Exposed: 13 Reasons Santa Barbara Might NOT Be Your Paradise! {2023 Guide} 

Excellent video!!! I would add some extra items: When selecting a house, avoid low-lying areas. I had a coworker whose home was flooded… twice… during one of our random rainy years. His home was on Milpas I think, close to an underpass. Also, avoid areas above Cathedral Oaks / Foothill Rd, aka 192. Above that road, if there’s a fire coming down the hill due to sundowner winds, you are more likely to either be evacuated during a wildfire incident, and/or more likely to lose your home!!! South of that road, especially if the road has widened to 4 lanes, you have a pretty decent firebreak. Although it is NOT unheard of to have a fire jump that road, or even jump the 101. The 1990 Painted Cave fire came down the mountain and eventually burned some home(s) on west Modoc. As far as overcast, it’s really the following: May Gray, June Gloom, July “Why?” if I’m remembering correctly, and of course, August Foggest, lol. Some of the areas that avoid flooding and yet also have good firebreaks seem to also be in microclimates where it’s really hot. So there’s that. Finally, a bunch of friends of mine have moved out of the area, only to want to come back after a few years of dealing with Los Angeles or the Bay Area traffic. So I recommend NOT selling your home in SB. Instead, rent it out. The income from renting will take care of your SB mortgage, and maybe part of your mortgage of where you moved to. If you want to move back, your house is still here for you. :)

1) Random DUI checkpoints 😂😫2) earthquake,fires,mudslides 3) drought severe 4) one freeway 5) skewed demographics - middle class workers can’t efficiently make it here 6) foggy weather in May and June 7) Gangs (and trafficking exists) 8) Homeless population 9) Most Jobs don’t pay enough for the high cost of living 10) poor nightlife 11) cost of housing ridiculous 12) Strictly unreasonable building codes. 13) feeling of isolation. Great video!!!!!!! ❤😊 And add there are almost no regular grocery stores, restaurants, or clothing stores.

Great points you are making. My two cents. I always watch my water use. Yesterday morning I had to do 4 loads of laundry. I promptly received an email from the Montecito Water District that my water usage was up. Felt like Big Brother. Another thing. If you have to call the Santa Barbara Sheriffs, good luck! They won’t show up and will tell you to file a report online. Not great when you are dealing with a car load of guys parked in front of your home using drugs and defecating on the side of the road.

Pretty sure the list would have been the same when I went to UCSB in the mid 80's.

I have lived here for 8 years, love it! Biggest issue should be your #1, cost of housing vs. the pay here, even as an executive. Still worth it, amazing place to live!

Odd to mention DUI stops as your first negative?How many are out after midnight other than drunks? Our reason not to move to SB was the traffic. Wildfires/earthquakes are random, infrequent events, but traffic is a constant issue/headache. Maybe had the freeway improvements been finished we might have dealt with the other traffic. We lived in the Bay Area for many years and wanted to get away from traffic. Almost bought in Carmel, but it also has traffic. We ended up almost inbetween near the beach...you can guess where....

DUI checkpoints are a revenue service for city / county of SB. It's pretty horrible when there's a fire nearby due to the constant rain of ash. Traffic is probably my biggest complaint as they have been "widening the 101" since 2008 and it has another 4-6 years left until completion (if they stay on budget). The gangs in SB aren't that bad, 99% of the time, if you leave them alone they will leave you alone. The homeless problem is horrible. Also, the droughts have been an off and on again issue for decades, hopefully the desal plant stays. There are lots of positives about SB, that outweigh the cons (weather, beach, mountains, small town feel, restaurants, entertainment, etc).

I drove through a section of Santa Barbara on the way home from palm springs to stop for dinner and I drove through an area that was very ghetto. I was glad to continue on my way to San Luis Obispo...

Thank you Joe for a great informative video and I especially love the editing❗️With all the negatives I would still love to live there if I could afford it. Thank you for all the hard work you do to make these videos. Blessings, Carlos ✝️🙏❤️😊🇺🇸

That was a fantastic video. Your list sounds like it also applies perfectly to Carmel (with the possible exception of #1 the DUI check point stuff, but that one sounds relatively insignificant to me). Probably for me the biggest drawback in Carmel would be natural disaster risk and resulting insurability challenges and stress. Also, up here the tourists can at times overwhelm the town. And the cost of everything seems higher than my previous home of Newport Beach.

