...
Hate to clue you in Danno but the women in your pictures are no better looking than the women anywhere else. Nice try but if those are the cream- of- the- crop I will stay where I am.
trader1966, my drunken party photos from camera-phones don't even do the ladies here justice. It's really the percentages that's amazing. Just walking down the street you'll see 75% of the chics qualifying as supermodels. While other places may also have hot chics, there's just such an overwhelming majority of them here that are simply knockouts. I did some better shots of chics here: http://www.skindeepadelle.com http://www.skindeepadelle.com/Portfolio/IMG_6097bw2.JPG Not the "only" reason, but definitely some of the top reasons. I've listed other benefits as well such as weather, people, infrastructure, etc. It actually costs less to live here compared to where I grew up (Saratoga, CA), so I'm not complaining about the costs of living. No one is making people buy brand new Aston Martins and Rolls every year, so those who are struggling did it to themselves. I think you may not be interpreting the data fully. Notice that in the types of crime-rates that S.B. has more than San Diego such as rapes, assault & burglaries, the difference is only about 10-20% higher. But in crimes where San Diego is higher than S.B., murders, robberies, auto-theft, it's a significant 50-500% higher! The overall crime-index has S.B. about 10% lower than national-average, while San Diego's about 10% higher (both are increasing). Needless to say, I'm like Mike, the doors to my house and cars are never locked. The main issue I have is that a lot of restrictive laws are being passed that makes criminals out of everyone. You can't have an open beer on the beach, you can't take a drink out into the street when walking between one pub and the next. Can't jaywalk after 9pm without 10 cops diving on you and fighting over who gets to write you the $88 ticket. You can't make too much noise after 9pm or the neighbors can call the cops. You can't expand or remodel your house without approval from the Architectural Review Board, not for building-code compliance which is a given, but for "aesthetically pleasing and fitting into the theme of Santa Barbara" criterias. Bah! We need to elect a young celebrity as mayor and do away with all these little old ladies that's turning this town into a giant retirement home! :eek:
I've never lived there but I have spent some time in Santa Barbara and it is just amazingly pleasant. For sure, SB, all of California for that matter, has great looking women but I think the Minneapolis area is tops. Maybe not if you are looking for drugged out euro-trash supermodel wannabes, but for great looking, athletic, fit women, hard to beat Minneapolis area. What is considered average there would be a knockout most places.
All this talk about who has the "hottest women". Why not just state the obvious...it's starts with Manhattan and everywhere else is battling for a distant second.
You're not kiddin! Last time I was there (SB) on business I picked up a real estate mag to check out prices. Some little thing looking like a double wide trailer = $400K. OTOH 4bdrm, 2 1/2 bath = $4MM. If we're talking best places to live, you've gotta consider the cost of living and crime rate. In my experience, almost every town has hot girls (admittedly some more than others) and many have beautiful scenery. SB isn't worth the price. Miami has a crazy high crime rate. People are rude/impersonal in NYC. San Diego is alright but not very pretty.