Moving to Lancaster/Palmdale (Santa Clarita, Pasadena: apartments, renters, crime)

[Mumof3]

Originally Posted by hearselover

I'm a realtor in the Antelope Valley, i.e., Palmdale/Lancaster. I have lived here going on 5 years now.

There are good areas and bad areas of this valley just as there are in any city anywhere in the world.

There are areas in both Palmdale & Lancaster that I refuse to show buyers houses. These areas are small compared to the city size.

I've seen people reply to similar questions with "say on the west side". If you are unfamiliar with the area then you wouldn't know that there are questionable areas on the west side of these cities just like there are questionable areas on the east side of both cities.

There is a west side neighborhood in Lancaster that contains a big concentration of section 8 houses --- it's surrounded by great neighborhoods but it's a scarry place itself.

Rancho Tierra Del Sol is an area between 25th East and 30th East, Avenue J and Avenue K in EAST Lancaster. This area has 1/2 acre and up parcels with only custom homes -- the last I checked the MINIMUM sales price in this area is over $550k. It's beautiful, upscale in this east lancaster area.

The east side has a lot of older homes. Too many people judge the entire neighborhood by a couple of run down houses on the block. EVERY block has an eyesore -- even on the west side. Heck I've seen BRAND NEW HOMES barely a year old that are neglected.

If two out of ten people gave the east side a chance, maybe we could weed out any undesirables, clean up the run down houses (how about buy one for cheap and fix it up the way you want?).

Or, go ahead and pay the inflated prices for a house on the west side.....

As far as the weather here --- if you live in Chatsworth or Northridge there is no difference in the weather other than we may get 2" of snow in the winter but it melts by 11 am.

Hi,

I do take your point on board regarding the Eastside not being as bad as everyone is portraying, however, if you have kids then I'm afraid that the Westside schools are superior - better test scores - and that is why I am on the Westside. But other than that I can see that both areas have there ups and downs like anywhere in this Nation. I think that the obvious problem of gangs shooting eachother (have they ever shot innocent bystanders - does anyone know?) in both areas will take a while to diminish - the overall look of the place ( both East and West sides) needs to be addressed as well. That I think could be as important as getting crime under control. I do think though that the future is bright for Lancaster and Palmdale - I think that the housing here is far superior to many areas nearer LA itself, it is great value for money and the job prospects for many are extremely encouraging. - Mumof3

[newlife]

I still kind of feel uncertain about the Lancaster/Palmdale area. I still have this unsettling feeling about moving there. I may just follow my gut and move to Santa Clarita and just commute everyday. I am going to come out this coming weekend and see for myself and if the places that I have chosen to move turn out to be better that you all have me thinking then I may stay.

It is just hard to believe that there is a town where nothing good is there and everyone is in a gang or a victim of some type of crime. After living in Atlanta it is also hard for me to believe that everyone in Lancaster is bad and you can't even go outside. I live in an area now where they rob and shoot people and the police are patroling and if it is a nice day teenagers are sitting on the steps however no one ever bothered me. Most of the time I notice that crime is just in isolated areas and most of the time the people know eachother or have some type of beef. The way you all make it seem is that it is like a constant war zone and you will get shot just going to your car.

Here in Atlanta we have had people taking womens rings in the parking lots and this has gone on for a minute. Sometimes people will take your car while you are pumping gas. One lady was even shot in the back and her car was stolen. These are constant incidents in the Atlanta area and to least say this is not the worst. Everyday you turn on the news here there are fights at the schools, shootings, burglaries, men raping 89 year old women and so forth.

After living through all of this are you all telling me that your crime is worse than the ATL? I just want a really clear picture.

[Mumof3]

Hi newlife,

In Santa Clarita you will get crime happening. That is the reality of living in CA. Gangs are abundant here - however, that doesn't mean to say that you will in any way be affected by it. I have been here a year and nothing has happened to me personally. Believe me there IS good here - I have to say - since you described Atlanta, that nothing has happened of that nature here - gangs shoot eachother in isolated incidents- yes, but I haven't heard of any violent crime centered towards any other particular group. There is an effective police presence here and they are aware of the problems in this valley - it is being addressed and that I think is important to remember. Why don't you rent here awhile and if you don't like it for whatever reason - you can always move out - that is the advantage of renting afterall...

[ibarrio]

have they ever shot innocent bystanders - does anyone know?

13-year-old hospitalized after gang's drive-by

He was riding his bike and was picked out at random. The suspects were caught because someone say the shooting and was brave enough to chase the suspects down and cal the police.

(Headline from Fridays AV Press)

Also, no one has hit on the extreme weather of the AV. Almost always windy...Gust to 50-60 MPH are common. Cold in the winter...hot in the Summer. Fires are common (all of LA county). Overall it is Dusty and Dirty, you will never have a clean car.