We used live there in ‘80s It was wonderful ！！ Many open cafes ,clubs and lot’s of smiles on State Street. But now😢

EVERYTHING he said is on point. I hate it here and can't wait to leave and I will never look back.

Many of these problems are worldwide. Santa Barbara is still fabulous. You aren’t going to find a perfect place.

Excellent video! 👏👏👏👏

It always seems to be more expensive in places by the ocean. The closer to the water, the higher the price.

No worries😄

Spot on!

Great video, I’ve been here since 1992. I’ve seen it all!

This is true

I live in Santa Barbara CA

You know how to find a drunk driver? You see a car swerving on the road. You do not have to stop every car on the road. Police can watch for swerving cars. That is probable cause to pull over a driver.

Interesting...

☝️🎃.. Love that you didn't sugarcoat anything,, THANK YOU 🙏♥️

dont forget the thousands of people living in cars

Aren’t you glad you asked for comments?

Nice my man

I think that the homes are way over priced. I bet you don’t even have a condo under 1 million dollars and those old 1920’s mansions aren’t worth it. I saw that one needed a new roof. That will cost a small fortune. I think the wiring is not up to speed for all of the electric appliances that we have nowadays. I saw one needed all new carpeting or wood floors instead and that will cost a fortune. Some of the furniture looks as if it came from thrift stores. The Spanish ones are a nightmare with so many corridors and hallways. One or more of them need the driveways completely repaved and that will cost a fortune too. Another one had the slurry seal done in the driveway but that was lipstick on a pig because it needed new asphalt first of all. It was all cracked up. I thought some walls looked dingy and it will cost a fortune to repaint all of those walks. One was totally outdated with avocado walks and that is from the 1970’s. Just saying that they are so overpriced that it will be difficult for the new homeowner to make the improvements since they cost so much already. I don’t understand how condos can be a million or more. Santa Barbara doesn’t even have highly paid jobs there so the people gave to be retired or independently wealthy in order to buy and live there. The Malls are closing and the Foodland grocer store doesn’t look good enough for the multimillionaires they have for customers and Whole Foods is an over rated very expensive grocery store I think. Santa Barbara doesn’t have much to offer if you aren’t a surfer. Just thinking that people will be robbed if they move here. The sellers will be so happy as they waltz and dance out of here either way all of their millions of dollars. Even in Florida, realtors have shown that cheaper older homes priced in the millions are rip offs and the newer ones that cost $160,000 and are now in the millions are really overpriced and Florida went under water with all of the rain and did so last year too so those homes are full of mold and mildew too. The rich want to get richer but look mighty greedy to me and the people are going tiny do they may get stuck with them after all. The real estate taxes in Florida are outrageous and I imagine they are in California as well on those expensive homes. With all of that real estate tax money, the roads you were driving on and in other videos too do not look like millionaire acre roads to me. Just thinking. What do you and your subscribers think I am wondering.

I lived there For 2 years, would not move there again.

SB years ago was a paradise!...until it got discovered. Now there's so much more traffic, tourists, higher density, taller buildings, downtown vacancies, homeless, etc... less diversity and affordability. VERY sad!!

No longer a beautiful place, but there still are beautiful places. 25 years ago, downtown State Street was a premier fine dining destination. Today, most fine dining has moved out in favor of short order bar food popular with the student population. The downtown is also over run with homeless and addicts, laying on the sidewalks, leaving trash and human waste in close proximity to dining locations. The housing market is wholly out of sight. Homes are priced in the $1.5 - $3 Million range which requires two professional incomes. Doctor married to a lawyer, etc. Or you get lucky with stock options.

The ratio of men to women if you are single and straight.

101 Road constructions for 20 years 😂

Don't come we live in dangerus area,go somewhere else for your safe

You just convinced me not to move to Santa Barbara!

A lot of corruption on all levels! 🔴⚪⚫

It’s not. This place fuggin sucks and I can’t wait until i move

I’ve worked random DUI checkpoints, and they’re effective. Drive drunk, go to jail. Save lives.

So true this town: Santa Babylon! 🟥🔲⚫