Want to Buy, but $ is tight. Neighborhood ideas??

[yukiko11]

Community feel is not a term I would apply to LA. There are just too many people of too many cultures from too many places and a large amount of them are transient.
I was born in Hollywood and lived the first 40 years of my life in the general LA area. I lived in Hollywood, Venice Beach, Van Nuys, Simi Valley,Whittier and Ontario. The most friendly place I found was Whittier and that is within your price range, although you need to be ready to buy a house that is 40-50 years old or a condo that is 20-30 years old. The coolest place I can think of is the Pasadena, Altadena area, but homes in your price range may be dogs. I also think you should rent until you can explore the whole town and see what appeals to you. In the end, you may not like it.

[meyia]

An update for anyone who cares: I did indeed end up buying a home in Eagle Rock - just a few blocks from Occ college - it's a 19,000 sq. ft. 4 bdrm/2 ba duplex which will generate $2,500 in rental income per month, even with me in one of the rooms. My monthly payment is about $2,300. It's a fixer for sure - I bought the house for $345,000, and will need to put another 30 grand of work or so into it before it's really nice, but I will be able to do that over the next year or so. But it has a great view, large yard, and great location. Very safe, quiet street.

I appreciate all your advice folks - hopefully everything works out for the best! To the contrary of the predictions of the housing market falling significantly further, most of the literature I've read on the subject predict prices to either go UP in 2010 or to stabilize at least. Here's one article I had found:

C.A.R. Releases California Housing Market Forecast for 2010 - Forbes.com

[LABornandRaised]

Wow, that's a really good price for a duplex, in Eagle Rock no less. Congrats! You must mean a big time fixer at that price point. Good Luck!

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by meyia

C.A.R. Releases California Housing Market Forecast for 2010 - Forbes.com

Realtors always predict a boom. Better buy now or be priced out forever!