Do you have a specific city or county in Southern California? Just as with real estate everywhere else the key to price is location. You can get acreage relatively cheaply if you go for a more rural area such as Santa Paula or Fillmore; you might even find something to your liking in your price range in Malibu as long as your heart isn't set on an ocean view. Other posters can describe areas further south.

Ryan

First you should decide either inland or coastal.
There is quite a difference in your comfort and what to grow etc. You probably want to be within an hour of the ocean I'm assuming.
Right now you probably can get a deal with great credit.
I am also assuming you don't want the mountain areas as you want to be centrally located for your business and customers.
Remember your clients in NY may pay 150k on a project but here it might be twice that. Things are much more expensive but the choices you have are 10x.
You can garden all year if not in the mtns.

Generally speaking I don't know of anywhere in LA of a home 1.2 million that isn't really safe ;). Crime can happen anywhere of course but just not as likely and it is stunning when it does.

To get a large lot can be rare in the city so Ryan is right you have to look more suburbia but then the fire danger is in affect also.

I would start checking the crime reports, census reports etc, that will really give you an idea when you compile the data.

Most areas in socal have 2 growing seasons and best planting time IMO is October.

You will be hard pressed to find large acreage in Southern CA. At least within the city limits of Los Angeles. As gobluedjm said, you have to decide on coastal or inland. And there are varying climate zones. Of course, by the ocean where I live, we have a very temperate climate. Usually a thick marine layer in the morning. And sun in the afternoon. And freezing in the winter is a rare event. Though it happens. There are the valleys from San Gabriel north to San Fernando. It can get hot there in the summer and frost in the winter. A bit more extreme as you go up to the foothills at the base of our mountain range like La Canada Flintridge, Rancho Cucamonga. Then there is the outlying areas like Riverside and San Bernardino. The Inland Empire. Depending on how rural you want, you can find more acreage. But summers are hot a dry and winters do get frost and down to freezing at times. There are the coastal hillside areas like Malibu and Ventura to the north and Modjeska Canyon and Santiago Canyon to the south in Orange County. Beautiful countryside with native oaks and such, but they are fire hazard areas. And not cheap. You will pay more that a 1.2 million for these homes. Especially in Pacific Palisades, Malibu or north toward Ventura/Oxnard.
If you like the ocean and want some acreage, there is Rancho Palos Verdes and Rolling Hills Estates on the Palos Verdes peninsula. Just north of the Los Angeles Harbor. Mostly private estates, with room for horses, the area is very expensive. But the climate is excellent and cooled by the ocean breeze.
The Hollywood Hills is too crowded. Not much room up there. Unless you can afford the Holmby Hills area. Or Belle Air above Beverly Hills. Some nice large homes and estates as you traverse Sunset Blvd west through Bev Hills to Pacific Palisades and the sea (Santa Monica). Crime is everywhere. Unless you live in a gated community. And even there, there can be problems. You must also decide on what kind of style house you want. We have old homes here from the Craftsman period (much of them in Pasadena and Glendale) but all over. Even older Victorian Holmes on West Adams near downtown. The famous Greene and Greene home is located in Pasadena. A lovely town. The Arroyo Seco runs through it and is populated by live oaks, sycamore and other riparian trees and plants. Climate in Pasadena is basically valley like conditions. Hot summers with chance of frost in the winter. Many homes here are typical ranch style homes. Or Spanish style bungalows. Then you have post modern style homes mostly built here and there as old homes were torn down. But mostly in the Hollywood Hills. New construction would be farther out of the city like north to Newhaul and the Santa Clarita Valley. Again, hot summers, dry cold winters. But a lot of tract homes out there. And still not all that cheap. If you want mild climate and larger acreage, go either to Ventura County/Oxnard or Ventura Even Ojai. Santa Barbara is way out of your price range. Or go South toward Vista and San Diego. Many of these areas are still agricultural land. You might be able to find some report on the most livable city in Southern CA. Then do your homework and check those cities out. Find out about crime rate. How good the school system is (even if you don't have kids), and understand that each area has its own micro-climate zone. I'm a bit biased but I like the coastal areas. Here where I live, I can grow most sub-tropical plants. Orchids for instance. Even fruiting pineapple. And ginger and heliconias. As well as native plants from a white fir, jeffrey pine, sugar pine and pinyon pine to various native wildflowers and bushes. Good luck and welcome to S. Cal.

Thank you so much! Just a phenomenal amount of info to digest. I'm curious toyo, generally speaking, where do you live? I think we've narrowed to a few possibilities; San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente, Mission Viejo...or way in the other direction Claremont. Any thoughts on these areas?

The closer to the coast you are, the more expensive land is.

In Orange County, which is where I live, the newer the area, the smaller the lots. In Irvine some lots are 2000 square feet with a 3000 foot house on it!

In my area all lots are at least 1/2 acre. This is fairly unusual. You would be able to find a house on a large lot if you are willing to accept an older neighborhood and an older house that may need extensive updating.

