Family moving to LA! Need suggestions please. (Los Angeles, Anaheim: for sale, rental homes)

[brooks6]

This is some great information! Are there good private or Christian schools in those areas close to LAX? Obviously our cost of living here is much different. I didn't even know that the public schools were not desirable. My husband would be willing to commute a little longer if it meant the kids were in a good neighborhood and school. We love our small town feeling and are hoping to find a community like that if at all possible.
I have also heard about Culver City, Alhambra, and Baldwinn?

[Charles]

Originally Posted by brooks6

This is some great information! Are there good private or Christian schools in those areas close to LAX? Obviously our cost of living here is much different. I didn't even know that the public schools were not desirable. My husband would be willing to commute a little longer if it meant the kids were in a good neighborhood and school. We love our small town feeling and are hoping to find a community like that if at all possible.
I have also heard about Culver City, Alhambra, and Baldwinn?

El Segundo is just a horrible place to commute to. North and south are heavy traffic. East is questionably desirable. Nearby is expensive.

Alhambra is way too far.
Culver City is close by, check here to see if you can find something in your price range:

HousingMaps

Also, just to get a feel for how bad traffic is, look at

Sigalert.com Los Angeles Traffic Map during times expected to commute.

Finally, to get an idea of where potentially bad and good schools are, check out

School Performance Maps

[motoman]

Originally Posted by brooks6

This is some great information! Are there good private or Christian schools in those areas close to LAX? Obviously our cost of living here is much different. I didn't even know that the public schools were not desirable. My husband would be willing to commute a little longer if it meant the kids were in a good neighborhood and school. We love our small town feeling and are hoping to find a community like that if at all possible.
I have also heard about Culver City, Alhambra, and Baldwinn?

What do you mean by commute a little longer? What is a reasonable amount of time your husband is willing to commute? During rush hours a safe rule of thumb is an average speed of 10-20 mph depending on whether you're on surface streets or the freeway. It can be faster or slower though depending on the specific area.

[firetraq]

Culver city is horrible, its gang ridden and filthy and i live in reseda so thats saying something.

In terms of budgeting, i pay about $3000 a month and thats before i even pay for food or gas for the car, thats my rent, and all my bills. I live in reseda, my rent is $1500 a month (2br), but i live in the valley, you're looking at LA proper. I have two young daughters and am married.

So i'd look at $3000 as the start, it'll probably rise from there for you guys.

A word of advice though, i would never raise my kids in this crap-hole city if i had a choice, my job also relocated me.

For a family there really is nothing for you in LA, the culture (or lack thereof) shock of rural america to LA is going to be crucifying for you and your family.

In this job market i guess there is nothing you can do, which is sad.

Sorry to be so negative, i've lived here for 10 months now, and we make it ok, i grew up in london, so i guess LA seems cheaptastic in comparison.

And yes the public schools are crap, they are filled with people that cannot speak english as the majority, its not a racist statement just a fact, another fact is the majority of minorities drop out of our public schools here (heard that on npr this lunchtime). I can attest to this, my daughters elementary school is now in the "no child left behind" program, the teacher is clearly checked out.

We are moving to Calabasas in a couple of months, much nicer there and far better schools, but too far for you guys i'm assuming.

[SouthBayStuff]

If your budget end up to be around $1500, a few logical choices for you:

1) Westchester could be a good one although it's not easy to find many $1500 for 3 bedrooms.

2) Gardena - you might have better chance of finding a single family with 3 bedrooms there. Just beware some areas in Gardena is not where you want to be. Gardena has 3 zip code, stay with 90249.

3) Some part of Hawthorne could be good too, but again depends on the street and the blocks as well.

Amada - SouthBayStuff
http://sold310.com

[osuzana]

Originally Posted by brooks6

This is some great information! Are there good private or Christian schools in those areas close to LAX? Obviously our cost of living here is much different. I didn't even know that the public schools were not desirable. My husband would be willing to commute a little longer if it meant the kids were in a good neighborhood and school. We love our small town feeling and are hoping to find a community like that if at all possible.
I have also heard about Culver City, Alhambra, and Baldwinn?

