New to City, Searching for Middle Class Areas in LA

[Texamichiforniasota]

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.

Porter Ranch, or another North Valley area was my first thought as well. The budget will be close, but here's one:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...20199581_zpid/

Burbank would be my other thought, but the house won't be big and anything in your budget won't be too updated:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...20046648_zpid/

Santa Clarita might work, but it's a long commute. Parts of the San Gabriel Valley might also work.

[RationalExpectations]

Originally Posted by LAXmover1

We are looking for a family friendly neighborhood, and our budget is 750k-850k at the max.

There are several family friendly neighborhoods where you can buy a nice house with a $750K-$850K down payment.

[sean1the1]

Originally Posted by RationalExpectations

There are several family friendly neighborhoods where you can buy a nice house with a $750K-$850K down payment.

Right lol I'd have so many recommendations for that. Lol

[LoveMeSomeSFVHouses]

Originally Posted by Texamichiforniasota

Porter Ranch, or another North Valley area was my first thought as well. The budget will be close, but here's one:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...20199581_zpid/

Burbank would be my other thought, but the house won't be big and anything in your budget won't be too updated:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...20046648_zpid/

Santa Clarita might work, but it's a long commute. Parts of the San Gabriel Valley might also work.

My first thought is Burbank, but it'll likely be a 3 bedroom or need work because the dollar won't go as far as the North Valley - which definitely is a good option as well. Granada Hills Charter High is one of the best schools in the state and the $ will go further. It doesn't have to be Porter Ranch though... both Granada Hills or Northridge can feed into GHCHS.

Going to Simi or Santa Clarita or Thousand Oaks will have a crazy commute. I used to work DTLA for a housing provider when I moved to LA and it took me about 30-45 mins from Toluca Lake in the mornings to get to work. I could see other parts of the Valley still being doable but going past the Valley would be rough.

Valley Village would be feeding into North Hollywood High (ranked 8/10 on GreatSchools), and you might find something on the fringe or in NoHo that would stillwork. There's a whole slew of addresses in that area that border Valley Village and Toluca that are nice but less expensive because they have a NoHo address.

[danielw_]

Have you considered looking at homes in the Verdugos, particularly La Cañada or La Crescenta? Both are about as far from Downtown as Valley Village/North Hollywood, but the majority of your commute will be on the Glendale Freeway (Fwy 2), which is nowhere near as busy as the 101, the freeway you would have to take if you were traveling from North Hollywood.

As for public schools, La Cañada and La Crescenta are home to some of the best public high schools in LA county. La Cañada High School is rated 10/10 on greatschools, and Crescenta Valley High school is rated 9/10.

Depending on the condition of the house you are searching for, you may be sacrificing some square footage if you choose these neighborhoods over the San Fernando Valley.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by danielw_

Have you considered looking at homes in the Verdugos, particularly La Cañada or La Crescenta?

The OP is priced out of both cities; the more affordable of the two, La Crescenta, has an average home price in the $900 K range.

[MuscleCar]

Again, San Dimas or La Verne

[waltchan]

Glendale, CA.

[FullBloodedWhiteMale]

Originally Posted by LAXmover1

I have a high schooler and a middle schooler,
both my wife and I will be working in LA downtown.
We are looking for a family friendly neighborhood,
budget is 750k-850k at the max.
4 bed/3 bath home in that price range of reasonable size.
Excellent public schools are a must.

Since both working downtown, you could both take the train or leverage the carpool lanes.
Simi Valley
Irvine/Mission Viejo
Placentia (not sure if there's a train there yet). Yorba Linda

I-5 in the south LA County is under construction but it will probably be bad forever,
101 from Conejo Valley will always be bad so I'd hesitate to recommend it.

Looking at this map.