Young Professional moving to LA- Rent Question (Culver City: apartment, car insurance)

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by PDF

The OP has 35 grand coming in yearly and 15k in savings. I lived in LA on $15 an hour and lived better than what you are describing. I don't see a problem here.

You lived here when I first came to CD which was 2010/2011. Back then rents were much cheaper. Scary how much they've increased in only 4-5 years and wages have not.

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by IM90046

IMO, the above posters seem to be a bit dramatic. 35K is very little but idk why kingdomkz is preaching about your cell phone plan. And about your car choices when you clearly state you have one already. Assuming you're young and do not require luxuries you can do it. Roommates are the way to go though. Also, when did you state you only get 1 day off per week? Ugh please be weary of the negative posters on here who will say that you need 350k annually to scrape by.

If SM is chosen, you can live in Palms with roommates for $750-850 and have your own bedroom, equates to 9600 a year, plus split utilities which are basically nothing unless you have cable, (which is wasteful and worthless). Parking will be a little challenging in Palms, but you'll learn strategies. Palms is not far from SM along the 10, also next year the Expo line opens to SM and that might become an option for you. The most expensive aspect will be eating out/food, eating out in LA is much more expensive than in the OC, so you will need to be reserved in # of meals bought. Personally, I try to only eat out when I'm with my friends because that is often unavoidable.

I'd choose Santa Monica if I were you, especially if you are young, there are so many more opportunities in LA than in the OC, and you'll find it much easier to make friends and network. The OC is increasingly void of young professionals, and the amount of money you'd save on rent in the OC will most likely go to gas used driving around that suburban hell.

I still say if he wants his own bedroom in a 2 br it's going to be close to 1000 a month in the end. Palms is getting pricy too. Cable (or DSL or Fios or whatever) isn't worthless, it's a necessity for most if no other reason than the Internet.

No one said he shouldn't be here or can't survive on 35k. He's just not going to be able to live in SM or Newport. Palms, yes. Still, roommates. Still, tight budget.

[IM90046]

Originally Posted by disgruntled la native

I still say if he wants his own bedroom in a 2 br it's going to be close to 1000 a month in the end. Palms is getting pricy too. Cable (or DSL or Fios or whatever) isn't worthless, it's a necessity for most if no other reason than the Internet.

No one said he shouldn't be here or can't survive on 35k. He's just not going to be able to live in SM or Newport. Palms, yes. Still, roommates. Still, tight budget.

I'd argue that most fresh out of college "youth" (under 25) forgo cable and opt for Hulu/Netflix/Amazon Prime instead. Cable is dying quickly. Aside from that you can find any movie more than a year old online for free. Cable is incomparable to Internet, Internet is much much more useful. In fact, I only know one person my age that has Cable, which I'll admit everyone goes over for the Superbowl, awards shows etc.

If you do a CL search for palms under 850 there are numerous listings. But after utilities and such it might be closer to 900, so I'm not disagreeing with you.

My response was more directed at kingdomkz who stated that OP would need to buy everything at Dollar Tree to get by. That is not true. Very exaggerated and negative.

[disgruntled la native]

oh I see, we have different definitions for "cable", but even with just the internet portion, for a two bed, it adds up.. utilities included his rent will be 900 best case scenario.

[oping00]

Dude 35K is doable, first off there are tons of homeless living on Venice beach doing it so you can join them, there are showers by the basketball courts, people leave half eaten food on the beach all the time. Weather is always good and you wake up by the ocean all the time. Having your own privacy might be a issue.

[Aldous9]

35k is not a bad salary. I bet most of you don't make that. How else to explain how clueless you are about what it takes to "get by" in LA?

[seain dublin]

Originally Posted by IM90046

IMO, the above posters seem to be a bit dramatic. 35K is very little but idk why kingdomkz is preaching about your cell phone plan. And about your car choices when you clearly state you have one already. Assuming you're young and do not require luxuries you can do it. Roommates are the way to go though. Also, when did you state you only get 1 day off per week? Ugh please be weary of the negative posters on here who will say that you need 350k annually to scrape by.

If SM is chosen, you can live in Palms with roommates for $750-850 and have your own bedroom, equates to 9600 a year, plus split utilities which are basically nothing unless you have cable, (which is wasteful and worthless). Parking will be a little challenging in Palms, but you'll learn strategies. Palms is not far from SM along the 10, also next year the Expo line opens to SM and that might become an option for you. The most expensive aspect will be eating out/food, eating out in LA is much more expensive than in the OC, so you will need to be reserved in # of meals bought. Personally, I try to only eat out when I'm with my friends because that is often unavoidable.

I'd choose Santa Monica if I were you, especially if you are young, there are so many more opportunities in LA than in the OC, and you'll find it much easier to make friends and network. The OC is increasingly void of young professionals, and the amount of money you'd save on rent in the OC will most likely go to gas used driving around that suburban hell.

Excellent and realistic comments. The OP said they have no debt, so no college loans to repay or a car note. Plus they have a decent amount in savings. The roommate scenario would be the best way to go.

It is doable.

Originally Posted by kingdomkz

I hope you realize that California is almost completely city right? The only place that isn't city is mountain, because it was impossible to put houses everywhere.

Really? I remember taking a road trip up to Oregon on the 5(first time) and being amazed as to how desolate a lot of the drive was. No houses, just land. I even said to myself for the most populated state it sure feels like you're out in the middle of nowhere...so much for the state being completely city.

Same thing when you drive into CA from AZ.

[Naomi Manischewitz]

West LA and Culver City are IMO still super pricey (of course not as much as NB or SM).

This is where I would live on your salary in a studio or with a couple of roommates:

Santa Monica job-
- Hawthorne
- Koreatown (once in awhile you can get super tiny bachelor's fairly cheap but if you have a car, you usually have to pay to park it)
- Torrance
- Van Nuys (depending on your commute time)

Newport Beach-
- Santa Ana
- Orange
- Anaheim


While no you aren't making a lot of money, you can still make it work and having your savings helps.

[ubba]

Update:

The base salary of $35k to begin will more likely end up being $45k by the end of the first year.

However I was told I should try to live a close as possible to work because of the long hours.

The recruiter told me most people live in Santa Monica, Palms, Culver City, and West Hollywood. He also said Inglewood could be an option even though it has a bad rep. Any changes in terms of price with these options?

[disgruntled la native]

Santa Monica and West Hollywood are generally too expensive unless you get roommates. Plural. Not just one roommate (unless you're sharing a one bedroom). Also West Hollywood isn't that close to santa monica.

Palms and Culver City you could get by with one roommate in a two bedroom.

Inglewood, hmm, don't know the rental marke tthere, but it should be the cheapest.