If you can't spend $2k for rent why are you here? (Long Beach: beach, activity)

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by a3hourtour

How is someone making $56k a year spending $2k a month on rent?
I was born in L.A. and moved to the midwest almost 30 years ago. I am horrified at the cost of housing there these days. I guess if you were in that awesome 4plex in West Hollywood at $800 a mo in 1985 and are still in it today with rent control you are ok but the prices I am seeing on Craigslist are unbelievable. I'd consider moving back to Santa Monica or West Hollywood near Santa Monica and maybe Sweetzer area but I can't afford the price these days; not on retirement and part time work-
How do most do this?

I guess the answer is that those making 56k yr generally don't live in those areas . Unless they live with family or they have roommates . The spouse or boy friend or girlfriend make a lot more etc.
Yeah those areas Santa Monica of west Hollywood are the most expensive in the LA area .

A lot of people are in rent control units many would likely have to move if they had to start paying market rent.

I was born and grew up in LA so it's interesting to see other areas now being desirable that weren't before .
The most interesting one is downtown la .

A lot of the areas around downtown too like echo park , Koreatown have also become a lot more desirable and prices have gone up a lot .
Median home price in echo park now over 800,000
This is the neigborhood that had a really bad reputation and there was even a book and movie based on the area called Mi Vida Loca about gang life in echo park .

One theory is that a lot of gang members moved out to Lancaster or Palmdale as those areas developed .
If they didn't end up dead or in jail .

[highlanderfil]

Originally Posted by buffyuna

Where are these $56k people living, in the outskirts or Long Beach?

In a decent enough 2-bedroom condo in Encino, paying off a fairly reasonable mortgate.

[jm1982]

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by a3hourtour

How is someone making $56k a year spending $2k a month on rent?
I was born in L.A. and moved to the midwest almost 30 years ago. I am horrified at the cost of housing there these days. I guess if you were in that awesome 4plex in West Hollywood at $800 a mo in 1985 and are still in it today with rent control you are ok but the prices I am seeing on Craigslist are unbelievable. I'd consider moving back to Santa Monica or West Hollywood near Santa Monica and maybe Sweetzer area but I can't afford the price these days; not on retirement and part time work-
How do most do this?

easy answer: If you make 56k you are not spending 2k on rent. If you are living in a prime area, you have lived there a long and are rent controlled, or have roommates (could be a spouse or partner as well) to help split the rent.

To rent a decent one bedroom in an area like WeHo or West LA, ALONE, you basically need to be making at least 80k a year.

Santa Monica and Beverly Hills? Closer to 100k.

That's what the market became. As recently as 2010 middle class people making 56k a year could afford a one bedroom to themselves in WeHo or West LA. I still don't entirely get what happened. It's not as if the city got that much more populated or crowded in 6 years...

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by disgruntled la native

easy answer: If you make 56k you are not spending 2k on rent. If you are living in a prime area, you have lived there a long and are rent controlled, or have roommates (could be a spouse or partner as well) to help split the rent.

To rent a decent one bedroom in an area like WeHo or West LA, ALONE, you basically need to be making at least 80k a year.

Santa Monica and Beverly Hills? Closer to 100k.

That's what the market became. As recently as 2010 middle class people making 56k a year could afford a one bedroom to themselves in WeHo or West LA. I still don't entirely get what happened. It's not as if the city got that much more populated or crowded in 6 years...

A lot of it was that building pretty much stopped.
Also L.A seems to have grown more attractive as a hotspot for the global wealthy. It has been for a while, but now seems to be even more so now.

Also the rise of wealth in Asia especially China and South Korea. L.A is very attractive for them I'd say more so than NYC.

Many wealthy Chinese want their kids to be educated in the U.S, L.A or CA is going to be the #1 destination.

Look at how areas in the San Gabriel Valley have grown and the number of asian restaurants have grown in L.A.

[seain dublin]

Originally Posted by buffyuna

What is your definition of a decent neighborhood and how long ago did you see these cheap studios? The studio apartments I for that price are in sketch areas and the reviews say they have roaches, bed bugs, and homeless people. Its not until you get up to 2.3k that you find decent apartments like this one.



Meanwhile you could get that in Florida for like $700 ugh!

No, you couldn't. You have a skewed view of COL in other places.

While the rents are lower, so are the salaries. You cut your salary by 50%, but only cut your living expenses by 25%, you're worse off than living in a higher COL area, with a much higher salary.

And in FL you will spend most of your time indoors most of the year, it's a miserable with the humidity.

[dylan_505]

Originally Posted by seain dublin

No, you couldn't. You have a skewed view of COL in other places.

While the rents are lower, so are the salaries. You cut you salary by 50%, but only cut your living expenses by 25%, you're worse off than living in a higher COL area, with a much higher salary.

And in FL you will spend most of your time indoors most of the year, it's a miserable with the humidity.

It really depends what job you have or the company you work for.

My wife would keep her same salary she has here in LA even if we moved to the company office in Florida, North Carolina or Georgia. A lot of people she worked with actually moved to the Atlanta office and said it was the best decision they have ever made. 90k goes a lot further in Atlanta than LA. We have thought about it but we are pretty happy here for now.

But of course not all jobs will keep the same salary. If you're an admin assistant in LA you probably will have a higher salary than an admin assistant in Orlando.

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by jm1982

A lot of it was that building pretty much stopped.
Also L.A seems to have grown more attractive as a hotspot for the global wealthy. It has been for a while, but now seems to be even more so now.

Also the rise of wealth in Asia especially China and South Korea. L.A is very attractive for them I'd say more so than NYC.

Many wealthy Chinese want their kids to be educated in the U.S, L.A or CA is going to be the #1 destination.

Look at how areas in the San Gabriel Valley have grown and the number of asian restaurants have grown in L.A.

Yes, but it's just so extreme. Was life really that different in 2009 or 2010? So strange.

[Derpistan]

Originally Posted by disgruntled la native

Yes, but it's just so extreme. Was life really that different in 2009 or 2010? So strange.

Uhh...do you remember how many foreclosures there were still on banks' books in 2009 or 2010??

Or what the employment rate was like?

[YoungTraveler2011]

someone has to roll our burritos & flip our burgers, OP.