Atlanta to LA (Valley-ish)

[ryanms3030]

Originally Posted by theraven24

John Marts, haven't you only been living in Los Angeles for a month or two?

OP, there's really no need to live in Sherman Oaks with your budget, and North Hollywood (please don't call it NoHo, or WeHo (West Hollywood)) is nothing terrible. Any native Angeleno or Los Angeles resident who's lived here for a long time knows this.

I agree with others, just live in Burbank. My favorite neighborhood around Burbank is Toluca Lake. It's safe and quiet, and you should be able to find something if not in that area, then around that area with your budget. Why live further out when you can afford something nearby where you'll be working?

Exactly. I work on Glendale/Burbank boarder. When I started the job I was living in Sherman Oaks. The commute wasn't terrible but it took 45 minutes most days. Now I live 3 miles away and get to work in 10-15 minutes. It doesn't make sense to make your commute worse than it needs to be.

[OneTrickNet]

Thanks everyone.
Yeah, it sounds like just living in the Glendale/Burbank area is probably the best bet. I just wasn't seeing any housing in that area in my price range, but I've only been looking at apartments.com. I - like most people, probably - am pretty spoiled here with the new and shiny stuff, but obviously there's going to be some give and take.

It seems like a lot of apartments out there don't have washer/dryers in the unit? Is that common?

[ryanms3030]

Originally Posted by OneTrickNet

Thanks everyone.
Yeah, it sounds like just living in the Glendale/Burbank area is probably the best bet. I just wasn't seeing any housing in that area in my price range, but I've only been looking at apartments.com. I - like most people, probably - am pretty spoiled here with the new and shiny stuff, but obviously there's going to be some give and take.

It seems like a lot of apartments out there don't have washer/dryers in the unit? Is that common?

Washer/dryer in unit is very rare anywhere around LA unless you are paying up for luxury apartments. Also most apartments don't seem to come with refrigerators either. Everything in your price range is going to be old but you might be able to at least find some places with newly renovated interiors...but it will likely be renovated with cheap home depot laminate floors and generic fixtures. I've also found that most places I've lived in around LA are severely lacking in built in lights. My current place has not built in lighting in living rooms or bed rooms so need to have a few lamps in every room. New construction is rare here and market is getting expensive and competitive so you are going to have to make compromises coming from Atlanta

[OneTrickNet]

Originally Posted by ryanms3030

Washer/dryer in unit is very rare anywhere around LA unless you are paying up for luxury apartments. Also most apartments don't seem to come with refrigerators either. Everything in your price range is going to be old but you might be able to at least find some places with newly renovated interiors...but it will likely be renovated with cheap home depot laminate floors and generic fixtures. I've also found that most places I've lived in around LA are severely lacking in built in lights. My current place has not built in lighting in living rooms or bed rooms so need to have a few lamps in every room. New construction is rare here and market is getting expensive and competitive so you are going to have to make compromises coming from Atlanta

Interesting. Yeah, it does seem that there's minimal new construction - at least at the higher end of my budget. It seems that what's different between Atlanta and LA is that the older places in LA seem to be at least kept up nicely. Yeah, they probably have the construction grade upgrades like you said, but at least it's something. In Atlanta, if the complex is over 10 years old, it mine as well be on the list to be razed.

I don't mind not having built-in lights. I rarely use mine and instead use my floor lamps and such.