Moving to L.A. soon (Irvine, Fullerton: extended stay, renting, how much)

[TrueDat]

Bixby Knolls in Long Beach is a good suggestion as a previous poster mentioned but if you want to be closer to the beach look at Belmont Shore or Belmont Heights in Long Beach too. 2nd Street in Belmont Shore is a very walkable area with lots of shops/eateries and it's right near the water.

Belmont Shore, Shop. Dine. Indulge. Shop Local.

And you're very close to freeway access for getting into OC or up to LA. Long Beach does put you roughly about halfway between the west side of LA and Irvine but traffic isn't going to be pretty -- but that's going to be the case no matter where you live if one person is working mostly in LA and the other's in OC. There's going to be misery for one or both parties.

[LBNative]

Old Town Pasadena sounds like a place you would enjoy. I agree with the poster above me. See if your wife can find work closer to LA even if it comes with a lesser salary. HER quality of life will be better. Freeways are dreadful after work hours when all you want to do is go home and relax. If she must work in Irvine, the only city with a real downtown between DTLA and Irvine is Long Beach. It's not a great downtown but it's improving. The water quality is better even though locals WON'T venture into it. You should check out Belmont Heights, Belmont Shore and then there are a bunch of small historic districts near the beach (Lowena Drive,Bluff Heights,Eliot Lane)

[gerrythesnake]

Hopefully you never get divorced in California because you will be playing a helleva amount of alimony because of the pay gap between you both

[Cheektowaga_Chester]

Originally Posted by thelopez2

Culver City, have the wife find a new job making 30k, she won't have to drive 1.5 hours a day, and she'll get to spend more time with the kids. The north bound trip out of Irvine is brutal carpooling would help. Culver City would give you good access to West LA and South Central.

Something like this makes sense. Have her find another job near a place that is a good commute for you AND more importantly, a community with higher performing schools (peers for your kids).

California School Performance Maps

Forget Orange County.

[MStoAZ]

Thanks for the responses! I'll be in my car most of the time anyways, so I would rather the commute be easier on my wife. She took the job in Irvine just to be sure we would be okay with all of our expenses (moving, buying a new house, etc.). So, after this year, she could either stay at home or find a closer job, or maybe even transfer.

What is it that makes LA so expensive? I keep hearing housing (which isn't too big of a deal for us- we have a decent amount of equity in our current house) but what else? Utilities? Food? Services? I'm sure car insurance is outrageous there (when I lived in Arizona, my insurance rose forty dollars) but is it day to day expenses or does everyone just refer to housing?

[Cheektowaga_Chester]

Originally Posted by MStoAZ

What is it that makes LA so expensive? I keep hearing housing (which isn't too big of a deal for us- we have a decent amount of equity in our current house) but what else? Utilities? Food? Services? I'm sure car insurance is outrageous there (when I lived in Arizona, my insurance rose forty dollars) but is it day to day expenses or does everyone just refer to housing?

Pretty much the price of land, which for most people the biggest feel is housing. But, realize, your barber, your doctor, your mechanic your grocery store all lease, rent or own too and their costs are passed on to you to some extent in some cases. A haircut in beverly hills isn't much different than a hair cut in reseda but the bh haircut sure costs a lot more.

Gasoline is more expensive in CA. However, most everything else is about the same. And, your heating and cooling costs are probably lower. Most people don't need AC other than a couple weeks a year.

[MStoAZ]

Originally Posted by Cheektowaga_Chester

Pretty much the price of land, which for most people the biggest feel is housing. But, realize, your barber, your doctor, your mechanic your grocery store all lease, rent or own too and their costs are passed on to you to some extent in some cases. A haircut in beverly hills isn't much different than a hair cut in reseda but the bh haircut sure costs a lot more.

Gasoline is more expensive in CA. However, most everything else is about the same. And, your heating and cooling costs are probably lower. Most people don't need AC other than a couple weeks a year.

Okay, that's pretty much what I figured. I lived in Arizona for a while and I would travel to LA for vacation and I remember how high gas prices are. There's a special type of gas they use in California, right?

[thelopez2]

Originally Posted by MStoAZ

Okay, that's pretty much what I figured. I lived in Arizona for a while and I would travel to LA for vacation and I remember how high gas prices are. There's a special type of gas they use in California, right?

