Welcome! Glad you’re looking at Temecula/Murrieta. I’ve been here for 9 years (went to high school here, left for college and came back to work).
This area is actually excellent. There are a lot of people that bash the area online but many have never been or have driven briefly through. Temecula has a lot to offer (even for a young guy (24) like me). We’re close enough to anything that we HAVE to have that isn’t in town (high culture, the coast, prime restaurants). Most of my friends are pretty excited about the mall expansion – should be a great center to the city. Old Town is also growing up and becoming a pretty nice place to hang out on the weekends.
To answer your question – there are no REALLY bad places in Temecula, but there are a few less desirable areas that I’ve found.
1. Pujol St – This is probably the roughest area of the city and thankfully the hardest to get to. It is located behind old town and primary older apartments. Fairly run-down and low-income. Not a lot of random violence but I wouldn’t buy property there.
2. The corridor between Solana Way and Moronga on Margarita Rd. This area isn’t BAD, but the apartments along Margarita are older and lower-income. There has been a bit of isolated crime here and there but it doesn’t spill out. Temecula Elementary is located in this boundary and has a large ESL program. The neighbordhood across from some of the apartments is a bit older and looks somewhat run down. A lot of friends live in this area and I never feel unsafe parking overnight. Bordered by the expensive and nice Meadowview.
3. A small neighborhood behind Chaparral High (not sure of the street name but it is before Date along Margarita and you can tell by the upkeep in the neighborhood that there is a bit of trouble). No crime issues but a bit run down.
4. Older tract homes along La Serena way – some of the first tract homes built in Temecula, these are hard to find and look fine from La Serena. Inside the lots are small and the houses show their age. Feels escondido like. No problems with crime from what I can tell. Surrounded by nicer houses
5. Murrieta – I don’t know much about specific neighborhoods but there is a sketchy area near the intersection of Winchester Rd and Murrieta Hot Springs road (further down MHS rd on the left side). It looks to be a bit older community, maybe formed before Murrieta was a city. Not sure of crme but it just looks lower-income.
——
There are some neighborhoods that might experience problems in 10-15 yrs but it’s a toss up. There are a few neighborhoods along Murrieta Hot Springs and Date in Murrieta that might decline faster than the rest of the valley. French Valley, Winchester, Menifee – cheaper but I fear will become drags on the area soon. Stay away.
Your best bet is central Temecula, South Temecula. The newer neighborhoods should hold up well (Harveston, Morgan Hill…Wolf Creek is a maybe). The older established areas should be fine (Meadowview and Roripaugh are doing fine so far).
Overall you can’t go too wrong in the area. The city isn’t designed in a way that would facilitate the type of demographic shift seen in Oceanside/Escondido. The high density housing and job base for enough low-income workers to cause serious decay in the area is not there.
Hope this helps! I am not sure if we can post realtor information but I have a good family friend that has done real estate in the area for close to 30 years.