Within a mile or two of the ocean, a property on 1/2 acre would be several million dollars if not more. Within 10 miles of the coast, at least 1 million. The latest sale in my neighborhood was 1.95mil for a .73 acre property with a 4500 sq ft house. The house was a 60's ranch that had been completely gutted and redone, although it retained its basic 60's ranchhouse structure.

The farther from the coast you go, the cheaper the land gets and the hotter and smoggier it gets, though smog is not nearly as bad as it was back in the 60's and 70's...though it is still catagorized as unhealthy.

Since Southern California real estate prices are still falling and will probably continue to fall for a while, the smart strategy is probably waiting to buy until 2010 or 2011. There are a lot of Alt-A loans that are soon to reset with higher interest rates so the housing crisis is not over by a long shot. Prices will continue to fall.

Claremont is a beautiful college town with a charming "old downtown" and more affordable than the coastal cities if you are not too close to the colleges, but it is hot, hot, hot in the summer. Mission Viejo is a planned community with mostly postage-stamp-sized lots that have large tract houses on them. It gets fairly hot in summer but nothing like Claremont. SJC has some nice though expensive equestrian properties on very large lots, or small postage-stamp sized lots with large houses that are not cheap either. The drawback of SJC and SC is that you are relatively far from everything, the airport, the major shopping centers, LA, so you are driving a lot on the 5, which is usually jammed, while the advantage is cooler summers.

I would also suggest a look at Fullerton, also a college town, (no where near the charm of Claremont), but its not as hot in summer, has a lot of avid gardeners, has quite a few properties that are 1 acre for decent prices. Some of the oldest neighborhoods (late 40s early 50s) have streets with large large lots. The poorer neighborhoods are bad, but the best neighborhoods are really good if you are a gardener.

If you are going to be looking at doing landscape work, your wealthy clients will mostly be along the coast. Spending a million or 500K on landscaping is not unusual, even on a 10K sq ft lot, although with the housing crunch the work has shrunk considerably.

I second everything said above. Claremont is hot and smoggy. The coast is where you want to be weatherwise; however, you're not going to get a lot of land for 1.2 million in Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Palos Verdes, Santa Barbara, etc.

Some better nurseries are Roger's Gardens in Newport Beach, Burkard Nursery in Pasadena, Green Thumb Nursery in Lake Forest, Plant Depot in San Juan Capistrano, La Sumida Nursery in Santa Barbara, and Seaside Gardens in Carpinteria. I believe all of these places have websites. Roger's Gardens and Seaside Gardens are particularly outstanding in their displays.

I think you may be in for a whole new mix of plants in this process, too. As you may know, we get about 14 inches of rain a year (depends on where) and the bulk of it falls between Oct-March. This leads to either selection of water-wise plants or huge water bills for irrigation.

If you get out to Claremont, take a look at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens. In SJC, there is Tree of Life Nursery which specializes in CA native plants, adapted to grow in this environment.

Corporate executives have refused transfers from other states to California (whether to the Bay Area or southern California) due to the sticker shock of housing. Even with the collapse of the housing bubble, the median price for a house in my county is something like $445,000: that's a 3-bedroom, 1-bath house on maybe a 5,000-square-foot lot. Maybe a slightly larger lot.

As a gardener, you NEED to be aware of the multitude of climate zones in California, both north and south. Take a look at Sunset Publishing's "Western Garden Book." Pay careful attention to their long-term recorded maximum and minimum temperatures. Look at the plants you think you'd like to grow; will they flourish in your prospective climate zone? Will they have room? enough water? the right kind of soil?

Or will you be fighting uphill with a water-loving landscape in a natural desert (i.e., 95% of California)?

You sound very established and successful, and probably are not looking for a retirement home, based on your questions about your profession and potential clients.

May I ask why you're leaving a well-placed situation for a more expensive, drier, fire-ridden area?

in el cerrito

We have lived in five different states mostly warm but here in San Diego is surely God's country !! Everything grows and very easy. I myself have lived here 22 years and have 3/4 acre of gardens eventhough some is up a steep hill behind my house but fully landscaped by my husband and I. This time you're in luck because my husband is pretty well known here with Re Max for 28 years and would send you a run down of all that is available in any price range or neighborhood. Send me an E-mail and he will get in touch with you. His whole family lives back East but love to come here to visit. debbysunshine@hotmail.com

Come to Claremont, its nice and not as hot as people say... and its got lots of trees. The population is about 60% retirees, so no loud noises at night LOL. Its not as hot as san bernardino, and only a couple degrees warmer than the san gabriel valley. To put it simply, if its 70 degrees in Santa Monica (coast), its about 76 in downtown LA, and about 80-82 in San Gabriel, and Claremont it would be about 84. Passing Claremont (east)to San Bernardino it would be about 88-90. Then further to Palm Springs it would be about 97-98. And Claremont gets just a bit (not enough) of an ocean breeze, or the last of it.

