In all seriousness... what's the appeal? (Los Angeles, Barstow: home, find a job, neighborhood)

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by AnthonyJ34

You can find decent homes for 50k in many areas of the country, but many of them will be in smaller towns. A big issue is that many people want a decent, cheap house, but they also want that house to be located in a nice area of a major industrial city, which is a tough, tough find. Move out to the sticks or to a less populated, rural area and you may find many decent homes at that price. If you are retired or can work from home, then you'd have it made.

Yeah that’s true . There are more opportunities to work from home now with the internet .
For certain types of work of businesses location isn’t that important .

Or look at the “digital nomads” that travel around the world living for months at a time in Thailand or other places .

It seems as the internet and technology continues to advance this will be even more common .

[ryanthegoldengod]

Because if you live in the northeast or midwest, "boring" weather is like paradise. Come live in the northeast and enjoy the six month slog from November through April. Cold, gray, snow, sleet, rain, mud. It's so fun.

That being said.......I would never choose LA over San Diego. The latter seems to have less of all those other issues you mentioned.

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by ryanthegoldengod

Because if you live in the northeast or midwest, "boring" weather is like paradise. Come live in the northeast and enjoy the six month slog from November through April. Cold, gray, snow, sleet, rain, mud. It's so fun.

That being said.......I would never choose LA over San Diego. The latter seems to have less of all those other issues you mentioned.

Yeah I’ve heard a ton of people that grew up there say after decades “I had to get away from the cold weather “ and they end up moving to CA or Florida.
It seems a lot of people never get used to it .

I don’t see putting on with snow on car and plowing it and worrying about frozen pipes and putting on so many heavy jackets and gloves being fun .

I’m kind of surprised especially of how expensive New Jersey is and the property taxes are really insane much higher than L.A

I guess some people must like it to pay that much to live there.

[bobspez]

Depends where in NJ you live. I retired to NJ 10 years ago. Many years ago I lived in LA for about 6 years. Lots of people in my area in Southern NJ drive to the park and ride and take the commuter bus into NYC to work. Three bedroom ranch style homes are available in my neighborhood for $275- $325K on a 100x150 plot. Property taxes are $5200 a year, but it's a deduction on your state income tax.

Originally Posted by jm1982

...
I’m kind of surprised especially of how expensive New Jersey is and the property taxes are really insane much higher than L.A

I guess some people must like it to pay that much to live there.

[Losfrisco]

Originally Posted by ryanst530

You have to realize though that many of the people who praise LA's beauty come from midwest or east coast cities where there is no natural beauty to speak of... Dallas, Houston, St Louis, Chicago, NYC, DC... Anything that resembles beauty in these cities is man-made (or man-placed.. e.g. landscaping).

The LA region has a lot of mountains surrounding it, usually with nice homes built on them, a nice looking peninsula, pretty coastlines, palm trees, etc. No other major US city outside of California has all of these natural features.

I'm from Pittsburgh, where we have natural beauty and man made urbanity. Downtown is positioned at the confluence of three major rivers, there are (real) trees everywhere, hills, cliffs, bridges, tunnels...everywhere. There is almost no where in the metro area where you don't have a dramatic vista of something.

You mentioned palm trees-are those "natural?"

Los Angeles can most accurately be described as what? A semi-desert? "Natural" things that occur in the midwest or east coast had to be engineered in Los Angeles.

That being said, I'd love to move to Los Angeles. It's interesting hearing the perspectives of native born people who want to leave. Don't forget it's perhaps the only world-alpha whatever city with legitimately good weather year round. Check out some of the "big" cities in the midwest. I'd imagine they would get very small, very fast if you're used to the scope of L.A., and then you'd be cold half the time.

Oh it took you 90 minutes to drive from downtown to the beach in Malibu that one day? Now you'll drive 10 hours to the beach in South Carolina.

I remember living in Ohio, before I moved to CA, and meeting some transplants from CA to Ohio, riding east on the familiar "leave California' sentiment wave.

The regret on their faces was palpable.

[d_vader123]

Originally Posted by bobspez

Depends where in NJ you live. I retired to NJ 10 years ago. Many years ago I lived in LA for about 6 years. Lots of people in my area in Southern NJ drive to the park and ride and take the commuter bus into NYC to work. Three bedroom ranch style homes are available in my neighborhood for $275- $325K on a 100x150 plot. Property taxes are $5200 a year, but it's a deduction on your state income tax.

Are property taxes not a deduction on CA income tax?

[bobspez]

Don't know, I imagine so. Just pointing out it wasn't crazy expensive to buy a house or pay property taxes in N.J., within commuting distance to NYC.

Originally Posted by d_vader123

Are property taxes not a deduction on CA income tax?

[WhichWayDoIGo]

The pros of LA are really, really, really great.

The cons are really, really, really, bad.

I make low seven-figures per year, and I find it very difficult comprehend moving to a city so expensive, and a state that will tax me like crazy.

To be fair, I could posted this same comment in a similar thread about NYC.

[MItoBH]

Originally Posted by pwright1

Why do people that were born here think this way? And why do they think people have no right to move here that weren't born here? I came here because I got tired of shoveling snow, dealing with oppressive heat and humidity. LA is not the only overly expensive city in America. I came here from DC and Seattle. They too are quite expensive but why live in those cities and their weather issues when I can live here and look at beautiful flowers and be outdoors year around. I've been a homeowner but have no desire to buy here. And why do people choose to work in far off places and commute long distances? And then complain about traffic. I have a 2 mile commute to work which takes about 15 minutes each way, morning and evening. My commute is the key to my happiness here. I'm able to do things after work like eating out, my photography, going to the park etc. Los Angeles is a great city. I love this city and find it quite interesting. I'm not interested in living in Austin, Indianapolis, Wichita, Atlanta or anywhere else. Yes, they're cheaper but you get what you pay for.

Spot on! I could have written the same thing. Your sentiments mirror mine 100%.

I'm from Michigan, got tired of the wild 4 seasons, especially the 6 month winters, and the stuck in the mud midwestern attitudes and beliefs. I feel freer here in LA, and the diversity of the landscape is vital to my physical and mental health. Unless I get married, or win the lottery, I might not be a homeowner here in the LA area, and I'm ok with that because it's a rip-off to buy a house that is for $1.5 million, but only truly worth $300k anywhere else. Besides that, I'm so glad to live here now.

[pwright1]

Originally Posted by AnthonyJ34

Is Los Angeles really all that beautiful though? The LA Basin is basically a desert. Certain areas are pretty (the beaches, the mountains), but the LA Metro and the surrounding valleys are pretty drab and brown for the most part. And I say this as a lifelong Southern California native. I was born and raised in Cerritos (basically a suburb of Long Beach), and I still live in my hometown. The LA area has a lot to offer and many positives, but I'm not so sure natural beauty is at the top of the list. The few natural areas left within the city are few and far between; the majority of the area is concrete and asphalt and strip malls and housing complexes. And the few remaining hillsides are slowly being eaten up to housing development, so very little of the "natural" LA Basin remains.
But the weather is great for some people (although I personally think it's boring and mundane; the lack of true seasons gets monotonous), and there is a lot to do and see here, so it's a conglomeration of options. And of course jobs are here. But for beauty you have to travel to Big Bear or Laguna Beach or Malibu (or along Angeles Crest Highway).

I'm sorry but this city is beautiful. It has its not so pretty parts and so do all other cities but the views and vistas, some of the neighborhoods, the architecture and some of the natural beauty is pretty nice to me.