Obvious bargains are rare in a supply-starved market like Orange County; a neighborhood on the upswing is the more findable win. With an upswing area you are buying before the neighborhood fully re-rates, which is a more durable edge than hunting for a below-market deal that mostly does not exist there. Westside Costa Mesa is a good example of the pattern. A decade or so ago it was the less-desirable side compared to the already-strong Eastside. Since then it has re-gentrified: new construction came in, younger families moved in, and values climbed over time. Someone who bought early rode that improvement. It is still likely to keep getting better, and it no longer offers easy deals, which is how these stories always end. The upside gets priced in. The repeatable move is to look for the tells of an area turning: - new construction and renovation activity - a shift in who is moving in - new retail and amenities arriving - proximity to an already-strong neighborhood that buyers will spill over from A local agent who actually works these submarkets will know which pockets are mid-transition, which have already run, and how each is comping, far better than any national best-neighborhoods list.