Where is Rancho Santa Margarita located?
Rancho Santa Margarita, oh yes! It’s nestled in the lovely South Orange County, California, right at the foothills of the magnificent Santa Ana Mountains. Picture this: a short drive away from fabulous destinations like Los Angeles, San Diego, Temecula, stunning beaches, and majestic mountains. It’s the perfect spot for all you beautiful souls who would love to have so many great adventures and live in this gorgeous suburban haven!✨🌴💖 The city has a population of nearly 48,000 people and covers 18 square miles. I have provided a link here for your convenience if you’d like to explore the wide range of Rancho Santa Margarita available properties, including homes, townhomes, and condos for sale. Please feel free to browse at your leisure.
Before I get into why Rancho Santa Margarita is an absolutely charming city and an amazing place to call home, I just wanted to give you some insider info. We’re actually located in the beautiful southern part of Orange County, CA, also known as South OC. Take a look at the map, and you’ll see our little slice of paradise highlighted by arrow. It’s truly a hidden gem! 🌟
Rancho Santa Margarita was incorporated on December 1, 2000 and is one of the youngest cities in Orange County. It is such a friendly beautiful city, where you can see the snow on the mountaintops in winter and the views of rolling green hills in spring are gorgeous! Orange County is located between San Diego and LA.
Full of wonderful amazing neighborhoods so where ever you choose to live here in Rancho Santa Margarita, you can’t go wrong.
Rancho Santa Margarita is 13 square miles and is bordered by the well-known Coto de Caza and Las Flores on the south. Trabuco Canyon which includes Dove Canyon on the north. Also bordered by the city of Mission Viejo on the west. And last but not least, we have the amazing Cleveland National Forest! With its fantastic play spaces and stunning scenery, it’s the perfect place to end your journey on the east side. You won’t want to miss it! 🌳🌲✨
Top 5 Reasons for Living in Rancho Santa Margarita, RSM
# 1 Rancho Santa Margarita Rated #1 Top 10 Safest Cities in California With Best Quality of Life 2023
Today, we’ve got a mighty good reason for you to choose living in the wonderful Rancho Santa Margarita, also known as RSM. Brace yourselves, because RSM proudly holds the coveted #1 spot for the safest city in all of California! Can you believe it? Here is the link if you would like to check it out, Top 10 Safest Cities in California. As the report noted, “While these cities may not be the biggest or most popular, they have been chosen based on their quality of life”. Quality of life, low crime, come and visit, you’ll see why!
Rancho Santa Margarita City’s motto: “A Small City With the Soul of a Small Village” The people are helpful and friendly (well, most of them, ha ha) and You know what? They really do have an amazing sense of community and a soulful, loving spirit for this city and living here in Rancho Santa Margarita! It may be small city but there are plenty of amazing neighborhoods choices, making it such a great place to call home.
Sidenote; If house hunting
FYI, If you are house hunting here in Rancho Santa Margarita, it can get a little confusing because some areas were established before Rancho Santa Margarita was an incorporated community. For that reason, some areas have a Trabuco Canyon zip code of 92679 although these areas also do fall within the City RSM boundary. These areas include Dove Canyon, Rancho Cielo, Walden and Trabuco Highlands, Trabuco Highlands, Robinson Ranch, Walden, and Rancho Cielo.
#2 Rancho Santa Margarita Living is Both, Beautiful and Maintained Aesthetically
Rancho Santa Margarita is both beautiful and well-maintained, due to the location, people, city design, and the wonderful HOA amenities. You will notice the backdrop of the stunningly beautiful green hills of Cleveland National Forest. For this reason, you’ll find it is so easy on the eyes.
The city and the HOA’s maintenance are focused and take pride in keeping it a desired place for everyone. In addition, the people of Rancho Santa Margarita also have a great sense of community and taking care. Everyone looks out for each other, community pages to keep people updated, and there are many volunteer opportunities to get involved. This wonderful city is kept clean which certainly adds to the aesthetics. Those are just some of the things that have made this city the great success story it is today.
#3 There is a Wide Range of Activities to Choose From, Catering to a Diverse Audience’s Interests and Preferences.
