A native Angeleno who is considering leaving LA for good (Los Angeles: apartment, condo)

[anonymous1870]

Hello people,

I was born and raised in LA and went to college in NorCal. I went to Ohio State for grad school (go Bucks!) and just came back about a month ago to start my new career (healthcare). Here's the thing: now that I'm back home, which I was dying to do while in Ohio, I feel like my perspective on LA has permanently shifted. The high cost of living, the extreme traffic, and the realization that it's almost 100% likely that I will never be able to afford a house here are making me seriously consider moving out of state. In Columbus I saw how life was so much easier - you can actually buy a home in your 20s, traffic really isn't too bad even during rush hour (compared to LA traffic), and you don't feel like you have to fight strenuously all the time to get what you want/get **** done. Even though I don't want to live in Cbus for a number of reasons, I have a soft spot for it because it showed me a different way of life that I came to really appreciate.
LA will always be home. There really is no place like it. And in spite of the many good parts of Cbus, living there also made me realize that I took many things about LA for granted. Nevertheless, Cbus spoiled me too. I got a much higher QOL there, and I'm having a hard time re-adjusting to the high COL here. I am considering moving to another state in the West Coast where I can get more bang for my buck. I do know that it's not going to be THAT much cheaper, but even a little bit helps. I was thinking of cities in Oregon and Washington in particular. I'm not keen on Arizona (too hot).
I'd like to know if any Angelenos have dealt with this issue or are currently dealing with it. What are you planning on doing?

[JohnG72]

Im in my 40's and without a promotion or two, or a substantial market correction(It doesn't have to be like 2008-2011, but even with a promotion anything over $600k is too much...I refuse to be house poor and will not go over 4x income), I will not be buying a place in Southern California when I retire.

Las Vegas is a nice option and I'll easily be able to buy a house cash when I retire. I have a really outstanding retirement and my wife and I have also discussed the Big Island as well(houses are very inexpensive, food is outrageously expensive and taxes are substantial....but entertainment costs are marginal and the ability to take weekday flights is something that relaxes costs. My only fear there is healthcare).

California is just hella expensive to live in and theres significant QOL issues.

[V8 Vega]

With a dozen tax raising initiatives on the Nov. ballot I'd get the hell out of this Communist party dominated hell on earth too.

[neutrino78x]

OP, the medical field is a well compensated field. Why do you say you will never be able to buy a condo, at least? A registered nurse makes $30/hr and a nurse practitioner makes 100k. Eh, even if you can't buy the condo by yourself, you can at least have a really nice room in a nice shared apartment.

Eh, I only make $14/hr. And I live in Silicon Valley (as in Google, Apple, Intel, HP), which is easily as expensive as Los Angeles, probably more so. I am paying 500 per month to share a one bedroom apartment with my dad; I moved back with him a couple years ago. I could move out, but then I wouldn't be able to help him with his rent, and I would likely be sharing the same room with someone else, so I'm going to stay here a few more months until I get a better job. I will probably never be able to buy a single family home here. But I grew up here. And it's Silicon Valley.

Sure, you can move to a flyover state, and the single family home will be cheap. But there's nothing to do except stay in your cheap single family home.

In Los Angeles, you have parks and libraries and movie theaters and museums right outside your door. You're in one of the world's Great Cities, where things happen.

[Finper]

Um my friend works in a library and volunteers at a theater in Kansas so pretty sure other states have places to go to... She also owns her own home and dosn't have to share a 1 bdrm apt. Some people here are so brainwashed it's bizarre.

To the op I don't blame you for leaving I'm right behind you. Even though I own my place I'm over so cal

[Freddy K]

Not the same at all..
you missed. the point.

[neutrino78x]

Originally Posted by Finper

Um my friend works in a library and volunteers at a theater in Kansas so pretty sure other states have places to go to...

Yeah but it's not, you know, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art or the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits or the California Science Center. It's a small town library/theater etc.

She also owns her own home and dosn't have to share a 1 bdrm apt.

Yeah, because a home is like ten dollars there. It's an undesirable flyover state. Hence the low price. I have to share a one bedroom because I only make $14/hr. If I made 100k -- the median salary here (middle class salary) -- I could afford an apartment in Silicon Valley without roommates.

[nightlysparrow]

The LA Metro (2016 est.) has anywhere from 13 million to 17 million people depending on what is considered as the "metro." That's like the population of the London metro. The New York City metro is 20 million. So your home town is up there with the world's largest cities, just to get the apples and oranges part said.

I'd say that many if not most people who live in cities with concentrated populations of those magnitudes, and who have also spent time living in smaller metros, acquire the same perspective you have. Some of those people love it smaller, some don't. Depends on how urbanized you want to live, how ambitious you are, the type of work you do, weather, politics, many factors. The grass is not always greener, and the trade-offs must be worth it.

The Columbus metro is only about 2 million, which is like the Sacramento metro. You could probably afford Sacramento.

[volosong]

Originally Posted by anonymous1870

...I'd like to know if any Angelenos have dealt with this issue or are currently dealing with it. What are you planning on doing?

I know exactly what you are feeling. Was born here in L.A., as was my father. Growing up in the 50s and 60s, I used to think L.A. was the absolute best place in the world. What can be better?

Then I joined the Navy and started visiting exotic foreign lands with unfamiliar cultures. Came back afterward and it dawned on me that 'this place sux'. However, I raise my family here and built a career. When I retire next March, I will be leaving for the home of my father's parents and grandparents, (in the northern Rocky Mountains).

There is so much good here. However, the political imbalance has resulted in an infrastructure that cannot accommodate the unsustainable and increasing congestion as well as a stupid silly cost-of-living.


.

[Financialguy]

I was raised in LA in the 50's and 60's too. But having traveled after college (I was CA educated too), I realized California's dream was rapidly in decline and we got out while the getting was good in the early 90's. I like to visit on occasion and enjoy the things that are there to do but I'm very happy to leave after a week or two and don't miss living in California or dealing with its decline whatsoever. Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado all have their own problems but not like California and any of them are better choices for lifestyle and your sanity.

The middle class is being put out of business in California and their the ones that are hurt the most. The wealthy and servant class are what will remain in another 20-30 years unless California self-corrects (I don't believe it will). The middle class is slowly merging into the servant class.