I've lived in both OC and the Inland Empire, both are wonderful for different reasons. You should visit them both and take a look at Realtor.com or Homeseekers.com to check out the housing possibilities. You may also want to check out CNN's best places to live.

Older Claremont houses are full of character and larger yards. There are other great areas around Claremont that have large properties for creating great gardens. Keep in mind that Claremont used to be Citrus orchards.

That said... There are some areas in Orange County that have large properties, just keep your eyes open. Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, San Juan, Laguna Hills, and Fullerton are a few of the cities that may have property sizes that you will enjoy.

The great thing about California is that you can grow almost everything and the climate is incredible! You may want to also check out the CNN link to the area's with the most growth if you are in the business of landscaping.

Claremont is a quiet and relaxed town with an interesting art culture. Orange County has more hustle and bustle to it and cities like Laguna Beach also have a strong artist community.

Ive lived in San Diego, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. I love where we are now for it's remote, rural feel, but if I were you I would explore the San Diego suburbs and North County areas like Rancho Santa Fe, San Marcos, Fallbrook and Escondido. They are all small bits of paradise on earth. You might even end up with an orange or avocado grove of your own.

j.

I live in Long Beach. We do get coastal breezes. But because of our proximity to Palos Verdes Peninsula, the large "hill" blocks the northwesterly sea breezes, so many times Long Beach can reach into the 90s in the summer while south in Huntington Beach or north in Redondo Beach, the temps will be in the 70s. But for the most part, temps keep moderate year round. I'm luck to have a large yard and big enough for several large greenhouses. If do prefer the coast. San Diego county is beautiful. Take a drive down to Quail Botanical Gardens in Northern San Diego county. Vista is nice. Capistrano is nice too. The O.C. is nice, but you will find a lot of track homes. Large homes, yes, but not very big yards. Fullerton is nice. The old part of the city.
But it does get warm in the summer. Not too bad. If you go north, try Ventura County. Ventura or Carpinteria. Forget Santa Barbara or Goleta unless you have big bucks. The housing market has slumped. But not to a point where you can buy a house along the coast for less than a million. (Though you will find some nice homes in the $800K) Hard hit areas where homes have been foreclosed will be the outlying suburbs (tract homes) in Corona, Riverside and much of Inland Empire where many new homes were defaulted on. I for one hate these types of neighborhoods. Cookie cutter homes (large) but no yard. And basically but up against near desert. I would avoid Porter Ranch and Santa Clarita. Right now the area is ablaze. Planned neighborhoods, fancy tract homes, and small yards. But again, fire hazard areas. Also we have a bad drought, so you will be limited in watering. And if you do choose to live in a dry area, well, you will have to change your plantings to reflect more native plants, grasses, and cacti. San Bernardino County is up in the foothills. The base of the mountain. Fallbrook is nice, but gets hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Good for fruit that need winter chill. Again, if you want to grow more exotics, more tropicals, then you need to move to the coast. Mornings will have marine overcast. Which is nice. And will burn away to sunny, mild days. You will have more micro-climates too. Here in Long Beach, I grow mainly orchids. But also pineapple, plumeria and hawaiian tea bushes.

Because you first listed gardening and nurseries I suggest looking in the Oceanside, Carlsbad, Encinitas, Vista, San Marcos, Fallbrook and Escondido areas of San Diego County. Because of the wonderful growing climate these areas are ROBUST with many wholesale and retail nurseries. These areas also give you a wide climate range from the cooler coastal areas to the hot inland areas. Much of the area is still undeveloped and much of the housing is relatively new.

Here is just a small sampling of growers in the areas mentioned above:

Aloha Tropicals - Oceanside

The Flower Fields - Carlsbad

Bamboo Headquarters - Vista

Kartuz Greenhouses - Vista

Weidner's - Encinitas

Buena Creek Gardens - San Marcos

J.D. Anderson Nursery - Fallbrook

Here are a couple of botanical gardens in the area:

Quail Botanical Gardens - Encinitas

Alta Vista Botanical Gardens - Vista

Tom Piergrossi in Vista is selling his house and nursery.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tom Piergrossi's nursery for sale

Welcome! Take all of your NY garden books, put them in a big pile, and light a match. Use the bonfire to grill your Thxgiving turkey while eating the last of the home-grown tomatoes and drinking a glass or two of your home-squeezed citrus juice of choice. Don't forget to call all your NY friends on New Year's Day.

Here is another idea for a neighborhood if you value space: inland Malibu, borderline Agoura or Westlake. The lots there are very irregular. Depending on the microclimate you might get a light dusting of snow in an extreme year, or you might be socked in with coastal fog all year round. Old Agoura has horsey lots on a minimum half-acre but they are relatively close together. All of the OC cities that you mentioned will have a lot of CC&Rs that restrict what you can plant in your front yard, limit exterior house colors, etc., while unincorporated county such as the inland Malibu area will be much more libertarian.

You might also want to rent for 6 months to a year before committing to a neighborhood, as our housing prices have not yet hit bottom. Good luck!