Moving to LA, advice please! (Los Angeles, Long Beach: rent, condo, house)

[Sorcerer68]

Originally Posted by Zinnia

Well Sorcerer, I have rented for all of my adult life and have dreamed about owning a house for a very long time... and finally after 25 yrs of marriage and raising kids we have just bought our first house... don't want to go back to renting if I can help it...

Buy a triplex or 4plex. Do it in the right neighborhood and the rent will pay your mortgage. You can qualify for more property and become an investor and homeowner all at once. Over the long haul, these are sensational investments. You can find detached if that floats your boat. Opportunity is in 90042, 91103, 91107 just to name a few and if you can deal with an up and coming neighborhood, the most appreciation and bang for your buck is 90031 as far up the hill as you can get. If you don't want to do this, there are homes under 400k if you look...in the above zip codes as well as Long Beach. The biggest opportunities are in up and coming areas of Long Beach and northeast Los Angeles. Buy a cosmetic fixer if you're up to it. If none of this appeals to you, you can always buy a condo. Look for one with low HOA fees.

[Zinnia]

sounds like a good plan and I got too much junk... it would be hard to live in that environment again since I have 2389 sq ft, 1.3 acres, a fish pond and a pool, not ready to do that yet... will get back there one day to live... maybe up in Ventura, and Santa Barbara... now that my son will be there in Santa Monica I will be able to visit....

[laviachi]

I am a former Chicagoan and would seriously consider moving closer to the Culver City area to avoid the killer commutes on the 101/405. Public transit in Chicago is superior to anything out here. Also, if you were more of a city person in Chicago, you will find that style of life missing out here. The weather is nice but it does require much more money to attain a "middle class" lifestyle.

[LaEscritora]

We spent some time in SoCal over the summer, just checking things out, and I did not feel that it was that much more expensive than Chicago. Gas was actually cheaper at that time (don't know if that's still true) and after visiting a couple of grocery stores/malls we didn't feel like we were being "price gouged". Sales tax certainly was less.

Sorcerer, thank you so much for your positive advice. Thanks to everyone, I really appreciate it. We do not want to buy, renting is fine. I am not 100% sure what our budget will be. Probably between $900-$1000 until I can sort out my employment situation.

To answer a question, I live in the southwest suburbs, so not right in the hub of downtown Chi. It's cheaper in the 'burbs, but not that much cheaper, you know?

Thanks again. This is such a great forum.

[laviachi]

Actually, I know the SW suburbs very well and it is much cheaper housing wise than SoCaL. Also, some of the zipcodes mentioned above are very opposite of the SW suburbs -- say Pilsen vs Oak Forest. But do what you need to do and have fun with it. There is "perception vs reality" when dealing with LA.

[LaEscritora]

I'm from Tinley Park, so housing is more here than Oak Forest or Pilsen, but I understand where you're coming from. Rent prices do make me nervous, but not nervous enough to turn back.

Right now I'm trying to figure out how to find an apartment in a city that I don't live in and can't get to on a regular basis. Anyone have any suggestions? :-)

[vanesa]

Hello all, I am Colombian girl, in some months I am going to be studying English in LA area and now I am looking for a family house or somebody who wants to share an apartment or rent to me a room, in fact, I would love to live in Westlake Village.
I will be very grateful if some of you can help me with my search.
Regards

[MrsHB]

Culver is awesome...very up and coming area, great new restaurants, theater, close to everything in LA which is so key. Cost of living in LA is high in general..just get a smaller place and make sure it has windows that open (A/C is a major luxury as most apts/homes don't have it - even the pricey ones).
I would come here with a truck full of your stuff after you have done some initial research. Stay in a hotel, park your stuff somewhere safe. Try to time it - around 15th of the month so you can move into a place by the 1st. Wake up at 8am and get out there - use the newspapers and drive around and around looking for rental signs, call immediately on your cellphone and make appointments.
good luck.

[LaEscritora]

Thank you, MrsHB, that seems like really good advice. I have heard that we should have some place to live before we go and I just was not sure how to accomplish that. I will probably go a few days earlier than my boyfriend to see if I can find something, but it's a very big decision to make alone.

I didn't realize that most places don't have AC. That's amazing, especially considering the climate. Most apartments in my area don't come with central air, but they at least have a wall unit. Oh, well.

[Cattknap]

Here is a link for you - the cost of living is extremely high - on a scale of 1 to 100 - with 100 being the national average, Glendale has a 168 cost of living ratio.

Burbank is hot and smoggy and very congested but relatively low crime for So. Calfiornia.

Culver City has high crime and much higher cost of living - double the average U.S. cost of living.

at 7:51 am - it is 76 degrees in Burbank and 71 in Culver City.

Burbank Neighborhood Profile on Yahoo! Real Estate - Demographics, Cost of Living & more!

Culver City Neighborhood Profile on Yahoo! Real Estate - Demographics, Cost of Living & more!