Reviews & Comments
San Bernardino, CA
No No No -
6/25/2018While I do believe the average housing price is slightly off (it is listed at $229,000, but it's actually more like $250,000), San Bernardino is still one of the most affordable towns on this end of the Inland Empire compared to other nearby towns like Rialto, Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, etc. For this reason, it can be viewed as an attractive option for families or those who want to live in the area but can't afford the other local towns. However, San Bernardino is not exactly a city you want to live in if you could afford to live anywhere else. Even if you can afford to live in one of the more nicer areas of town, it can still get quite dangerous. I have some friends that live in one of the new luxury housing communities and they are always complaining about their homes getting broken into or people getting assaulted in their neighborhood, even though they live in a "good" area. It has a very strong gang presence and one of the highest violent crime rates in the IE.
Fontana, CA
re: The quality of life Fontana offers is excelle -
5/29/2018Oh, and I forgot to mention two more things. Firstly, I think BestPlaces is a bit off on the average home price in Fontana. You can really only find a small handful of homes in Fontana for the listed $335,000 price tag and most of the homes you will find at that price are often fixer-uppers in need of a lot of repairs or located in really bad neighborhoods. Most Fontana homes are $400,000 and over. Don't expect a whole lot of decent options for less. Secondly, the school district here is not the best. Take it from me. This doesn't exactly make me look good, but in the name of transparency... I graduated from a high school in Fontana with a 1.9 GPA. Here's the real kicker: Despite my 1.9 GPA, I still managed to graduate in the top 25% of my class. Think about that for a minute because I'm not joking. If I made the top 25% of my class with a 1.9 GPA, then 75% of the school graduated with a 1.8 GPA and under. That is insane! And this particular high school in Fontana was actually ranked #1 as the worst high school in California back in 2010 due to the students' lowest test score averages of every other high school in California. It was a very big deal. Other high schools in Fontana are still a lot better than the one I attended, but from my understanding, they're still not exactly great schools. If you must move here with children, I recommend trying to enroll them in the Rancho Cucamonga School District if you can. It's the next town over and the schools there are all excellent. You can't go wrong with a Rancho Cucamonga school.
Devils Lake, ND
Great Small Town -
4/14/2018I actually really liked the town of Devils Lake. The winters can be pretty brutal, but I never minded them too much since I've always loved cold weather. The people of Devils Lake are a bit on the conservative side as most small-town folk normally are so as a member of a minority group, I was a little apprehensive about moving there but I quickly realized I had nothing to worry about. Despite their conservative nature, people in Devils Lake are very warm and accepting of others. I never had any problems. We've got a lot of genuinely nice people there and even though I moved out years ago I still keep in close touch with a lot of the friends I made there. I took off one star because of how isolated the town was. An hour and a half drive just to get to stores like Costco or Target if I couldn't find what I was looking for in Devils Lake. I definitely didn't like that too much. Grocery prices were pretty insane there too but other than those two things, it was a great small town with very good people that make you feel like family and that look out for one another.
Poughkeepsie, NY
Mixed Feelings -
4/14/2018I have mixed feelings about Poughkeepsie because there are equally as many things I love about that town as there are things I hate about it so I'm just going to write a pros and cons list based on what I love and hate.
Things I love:
1. The attractive and woodsy scenery.
2. Poughkeepsie is home to some of the best schools in the country (Dutchess Community College is one of the best community colleges in the country and Vassar College is one of the best private universities in the world).
3. Close to New York City (which is probably the biggest plus for me).
4. The autumn season is gorgeous here.
5. It is very affordable compared to other places close to the New York metro area like Long Island, Westchester, and North New Jersey (although that is starting to change).
Things I hate:
1. It's kind of a lackluster place to live. There's really not that much to do here.
2. While the setting is attractive, most Poughkeepsie neighborhoods are pretty sketchy and run-down.
3. It's very tricky to get around if you don't drive. You really need a car to live here.
4. Very high violent crime rate. It's not exactly the safest place to live for women and raising a family there is not recommendable.
5. Even though Poughkeepsie is very diverse, too many people there are still very intolerant of other minority groups.
Fontana, CA
The quality of life Fontana offers is excellent -
6/13/2016I was born and raised here and I used to love it, but now I am moving out of it. The truth is that the climate is becoming way too hot. Sure, Fontana has always been scorching hot during the summer. That is nothing new, but over the last few years it has been known to reach the early to mid-80s as early as February and it doesn't start to cool down from the 90s until the end of October. That's nine months of hot weather. That's how long you have to use your AC in Fontana and if you don't have an AC, then you're pretty much miserable for the greater portion of the year. Only three months of cool, comfortable weather doesn't really compensate for that. If you love the heat or if you've got money to run your AC for the greater portion of the year, then Fontana is your dream town since everything you could ever want is here without the high costs of living in L.A. or Orange County and if it's not here, Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas are not that far. But if you don't like the heat, I suggest you disqualify Fontana from list of potential towns. Most California towns are going to have scorching summers, but most won't be baking for nine months out of the year like Fontana has been the last few years. Also, I think BestPlaces is a bit off on the average home price in Fontana. You can really only find a small handful of homes in Fontana for the listed $335,000 price tag and most of the homes you will find at that price are often fixer-uppers in need of a lot of repairs or located in really bad neighborhoods. Most Fontana homes are $400,000 and over. Don't expect a whole lot of decent options for less. Secondly, the school district here is not the best. Take it from me. This doesn't exactly make me look good, but in the name of transparency... I graduated from a high school in Fontana with a 1.9 GPA. Here's the real kicker: Despite my 1.9 GPA, I still managed to graduate in the top 25% of my class. Think about that for a minute because I'm not joking. If I made the top 25% of my class with a 1.9 GPA, then 75% of the school graduated with a 1.8 GPA and under. That is insane! And this particular high school in Fontana was actually ranked #1 as the worst high school in California back in 2010 due to the students' lowest test score averages of every other high school in California. It was a very big deal. Other high schools in Fontana are still a lot better than the one I attended, but from my understanding, they're still not exactly great schools. If you must move here with children, I recommend trying to enroll them in the Rancho Cucamonga School District if you can. It's the next town over and the schools there are all excellent. You can't go wrong with a Rancho Cucamonga school.