The parks, trails, lake, and scenery only add to the quality of the living experience here but are also pleasing to the eyes. The City of Rancho Santa Margarita also holds regular fun events like festivals and concerts in the summer and holidays. The Rancho Santa Margarita HOAs have amazing amenities, which are a part of The SALMARC HOA privileges to enjoy. Including amenities are Pools, a Beach Club House with Lagoon, Volleyball, Basket Ball, Parks, Amphitheaters, Club Houses, Lake, Picket Ball Parks, Little Libraries, Picnic Shelters, Tennis Courts, Terraces, and Trails. There are plenty of shopping centers and restaurants. Here is a link to more details of the Amenities, activities, and calendar of the SALMARC HOAs. Sports are a big part of the area including sport clubs, for the children and/or adults.
And you get a golf course! And you get a golf course! Everyone gets a golf course! 🏌️♀️🏌️♂️🌳✨, LOL, there is access to 3 golf courses right here in Rancho Santa Margarita, one in Dove Canyon, one in Coto de Caza, and one in Tijeras Creek. Or you can go play by the beach if you want a change of scenery.
You may not have ever heard of Rancho Santa Margarita, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot to love here. From the shopping and restaurants to the outdoor activities, this charming city in Orange County, California has something for everyone.
Unique Beach Club for Added Fun
The beach club is a great place if you have children. There are so many great amenities to check out, but I wanted to highlight this beach club and lagoon area because as you will see, it’s fun and has a creative unique design. It’s located right next to the Rancho Santa Margarita Lake. It has a sand-bottom swimming lagoon, two sand volleyball courts, 17 barbecue grills, two cabana lounges, picnic areas, and outdoor showers. The Beach Club is open for use during the summer season – from May 13 through September 17, 2023. Looks like a beach but has no waves, which makes it a great place to take young children. Lots of lounge chairs for a relaxing day if you don’t have time to make it to the beach. Some hours have a lifeguard present, you want to check if you have young ones.
#4 Location Location Location = Good Living + Good Investment
Beach Life in Abundance
Living in Rancho Santa Margarita the perks of having beach cities nearby, is a mighty fine bonus. Who doesn’t love the beach? The beach is always considered a desirable location and Rancho Santa Margarita is not too far to enjoy them. Whether you’re wanting to go for a walk, oceanside restaurants, or having a beach day, it’s minutes away. If you could fly the distance is about 12 miles (LOL) however, I’ll guess you are driving, it is about 17 miles.
This beach front site pic with the fantastic Bloody Marys is at a restaurant in Laguna Beach called The Cliff. The views are gorgeous and quite zentastic. So many great choices of restaurants and activities to choose from. Different beach areas, I love the vibe in Laguna, it’s a happy, relaxing, artsy vibe and the sawdust festival and shops echo that sentiment. The Sawdust Art Festival is just one of the places and fun things to do in Laguna beach. The Sawdust Art Festival is where all the artist gather all together in once place, in a fun festive celebratory way to sell their works of art. You can even take all different kinds of art classes. If you are visiting any of our great choices of beaches is a must on the list of scenic, enjoyable, relaxing, fun-filled adventures. Of course there is Newport Beach, Dana Point, San Clemente, and San Juan Capistrano beaches as well.
Local Mountain Nearby are Great For Quick Getaway
How lucky are we, because if you enjoy the mountains, it gets even better, they are also easy to access. Our local mountains are close, to visit Lake Arrowhead is approx 1 1/2 hours away, and Big Bear is approx 2 hours away.
The photo here was taken at The Village in Lake Arrowhead, such a charming little mountain town and much more beautiful in person. It’s always enjoyable to visit our mountains. Fresh pine air, always smiles on people’s faces, it is obvious people are happy and enjoying themselves when they are in Lake Arrowhead. If you go I highly recommend the Waffle Works for breakfast or lunch, outside by the lake is a must-try and they have outdoor dining.
We have Great Getaways Destinations
To boot, if you drive about 20 minutes on the 5 freeway OC cities end. If you drive onward, you have about 20 minutes of open area where you are in for a treat of coastal views from the freeway. Then, you are at the beginning county line of San Diego County. San Diego is a favorite, I’ve lived in San Diego for more than 10 years, I took a System analyst, computer programming job there back in the 80s and I can tell I love it! San Diego has so much to do, you’ll be guaranteed to have a lot of joy and fun there.
