LA Basin

[Lovehound]

Originally Posted by maximoose

I would consider almost any area in SoCA because travel time is a non issue. But If I were to double my budget, what would an average house payment be on a $400K house?

Now you're within the realm of reason. Yes you could find plenty of houses at $400K, even some nice ones. The 200 was way too low.

As mentioned elsewhere, try some online resources to figure out the payments. (I wouldn't know anyway.) Perhaps let's say $400K with 20 percent down, principal of $320K, term of 30 years, and whatever today's typical mortgage rate is. If the payments come within the ball park of what you can afford then maybe you can afford to move to LA and buy a house here.

[maximoose]

Thank you so much everyone for the positive advice, please keep it coming....Also, thank you for the bankrate.com link....

[CESpeed]

You can find great bargains at auctions. You can even find homes in your original price range. If you get a realtor who specializes in foreclosure and/or bank repo properties, you might get lucky. Good Luck. And if location is really very open, there's a wonderful community call Pine Mountain Club. It's in the Los Angeles National Forest about 45 min north of Los Angeles. Welcome to Pine Mountain Club You can find a home in your price range (if they haven't gone up too much) on 1/3 of an acre.

[katenik]

Originally Posted by maximoose

Do you have to be degrading? Does it make you feel better???

i don't think charles is trying to be degrading. he's just pointing out that you seemingly haven't done the most basic research to find out if this move is doable for your family, and your expectations aren't very realistic. (others have said the same, just not as bluntly.) listen to him; he's one of the best examples of clear thinking and plain-speaking in this forum, and he gives great information...even if it isn't what the questioner wants to hear.

[JTGJR]

The question of commute time still needs to be addressed. You mention that time on the road doesn't matter when your husband needs to leave his home office. But time is relative. You could pick up a reasonably nice place in the the Palm Springs/Palm Desert areas, in Crestwood in the Mountains, etc. But, you're looking at a minimum 2hr drive to downtown (not in rush hour!) and longer to other basin locales.

As for payments, there will be a lot of variables. How much can you put down? What's your credit rating? If you don't have A+ credit, you'll likely need minimum 20% down and you'll still pay a higher APR. If you can qualify, but can only manage a 10% down, now your looking for the seller to carry a second mortgage or you're going to have to pay for Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI). Can you afford and area that is going to be able to provide good schools for your kids? Can you rent for a year or so and build up your down payment? You could find a nice 2BR apartment in a nice area with good schools for less than what you'll pay for a $320K mortgage.

You have a lot stacked against you, but if you spend a significant amount of time researching your situation, you'll come up with something doable for you.

[jdavid93225]

Originally Posted by CESpeed

You can find great bargains at auctions. You can even find homes in your original price range. If you get a realtor who specializes in foreclosure and/or bank repo properties, you might get lucky. Good Luck. And if location is really very open, there's a wonderful community call Pine Mountain Club. It's in the Los Angeles National Forest about 45 min north of Los Angeles. Welcome to Pine Mountain Club You can find a home in your price range (if they haven't gone up too much) on 1/3 of an acre.

Pine Mountain Club is actually a lot further north of L.A. than 45 minutes. It's about 80 miles north of L.A., and timewise, is at least 90 minutes in great traffic (and even longer in bad traffic). Also, it's in the Los Padres National Forest, not the Angeles National Forest (there is no "Los Angeles National Forest"). It is a nice community, but you're not likely to find much there in the $200,000 price range that you would like.

Now that I have that information out of the way, I will suggest that you look in the area near Pine Mountain Club, because there are some bargains to be had if you don't mind living in the area. The communities of Lebec, Frazier Park, Lake of the Woods, and Pinion Pines are all closer to I-5 (and Los Angeles) than Pine Mountain Club, and are generally more affordable. There are some properties within the price range you are looking for, though most of what is available will be slightly more expensive. This area is known locally as "the hill" which encompasses all of the above mentioned communities, and a few other areas, too.

These communities are all relatively rural, and with that come some tradeoffs. There are no major grocery stores or department stores in the area, but there are places that will meet your basic needs (gas, food, hardware, auto parts, etc.). Most people that live "on the hill" drive "off the hill" for work and major shopping. There isn't much locally for employment, but otherwise, it's a great place to live.

