New to City, Searching for Middle Class Areas in LA (Los Angeles: middle-class, condo)

[LAXmover1]

Hi y'all,

I'm moving with my family to LA later this year. Coming from the South, home prices are indeed everything we'd feared- extraordinarily high. That's where you all come in

I have a high schooler and a middle schooler, and both my wife and I will be working in LA downtown. We are looking for a family friendly neighborhood, and our budget is 750k-850k at the max. Hopefully, we can get a 4 bed/3 bath home in that price range of reasonable size. Excellent public schools are a must. With the Los Angeles area being absolutely massive, we are very confused on where to start and where to concentrate our search. We would prefer a commute that isn't too long but that may be unavoidable.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated, and I look forward to hearing your comments! Thanks!

[Returning2USA]

Middle Class in LA?

It's a huge area.

There is middle-class affordability, but I'm starting to wonder how much of it.

Others can give much more info than me.


Welcome to LA.

[Count David]

Choose 1 of the 3:

-good schools for the kids
-nice house
-short commute

You will not get more than 1.

[sean1the1]

I would recommend the Porter Ranch area on the northside of the San Fernando valley. There are some homes available in your price range, the size you'd like, extremely safe area, with great schools! It's an upper middle class area median household income of $105k, but it's still in LA city limits.

I also recommend Northridge as well just south of Porter Ranch a middle class neighborhood with good schools, and nice homes in your price range.

Both have a commute time to Downtown of 30-1hr. If neither one of those interests you there's always Santa Clarita, Semi Valley, Thousand Oaks, and Oak park all of winch have what you're looking for albeit a little further out.

As posters alluded to earlier LA is massive, LA county alone has more people than 41 states it's always imperative to zero in on a specific area i.e. San Fernando valley or San Gabriel Valley. Both of winch are larger than most cities still.

[sean1the1]

Originally Posted by Count David

Choose 1 of the 3:

-good schools for the kids
-nice house
-short commute

You will not get more than 1.

The OP can definitely get the first 2, but the "short commute" is out. DTLA is the worst place to work commute wise, but it's doable.

[MuscleCar]

San Dimas and La Verne have good schools. You could ride the train to work.

[socal88]

You're going to have to accept a long commute to live in areas with great public schools at your price range.

As noted, San Dimas and La Verne (I'd also add Claremont) are solid, safe areas with good public schools where you can still get something more than a shack. And the plus side is that you can take the train.

I'd also recommend Thousand Oaks and Santa Clarita. Better parts of north Orange County such as Orange and Fullerton might have a couple houses in your range, but it's few and far between.

You will have a 2-3 hour round-trip commute if you decide to live in any of these areas.

[nightlysparrow]

I would NOT recommend Thousand Oaks or Oak Park which have no train service.
Simi Valley has a train; the time from there to LA Union Station takes slightly over an hour, not counting the added time go to and from the stations or if you need an addition bus downtown (and don't minimize this; traffic on the streets is jammed, too). The cost is $280 for a monthly pass.

Santa Clarita is way nicer than Simi Valley, and has nearly the same time schedule, and the monthly pass is less expensive at $210.

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by sean1the1

I would recommend the Porter Ranch area on the northside of the San Fernando valley. There are some homes available in your price range, the size you'd like, extremely safe area, with great schools! It's an upper middle class area median household income of $105k, but it's still in LA city limits.

I also recommend Northridge as well just south of Porter Ranch a middle class neighborhood with good schools, and nice homes in your price range.

Both have a commute time to Downtown of 30-1hr. If neither one of those interests you there's always Santa Clarita, Semi Valley, Thousand Oaks, and Oak park all of winch have what you're looking for albeit a little further out.

As posters alluded to earlier LA is massive, LA county alone has more people than 41 states it's always imperative to zero in on a specific area i.e. San Fernando valley or San Gabriel Valley. Both of winch are larger than most cities still.

Just be sure to Google “Aliso Canyon” OP.

[Spikett]

Agreed that for what you are looking for and since you will be working downtown that you need to pick a location where you can ride the train to work. It'll be a long ride but not as long as driving from these areas would be.

There are some older homes in your price range in Burbank - which is its own city with school, police, government, etc. A lot closer to downtown and you could take the Red Line train instead of Metrolink. Burbank is a good area (it's where I live) but to get in at your price range you'd need to settle for an older home - something completely livable but not recently updated. Not in the Burbank Hills but on the flat (way cheaper plus there is a risk of fire and mudslides in the hills).

Note that all of the areas mentioned get really, really hot in the summer (into October it can be 90 degrees). Having a pool is nice if you want to consider a nice condo instead of a SFH - you'd get a lot more bang for your buck.