[newlife]

I can deal with the wind and dirty car. However, I just do not want to live the South Central Compton type lifestyle in this small town. I can rent a movie and get that. There are gangs everywhere. I am from a small rural community in Alabama and I can say that we have more crime with only a town of maybe 6000 at the most, than a town with 25000. We had school shootings and fights all of the time. At this point you cannot even go to a football or basketball game at the high school with out the kids shooting and fighting. This is constant.

[SoCalMomma]

We have spent the past two weekends in Lancaster for a soccer tournament. We were definitely in the east part (Ave L east of the 14 about 5 miles or so). We drove around quite a bit between games, to get food, etc. I never felt in danger. The neighborhoods we past were older homes, but they didn't look like dumps or anything. We saw lots of people outside working in their yards, hanging out with neighbors, looked fine! We ate at a couple fast food places and everyone was pleasant, and we did not feel uneasy at all.

We also Spent time at the Antelope Valley Mall (I guess that would be considered on the west side) - its right next to the freeway. I was a little more 'leary' there - I kept my purse closer and felt like there were more people there 'looking for trouble'. We drove around a bit, staying out of the wind, and there were nice neighborhoods on that side of town, the houses LOOKED nicer, but I guess that doesn't really mean anything.

So I just wanted to say, that I think you just need to drive around yourself and see where you feel comfortable.

The weather is pretty harsh, compared to Santa Clarita (have a cousin in Santa Clarita). Palmdale and Lancaster have winds, not just light breezes - WINDS! I dont know that it is every afternoon, but every afternoon that we have ever been there, its been howling! It's high desert, so there is little to no grass (except at the Soccer Complex, which is AWESOME!). Dirt, dust, trash flying around everywhere. If you have allergies at all, it will do havoc to you! Double or triple up on allergy meds

Santa Clarita is nice. They have good schools, and its much easier to get to LA from there. The commute TO Palmdale shouldn't be bad, everyone else is going the other way. There are bad areas in Santa Clarita, too, though. Contact the police department wherever you decide to move & get some statistics. They will talk to you about the various areas, and they will be honest about it. Santa Clarita has lots of power outages, too, for some reason. It seems like my cousins area has them at least once every week or tow, for a few hours.

Good luck to you. I hope that you take everyones advice and physically visit all the areas you are comparing. You are the only one that can decide where you'd be most comfortable living.

[newlife]

Thank you SoCalMomma this is the most reasonable post I have seen. There are bad places everywhere and now a days it does not matter what side of town you live on. I think that I am going to stay in West Lancaster. I found some townhomes that I am really interested in and I do not think that they take section 8. If all else fails I guess I can get a watch dog.

[mav]

I've lived in West Palmdale since 09/06. I also happen to work in Santa Clarita. I moved to Palmdale from Los Angeles. Here are some of the pros/cons of both:

Palmdale Pros: I love the neighborhoods in the west side. I personally live in the new community, Anaverde, and I love it here. The Antelope Valley Malls has many of the shopping needs you're looking for. If that's not enough, within 1 block from the mall, you have all the additional major stores you're looking for: Bed Bath & Beyond, Trader Joe's, Ross, Circuit City, Best Buy, Lowes, Home Depot, Staples, Office Depot, Walmart, Sams Club, Target, Petco, Petsmart, Michaels, and many more smaller shops. I have never feared for my safety or security while shopping/eating on the west side. I personally do not go to the east side much, as such can't testify to it well. From the few visits I've made to the east side, the people were nice and I did not encounter any gang bangers (yes, I would recognize them if I saw them). The weather is not as bad as many make it out to be, especially in comparison to Santa Clarita. I actually enjoy the nice breeze in the summer. The air is fresh and clean. The schools in the west side have pretty high test scores (although they've been slipping of late).

Palmdale Cons: The winter does tend to get colder here than Los Angles and Santa Clarita by a few degrees. I suspect that the temperature may not be as different from Santa Clarita as it seems, but the wind chill adds to the cold. The city is quite spread out and will require driving further to get to places (although the drive itself is generally pretty nice). If you don't like seeing "natural desert landscaping" everywhere, add it to the list. Although the city is growing very quickly, you may not find some of your favorite stores or restaurant chains (ie: Macys, Gap, Nordstorm, Souplantation, Fridays).

Santa Clarita Pros: It is more centrally located than Palmdale. 40 minutes drive will get you to the heart of Los Angeles, but add 1 hour if you're traveling during traffic hours. The air is cleaner than Los Angeles. All the stores, shops, and restaurants of Los Angeles within relatively short driving distance. Schools are ranked higher than those of Palmdale. Winter's not as cold as Palmdale and likewise summer not quite as hot as Palmdale. It feels very safe in Santa Clarita as it is ranked among the top safest city to live in.

