Moving to LA area....what to expect (Ok I'm wearing my cup) (Los Angeles: real estate market, leases)

[Mathiasthegreat]

Hello all..my first post here and hopefully not my last.

I currently live in Phoenix Arizona and as I write this it is a chilly 112 degrees outside. Phoenix is the spider at the center of a web sucking the life out of Arizona...which is California without the beaches, or Vegas without the casinos. We have become so fed up with the climate and lack of anything to do which really, anyone from Phoenix and the surrounding suburbs will tell you is shopping at one of 3 malls and eating at big chain restaurants.

Sure there is tubing down the salt river, but I don't understand how in 3 hours of tubing and drinking beer not one person gets out to use the bathroom...hmmm?

So we have decided to move to the LA area, or just north like Thousand Oaks....I think.

(Please understand what I write next...I was born a down to earth Colorado mountain boy, and I've busted my ass for what I have so I hope it doesn't come off pretentious )

I am a landlord with a chain of mobile home parks in El Paso Texas (Good to invest in...not good to live..kinda like Phoenix but smaller) So I wont have to commute daily except for trips to LAX a couple times a month.

I want to be near LA so we can go do fun things...go to the nice restaurants we see on TV (Entourage..lol) go to the beach, hopefully find some good shopping and do soo many of the things we hear about in this city.

At this time in our life we want to have fun and relax a bit...is LA the right place for this?

Is Thousand Oaks a good neighborhood? We are looking for homes around $1.5mm that have a little view of the city...pipe dream or not?

I heard that Cali has some restrictions on diesel vehicles. We have a 4 door car and a convertible, but being the mountain boy, I have my Ford F450 Diesel pickup and have heard that there are restrictions on diesels in Cali...anyone have experience?

While we are well off, we are not crazy millionaires blowing money right and left..but we do have enough to live very comfortable...so can we enjoy ourselves in LA since we don't have to commute to work and can take the time to get places?

Am I way off base thinking all of the nightlife action is in Hollywood?

Sorry to blast the questions....I had many more, but this site is so informative I answered most of them already.

PS, since I am a landlord, I will try and help with these questions about security deposits and renting etc... Folks, make sure to read your leases...it spells out almost everything to a "t". You will find that the residential landlord tenant acts are many times biased towards the tenant...contrary to what you may think.

Thanks again!!

[Sorcerer68]

Thousand Oaks will not offer you any sort of view of a city. It's the suburbs. If you want any sort of night life, you have to deal with at least an hour in your car. If you're looking for peace and quiet, clean, family atmostphere, you may like TO but I have to mention there are lots of old people too. It's very quiet out there, about as far removed from the "Entourage" fantasy as you can get. Keep in mind, traffic is only getting worse. If you make your living as an investor and don't need to go to a "job" every day, it may not be as much of an issue.

The thing you really need to ask yourself is, how close in to or insulated from the city do you want to be? My neighborhood has killer city views, 10 minutes to Hollywood nightlife and 1.5 mil will get you a thoroughly decent house. Architectural homes are the rule here, tract homes are the norm in places like TO. Our streets are beautiful. "Hollywood Royalty" were the first to make their homes here. Louis B. Mayer's old mansion is a stone's throw from me. I have 3 Frank Lloyd Wright houses withing walking distance and a Lloyd Wright Peruvian fantasy around the corner. Ramon Navarro used to live in it, he made all his party guests wear black and silver to match the place. Silverlake offers much of the same with fewer mansions. Hancock Park is an "old money" neighborhood with gorgeous older homes just below Hollywood. The "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" house is there and typical of the gorgeous housing stock. Pasadena and South Pasadena have gorgeous craftsman homes on tree lined streets. Old Pas is a walkable urban village, I used to live there and regret ever moving. South Pas is like Mayberry, it's basically the same as it was in the 50's and it's a quick jaunt to downtown.

Hollywood is the current king of nightlife and the "happening" clubs. West Hollywood has most of the rest of them. There's one in Los Feliz Village as well which is a mini-scene. I see Paparazzi in front of the usual clubs every night they are open. That again is my neighborhood. If you want night life, live near this core of life. I can walk to restaurants and clubs and some places near my house stay open until 4am.

***edit***
Regarding diesel cars, California is unfriendly to them when they are new. If you already have one, they are smog exempt which is a beautiful thing. There's also Lovecraft and their ilk who will convert them to run on bio if you choose.

