looking for moving to san bernardino, palmdate, or lancaster (Los Angeles: middle-class, section 8)

[cat5ive]

Hi,

I work and leave (renting) in/around Glendale (about 10 min north of downtown LA). I'm thinking about buying a house in San bernardino, Palmdale, or Lancaster, since I cann't afford nice big house in good area in mid LA. I 'm not familiar with those 3 areas (ie school, crime rate, gangs).
1. How's San Bernardino compare with Palmdale and Lancaster area?
2. How's the commute time? If I want to avoid the traffic (in the morning), what time should I hit the freeway (work start at 8 am)?
3. Does it sound too crazy to move out to those area and have to commute back to Glendale to work?

Thank in advance for any feedbacks.

[fastfilm]

Here's the link for Metrolink train lines. http://www.metrolinktrains.com/ Yes, they go right to the areas you want to inhabit, and hopefully you could work out a car-pooling situation to get you from the metro station to work.

Seriously, you will indeed drive yourself crazy if you think those distances are commutable on a daily basis. Everyone I know who's attempted it has had serious, life-changing for the worse consequences, such as marriages breaking up, etc. You increase your probability of car wrecks by putting yourself in a 4 hour commutes each and every day, and the aggravating factors of slow but bad driving around you will eventually put you in a terrible frame of mind, which could affect all your quality of life and work itself.

If you want try to drive the 4 hours a day, traffic starts snarling up at around 6:30 a.m. Any accidents will affect this further. My husband prefers to get to work 30 minutes before it starts, so that he can miss a timed increase in traffic, and have a contemplative coffee break there instead of sitting in traffic aggravated. You drive home will be a nightmare every day, and you really can't plan any activity after work that requires punctuality as a consequence.

You're correct that the areas you want to buy into will afford you a bigger house. If you want to consider a smaller house, I would suggest you look into North Hollywood. There are housing pockets still there that are "old Valley," meaning the original concept of bedroom community with nice little 2 and 3 bedroom houses, many with small swimming pools. Have your realtor steer you away from the specific gang areas (North Hollywood spreads in a lot of different, socio-economic areas.) That's a really easy drving commute to Glendale.

Everyone I know who worked in L.A. and bought a house out in your targeted areas eventually LEAPED at any chance to change their job to work closer to their houses, even if it meant a drop in income. That should tell you something.

[ralph]

A lot depends on how much you make.

[TriciaK57]

It all depends on your income, for sure. My husband commuted to Long Beach (Boeing) for years in the 90s and it was an ordeal. The saving graces were that he worked Swing Shift most of the time and the salary was worth it. He's now changed careers and drives 15 minutes to work each day! From the experience of others I know, I would suggest you try for Palmdale rather than San Bernardino. The lesser of two evils, I guess.

[ShadowHills]

Dont move to any of those areas and commute. Try the San Fernando Valley if you want to buy a home or Condo. You will spend more money in gas/car repair and time on the road. You can only live in those areas is you work there. Also Palmdale is south central relocated. Lancaster is just a bit less worse.

Areas to check in San Fernando valley for homes= Lake view terrace, sylmar, sun valley. I grew up in Glendale and its not what is use to be even though its still Glendale!

[brian_2]

"looking for moving to san bernardino, palmdale, or lancaster"

Invest in a quality respirator for outdoor use, and a quality $$$$ whole house air purifier. Not a bad idea to line up a good pulmonologist too.

[AV Native]

Thanks for your questions. You've already received several responses, and some good advice. Here's my considered take as an Antelope Valley native, born and raised, and still living here after all these years.

Understand why you might wish to buy a house. LA metro (what we Antelope Valleyites call "down below") is very expensive compared to the Antelope Valley. You can buy a house here for the price of a rented apartment down below, when you consider monthly mortgage payments vs. monthly rent. Houses down below currently cost about double what a house here in the Antelope Valley would. . . and the houses here are newer and larger, generally speaking (there are exceptions, of course).

The City of San Bernardino, specifically, has a notorious gang and crime problem. Shootings are typical there. Avoid, avoid, avoid, SB (city of)! The area surrounding it in the larger Inland Empire region can be nicer, and much nicer than SB. Check out Alta Loma or Upland to see what I mean. Metrolink is available to serve residents of these cities.

The Antelope Valley is much more than just Palmdale or just Lancaster. You want to get away from crime, right? Then get away from the (transplanted from LA metro) city life which can be found in abundance in Palmdale or Lancaster!!! Look around the Antelope Valley - which is one fourth of the land mass of LA County, believe it or not - and you will find all kinds of smaller, friendlier, safer, unincorporated communities and place names. Trade Palmdale for Littlerock, for instance. Lancaster for Antelope Acres. You get the idea. Don't forget there's lots more places than just these examples to check out. Check it out!

Keep in mind that due to the presence of (dumped) parolees from the LA County Jails and the California State Prison, Los Angeles County (otherwise known as "Lancaster State Prison"), Lancaster has more of a crime problem than Palmdale. Palmdale is average for crime in general, and Lancaster is a tick above that. . . with a bad trend of late. Take Palmdale over Lancaster between the two of them. Also keep in mind there are safe neighborhoods in both these cities. . . look around, check it out, and research.