How about LA, you can take the freeway or drive along the coastline to LA. To give you perspective, if you take the freeway you will hit LA County in about 40 minutes. There are endless adventures to be had there. I’m not that fond of traffic and parts of LA are not my cup of tea, but there are many places I love there as well. I save my LA trips for those unique planned experiences.
If you like Wineries, well then you are in luck, check out all these great wineries in Temecula. Yes in about an hour’s drive another wonderful adventure awaits you in Temecula. The photo you see here is driving out in the vineyards where there is great wine, great food, great views all in making memories of great for making great adventures. You can take a scenic route driving through Ortega Hwy to get to Temecula. Then, connect to the freeway leading you to Temecula, another charming destination with miles of vineyards. Temecula also has an area old-town loaded which oozes charm, many antique stores, and so much more in an area called Old-Town, an old-western world style.
There is also Disneyland here in Orange County. There is too much goodness and places to list. If you went out every day, you would never run out of great places to go to, and endless adventures to have, your choices will add to your quality of life.
Rancho Santa Margarita Homes maintain great Value because of the Location and Quality of Life
When they say location, location, location… they usually mean purchasing a home is great for both quality of life, and good investment opportunity. I feel whenever possible, both of those are important. Of course, you want to enjoy where you are living, but it is also for most people, their biggest investment. If you make smart choices to grow your assets, it is always a plus. When you’re deciding to purchase a home, you always want to keep investment potential in mind as well.
#5 Great Schools Also Add to Investment
Lucky for you Rancho Santa Margarita has great schools. Whether you have children or not, this is considered a big bonus. Why? Schools that have good rankings, usually add value and/or maintain value in your home purchase investment. It’s more valuable than you think if it ever becomes time to resale, you’ll be grateful for that!
If you have children, even better, you get to take advantage of their use as well. The Rancho Santa Margarita schools here in the Capistrano Unified School District are top-notch. It’s important to know that not all home areas are assigned to the same school. For example in Dove Canyon, not all residents go to the same schools. If you have a specific school in mind, you need to verify the address you are considering for its boundaries. If you want to know about the schools, Check out The Great Schools website for in-depth statistics. ⬇️ If you have any specific school questions, feel free to ask. My sister who is the other half or OC Property Sisters has her teaching credential and has been a substitute teacher at almost every school here.
I’m also thrilled to announce that Tesoro High School here in Rancho Santa Margarita, has received a perfect 10 rating! How would you like an Academy Award-winning teacher, teaching your children’s choir class? The sports teams are highly competitive and make it to the playoffs often. Tesoro not only excels academically but those are some great perks to boot.
Additionally, If you are interested, there is also great Private Catholic Schools, both high school and K- 8th and high school in right here in Rancho Santa Margarita.
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Thinking about Selling or Buying in Orange County, San Diego, or Temecula Area… We are just a phone call, text or email away with any questions you may have or in helping with the choices that are best for YOU!!! Wishing you all the best in moving forward down this wonderful crazy wild adventure of life.
Quote for the Day…
The way you look at things is the most powerful force in shaping your life.
~ John O’Donohue
Thank You,
Your Local Realtor
OC Property Sisters, Dianne & Annette
Orange County Real Estate Expert.
OC Property Sisters
website; OCpropertySisters.com
Email: ocpropertysisters@gmail.com
Phone, text, email, or schedule a meeting.
Dianne Hicks; 949-441-9092
Annette Hurd; 949-226-2252
Fathom Realty
BRE License # 01858415
Check Other blogs or Home Searching Info in Orange County
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If you want to know about Rancho Santa Margarita area(click here) Rancho Santa Margarita Lake.
Would to get an idea about living in the prestigious Dove Canyon Neighborhood Community.
When buying your home, this is really worth your time to read.(click here) How to Lower Your Monthly Mortgage Payment and Save Thousands
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Link to Great Schools site (click here) https://www.greatschools.org/
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