If you’re looking for a quieter place to call home but still want the availability of all that Southern California offers, Riverside County may be your answer. Riverside offers tranquil desert-scapes and breathtaking views from mountainous canyons, a lower cost of living, and a centralized location to multiple major metropolitan areas.
California is a state that gains attention for its roots in the Entertainment industry and its sprawling beaches. Everyone knows where Hollywood, San Francisco, and LA are. Really though, California is home to a host of other locations that all offer unique scenes with different cultures, including Riverside County.
Riverside is in Southern California in the Inland Empire Mediterranean area, about an hour from Los Angeles. It’s between there and the border of Arizona. You won’t find any ocean shores in Riverside County, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less beautiful.
Offering a different type of scenery, Riverside County is home to the Mojave Desert and the Colorado Desert. This desert tapestry isn’t dead and dry, though. Riverside County is known for citrus farming and has a host of beautiful state parks, including:
What It's Like to Live in Riverside County
Riverside County is the fourth most populated area in California. It’s home to nearly 2.5 million people and gaining the attraction of newcomers each year. In fact, millennials have been flocking to this area by the thousands since 2010.
It’s not just a younger generation coming here, though. Riverside County is the fastest growing county in California and the 15th fastest growing area in the entire United States. There must be some significant draw to the area for this trend to keep pace.
It turns out Riverside County offers proximity and affordability. It’s centrally located near several major cities, including Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa Monica. It’s also incomparably more affordable than these areas making it ideal for commuting. Californians may come for the lowered cost of living, but they stay for the love of desert life.
Beyond primary education, Riverside County offers multiple options for continued education. This is excellent news, as California continually attracts major companies looking for fresh talent. If college is your goal while residing in this area, you can find the following:
Not mentioning Mission Inn while highlighting all this area has to offer would be a deeply missed point. Mission Inn Hotel & Spa is a historical landmark located within the heart of the city of Riverside. Constructed in 1876, it’s part of the Historic Hotels in America network. It offers four different fine-dining restaurants and a day spa experience.
In fact, Riverside County takes a lot of pride in all of its historical roots. The Main Street Mall is known for its beautiful old constructions and unique boutique-style shopping adventures. Within this location, you’ll also find a host of local cuisines to sample.
While both the Mission Inn and the Main Street Mall are located in close proximity and offer beauty and entertainment, Riverside County is also known for other delicious treats. You’ll find a range of eats from food trucks to healthy bistros.
It’s also home to five large shopping centers, including:
Traffic can become chaotic in Riverside County, where a large number of people commute. Common pathways into the city are I-10, I-15, and the Escondido and Riverside Freeways, all of which see daily heavy congestion and increased driver commute times.
The notable traffic issue has gained attention and recognition from area planners. Currently, underway is a $4 billion improvement project to upgrade infrastructure and ease commuter issues. The project will target 17 highways and include new rail projects too.
If you’re planning on buying a home in Riverside County and worry about traffic, you can expect significant changes coming. The County will add in truck lanes, express lanes, alternate routes and expand on the current Metrolink commuter rail systems.
While commuters face traffic frustrations, traveling locally isn’t such a task. The metropolitan has seven public transit agencies that run all-day schedules both locally and throughout the state.
These public transportation agencies are managed by the Riverside Transit Agency and include:
Riverside County is home to nostalgic cities like Riverside, Temecula, and Moreno Valley. Other cities like Palm Springs, Indian Wells, and Rancho Mirage are popular resort destinations, attracting thousands of tourists and offering an abundance of jobs in the hospitality industry.
Across the county, there are an average of 12k homes for sale in 82 different cities – each offering a slice of the California dream with a slightly more affordable price tag than other areas. Still, affordability is contextual. What this means is that in Riverside County, the median home price is $593K and the median sale price is $550K.
According to current real estate sales trends, homes in Riverside County sell in an average of 74 days, making the area moderately competitive. For residents looking for the perfect place to call home, there are many advantages to building or buying a new construction home in Riverside County.
If you’re considering building a home, Riverside County can be a great place to find a residential lot that offers quiet comfort with urban accessibility that’s close to shopping, dining, entertainment, and great schools.
Building a home allows the buyer to:
If you’re looking for great quality at an affordable price, Empire Built is well-known for providing an efficient design and build process that helps homeowners cut costs while enjoying the ability to customize their homes. Empire Built offers a standard floor plan with the ability to customize features inside and out. Choose Empire Built for Tuscan and Spanish-American style homes.
For more flexibility in the design process and customization of your home, Legacy Homes offers a fourth-generation family-owned business experience that feels like doing business on ‘Main Street America.’
For a star-studded homebuilding experience, choose to work with Bohler Builders Group – a younger firm well-known for its reality TV renovation projects. Bohler Builders offers the most flexibility with a wide variety of homestyles and extensive experience in design and renovation.
