Moving to Van Nuys - Looking for experience (Los Angeles, Woodland: apartment, foreclosures)

[roachie]

Hey Guys

Currently I am living in Culver City but I'm about to move Van Nuys to my first house!!! So I am not familiar with the valley at all and I hear alot of different stories about Van Nuys so I was hoping to get some real feed back from people who live or have lived in the area. The house is located between Covello and Valerio off of van nuys blvd. I am in late 20's with no children so I am not concerned about schools and in fact am more put off by living in the suburbs than I am of living in a 'ghetto' area.

Thanks for all the help.

[Charles]

Where is your job?

[majoun]

Originally Posted by roachie

Hey Guys

Currently I am living in Culver City but I'm about to move Van Nuys to my first house!!! So I am not familiar with the valley at all and I hear alot of different stories about Van Nuys so I was hoping to get some real feed back from people who live or have lived in the area. The house is located between Covello and Valerio off of van nuys blvd. I am in late 20's with no children so I am not concerned about schools and in fact am more put off by living in the suburbs than I am of living in a 'ghetto' area.

Thanks for all the help.

Why you'd want to move from Culver City to Van Nuys is beyond me unless you work in the Valley.

If you don't mind a little "ghettoness" than Echo Park's a better bet than Van Nuys. There's been a recent rise in crime but it's still safer than Van Nuys, especially where you'll be living in gangland (Valerio/VN), it's much prettier, there's much more to do, more amenities, etc. etc. I'd even put North Hollywood above Van Nuys. It has most of the same problems but there are more OK pockets.

[SandyCo]

To the OP, did you already buy the house? If not, I'd advise you to look elsewhere. That is not a great area, unless you like hearing lots of domestic violence, cars backfiring, street vendors honking their horns, etc. If I currently lived in Culver City, I'd rather rent there than buy a house in Van Nuys.

I'd never buy a house in a bad area; you're basically gambling that either the market is going to turn around and go up, so you can move or that the neighborhood is going to improve, so you can stay. That area has been bad since at least the early 90s without much hope of anything changing soon.

[LABornandRaised]

If I may add, I hear some mentioning the likelihood of a neighborhood improving. We shouldn't discourage people from moving into a community and potentially making it better. If we continue to discourage people from moving to places like Van Nuys then those areas will only continue to go for the worse.

I understand the need to forewarn those who ask for it about a general observation of an area, but the more and more people who come from nicer pockets of Los Angeles and other parts of the country into areas like Van Nuys should be welcome. That is how an area turns around for the better, not by keeping the good people away.

My 2 cents.

[JohnG72]

First off, OP said nothing about buying. If he bought, I feel for him as I live in Van Nuys and that is absolutely not the area I would buy in. There are ok areas of Van Nuys, but that area has problems with:

1.)Traffic...there are an abundance of overpopulated apartment building nearby and many of your neighbors will have more than 4 or 5 people living in those SFR's. Even though you are on a "side" street, that area has a ridiculous amount of traffic.

2.) Minor crimes....that particular area has quite a bit of minor crime...street vending, dv's, dui, theft, etc. Probably related to the factors I listed in #1.

3.) The neighborhood there is entirely suburban albeit a rundown one.

I can't really understand what would make someone buy/rent in that area. I can afford to buy there right now....a nice move in condition house...and I really want to buy a house....but I'm more than willing to wait for the Alt and Option loan tsunami that is pending to see prices in nicer areas of the valley like Northridge and Woodland Hills to come tumbling down some. Even a 25% drop(which is lots smaller than the drop due to the subprime foreclosures) will put many of those homes into the same price as those places in Van Nuys.