Santa Clarita Cons: Housing prices are nearly identical to those of Los Angeles (although the recent market slump has widened the gap). Traffic is getting worse turning a short distance drive into lengthy drive. The city feels quite crowded, much like Los Angeles. If you're traveling from one side of the canyon to the other, only 1 major road to take you there (thus leading to traffic).

Final Note: If you enjoy living in a faster paced Los Angeles like city with cleaner air and safer neighborhood that's centrally located, go with Santa Clarita. If you prefer a more open road, relaxed pace of life with even cleaner air and much more affordable houses, welcome to Palmdale. It is best to trying renting for a few months in Palmdale or Santa Clarita and check out the neighborhood for yourself. As for me, I worked in Santa Clarita and looked at both Santa Clarita and Palmdale before letting the housing affordability of Palmdale tilt the scale.

P.S. I wouldn't put too much emphesis on the weather difference between Santa Clarita and Palmdale. Example of Santa Clarita's wild weather would be that it hailed here for about 1/2 hour while Palmdale was sunny. They both have their weather swings.

[DeserTBoB]

Originally Posted by hearselover

I'm a realtor in the Antelope Valley, i.e., Palmdale/Lancaster. I have lived here going on 5 years now.

Woohoo! What a TON of experience you have! I've been here twice and long as you, and know a lot of people who are natives and founding politicos. I found out where the skeletons are buried early in the game.

Originally Posted by hearselover

Rancho Tierra Del Sol is an area between 25th East and 30th East, Avenue J and Avenue K

BZZZZZZZZZT! Wrong! Tierra del Sol is roughly from 32ndE out to about 35th, mostly just north of K. The area you describe is the gang and welfare queen infested Eastgate area, where all the sirens wind up on summer weekends.

Originally Posted by hearselover

It's beautiful, upscale in this east lancaster area.

It's where all the old business owners in Lancaster built who weren't accepted in the White Fences area filled with all the Republican stooges like the Runners.

Originally Posted by hearselover

The east side has a lot of older homes. Too many people judge the entire neighborhood by a couple of run down houses on the block. EVERY block has an eyesore -- even on the west side. Heck I've seen BRAND NEW HOMES barely a year old that are neglected.

Eastgate, Traditions, you name it...all ghettos now.

Originally Posted by hearselover

If two out of ten people gave the east side a chance, maybe we could weed out any undesirables, clean up the run down houses (how about buy one for cheap and fix it up the way you want?).

Quit puffing up business for yourself. Anyone stupid enough to buy in the crime and ghettoid infested east side deserves what he/she gets. The place is now ruined. With aerospace on a continual decline now (Lockheed is slowly pruning away all "black world" work from Palmdale, so's Boeing) the biggest industries here will be fast food and welfare/Section 8.

Originally Posted by hearselover

As far as the weather here --- if you live in Chatsworth or Northridge there is no difference in the weather other than we may get 2" of snow in the winter but it melts by 11 am.

You are a classic real estate shill. The climates betwen the northwest valley and Antelope Valley could NOT be more dissimilar. A few years ago, we had snow on the ground FOR A MONTH! Where were you? Oh, that's right...you didn't even LIVE there.

This guy/gal is nothing more than a glorified used car salesman. Don't pay any attention to his/her/it.

[DeserTBoB]

Originally Posted by ibarrio

Also, no one has hit on the extreme weather of the AV. Almost always windy...Gust to 50-60 MPH are common. Cold in the winter...hot in the Summer. Fires are common (all of LA county). Overall it is Dusty and Dirty, you will never have a clean car.

Lowest temp there last the past winter: 3°F...yes, that's right...3°. You can verify that in NOAA's database, as well as with AF Plant 42. Hardware stores have since been doing a banner business in replacement swamp cooler lines and valves, as well as sprinkler system parts! Due to global warming, precipitation has become even more scarce, with less than an inch since last year. We had a light dusting of snow in April, 2006, but no sticking snow in over four years, when it stuck for a month in some parts of the area. Highest temp I ever dealt with in Lancaster: 118°

Also, no one has touched on the fact that the Antelope Valley, especially Quartz Hill, is a hotbed of San Joaquin Valley Fever fungus, a pernicious disease that can be fatal. Although the first big pandemic of "Valley Fever" took place in the early '50s up around Bakersfield and above, the fungus is rampant out here, and developers are exposing more and more of it as they carve up more land for cracker box houses. I have a girlfriend who is currently in a coma with systemic Valley Fever and her prognosis isn't good. She caught it in Quartz Hill during one of the AV's daily wind storms.

I cannot believe the naiveté of people in these forums who swallow all the shilling done by AV real estate/development interests. The place is a social cesspool for LA county. They want all the ghettoids out here so they can redevelop South Central LA. With that in mind, I dumped my property for $315K. Comps in the same tract now can't get $275K. If you haven't sold, it's probably too late for the next few years. If you're looking to buy, look elsewhere...ANYWHERE else.