MN to Santa Monica - looking for neighborhood (or city) recommendations Please! (Burbank: fit in, HOA fees)

[MN2LA2021]

Myself, husband (early 30’s) and daughter (2 months) are relocating to LA for work. His position will be in Santa Monica and I will be continuing to work from home. I’m looking for recommendations (I searched for some similar questions but the threads seem old or I am a terrible searcher) for places to live. We’ll have corporate housing for the first 5 months and are hoping to use that time to narrow down where we want to purchase a home. Our budget is max $1.6M but lower obviously is better. Looking for a single family home 3-4 bedrooms 2 bathrooms and in a decent school district. We aren’t into clubs or nightlife but do enjoy breweries and good restaurants. Also would like to keep the commute to Santa Monica around 30-40 minutes. Any recommendations? Is Woodland Hills, Hollywood, Redondo Beach, or Burbank good areas to look? Santa Monica looks great but I don’t think a house is going to be in our budget lol

[Kings Gambit]

What neighborhood will your corporate housing be located? I ask because if you are going to be there 5 months that gives you quite a long time to consider for yourselves where you'd want to be. Most places that offer corporate housing are in relatively good locations. Also, Im sure it wouldnt have been offered by your husbands new employer if it were outside of reasonable commuting distances to where he's working in Santa Monica.

[thenext88]

The traffic from the other side of the hill is brutal and no amount of time is worth being lost with a child that young. Maybe when they're older and going to school, but your husband will lose at least 2 hours of his day, every day that he drives into work if you choose something like Woodland Hills or Burbank.

Start out in Santa Monica. You have a 2 month old - you won't need more space for another year. You might find that you prefer a nicely renovated 3/2 townhome in Santa Monica so your husband has zero commute, and you'll be walking distance to many nice restaurants, your pediatrician, your primary care, the beach, and even the Expo Line if you decide to make the occasional trip downtown.

Rent or consider spending $1.5M for nice renovated 3/2 townhome in Santa Monica. That's my opinion. You'll either love the new car free life that Santa Monica offers, or you'll find other locations you prefer to settle down as you get to visit them on a more regular basis.

[MN2LA2021]

Originally Posted by thenext88

The traffic from the other side of the hill is brutal and no amount of time is worth being lost with a child that young. Maybe when they're older and going to school, but your husband will lose at least 2 hours of his day, every day that he drives into work if you choose something like Woodland Hills or Burbank.

Start out in Santa Monica. You have a 2 month old - you won't need more space for another year. You might find that you prefer a nicely renovated 3/2 townhome in Santa Monica so your husband has zero commute, and you'll be walking distance to many nice restaurants, your pediatrician, your primary care, the beach, and even the Expo Line if you decide to make the occasional trip downtown.

Rent or consider spending $1.5M for nice renovated 3/2 townhome in Santa Monica. That's my opinion. You'll either love the new car free life that Santa Monica offers, or you'll find other locations you prefer to settle down as you get to visit them on a more regular basis.

We’ll be in Santa Monica to start. I guess I never thought we could afford anything in Santa Monica. Although, we’d probably need to adjust the budget down for a townhouse since I’d assume the HOA fees will be high. You’re confirming my fear regarding the commute to Woodland Hills. I know traffic and commute in LA are unavoidable but we’d like to reduce the pain as much as possible. Thanks for your thoughts.

[HB2HSV]

Originally Posted by MN2LA2021

Myself, husband (early 30’s) and daughter (2 months) are relocating to LA for work. His position will be in Santa Monica....
Also would like to keep the commute to Santa Monica around 30-40 minutes. Any recommendations? Is Woodland Hills, Hollywood, Redondo Beach, or Burbank good areas to look? Santa Monica looks great but I don’t think a house is going to be in our budget lol

You're right that your budget will not fit in a SFR in Santa Monica and none of the places you mentioned will fit into your commuting time.

Suggest you look further South like Palms, Westchester, anywhere just north of the airport. If you're willing to settle for a townhouse that will open up better areas such as W. LA, Beverly Glen, etc.

[Grlzrl]

Originally Posted by MN2LA2021

Myself, husband (early 30’s) and daughter (2 months) are relocating to LA for work. His position will be in Santa Monica and I will be continuing to work from home. I’m looking for recommendations (I searched for some similar questions but the threads seem old or I am a terrible searcher) for places to live. We’ll have corporate housing for the first 5 months and are hoping to use that time to narrow down where we want to purchase a home. Our budget is max $1.6M but lower obviously is better. Looking for a single family home 3-4 bedrooms 2 bathrooms and in a decent school district. We aren’t into clubs or nightlife but do enjoy breweries and good restaurants. Also would like to keep the commute to Santa Monica around 30-40 minutes. Any recommendations? Is Woodland Hills, Hollywood, Redondo Beach, or Burbank good areas to look? Santa Monica looks great but I don’t think a house is going to be in our budget lol

It might be doable in Redondo Beach. I don't know much about the schools. Just go look at a few houses and look at the school rankings on there. I commuted to SM from RB years ago and I took surface streets, up PCH. Took about 50 minutes. Take a look at West LA as well.

[Grlzrl]

Take a look at this:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...20500420_zpid/

It needs some work though.

[Grlzrl]

Redondo:

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...8_M13749-76339

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...8_M26361-83620

Schools actually rank higher than I would have thought.

[Grlzrl]

Originally Posted by MN2LA2021

Myself, husband (early 30’s) and daughter (2 months) are relocating to LA for work. His position will be in Santa Monica and I will be continuing to work from home. I’m looking for recommendations (I searched for some similar questions but the threads seem old or I am a terrible searcher) for places to live. We’ll have corporate housing for the first 5 months and are hoping to use that time to narrow down where we want to purchase a home. Our budget is max $1.6M but lower obviously is better. Looking for a single family home 3-4 bedrooms 2 bathrooms and in a decent school district. We aren’t into clubs or nightlife but do enjoy breweries and good restaurants. Also would like to keep the commute to Santa Monica around 30-40 minutes. Any recommendations? Is Woodland Hills, Hollywood, Redondo Beach, or Burbank good areas to look? Santa Monica looks great but I don’t think a house is going to be in our budget lol

I would stay away from Hollywood. Seedy and probably some crime. I agree with people who say spend some time looking at neighborhoods when you are in the corporate housing.

[Grlzrl]

This one is sold but it might be possible:

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...4_M29715-87007