Great Site, need advice from the Best!!!! (Los Angeles, Vista: apartments, leasing)

[aliali]

Hey Everyone:
Have been reading this site, great resource. Please help me with the following questions:
1) If you could spend $3500 to $4000 a month rent, where would you live?
The criteria is:
3 Bedroom & 2 Bath.
Minimum 1700 sqft.
I really want the small town or cute town feeling (e.g. manhattan
beach is cute, but Santa Monica is too crazy for me).
Will be commuting to Santa Monica.
2) A good website to find rentals?
3) For people that had a leased car and move to LA, how does the car registration work?

The more info I get the better.
Thanka
Ali

[TheRealAngelion]

[quote]

Originally Posted by aliali

Hey Everyone:
Have been reading this site, great resource. Please help me with the following questions:
1) If you could spend $3500 to $4000 a month rent, where would you live?
The criteria is:
3 Bedroom & 2 Bath.
Minimum 1700 sqft.
I really want the small town or cute town feeling (e.g. manhattan
beach is cute, but Santa Monica is too crazy for me).
Will be commuting to Santa Monica.

Since you will be commuting to Santa Monica, you shouldn't venture too far from there. So I suggest you look on the Westside primarily. I don't know what the rents are for three bedrooms, but here are some places you might look:
Pacific Palisades
Brentwood
Westwood
Beverly Hills
Playa Vista
You should also reconsider Santa Monica. It's a (big) small city, so there are lots of neighborhoods. The area north of Wilshire near California Street and Montana from 26th street down to Ocean Avenue is very beautiful.
.
[quote]

Originally Posted by aliali

2) A good website to find rentals?

apartments.com, latimes.com, craigslist.com, UCLA Bruin newspaper, Santa Monica Outlook newspaper, Beverly Hills Courier newspaper, and so on.

[quote]

Originally Posted by aliali

3) For people that had a leased car and move to LA, how does the car registration work?

If you lease a car, registration of the vehicle is handled by the car leasing company. However, you will need a drivers license from whereever you are coming from or you will need to apply for one in CA.

[fairweathergolfer]

I would agree with the list given and emphasize you look at apartments in SM around Montana Ave. It has that small town feel you mentioned as does Brentwood. B. just has a bit more traffic, but it is totally like a small town here and not only 'cute' or darling or whatever, but has amazing services.

You get to know people here because they see you all the time. The dentist, the doctor, the check out people, the neighborhood cops at my local market, the owner and wait staff at the diner down the street you name it, it is a regular Mayberry here in Brentwood, with nice boutiques and services galore. It will take you about 15 minutes to drive to work in Santa Monica from Brentwood.

[Des_Demona]

I agree with the above posters. Stick to the Westside, give Brentwood and Santa Monica your full attention and also the palisades. I would stay within 15 miles of where you will be working because traffic can really suck the life right out of you in LA. Typically (and this is only a generalization) you should multiply your commute time by 3 based on what Mapquest or google maps gives you. If I had a job in Santa Monica I would definitely live there. Certain areas of it are a "small town" feel and Brentwood is really nice too. Palisades are super nice but I don't know if they even offer rentals there. Manhattan Beach is really nice but might be too far for you commute-wise.

There's a good resource site: www.westsiderentals.com which is a site where you have to pay a fee to view the listings but they usually have really good deals and information. That's where I found 2 of my places to live.

[aliali]

Thanks everyone, great advice, I had a quick follow up...
The job is actually in Century City. Also, when I go to latimes and the other sites as mentioned, what city do I put. Is Westside a name of the area or city or are there several regions under West Side.......

Thanks everyone...........

[TheRealAngelion]

If you'll be working in Century City, then you might want to look more closely at Beverly Hills to live.

[aliali]

It is my understanding that to be able to find a place with three Bedroom, 2 Bath with roughly 1700 sqft for a house or so in Beverly Hills, for $4000/month, will be very hard to find. Is that fair?Also, what are peoples view on commuting from Hermosa/Redondo Beach area.
Thanks

[WINNIEK]

Hermosa and Redondo Beach are nice cities,but you will be in for a terrible commute.

[puffle]

Originally Posted by aliali

Hey Everyone:
Have been reading this site, great resource. Please help me with the following questions:
1) If you could spend $3500 to $4000 a month rent, where would you live?
The criteria is:
3 Bedroom & 2 Bath.
Minimum 1700 sqft.
I really want the small town or cute town feeling (e.g. manhattan
beach is cute, but Santa Monica is too crazy for me).
Will be commuting to Santa Monica.
2) A good website to find rentals?
3) For people that had a leased car and move to LA, how does the car registration work?

The more info I get the better.
Thanka
Ali

Car reg. is easy and if you are from out of state you will need a smog check. Just go to the dmv website for any questions or call them. If your job is in Century City you should have no problem finding a place to live on your budget in the B.H. area,Westwood, Palms,Brentwood or even Fairfax area of L.a. All good walking cities and close enough to CC. I suggest www.craiglist.com and click on the Los Angeles Area for rentals. or rent.com or L.A. Times. You are lucky to have such a generous budget to work with. What do you do?

[Des_Demona]

Sorry we weren't clear AliAli! Here is what we mean by the West side of Los Angeles:

Northern West Los Angeles Cities/communities

Bel-Air
Roscomare Valley
Beverly Glen
Benedict Canyon
Beverly Crest
Beverly Hills
Trousdale Estates
Beverlywood
Brentwood
Brentwood Circle
Brentwood Glen
Brentwood Hills
Brentwood Park
Bundy Canyon
Kenter Canyon
Crestwood Hills
Mandeville Canyon
Westridge Heights
South Brentwood
Westgate
Century City
Cheviot Hills
Crestview
Malibu
Pacific Palisades
Castellammare
Huntington Palisades
Palisades Highlands
Santa Monica Canyon
Rustic Canyon
Rancho Park
Home Junction
Santa Monica
Ocean Park
Sunset Park
Santa Monica
Sawtelle (V.A. Hospital)
South Robertson
Topanga Canyon
Topanga
West Los Angeles
Sawtelle (Little Osaka)
Westwood - I don't recommend Westwood - too congested, this is where UCLA is.
Holmby Hills


Southern West Los Angeles

Baldwin Hills
Culver City
Del Rey
Ladera Heights
Mar Vista
Westdale
Marina Del Rey
Palms
Westside Village
Playa del Rey
Playa Vista
Venice
Oakwood
Westchester

Most of these places would be worth looking into but again, I would stay within one of these communities. I would avoid Venice though because of the gang problem they have there. If it were me, I would probably live in the North West part of LA (the top portion of the list) and then commute to Culver City. You'll still have a little commute but it won't be horrendous. I hope this list gives you an idea of where to start your searches. Culver City isn't a bad place to live either but they do have the same crime problems like all inner city places do.

Also the website I gave you "www.westsiderentals.com" allows you to search by region too so you can actually select "westside" as an option and it will include those listings.

I hope this photo comes out but this is what you can expect in an area like Brentwood for $3000+ for a 2 bedroom.
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