As for getting into most of Southern California, you would need to take I-5 south to your destination. The northern parts of the L.A. Basin (Santa Clarita, Antelope, and San Fernando Valleys) can be reached in less than an hour, but some of the southern parts (most of Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties) can be three hours or more away, even in good traffic. Downtown L.A., the "West Side," Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, the San Gabriel Valley, Santa Barbara, the High Desert (Victorville and surrounding towns), and most of Ventura County can all be reached within two hours in most situations. San Diego is about five hours away.

Other parts of California, more commonly considered Central California are only one to three hours away, for the most part. Bakersfield is less than an hour, Fresno is about two and a half, the Central Coast (Santa Maria, Pismo Beach, etc.) is about two hours, and San Luis Obispo is about two and a half hours. I don't know if these areas would be within your husband's area, but if they are, then this area is definitely worth looking into.

[CESpeed]

[quote=jdavid93225;3665167]Pine Mountain Club is actually a lot further north of L.A. than 45 minutes. It's about 80 miles north of L.A., and timewise, is at least 90 minutes in great traffic (and even longer in bad traffic).
/quote]

I can make the drive in about 45 min to an hour. I wasn't counting the trip up the hill (which I should have).

[jdavid93225]

[quote=CESpeed;3666719]

Originally Posted by jdavid93225

Pine Mountain Club is actually a lot further north of L.A. than 45 minutes. It's about 80 miles north of L.A., and timewise, is at least 90 minutes in great traffic (and even longer in bad traffic).
/quote]

I can make the drive in about 45 min to an hour. I wasn't counting the trip up the hill (which I should have).

I can make it from Stevenson Ranch or the western parts of Santa Clarita (not L.A.) to the Frazier Mountain Park offramp in about 35 to 40 minutes, but it takes 6 or 7 minutes to reach Frazier Park, about 10 to reach Lake of the Woods, and close to half an hour to get from the freeway to P.M.C. From L.A. (downtown), it's about 40 to 45 minutes just to reach Santa Clarita in normal (not rush hour) traffic. Even from the San Fernando Valley (most of which is part of the City of L.A.), you can count on 10 to 30 minutes to reach Santa Clarita, depending on where you're coming from, and longer during rush hour. Even in the best circumstances, to get from downtown L.A. (what I think of when I hear someone mention L.A.) to P.M.C. is going to take at least an hour and a half. Often it will take longer.

[dereistic01]

even finding a house for $400k is hard, especially in a good area. houses in good areas usually run $600k and up, and that's for a smaller house.

[Lovehound]

Originally Posted by jdavid93225

I can make it from Stevenson Ranch or the western parts of Santa Clarita (not L.A.) to the Frazier Mountain Park offramp in about 35 to 40 minutes, but it takes 6 or 7 minutes to reach Frazier Park, about 10 to reach Lake of the Woods, and close to half an hour to get from the freeway to P.M.C.

I've driven that same route (Santa Clarita to Pine Mountain Club) to visit my friends in PMC, off rush hours, and it took me 45 minutes

Originally Posted by jdavid93225

Even from the San Fernando Valley (most of which is part of the City of L.A.), you can count on 10 to 30 minutes to reach Santa Clarita, depending on where you're coming from, and longer during rush hour. Even in the best circumstances, to get from downtown L.A. (what I think of when I hear someone mention L.A.) to P.M.C. is going to take at least an hour and a half. Often it will take longer.

I used to commute from Northridge to Santa Clarita (Valencia) and that took me 30 minutes to work (rush hour but the opposite direction from the heavy traffic) and a bit longer returning home. Practically every day I was amazed at the congested, sometimes stopped traffic going the opposite direction. I've thought a thousand times, more actually, that there's no way you could ever get me to commute from Santa Clarita to the San Fernando Valley. I bet that's a one hour commute one way, each direction. That's probably over 10 hours driving every week, in the worst traffic you can imagine.

And that doesn't even include the additional amount to PMC, at least another 45 minutes, so add that and it's perhaps 18-20 hours per week, although the SCV-PMC part would probably not be as bad as the part to the SFV. And of course it would be worse if you commute to beyond like to downtown or the west side. Anybody who would voluntarily do this would be IMO certifiably crazy.