As for schools, the transplant areas from greater LA (Palmdale School District, Lancaster School District) are what you would expect: average. Years ago before the LA influx they were good to excellent (as tax - supported government schools go). There are several private schools in the greater Antelope Valley that are excellent (Desert Christian Schools, a preK-12 multisite system of schools, comes to mind). As far as government schools go, Westside School District (western Palmdale and Quartz Hill and western unincorporated areas near Lancaster) is very good to excellent and is recommended.

As for commuting, we in the Antelope Valley have been served by Metrolink since the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Palmdale recently opened its station, after having a temporary one after the Northridge quake. If you have the opportunity for flexible work hours, the Antelope Valley may work well for you. If you are stuck with an 8 to 5, M - F schedule, you may well suffer from "commuter fatigue" over time and wish for a job closer to you. Keep in mind job creation is happening more and more in the Antelope Valley and a significant number of folks never leave the Valley during the day. Depending on your skill level and expertise, you may or may not have a pay reduction for living where you work. . . in the Antelope Valley. Can you telecommute? There is a telecommuting center in Lancaster for those who do.

Fastfilm has good advice as well. I would also point out I have a friend who commuted from Palmdale to Disney in Burbank for years and did just fine, though commuting is a discipline and it helps to have friends down below in bad weather, etc.. . . Friend is now married and living down below.

Hope this proves useful to you in your decision making. All the best!

s/AV Native

[DeserTBoB]

Originally Posted by cat5ive

Hi,

I work and leave (renting) in/around Glendale (about 10 min north of downtown LA). I'm thinking about buying a house in San bernardino, Palmdale, or Lancaster, since I cann't afford nice big house in good area in mid LA. I 'm not familiar with those 3 areas (ie school, crime rate, gangs).
1. How's San Bernardino compare with Palmdale and Lancaster area?

Just as bad. San Berdoo, in the '70s, was rampant with budding gang banger activity, as they moved from LA county to SB county to take advantage of a notoriously lax welfare department. It was, and still is, a sewer.

Originally Posted by cat5ive

2. How's the commute time? If I want to avoid the traffic (in the morning), what time should I hit the freeway (work start at 8 am)?

Commuting those distances these days is an obsolete concept. You should live near where you work. Gasoline is heading back up to $3/gallon, and will not come down to try to grease the election like this time. Long haul commuting is senseless waste. Once you figure in your fuel, maintenance, insurance and depreciation costs, you might as well buy a condo in Glendale.

Originally Posted by cat5ive

3. Does it sound too crazy to move out to those area and have to commute back to Glendale to work?

Yes, see above. Plus, Palmdale/Lancaster, and I hear, Victorville/Hesperia, are the new centers of gang/ghettoid/Section 8 activity. The crime rate in Palmdale/Lancaster is skyrocketing, and "white flight" is in full force.

Originally Posted by cat5ive

Thank in advance for any feedbacks.

Sorry you didn't get the answer you wanted!

[la quinta family]

You should put Palmdale in the search engine on this site and see
all the reasons why you wouldn't want to live there. San Bernadino
would only be slightly better. We're in the beggining stages of
a housing downturn where prices in a year or two will be more
reasonable in California. I'd hate for you to buy somewhere in the
area's you describe only to find out you hate it (Palmdale/ Lancaster)
you most likely would hate and then be stuck with your "dream"
turned nightmare home you can't sell for what you paid for it.
Better to be a renter somewhere great than a homeowner somewhere
you hate to live. Just my advice but please search Palmdale and Lancaster
on this board before moving there.

[Outta LA]

Lived in Lancaster for 15 years as back when we first moved there housing was affordable. Things were okay. We lived in a good, middle-class neighborhood with friendly, law-abiding people.

Of course everyone, as a lot of people are saying, had to contend with the dust and dirt blowing at 70 mph on almost a daily basis, long commutes, (I drove 85 miles one way), and the heat in the summer running into triple digits.

We could have lived with that believe it or not, but what we couldn't stand were all the gangs and gang member's families that were moving into subsidized housing so they could be next to their homies in the wonderful State Prison that the city officials said wouldn't change a thing.

The last year and a half we were there the wheels fell off. Gang graffiti everywhere. The sounds of constant AK-47 and handgun fire, the "Ghetto Bird" a.k.a. Police helicopter, orbiting our neighborhood nightly, and the sound of Police on their PA's telling everyone to stay in their houses while they conducted a search on the street at 3:00 in the morning.

I picked up my kids from school one day and as I was driving home some gang member out of the blue picked up a fist-sized rock and thew it at the driver's side of my car for no reason. If it had been another 18 inches higher it would have hit my son in the side of the head and killed him.

A week and a half later my wife was knocked to the ground by 3 thugs attempting to steal her purse in the parking lot of a grocery store. That was it. We both quit our jobs, sold our house within 3 weeks, and moved the entire family out of state. The only thing we regret now that its been 3 years, is that we didn't move out of state much sooner.

To sum it up, lets just say if God was going to give the world an enema, he'd stick the needle in Lancaster; or to simplify, it's a total sh_t hole.