Is living in LA still worth it (San Diego, Needles: real estate, homes)

[TimTheEnchanter]

Originally Posted by Keknoob

Also, anyone that thinks AZ has better tacos than LA is on some serious drugs.

Anyone who thinks AZ has better tacos than LA doesn't know a thing about tacos. I hired a boy just out of grad school (U of Oklahoma MBA & undergrad) who kept complaining about "LA" Mexican food compared to OK. I asked him where he was going and he named three places in Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach (where he lived). I embarked on a three month journey with him of a once a week lunch at a real LA Mexican place, hitting multiple regions of Mexican cuisine. He was blown away by how little he understood about Mexican food, especially tacos.

[ohio_peasant]

Originally Posted by williamo

A studio in a nice part of Brentwood is going to be infinitely better for your quality of life, safety and wellbeing than a 3 bed house in like East LA.

Highly contentious, to say the least. That 2-bedroom house in East LA will partake of the general regional appreciation, improving your bottom-line. The studio in Brentwood will be costly... and ultimately is still only a studio.

In diametrical opposition to your post, I'd say, that one of the advantages of LA is that even the dodgy and "undesirable" neighborhoods enjoy good real-estate appreciation. And it's possible to buy a house that "needs work".... proceeding to do no work whatsoever... and later sell it for a profit, anyway.

[williamo]

Originally Posted by ohio_peasant

Highly contentious, to say the least. That 2-bedroom house in East LA will partake of the general regional appreciation, improving your bottom-line. The studio in Brentwood will be costly... and ultimately is still only a studio.

In diametrical opposition to your post, I'd say, that one of the advantages of LA is that even the dodgy and "undesirable" neighborhoods enjoy good real-estate appreciation. And it's possible to buy a house that "needs work".... proceeding to do no work whatsoever... and later sell it for a profit, anyway.

Agree - I didn't say you'd make any money living in Brentwood. It sounded like the OP is renting for now and that seems like safe, desirable well-connected place for them to be.

Agree with you that there definitely was an opportunity to make some money buying in some of the dodgy areas a few years ago. An ex of mine made $300k on a place in Highland Park in just 2 years. It was great financially but having his car broken into multiple times a year and living alone in a place with bars on your windows is simply not for me. Another couple we know have made about $250k in Leimart Park but they can't even take their baby to the park down the street.

The days of making a big profit on cheap property in bad areas is numbered. It's all so overinflated now.

We own a condo in Playa Vista and are making our plans to move out of LA - and we're not even in a bad or dangerous area.

[Csonka]

Now would be a good time to plant your roots

The city takes a while to get to know. And with traffic down and so forth, you can spend a few months exploring without the huge traffic hassle


When things open back up, it's going to be madness

[Chowhound]

Originally Posted by Csonka

Now would be a good time to plant your roots

The city takes a while to get to know. And with traffic down and so forth, you can spend a few months exploring without the huge traffic hassle


When things open back up, it's going to be madness

I'm noticing that afternoon traffic on the freeways is starting to build back up again. It's not as bad as before, but I can definitely tell that more and more people are out driving around now.

I think people are getting covid fatigue and are basically blowing off the stay at home orders.

[ohio_peasant]

Originally Posted by Chowhound

I'm noticing that afternoon traffic on the freeways is starting to build back up again. It's not as bad as before, but I can definitely tell that more and more people are out driving around now.

I think people are getting covid fatigue and are basically blowing off the stay at home orders.

This is true, and this is precisely the result of protracted, intense restrictions.

What sort of a teenager rebels and causes mayhem? It's the kid who gets beaten for any minor offense, who is forced wake every morning at 5 am to milk the cows (without thanks or compensation), who is belittled and stymied and prohibited from having any fun. That is the kid, when finally escaping the parental yoke upon going off to college, who is going to get plastered-drunk, who is going to get mired in drugs, who is likely to end up with a teenage pregnancy and so forth.

Too much of a heavy-hand, will backfire. People are only human, and can only take so much. That holds for Los Angeles, or any other city, or any other country. It is not some blight against Los Angeles, as somehow being flighty, inconsiderate, vapid or selfish. It is a blight against our leadership, but that's a topic for another thread, and another sub-forum.

[Dangerous-Boy]

Originally Posted by Keknoob

That's exactly what I was thinking too.

Also, anyone that thinks AZ has better tacos than LA is on some serious drugs.

you need to go to Yuma then and have some tacos.


I had DARE. I don't do drugs.

[TimTheEnchanter]

Originally Posted by Dangerous-Boy

you need to go to Yuma then and have some tacos.

Yuma is barely AZ. One shift of the Colorado River and it could be Mexico or California. It still isn't as good as LA. It is more akin to San Diego, which is okay for tacos, but less diverse than LA. Most of what you get in SD and Yuma is Sonoran.

[SUPbud]

Originally Posted by Dangerous-Boy

Tacos and margaritas were better in AZ.

whoa whoa whoa, home boy. You just lost all credibility, there.

[goodheathen]

Originally Posted by TimTheEnchanter

I'd say you don't really understand "Los Angeles". There is the City of Los Angeles, County of Los Angeles and the generic "Los Angeles" which can include parts of Orange County.

There are not any wildfires in urban LA. Malibu and the outlying areas can get them, but it certainly isn't every year. The high rates of Covid are in specific zip codes. I'd look at maps to see where that is. The homeless are not "everywhere" they are in select areas too.

It depends on where the job is and where you'd commute from. Los Angeles has many great neighborhoods and other cities, lots of great food and many unique opportunities for recreation.

The homeless are almost everywhere. Visibly, in large groups, no, but they are there, sometimes quietly living in not-derelict vehicles you pass by.

Also, the virus is arguably common enough to be a threat in every part of the county. This is new map the mayor was patting himself on the back about on TV yesterday. Of course it isn't good and leaves out % of residents and other important data points.
https://corona-virus.la/Map

Without a strong, specific reason to, don't move to Los Angeles soon. I'm not a bitter resident, but lately it's bad.