It isn't just the blend , it is also the tax, or maybe the tax is high because of the blend. It is high because it can be and people are willing to pay it. I just talked to a guy who said that his utility bill for cooling in Houston was $700 one month and sometime it is unbearable to be outside in the day time.

Cost of living can be high, but it is mainly on housing. you might rent a nice house in another part of the country for $1500, here it would be $3000, so you'd need to make another $20k if you wanted to rent.

I've been shopping for rental in North Carolina and found rents to be not too far off, $2200 there versus $2700 here, but the purchase price was the big difference. The price to purchase a $2000 month rental here would be between 400-650k, there it would be closer to 300k. I'm not talking about duplexes, Im talking about single family.

The cost of living here is also high if you want to eat out and explore a lot, you can get a steak dinner for $10 to $50, without drinks add some $15 cocktails to throw you over the top. You're going to be two hours from snow, you might take a day trip and set you back $300 , take a fly or drive to Mammoth and spend close to $400 a day.

Granted there is enough free stuff to do, day hikes, bike ride, kayak. Who know you might end up buying a boat and leaving it docked somewhere.

Other things which cost much more here, is construction, property taxes, due to high values, and WATER.

Cheap things, clothes , electronics, fresh food, weather, and used stuff.

Of course shopping at ROW DAY O drive versus ROW DEEOO drive will set you back a bit.

I think the high cost of living is over sensationalized by the media to try to discourage people from coming here and competing for the jobs and housing. If it wasn't worth talking about you won't hear about it. You can get a house in south LA for 200k, travel less than 10 miles west, and expect to pay over $500,000.

[MStoAZ]

Originally Posted by thelopez2

It isn't just the blend , it is also the tax, or maybe the tax is high because of the blend. It is high because it can be and people are willing to pay it. I just talked to a guy who said that his utility bill for cooling in Houston was $700 one month and sometime it is unbearable to be outside in the day time.

Cost of living can be high, but it is mainly on housing. you might rent a nice house in another part of the country for $1500, here it would be $3000, so you'd need to make another $20k if you wanted to rent.

I've been shopping for rental in North Carolina and found rents to be not too far off, $2200 there versus $2700 here, but the purchase price was the big difference. The price to purchase a $2000 month rental here would be between 400-650k, there it would be closer to 300k. I'm not talking about duplexes, Im talking about single family.

The cost of living here is also high if you want to eat out and explore a lot, you can get a steak dinner for $10 to $50, without drinks add some $15 cocktails to throw you over the top. You're going to be two hours from snow, you might take a day trip and set you back $300 , take a fly or drive to Mammoth and spend close to $400 a day.

Granted there is enough free stuff to do, day hikes, bike ride, kayak. Who know you might end up buying a boat and leaving it docked somewhere.

Other things which cost much more here, is construction, property taxes, due to high values, and WATER.

Cheap things, clothes , electronics, fresh food, weather, and used stuff.

Of course shopping at ROW DAY O drive versus ROW DEEOO drive will set you back a bit.

I think the high cost of living is over sensationalized by the media to try to discourage people from coming here and competing for the jobs and housing. If it wasn't worth talking about you won't hear about it. You can get a house in south LA for 200k, travel less than 10 miles west, and expect to pay over $500,000.

Sounds like it mostly has to do with housing, rent, property tax, mortgages, etc. I lived a few miles from the Mississippi River, which makes the humidity extremely high which definitely jacks up cooling costs. I'll be looking forward to not having that expense in the future. I knew housing was going to be expensive, its the price you pay for nice weather and beautiful beaches.

We mostly do a good job of living well within our means, but we like to have a nice house, go out to eat, and travel. Shopping on Rodeo is really not our thing.

Thanks for the response!

[thelopez2]

Originally Posted by MStoAZ

Sounds like it mostly has to do with housing, rent, property tax, mortgages, etc. I lived a few miles from the Mississippi River, which makes the humidity extremely high which definitely jacks up cooling costs. I'll be looking forward to not having that expense in the future. I knew housing was going to be expensive, its the price you pay for nice weather and beautiful beaches.

We mostly do a good job of living well within our means, but we like to have a nice house, go out to eat, and travel. Shopping on Rodeo is really not our thing.

Thanks for the response!

To compare cost of living, how much are your utility bills.

Something that also isn't mentioned too often but I feel is taken for granted, lack of big biting bugs.