Get out if you can!!!! (Los Angeles, Irvine: renters, car insurance, buying)

[Need_affordable_home]

Those kind of people deserve a better life away from the chaos of LA. They can get a much bigger house(if they even own in LA) as well as less crime and lower costs of living.

[LC81]

Originally Posted by fastfilm

fairweathergolfer an desDemona, you've brought it home how used to the badness I've become here, learning the coping skills etc., like "don't look at the gangsters leaning over in the cars, like you wouldn't look wild animal predators in the eyes- it engages them with you and you don't want that." Or one of the times I was a very early arrival at a main government center and saw a well-dressed, scared young woman. It seems the passle of homeless, screaming away from their rag piles in the parking lot, had scared her. I reassured her that they were mentally ill and lost in their own world and not coming after her or anyone in these buildings. Buildings that our civic government requires your presence at for many occasions, such as jury duty in her case. I am sorry that I, and everyone else who lives here or moves here and is not wealthy enough to isolate themself from our reality must learn these coping skills as the norm for functioning in Los Angeles.

LOL. You should write a book for "Survival in LA" Hell Ill be your first customer. The last time I was in LA was like 1986 or so, its been awhile.

[Josh22]

I can't agree more. I would get out... BUT.. I have a friend who lives in Los angeles (actually, orange county, in lake forest, that's in the Irvine area if no one has heard of the city). And I don't wanna move away because i couldn't lose that friend.

See, Los angeles is just way too expensive.. I'm looking at small studio apartments, and even in tiny studios I'd still be living paycheck to paycheck. It' s so hard to live off $9, $10, $11, an hour in Los angeles, even if living in a small studio (studio means NO bedroom, just living room, kitchen, and bathroom). And I'm talking about in the bad cities of Los angeles, not the good cities, as the good cities will be impossile to live in without going pay-check to pay-check unless you make I'd say at least $15 an hour to live in a decent/above average area, and even then you'd be on the low end of cash.

If you're making $8-$12 an hour, you'll be living in the bad areas of Los angeles.

Not only is the rent insanely high. Take a look at other major cities, out of California - some are 2 bed room apartments for $500 a month. I can get a 3 bed room apartment in a different state for the same price as a STUDIO APARTMENT in Los angeles!

Thirdly traffic. DONT GET ME STARTED ON THIS STUPID LOS ANGELES TRAFFIC. This traffic is SO bad, you'll NEVER get used to it. The traffic is GRIDLOCK traffic during good hours most of the time. So you wanna know what traffic is like during rush hour? How about... no cars move for 2 minutes, then you move forward for 15 seconds, then you stop again for 30 seconds, then move again for 5 seconds, then stop again for 1 minute... it's hopeless. A 20 mile drive can take you easily over an hour, even during non-rush hour. Sometimes, just sometimes, you'll actually be able to drive with little traffic. This is normally around 9-11 AM when there is little traffic (or late at night), but even then, traffic CAN and WILL randomly form. One time, it was like a tuesday morning, at about 10:45 AM, and I was driving with almost no traffic in front, and then all of a sudden HUGE traffic in front of me. I had to come to a complete stop. The traffic then started to move at an average of 5 MPH. WHY ARE THERE SO MANY PEOPLE ON THE FREEWAY AT 10:45 AM ON A TUESDAY!?! Everyone should be at work already. No one should be on lunch break. Maybe it's because Los angeles has so many unemployed that you CLOG up the freeways like rats. Get a job before you get on the freeway, please, you'll help us all.

[Need_affordable_home]

Josh, I totally agree! Positive reputation for you! By the way $10 an hour is considered poverty. If I was making that little(isnt min wage about that by the way?) I would hightail it out and move to a place with very low costs of living, even if it means making even less money. But then renting and buying is so much less. Would you believe in some towns and small cities you can buy a fixer upper house for as little as $5000? Even a $10 an hour job can easily buy a fixer upper house and spend like $20k to $30k and be able to afford the mortgage. On the weekends, do the repairs yourself.

[Josh22]

Actually, in California, the minimum wage is only $6.75 per hour!!

Federal minimum wage is $5.15 per hour.

Pretty crazy.

[Need_affordable_home]

CA raised their min wage to $8 or $10, not sure. Doesnt matter, you cant really support yourself on such a low wage. I couldnt afford a house in Florida unless I made like $50 an hour, thats crazy!

[Josh22]

Well, it's actually still $6.75 as of today. Although in January, 2007, it's being raised to $7.50 an hour.

In January, 2008, it's being raised to $8 an hour.

$10 an hour is do-able in Los angeles, although it's at the poverty level, and you'll be living in a small studio in some of the worst possible areas.

Still I see what you're saying, the prices are very crazy. Houses are $1 million+ in upper middleclass areas, it's just plain insane.

[Need_affordable_home]

Thanks for the correction! Itll be raised in the near future, a much needed raise. I dont see how a $10/hour salary(which is still above min wage) will afford any shelter, maybe if you share it with several others. Someone said you need like $700k to get a starter house in a middle class neighboor. Upper middle class would be twice that or about million and a half! I know south Florida is nowhere as crazy but you still have to be rich to afford a nice big house. Makes me wonder if its better to live in a slightly less desirable state such as Texas or Georgia instead of Florida or California and enjoy a much higher standard of living and that nice big house for "only" $180k

[Josh22]

Ohh, well to buy a house yeah $10 an hour won't cut it lol.

I meant to rent an apartment, $10 is enough, but you won't have much left over.

[Need_affordable_home]

Originally Posted by Josh22

Ohh, well to buy a house yeah $10 an hour won't cut it lol.

I meant to rent an apartment, $10 is enough, but you won't have much left over.

You wont have enough to properly feed and cloth yourself. Plan on getting a higher paying job, getting a bunch of roomates to split the rent or relocating