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Old 08-18-2010, 09:48 PM
 
Location: Sacramento, CA
771 posts, read 1,577,339 times
Reputation: 423

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This is kind of a topic-mixed post, so bear with me.

OK, right now, I live in Sacramento, make approximately 95K a year. I am looking at applying for a promotion to LA that would pay me 103K a year. I work in downtown Sac now, ride my bike to work 5 miles. My office location in downtown LA would be near the Sheraton.

I have lived in the Twin Cities, Indianapolis, Dayton, metro DC, Richmond, Jackson, MS and a couple of other smaller cities.

I'm not very fond of Sacramento, nor do I like the job or office I have here, but from everything (admittedly little) that I know about LA, I highly doubt I could find a safe affordable apartment within a reasonable commuting distance of the job... I can get something very nice in Midtown here for $700 to $800, right now I'm paying $500 as a housemate in a nice neighborhood. I don't think I could get that kind of deal in LA.

I'm thinking I would spend at least an hour in traffic, and I've been told that the portion of LA the office is in has the metal gates across all the businesses after dark - that it isn't a very good idea (I'm thinking similar to downtown Oakland, which I find very scary as it is). Transit is pretty much out of the question; its overrun with bangers here and I suspect much is the same case in LA. I'm thinking that between the increased costs of housing, time wasted in traffic, etc. Its not worth it - but if I did a couple of years down there I might be able to transfer back out East to where my kids live, and, in the meantime, because they fly free - their mother is a Delta employee - there are many more flight options between LA and CT than there is between there and Sacramento.

I'm 2x divorced, going on 49, my children, who are 10 and 8, live during the school year with their mother in CT. The schools here in California, from all I've seen, are horrible, unless you live in far flung suburbs and even in Sacramento they're pretty bad, over crowded and over ridden with the gang banger mentality - and private schools I cannot afford. What I'm saying is that when I'm contemplating a move anywhere, I have to keep my kids' welfare in mind if they might be moving to live with me. They've got to have safe and non-chaotic schools to go to, where I'm not worried during the day that they're going to have lighter fluid poured on them because they're part of the wrong racial/socioeconomic group that day.

I'm not so concerned about finding a relationship - but I'm getting to be an age where moving, moving, moving every couple of years for a little more money just doesn't make any sense, and I want to put down roots, but I don't think Sacramento is the place... but if a move for a couple of years to LA gets me where I might to be, it might be worth it - but I'd rather stay here if its going to be like being in jail down there... and from everything I've seen, LA doesn't offer a great deal as a place to live unless you are very wealthy. I'm feeling that my quality of life in Sacramento is much higher than it would be in LA... but I do want to hear other's impressions and feelings. Thanks
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Old 08-18-2010, 09:53 PM
 
Location: Las Flores, Orange County, CA
26,338 posts, read 93,530,714 times
Reputation: 17829
Something to widen your radius of potential places to live are the metrolink trains. For example, trains come in to downtown from Moorpark and Simi Valley which are nice places to live for families.

Check out School Performance Maps

Interactive Map
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Old 08-18-2010, 10:16 PM
 
Location: South Bay
7,226 posts, read 22,130,409 times
Reputation: 3626
if you need to spend under $1000/month on rent, you're going to have a tough time here in LA.
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Old 08-18-2010, 10:22 PM
 
Location: Sacramento, CA
771 posts, read 1,577,339 times
Reputation: 423
Quote:
Originally Posted by BRinSM View Post
if you need to spend under $1000/month on rent, you're going to have a tough time here in LA.
That's part of the prob, I pay over 1K a month in child support... Sacramento is affordable (even though I really don't like this place at all, California is liberalism, taxation, illegals, bangers and stupidity run amok), and I have about 100K from inheritance that I can put down on a house... I can actually get a mortgage here that I can deduct from my taxes... I don't see that as possible in LA - getting a decent house in a decent area as a single man - unless you make $150-$200K a year.
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Old 08-18-2010, 11:15 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles, CA
126 posts, read 671,490 times
Reputation: 105
Let me solve all your problems. Rent a 1 br in South Pasadena for circa $1000. Take the Metro to work or ride your bike on a good day. Put down roots. Prosper.

Problem solved.
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Old 08-18-2010, 11:16 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles, CA
126 posts, read 671,490 times
Reputation: 105
and if you want to buy a house move to Omaha.
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Old 08-20-2010, 02:38 PM
 
Location: Sacramento, CA
771 posts, read 1,577,339 times
Reputation: 423
I just can't imagine being happy in LA from so much of what I've read. It seems like its insanely expensive, overcrowded, and dangerous for most people on middle class incomes.
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Old 08-20-2010, 02:59 PM
 
Location: SoCal
14,530 posts, read 20,027,990 times
Reputation: 10539
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluevelo View Post
I just can't imagine being happy in LA from so much of what I've read. It seems like its insanely expensive, overcrowded, and dangerous for most people on middle class incomes.
At least then we know you won't be contributing to the crowding.

L.A. is expensive but not insanely expensive. It may be more expensive than where you come from depending on where that is.

L.A. is crowded but not overcrowded, but again that depends on your standard, your frame of reference. It seems pretty crowded to me but maybe somebody from NYC might think it's not.

Dangerous? Hardly, unless you're cruising around high crime areas in the early morning hours. I live in the middle of the San Fernando Valley and I don't see any dangerous areas at any hours of the day or night, but then I don't go cruising over to neighborhoods I have no business in the late night and early morning hours. Even then those neighborhoods are perhaps not even 10% of the SFV, if even that.

L.A. is no more dangerous than Sacramento.
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Old 08-20-2010, 06:35 PM
 
Location: Sacramento, CA
771 posts, read 1,577,339 times
Reputation: 423
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lovehound View Post
At least then we know you won't be contributing to the crowding.

L.A. is expensive but not insanely expensive. It may be more expensive than where you come from depending on where that is.

L.A. is crowded but not overcrowded, but again that depends on your standard, your frame of reference. It seems pretty crowded to me but maybe somebody from NYC might think it's not.

Dangerous? Hardly, unless you're cruising around high crime areas in the early morning hours. I live in the middle of the San Fernando Valley and I don't see any dangerous areas at any hours of the day or night, but then I don't go cruising over to neighborhoods I have no business in the late night and early morning hours. Even then those neighborhoods are perhaps not even 10% of the SFV, if even that.

L.A. is no more dangerous than Sacramento.
I'm more concerned about where I'd be working everyday. It sounds worse than parts of downtown Oakland, and downtown Oakland is scary. It looks like LA is so expensive that I'd be paying more than I can afford for an apartment... I can't afford $1500/month for rent. Its simply not do-able.
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Old 08-20-2010, 06:52 PM
 
Location: SoCal
14,530 posts, read 20,027,990 times
Reputation: 10539
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluevelo View Post
I'm more concerned about where I'd be working everyday. It sounds worse than parts of downtown Oakland, and downtown Oakland is scary. It looks like LA is so expensive that I'd be paying more than I can afford for an apartment... I can't afford $1500/month for rent. Its simply not do-able.
Dude, I have to wonder if you're just trolling us. There isn't any "worse than parts of downtown Oakland" here unless you specifically seek out the worst areas to live in and work in.

I'm not so sure about the rent, I've owned a house for 3 decades, I am totally out of touch with the rental market.

So I am provisionally labeling you a troll, and you can redeem yourself if you ask appropriate questions that indicate you are seriously interested in moving here rather than just stirring the pot.

Almost anywhere in San Fernando Valley would be better than the picture you're painting for us.
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