When choosing a builder for a custom home, consider experience, product offering, and reputation carefully. While there are many builders that can get the job done, the expectation of service levels and the overall experience can vary from one company to another.
There are two ways to enjoy a brand new home. The first is to build a new construction home to spec, which requires flexible budgeting and months of construction time. The second option is to buy a new construction home built by a local builder and offered for sale.
In many cases, the latter offers a more predictable, move-in-ready alternative. Here are some of the most popular neighborhoods for new construction homes in Riverside County, California.
Monte Vina is a gated community filled with single-family homes located in the Coachella Valley. Typical homes in this new construction neighborhood feature five bedrooms and three bathrooms, outfitted with energy-efficient LED lighting solutions and custom cabinetry.
Indio is currently the fastest growing city in Riverside County and is colloquially referred to as the “City of Festivals” because it is home to several well-established events that are regionally famous on the arts, food, and music scenes.
If you’re looking for a new construction home in an established neighborhood, Canyon Crest is one of the unique developments that offers a mix of multigenerational housing dating back to 1959 all the way through new construction today.
This neighborhood, located in the largest city in Riverside County, overlooks the Box Spring Canyon and provides easy access to the Sycamore Canyon Park. One of the most attractive selling points for new construction homes in Canyon Crest is that many do not come attached to a homeowners association.
Residents looking for a perfectly curated neighborhood filled with paved walking trails, park-like landscaping, fitness facilities and swimming pools with no shortage of recreation will find everything they need here.
New construction homes in Arborly East at Sommers Bend offer a choice of four popular floor plans. From there, homeowners have nearly limitless options to customize windows, doors, exteriors, flooring, wall color, cabinets, and much more.
The Enclave at Capistrano is a gated community with majestic views of the Santa Rosa Mountains. This La Quinta neighborhood is located in the Coachella Valley with easy access to shopping, dining, and Highway 111 that makes commuting to and from work a breeze.
In this neighborhood, you will find all the amenities of upscale living. Adjacent to the 115 homes that make up the neighborhood is an exclusive shopping and dining experience with year-round patio dining options and boutique retailers. Typical new construction homes in this neighborhood are single-level between 1,800 and 2,500 square feet.
For a new construction in an upscale luxury living neighborhood, Alessandro Heights provides an exclusive opportunity. While home values typically fall between $550K and $850K in Riverside County, this neighborhood skews higher with a median home value of $1.2M.
This prestigious Riverside County neighborhood is predominantly owner-occupied with very few – if any – opportunities to rent. Most homes are large, featuring four to five bedrooms. This compliments the high-end look and feel of the neighborhood. Alessandro Heights is also home to many affluent families comprising the top 15% of earners, according to Neighborhood Scout.
While there aren’t many small towns in California, you’ll get a smaller feel from communities like Coachella where the population barely reaches 40k residents. Within this quieter community, you’ll find neighborhoods like Mariposa Pointe which offer a delightful, just-like-home feel with plenty of opportunities to buy a new construction home.
The homes in Mariposa Pointe are single-family dwellings with popular floor plans like main-floor master suites, expansive great rooms, and gourmet kitchens outfitted with high-end stainless steel appliances.
The closest option for a rural living experience in Riverside County comes from up-and-coming housing developments in unincorporated areas like Winchester, California. As of the 2020 Census, Winchester had a population of just 2,534 residents. Compared to prominent cities in Riverside County, like Temecula or Riverside that average closer to 100k residents, Winchester has a small-town feel.
This bedroom community offers a quieter pace from the hustle-and-bustle of city life. Pleasant Valley Ranch is designed to cater to the modern lifestyle, accommodating families of all sizes with one or two story homes, spacious kitchens, and flexible space for additional bedrooms or bathrooms.
When you choose a new construction in Pleasant Valley Ranch, the choice is yours. Enjoy all the amenities of a great, up-and-coming neighborhood with flexible floor plans designed to meet the needs of multigenerational families.
Riverside County, California is a bright light in a dense landscape of high-priced Southern California Real Estate. Nestled just between Los Angeles and San Diego, Riverside County offers the best of both worlds – small town charm and urban accessibility.
However, California is still a sought-after state. The year-round sunny weather and moderate climate of the Pacific coastal state paired with plentiful business opportunities draw locals and transplants alike. Luckily, there is no shortage of opportunities to buy a new construction home in Riverside County, California.
If you’re considering a move, first choose which community is the right fit. Then, find the perfect new construction neighborhood to fit your budget and lifestyle. Riverside County offers a little bit of everything from comparative budget-friendly abodes to high-end California luxury.
Get approved for a mortgage today!
