Moving to LA in July - Need Advice (Long Beach, Torrance: for sale, apartments)

[Kmedic]

We are a family of three, my wife and I and our 5 month old son. We are moving from San Fran down to LA at the beginning of July and are looking to rent a place for 6-12 months before buying a house. We are ideally looking for a three+ bedroom apartment, condo, or house, within the $2500-3200 price range.

As far as the commute, I'll be working in offices in downtown LA, Beverly Hills, and Torrance throughout the week. I'm thinking somewhere on the west side would be best.

Anybody that could give us advice on where to live, and whether an apartment vs. condo vs. house would be better to rent, would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

[CESpeed]

Excellent link: craigslist: los angeles classifieds for jobs, apartments, personals, for sale, services, community, and events. For your price range, you will have no trouble finding a place on the Westside. I wouldn't worry about the commute. Beverly Hills and Downtown are easily accessed from street travel so you can avoid the congested freeway. And to get to Torrance you'll be traveling against traffic, so you'll sail to Torrance. I travel from L.A. to Long Beach daily and it only takes me 30 - 45 min. As opposed to the people traveling from LB to LA (1 to 2 hours - eek). On the street it would take you about 30 - 45 min depending on which route you take.

[Kmedic]

Between the beach areas, Santa Monica down to Redondo Beach, which area do you think is both the most convenient and nicest?

[BRinSM]

Originally Posted by Kmedic

Between the beach areas, Santa Monica down to Redondo Beach, which area do you think is both the most convenient and nicest?

The closer you are to LA, the more convenient your commute will be, so I would say Santa Monica would be the most convenience for you. Beverly Hills is about 25-30 minutes from Santa Monica and downtown is about 45 minutes. Torrance is a pretty big city, so the drive from Santa Monica to Torrance will vary depending on where exactly you'll be working. Regarding how nice those communitier are, anything within 2 miles of the beach in LA tends to be very nice. The only exception to this might be Venice, which is on the coast and is still pretty rough around the edges.

[the one]

santa monica does seem like the logical option. close enough to BH, south bay, and DT. your budget will make it easier in SM also. good luck

[Kmedic]

What do you all think of west/southwest Torrance, near Redondo Beach, just north of Hollywood Riviera. I had heard this was a nice neighborhood..

[JTGJR]

Kmedic, that is a nice area. Your choice should depend on how much time you'll be in each of the locations. As all have said above, someplace in the middle would average out the travel times. Just for example, rush hour travel times from LAX to:

Downtown- 45mins
BH- 40mins
Torrance-25mins

If you live in Torrance, you're probably looking at 1-1/2hr commutes to downtown and Beverly Hills. So, on the days you're going to those locations, you more than doubling your travel time . . . each way. As far as the South Bay goes, other than Palos Verdes, you can't be further away from freeway access than West Torrance.

So, while South and West Torrance are nice areas, your budget will cover Redondo, Hermosa, Manhattan, El Segundo, Playa Del Rey, etc. as well. All have very highly rated school systems when your little one is ready.

[greggd]

Originally Posted by Kmedic

We are a family of three, my wife and I and our 5 month old son. We are moving from San Fran down to LA at the beginning of July and are looking to rent a place for 6-12 months before buying a house. We are ideally looking for a three+ bedroom apartment, condo, or house, within the $2500-3200 price range.

As far as the commute, I'll be working in offices in downtown LA, Beverly Hills, and Torrance throughout the week. I'm thinking somewhere on the west side would be best.

Anybody that could give us advice on where to live, and whether an apartment vs. condo vs. house would be better to rent, would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

I would recommend the west los angeles and drive to torrance calling it your longest PITA commute of the week.

Try west los angeles brentwood, westwood. Very close to Beverly Hills, 45 minutes to downtown LA roughly depending on time and traffic.

Torrance is hard to get to no matter where you are unless your in Torrance. Torrance areas - some good some pretty bad.

[Kmedic]

Thanks for the info guys.

I'm actually only working in Beverly Hills a half day per week. The bulk of my week will be at a downtown office, next to Good Sam Hospital.

Some have suggested Hancock Park as a place to rent for a year, before buying either there or someplace else on the west side.

One idea I had was if I ended up living in the southbay area like Torrance or PV, I could leave the house early on the days when I go to downtown and workout at a gym there before going to work. That way I'd avoid the morning commute and still be productive.

[irwinm]

I'm not sure where everyone's getting these commute times unless we're talking worst case scenario every day. I just moved to LA from Dallas at the end of last year and initially lived in Santa Monica in an apartment very close to the end of the 10 freeway and beaches - it took me between 20 mins and 35 to commute every day to downtown and back (with an average of around 25 mins) - the traffic going East in the morning to downtown is better than Westbound and vice-versa so you really don't hit the much worse traffic which is going into Santa Monica in the morning and back East in the evening. Beverly Hills would probably be around the same depending on surface street traffic but no more than 30 mins unless there was a big problem.

I have now moved permanently to a house down in Hermosa Beach in the South Bay - very close to Torrance, and my downtown commute averages between 40 and 50 minutes daily in the morning, and usually 35-45 mins in the evening (unless I leave at 5 pm or something when it could take you almost and hour if the 110 is backed up). But if I leave after 7 pm I generally am home in 30-35 mins - Torrance would add another 10 to 15, but South Redondo is only 5 mins south of Hermosa generally - if you go all the way down to the Hollywood Riviera you might add 15 mins depending on surface traffic.

I just wanted to give some perspective from someone who just moved here and had no idea what to expect coming from Dallas and read these forums trying to figure out commute times to various areas. Having done Santa Monica/Downtown for 2-1/2 months and now Hermosa Beach/Downtown for over 3 months, I have found much of the postings here on commute times exaggerated. Of course, if all the freeways have accidents there's nothing you can do...