Best way to find a place to live in LA, remotely? (Los Angeles: extended stay, sublets)

[OnMyWayBack]

Hi everyone,

I’m moving from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles in mid November (11/17, to be exact), and was wondering if anyone could offer some advice on a few things.

I’ve actually lived in LA before for several years - in West LA, Park La Brea, Sherman Oaks, and Encino, but have never been through the process of finding a place to live from across the country before, so that’s why I’m asking for assistance now

My job will be at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Burbank and at Glendale Memorial Hospital, & based on what I’ve read already on these boards, some reasonable places to live might include Studio City, North Hollywood, Los Feliz, Silverlake. (not to mention Burbank and Glendale).

Here's a map of the places I'm going to be working (sorry, you'll have to cut and paste into browser):
http://maps.google.decenturl.com/hospitals

While I have a LOT of stuff and would ideally like to purchase a place so I don’t have to worry about unpacking and then repacking to move in the future, I think I’m just going to rent for the time being, since I’m not certain where I’ll be in a few years. I think home prices may still come down a bit and anyway I'm a single guy with no kids, so I'm still mobile.

Basically, my question is, what would be the best way to facilitate finding a place to live before I move there, given that I won’t have too much time to actually be in LA for the search? Also, which neighborhoods would have the best chance of meeting the criteria I've listed below (at the end of this post)?

As it stands, I have tentatively scheduled a flight to LA for the weekend of September 26-29 to see if I can find a place. But I’d like to get as much prepared before then as possible.

I have a general idea of what I’m looking for in a place (see below) - if I gave this information to a realtor, would they be able to look up some places for me so that when I get there later this month, they’ll be able to show those places to me?

Or, is it better to just scour Craigslist, Westside Rentals, Housing Maps, etc, and put together an itinerary on my own for that weekend?

How about apartment brokers, and other sources of possible openings? It just seems rather overwhelming which is why I was wondering if there’s some sort of service (realtors?) that can do the search and set up the viewings, etc.

Another thing I noticed is that a lot of the listings that are currently on the internet are available either immediately or very soon. Is late September too early to be looking for a place to move in on November 17? I’d just prefer to get my address set as early as possible, so that I can arrange all the other things that require an address.

Anyway, thanks in advance for your help!

Here are some things I’m looking for in a place to live, in decreasing order of importance.

- cats ok
- 2+ bedrooms, 2+ bathrooms
- 15-20 minutes to work (burbank+glendale)
- 1300+ sq feet
- lots of windows & sunshine
- rent up to $2500/month
- garage
- built-in washer/dryer
- younger, active neighborhood
- the less neighboring units, the better (i.e. corner townhouse, detached house, etc)
- near a gym with a pool
- 2 floors

[timelesschild]

I can only tell you how I did it myself, which is pretty much as follows:

Flew out here ready to hit the ground and spend all day hunting. Spent the 2 months previous studying like a freak as to which areas would be good, so that helped establish search parameters from the start. Sounds like you've already done that.

Scanned craigslist and iTechMLS, got several listings together that way, and got a driving itinerary set up. Followed the plan, took the best option from the ones I had visited. I found a place the first day, and have been VERY happy with it. It could realistically take 2 or 3 days, though. It depends on whether you are planning to stay in your rental or just use it as a launching pad for a more long-term house.

I am not sure whether a realtor would help you in your search or not.

Good luck!

[BeenAroundTheBlock]

I just went through this process with my daughters and it was difficult. I would suggest you sign up with Westside Rentals because they have a lot of places for rent on their website. It costs $60 to join for two months, but it's worth it. You should line up everything you want to see for your visit and make your deposit on a place then. The only problem we had was that most of the rentals were "available now" and not a few months in advance. There were a few listings that were available a month or so out but not the norm.

You can also check craigslist; we actually found a 5 month sublet in Studio City this way. It gives them the time to figure out where they want to be more permanently. Since we only used Westside Rentals for one month, they froze our account so that they can use the site again when they are ready in the next few months. By the way, Westside Rentals also have sublets listed there. Maybe you go that route if you plan on buying property later. Most apartments wanted a one year lease.