Please go to GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community to find out about t est score, demographics, etc about the local schools. My first priority has always been to live where the schools are good first then find a place in that area, but that's just me.

[Jonah1979]

Originally Posted by brooks6

This is some great information! Are there good private or Christian schools in those areas close to LAX? Obviously our cost of living here is much different. I didn't even know that the public schools were not desirable. My husband would be willing to commute a little longer if it meant the kids were in a good neighborhood and school. We love our small town feeling and are hoping to find a community like that if at all possible.
I have also heard about Culver City, Alhambra, and Baldwinn?

You aren't going to find a "small town feeling" anywhere inside the LA city limits. I say that because I know what you mean when you say "small town". Traffic, houses on top of each other, rude people always in a hurry...not really what you are looking for. However, there are nice areas that certainly have their charm. The only other problem you are going to have is renting anything with 3 bedrooms for $1500. I live in pasadena and a 3 bedroom house will run at least $2500/month.

One thing to keep in mind that if you decide not to live on the west side of LA his commute is going to be aweful. Not to be a downer, but welcome to LA!

[Lovetheoutdoors]

Rural Indiana to L.A. That is quite a jump. Unfortunately, you won't find anything that matches your description. I would suggest moving to someplace like Simi Valley or Thousand Oaks. They consistently are on safe cities lists. It will be a commute (since both are in Ventura County) but commuting is what L.A. is all about.

[Thawor]

We relocated to LA temporarily from abroad last year with our whole family (2+3). Our housing solution was too far from LAX for you, but our most useful tool was a book called "Newcomer's handbook for moving to and living in Los Angeles". You get it from Amazon and bookstores, even 2nd hand at a low price. It's also available in bookstores. Another one is "Relocating to Los Angeles and Orange County". And there are similar ones out there. Just search for "moving to los angeles" at amazon.

Also, google maps is very convenient, combine "street view" with home listings and school searches. If you link home addresses up with information on school districts, you'll often see prices differ across the streets, following school district borders. That's a hint. Look up school reviews, which you even find in google maps when you search for a particular school, and you'll get an idea of what you might get (although parents have different ideas of what a good school is - we did not want those "good schools" that kept pushing the kids too far just to get high scores, but rather a combination of good (enough) academic standards with a friendly environment.

The first thing we bought was a GPS. This really pays off for efficient house hunting, as you will be driving a lot to look for housing, We rented a place for a couple of weeks, while we drove around to look for the place we really wanted to live.

One important feature you didn't mention, is your husband's working hours. If he works odd or flexible shifts, meaning he can avoid rush hours, the traffic is less of a problem (but the traffic is never low in LA, and rush hours start early).

Good luck!

[WinnieC]

Originally Posted by brooks6

We are relocating to LA from rural Indiana. We have four daughters, ages ranging from 16 to 2yrs old. My husband's job is transferring him to LAX. We need a decent neighborhood to rent a 3 bedroom house or apartment that has decent schools. And safe. That won't be a really long commute for him. Realize the rent is going to be outrageous in comparison to our mortgage here, but hope it won't be too high. Thanks in advance for any and all help.

Since you are not from L.A.please live as close to work as possible . I think El Segundo/Torrance are your best options although you will have to increase your budget at least by a couple hundrend and you will still only be able to get a two bedroom. Both areas have great schools and contrary to many on this forum are not overrun by people who do not speak English. In Torrance make sure you are not renting in what is known as a Torrance p.o. ,which des not put you in Torrance Unified. Make sure it is an actual Torrance address. Quite simply it you take some time to look at greastschools.net and Wikipedia for schools and demographics of the cities you are intersted in you should not be shocked by anything you see.Hope that helps feel free to pm if you have any further questions