[tann22]

Its funny, we are planning to move out of Los Angeles to Arizona for a slower less stressfull way of life. I have lived in the San Fernando Valley all my life. Anyway, Thousand Oaks is really far from Hollywood. We have friends that live in the Dos Vientos area, and it is really family oriented. We have friends also that live in Agoura Hills (also family area), which is east of Thousand Oaks, and they NEVER can come down to the valley after 5:00pm due to the unbelievable traffic going east. Going to Hollywood obviously is much further. They are actually moving from Agoura area, which is really nice for this reason. I have always said that Calabasas would be the place I would live if I had the money. Although this is further east than TO or Agoura, I still think that it would be too far to go to Hollywood very often. I would try to stay on the east side of San Fernando Valley, look in Encino Hills, Sherman Oaks, or Studio City. Lots of people have helped me on the Phoenix board. Hope this helps you.

[TheRealAngelion]

Somewhere in the San Fernando Valley might be the better option for you. Sounds like you want to be near the city and have easy access to it, but don't want to be in the middle of it. Do you have kids? Would schools be a concern for you?

[Rats]

Do you have any kids, or are you planning on having any? This is key, since if you do have kids and are planning on raising them here, then you need to live in an area with good schools.

[Mathiasthegreat]

WOW Thanks for all the helpful hints and great info.

We have no Kids, so no school issues....

And it sounds like trying to get somewhere around Hollywood is the key.

What are your thoughts about the stability of the Real Estate market around Hollywood for $1.5 mm homes? Up Down...or flat? Or worse...volatile?

Yeah we like to eat at nice restaurants and while we aren't clubbers we do like to have a few drinks and listen to "GOOD" DJ's not that trancey mind numbing stuff...lol...

Thanks again!

[Sorcerer68]

During the downturn in the S. California housing market, some areas haven't lost value at all, they have in fact increased. My Los Feliz is one of them along with Silverlake and the champion is Echo Park. Pasadena is up there too along with Mt. Washington 90065 and Highland Park 90042. Hollywood Hills has a ton of inventory and has really stagnated but...prices have gone up. Same with Beverly Hills. I'm seeing amazing deals in Bel Air. You could probably make a killing on a house in the Hollywood Hills right now. You feel like you're back to nature in many spots, you have killer views and the city is literally at your feet.

[TheRealAngelion]

Since kids aren't a factor, then you will have to consider other things like type of house you are looking for--old, new, small, large, fixer upper, pristine, etc. You also have to assess whether you truly have the appetite for an urban setting and heterogeneous environment where you will encounter urban grit, rich, poor and in between, traffic, lots of people and lots of diversity in lifestyle, race, ethnicity, etc. or are you really more of a suburban kind of guy who would feel more comfortable in a more homogeneous living environment (e.g. Thousand Oaks). Usually these two personality types don't mix in LA. Folks who live in Thousand Oaks basically live there to get away from LA and folks who live in the city in places like Los Feliz, Hollywood Hills, and Hancock Park wouldn't be caught dead in places like Thousand Oaks, Agoura Hills and Santa Clarita.

$1.5M isn't what it use to be and won't get you as much house in LA as you might in Phoenix for that price. A happy medium for you might be the Valley, as I earlier suggested. It's a mix of city and suburb. You could probably get more bang for the buck there too than you could in LA proper. Take a look at places like Toluca Lake, Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Tarzana, and Woodland Hills. Here's a link to the MLS where you can search houses as a "guest" by neighborhood and price range:

Multiple Listing Service Los Angeles Real Estate - TheMLS.com

You might also consider two brand new communities on the Westside of LA near the ocean and close to LAX. This might even be more ideal for you, plus you could get a brand spanking new house in your price range:

West Side LA New Luxury Homes & Condos: Playa Vista in Los Angeles

Westchester, West Los Angeles Real Estate - One Westbluff

[goodbyehollywood]

In your price range, I would think the West Hollywood Hills above Sunset Strip or maybe in one of the canyons-- Laurel, Beachwood, Benedict or Coldwater-- would be most to your liking. Echo Park, Mt. Washington and Highland Park are less gentrified and still up-and-coming, though more affordable. If you're looking in the $1.5 mil range, affordable's not your hot button-- you can afford the next tier, so aim high and bargain hard. Good luck!

[TrojanDLA]

You can expect this:



LOL, sorry, I couldn't resist