Best of luck!

[KnoxTown]

Don't use Westside Rentals. Almost everything they list is either outdated or already on craigslist.

[OnMyWayBack]

Thanks for the feedback so far. I've heard many different opinions on Westside Rentals ... some seem to swear by it, and others are quite unimpressed.

One of my main concerns is not wanting to do my in-person apartment hunting too early, since very little might be available for the time that I need (mid-november); on the other hand, if I go too late, I risk not having a place arranged in time at all.

I feel as if I really need to find an actual place rather than going the sublet route, because I have sooooo much stuff I have to move. Years of accumulated junk ... maybe it's time to start getting rid of a few things

[mark85]

You could have a pods container dropped off at your house, load it up at your convenience, then take a week off, book a room at the Burbank airport Holiday Inn (I read somewhere that they have extended stay rates) and look for a plsce. When you're ready, they'll pick up the container, store it if necessary, then drop it off at your new place.

I'm thinking about doing this myself, but I heard that pods has a lot of complaints on BBB.

Other than narrowing down your neighborhood choices, I don't think it would too productive to try and find a place remotely.

A lot of people think Westside Rerntals is a rip off, but I plan to use it. I was driving aroiund looking at apts this weekend and quite a few places had westside rentals signs on the lawns. Some landlords with nice places might prefer WSR over Craigslist thinking they'll get better tenants.

[ConsideringLA]

WSR is worth it. There is certainly crossover with Craigslist, but there are some golden listings that are not on Craigslist - and that may be the ONE that you're looking for.

Here's something folks may not consider: craigslist pricing is sometimes more aggressive, for the same listing on WSR. So compare and contrast to score a better deal on the same listing.

In terms of moving, there are cheaper alternatives that work just like PODS - try Door to Door Storage which works the same way but is about 20% cheaper in total.

[OnMyWayBack]

Hadn't even considered of the PODS/Door-to-door concept, but it's intriguing. I'd probably have to hire movers anyway, just to move my furniture into the container, especially from the 2nd floor of the place I'm currently living in (not to mention OUT of the container later). But it would be nice to not have to worry about having a place for my stuff right away.

I checked out WSR and just from their preliminary (non-member) search results, it looks like there are more listings available there than on CL. Too bad there's no "HousingMaps" type display (or is there one for members?).

Most of the listings on there say "Available now" or "Available Oct 1" ... practically none for any time after that. Now whether these listings are legitimate or expired, etc ... no way to tell without signing up. But it seems like something worth doing.

However, based on the feedback I've received here, I think I'll hold off on going to LA to look for a place until the weekend of October 10-13, which should give me a better chance at finding a place for mid-November. If I can't find a place then, I might go the PODS route and try to find a place when I get there in November (but I'm hoping it won't come to that).

Will update ... thanks again everyone!

[mark85]

Originally Posted by OnMyWayBack

Hadn't even considered of the PODS/Door-to-door concept, but it's intriguing. I'd probably have to hire movers anyway, just to move my furniture into the container, especially from the 2nd floor of the place I'm currently living in (not to mention OUT of the container later). But it would be nice to not have to worry about having a place for my stuff right away.

I checked out WSR and just from their preliminary (non-member) search results, it looks like there are more listings available there than on CL. Too bad there's no "HousingMaps" type display (or is there one for members?).

Most of the listings on there say "Available now" or "Available Oct 1" ... practically none for any time after that. Now whether these listings are legitimate or expired, etc ... no way to tell without signing up. But it seems like something worth doing.

However, based on the feedback I've received here, I think I'll hold off on going to LA to look for a place until the weekend of October 10-13, which should give me a better chance at finding a place for mid-November. If I can't find a place then, I might go the PODS route and try to find a place when I get there in November (but I'm hoping it won't come to that).

Will update ... thanks again everyone!

Just call a local moving company for help loading/unloading. The typical price is around $100/hr for 2 guys.