Living between Santa Monica and Northridge (Woodland, Nice: rental, houses, neighborhood)

[onubita]

Hi,

I will be moving soon to the LA area from Spain. My wife will have a job in Northridge and I will have it in Santa Monica. We have two kids.

I am doing my research about best possibilities for areas to live. I know the commute westbound is worse, but we need to be closer to the Valley, as my wife is not used to drive.

Our main choice is Sherman Oaks, considering also Encino and Tarzana. Thinking also of Woodland Hills in case 27 is an option to commute to Santa Monica.

Has anyone experienced a similar situation? Any ideas, hints?

Thanks so much

Carlos

[amc760]

Someone on here mentioned Lake Balboa as being the most central point to those two places.

Its in the valley, really close to the 405. Dont know what the commutes like, but im sure its in the neighborhood of an hour to SM

[Charles]

Originally Posted by onubita

I will be moving soon to the LA area from Spain. My wife will have a job in Northridge and I will have it in Santa Monica. We have two kids.

Looking to rent or buy a home?
What is your budget for a home?
How old are your kids?
Have you researched schools? Would you consider private schools?
What will your working hours be?
What is your maximum acceptable one way commute time in minutes?

[onubita]

Originally Posted by Charles

Looking to rent or buy a home?
What is your budget for a home?
How old are your kids?
Have you researched schools? Would you consider private schools?
What will your working hours be?
What is your maximum acceptable one way commute time in minutes?

Thanks Charles:
I will rent (around 2500/month budget)
Kids are in elementary school both.
I have done serious research, will go for public. I know sherman oaks, tarzana, encino, woodland hills, north hills, have very good schools
Working 9 to 5, with some flexibility to do, for instance, 8 to 4 or similar
Anything around 30 minutes would be great. More than an hour would kill me

[katenik]

Originally Posted by onubita

Thanks Charles:
I will rent (around 2500/month budget)
Kids are in elementary school both.
I have done serious research, will go for public. I know sherman oaks, tarzana, encino, woodland hills, north hills, have very good schools
Working 9 to 5, with some flexibility to do, for instance, 8 to 4 or similar
Anything around 30 minutes would be great. More than an hour would kill me

are your children close to being out of elementary school? many of the places you are considering do not have good middle and high schools. keep in mind that you don't get a choice of school just because it is in the same community. if you found a good school in tarzana, for instance, it isn't necessarily the one to which your address is zoned.

[onubita]

Originally Posted by katenik

are your children close to being out of elementary school? many of the places you are considering do not have good middle and high schools. keep in mind that you don't get a choice of school just because it is in the same community. if you found a good school in tarzana, for instance, it isn't necessarily the one to which your address is zoned.

Good point, katenik. They will be second and fourth grade. I just checked for "excellent" K-5 schools. Will do a second search on middle/high schools. And yes, I am aware about the "zone of influence" of schools, so we will check in LAUSD page to be sure possible houses to live in are within the boundaries of our favorite elementaries.

[Petrala]

Originally Posted by onubita

Hi,

I will be moving soon to the LA area from Spain. My wife will have a job in Northridge and I will have it in Santa Monica. We have two kids.

I am doing my research about best possibilities for areas to live. I know the commute westbound is worse, but we need to be closer to the Valley, as my wife is not used to drive.

Our main choice is Sherman Oaks, considering also Encino and Tarzana. Thinking also of Woodland Hills in case 27 is an option to commute to Santa Monica.

Has anyone experienced a similar situation? Any ideas, hints?

Thanks so much

Carlos

I'm familiar with the area in between balboa and white oak, victory and vanowen. I don't know if there are places to rent in this area, it's a very solid community where most people own. but it's a good mix of young couples, young families, some retirees. There is a fire station on Louise, a very good high school (birmingham), a junior high, a major recreational area and dog park about 3 blocks away. THE school you probably want to get your kids into, if you can though is VAS, the Valley Alternative school. Parent Reviews of Valley Alternative Magnet - Van Nuys, California - CA It's a K12 which means your kids get a continuity of communit, and they do stress coummunity.

As for the neighborhood, each block has a neighborhood watch program and there's no gang violence or any major crime. Easy access to the 101 and 405 as well as limited traffic in the residential area off of victory and vanowen.

I think it's a quietly great part of the valley, most people don't know of Lake Balboa area yet so prices and value for your money is still really good.

[onubita]

Thanks so much for the detail, Petrala. My concern with Lake Balboa, looking at a map, is commute. Do you think I could keep the commute to Santa Monica to an hour each way? Would it be much shorter going down to Sherman Oaks?

Will definitely check for rental options in the area!

[Petrala]

Originally Posted by onubita

Thanks so much for the detail, Petrala. My concern with Lake Balboa, looking at a map, is commute. Do you think I could keep the commute to Santa Monica to an hour each way? Would it be much shorter going down to Sherman Oaks?

Will definitely check for rental options in the area!

If you could avoid it, I'd just live in Santa Monica and avoid the commute!!! lol.

But if you lived in parts of Tarzana, you'd have to navigate to the 101 about the same distance as Lake Balboa is to the 101,maybe even more so. If you can afford it, living in Encino or Sherman oaks near Sepulveda/101/405 is going to shave off a lot of time off your daily commute. The problem is those locations are really pricey rental or purchase wise, so if you have it go for it. Example....Beautiful Remodeled Encino Home with Pool, Huge Yard and More (http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/apa/690302364.html - broken link). NICE place. But $7k a month. Here's a pretty nice Lake Balboa version. Only $2700/month. Charming House for Rent (http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/apa/688902497.html - broken link)

So, that's why I say, if you are finding yourself looking at Tarzana housing, Encino housing that is west of Balboa, or Sherman Oaks that is near Woodman, then you're going to have a similiar commute to Lake Balboa. You might as well save money.

[ParkTwain]

Why would both parents of young children (elementary school age) want to commute more than 30 min from the childrens' school? Seems like a bad idea to me. At least one parent should work in the same locale as the school.