Is Corona the Center of the Universe? part III

In order to determine the car expense, I calculated the distance from the house to the "work" site. I then figured out the monthly expense for fuel. The problems with this was 3 fold:

1. It did not take into account the wear and tear on the vehicle.
2. It did not take into account the cost of toll roads.
3. By calculating only fuel the costs were VERY close. For example, the closest home was in Irvine and fuel costs per month was $14.66. The furthest home was in Corona and the fuel costs per month was $131.02 per month. Making the difference only $116.36.

Therefore, I decided to see what the difference would be if I calculated at the mileage reimbursement given by the Federal Government. Using the above example, the per month car expense for Irvine is $84.37, and the per month car expense for Corona is $861.96. The Corona expense also got bumped for the cost of using the toll roads daily.

The only city that comes close to Corona in monthly cost for housing and car is Santa Ana. However, to get that home in Santa Ana (which I am not saying is a bad area - but it ain't the best) you have to put out $22,000 more in downpayment. Which isn't so bad...because that nets you an internal rate of return of 10.9% on your monthly savings.

All of the other cities are not even close. The reality is simple, in Corona you will get a lot bigger bang for your buck than you will of any of the cities I looked at in Orange County except Santa Ana. The other factor that was not included in this study was HOA. The vast majority of all homes in Orange County have an HOA. In fact, a large portion of Irvine has HOA's in excess of $400 per month.

I am not going to go as far as to say that Corona is the center of the universe, but it is a very viable option for those living in the O.C.