There is no single best place in SoCal, and we would be cautious with anyone who hands you one. SoCal runs roughly from Ventura down to San Diego, so the useful move is to work backward from your life: - The commute you can actually live with, day after day. - The lifestyle you want when you are off the clock. - The people you would lean on with two young kids. Location deserves the most weight because it is the one decision you cannot undo. You can change a house; you cannot move the lot. On the private-school plan: do not tune out school-district quality just because your own kids will not use the schools. When you eventually sell, a big share of your buyer pool will be families who care a lot about the assigned schools, so district ratings feed straight into resale value. You can buy in a strong district and still send your kids wherever you like. What you want to avoid is buying in a weak one and discovering later that it caps your resale pool. A single-family primary residence is a fine plan if the location and the payment genuinely fit your life. Buying in the wrong place for the wrong reason is a far more expensive mistake to unwind than a slightly higher rate.