Affordable Homes in LA-SoCal (Santa Clarita, Lancaster: rental, lawyer, new home)

[Need_affordable_home]

Lets see, your a college student. You dont need to buy and besides rent is cheaper in CA than buying. Almost everywhere else, buying is cheaper than renting. You wont find a good condo in a safe area for under $1500 a month. Why not rent a 3 bedroomer for like $2400 and split it $800 a month times 3 roomates? As for retiring, CA is for the rich. If all they have is a million, they need to retire in some small town with very low costs of living if they want their retirement money to last.

[LivingLikeAGradStudent]

Because you are from a "well-off" family you expect to take your Mercedes and live by yourself in a nice area while going to UCLA? Isn't part of the growth process learning to live with others? And doing so humbly? What guarantees do you have that you will find reasonable work when you graduate? If not, then having your parents buy a retirement house in Hemet (where they could find a new 2K house for 400K) seems foolish. Relax, find a place on campus or with a couple of others and wait for life to happen.

[fastfilm]

Actually, this original poster is doing the right thing, educating herself as to what the reality of So. Cal is. It will be just as shocking to her as it is to others from different economic strata, because our area is indeed expensive.

My own relatives from Tennessee asked me, way back when how many "acres" I bought with my preposterously priced house, which, as we people from L.A. know, is not what we get here. This poster is researching rather than waiting for life to shock her. Good for her.

[Pamtlea]

Your desire for something in the $400,000 range is easy to find in the Ontario area. The north west part of town is nice, and freeway close. There are some nice parts of this valley that aren't well known, have older neighborhoods with big trees, and are filled with nice folks. Ontario is one hour from LA, on a good traffic day , so the Metrolink rail would be the only way to go west.

[hedgefundpirate]

I would tell my parents not move to L.A. The cost of living is very high and what 400 will buy you in Memphis will not buy much here.Check the MLS for the Los Angeles area.The best bet for finding a house in a halfway affordable price range is in the very far suburbs.The commute would be very long to UCLA.Why have you decided to come to L.A. and why do your parents have to come with you.If your parents cannot stand to be away from you I would suggest you consider somewhere else.Your smart if you can get into UCLA so there are many options.

[montevista1]

If you want descent weather move to Phoenix or Vegas you can get something there for 400K. If you must go to UCLA, rent!

[Romanidancer]

My daughter works at UCLA. Her searchon Craigslist got her a single over a garage about 7 miles from campus for $925/mo. in Aug. '05. After a girl was murdered in her alleyway July of 2006 she moved into an apartment with two guys. She has her own room and private bath (a luxury) for $650/mo + 1/3 of the utilities. Her 7 mile commute into the camput usually takes 40 minutes due to traffic. The apartment she moved out of has since been re-rented for over $1,000/mo.

Ditch the Mercedes. Get a Nissan Sentra or Honda Civic, if you need a car at all. Inquire about parking permit costs on campus and insurance costs for the area.

As you attend college you will grow away from your parents and begin to form your own life and make your own choices (it's called growing up). It would not be fair to them to uproot themselves from their home, take on the expense of So. Calif., downsize to maybe a 1,200 sq.ft 2 bedroom condo for $600,000 an hour + drive from campus and then have you say to them that you need your own space and are moving in with friends. Cell phones and airline tickets are a lot cheaper. It's also be cheaper for them to suppliment the cost of your sharing an apartment near campus than the cost of property taxes and mortgages in So. Calif. Insuring a car in the Westwood area alone will give your folks a shock.

By the way, property tax in California is based on the sales price. A $600,000condo has property taxes of over $7,500/yr. Then there are association dues of at least $250/mo before you even add in the mortgage.

Time to fly solo, Mephis girl. Most UCLA students do. You won't be alone. Your parents have got to let you go sooner or later.

Romanidancer

[Need_affordable_home]

Wow I totally agree! Positive rep. for you! Her parents should not spend all their retirement money just to move to expensive CA to be near her. Thats what planes are for. I respect it if my parents dont want to move to where ill move.

[memphisgirl7705]

Woa, I didn't check this thread for a week or so and I have several people on my back.

For one, I am not rich. I'm an only child in a family where my dad makes "good" (it's all general) money. If I had had a sibling, I wouldn't have gotten the mercedes. Don't judge me before you know me, how ignorant is that? I want to be a lawyer, livinglikeagradstudent, I'm sure I could find work in So Cal in that profession.

I told my parents not to follow me out there. My mother just can't fathom this, however. They did want to move to Florida for retirement, but the hurricanes have recently deterred them. My father isn't that crazy about California, and he's talking her into a lake house in Kentucky or something.

I love California. I have visited many times. Something about the state is so beautiful to me, I can't stay away from it, not even trashier parts of LA. I love every part of it, including the hard work I will have to do in order to enjoy this amazing state. There is no way I'm going to any other college than UCLA, maybe Stanford, because my drive to live there is so overwhelming.

I will rent. I don't think I'd want a house, I've been looking at apartments in West Hollywood.

[greggd]

Originally Posted by memphisgirl7705

I will rent. I don't think I'd want a house, I've been looking at apartments in West Hollywood.

West Hollywood commute about 20 minutes without traffic. You can hop a bus down Sunset Blvd which is convenient..to a point.