Help me decide a room in South San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles: apartment complexes, rentals)

[gav_sharma]

Hi,

Thanks to the existing forums on this site I was able to narrow down my choices to Encino,Tarzana,Woodland Hills and Sherman Oaks. Let me back it up a bit.......I and my wife are planning to move(from Santa Barbara) to a neighborhood in SFV where my wife can use public transport to go to CSUN. For that reason we took out Woodland hills from our options since she won't be able to catch one bus to go to CSUN. From anywhere on East of Reseda Blvd she can catch bus #240 on Ventura Blvd to go to CSUN. I will be working 3 days from home and will be driving one day to Santa Barbara.

Last weekend we went to see places without doing any research near CSU Northridge. We were frankly scared.What a wasted day basically.

Then found online that Encino,Sherman Oaks and Woodland Hills south of Ventura Blvd are the place to be.

This weekend we checked out lot of places in these neighborhoods. Especially on Dickens St in Sherman Oaks. Found lots of nice places. Here are three best places we liked with their pros and cons.........please help me decide.

1) 5400 Lindley Ave in Encino( $1200): Very nice apartment. Couldn't find any thing wrong with it. 1 Bed 1 Bath around 800 sq ft.

2) Hatteraz St in Tarzana($1300): Very nice and spacious 2 bedroom 2 bath place about 1000 sq ft. Neighborhood and apartment building not so nice. Very dirty carpets in the hallways and dirty laundry room. Parking garage gate needs to be manually opened everytime. Predominantly Iranian and Armenian Population.2 bedroom is a plus since I can make it my office but its not a must.

3) Dickens St in Sherman Oaks($1240): Very nice apartment. Bedroom was a bit small. Had to pay for water and trash separately. Also after one year of teaser rate.....the monthly rent would jump to 1350. This might not be the case in first two since they are both owned privately condos and not a rental company.

So we more or less like all of the above three apartments. Can you tells us more about the neighborhood ? Where would you recommend to stay and Why ? I would be working from home and my wife would be catching bus to go to College. We would like a safe and quiet place to live.

Sorry for the long message.........I do not have the skills to describe something concisely. Thanks in advance for your help.

[LABornandRaised]

How many squarefeet is the Sherman Oaks apartment? 800 sq ft in the Encino apt is quite tight and one bed one bath for 2 people is going to get irritating real fast.

[Charles]

The only thing that pops up to me is the Dickens street apartment has your wife on the bus almost twice as long as the two more westerly locations.

I wouldn't want to live any place that had dirty carpets. Sends a bad message. What else is dirty?

[JohnG72]

Is there a particular reason you don't want to live in Northridge?

Northridge is as nice as any of the above neighborhoods but I suppose not as exciting as Ventura Bl. Just seems like a huge burden to take the bus from the other side of the valley every day. A quick search of Westside Rentals shows rents on a one bedroom apt in the range of $850-1200 a month, with MANY within easy walking distance of CSUN. Even a few 2 bedroom places around $1100-1200.

Of course you would absolutely have to check out the place in person. Some buildings in the area have rent controlled people who have lived there forever and as a result, the buildings have not been kept up as well. But it seems like you already encountered that.

As an aside, Northridge has some "hidden" areas that are as nice as any neighborhood in Los Angeles County. Literally enormous estates. While older, most of these are well kept and even some well known actors and other very wealthy people live in some of these properties. Some have one or two bedroom guesthouses that are very nice and a possibly better alternative to apartments which can be noisy and less than private.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by JohnG72

Is there a particular reason you don't want to live in Northridge?

I forgot to ask this myself.

Maybe a two to three block radius, especially west of CSUN is loaded with college kids but there are some nice traditional ranch homes on large lots immediately east between Zelzah (the original name for Northridge), White Oak and Louise. Also north of CSUN. She can ride a bike. You could jump on the 118 and go all the way to Ventura or cut east on the 23 to the 101.


Here are two examples, a couple miles north of CSUN, but probably representative of the homes east of CSUN too.

Granada Hills (http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/apa/1486242537.html - broken link)

FANTASTIC 4BR/2BA HOME (http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/apa/1486156757.html - broken link)

from HousingMaps

[gav_sharma]

Originally Posted by LABornandRaised

How many squarefeet is the Sherman Oaks apartment? 800 sq ft in the Encino apt is quite tight and one bed one bath for 2 people is going to get irritating real fast.

Sherman Oaks Apartment is 750 Sqft. The apartment we are living right now in Santa Barbara is around 550 sqft and is costing us $1200/month......and that is a deal I must tell you.

So we are used to living in a small space and 800 sqft would be a upgrade for us.

[gav_sharma]

Originally Posted by Charles

The only thing that pops up to me is the Dickens street apartment has your wife on the bus almost twice as long as the two more westerly locations.

I wouldn't want to live any place that had dirty carpets. Sends a bad message. What else is dirty?

I agree. That is why it didn't take us long to start looking in encino/tarzana neighborhoods.

Problem is I am totally unfamiliar with the area. To be honest,I am a foreign national(Indian) and I am not sure if just looking at a neighborhood by driving through it would give a good sense of the safety and quality of it.

Hence I relied more on the user opinions on the forums online. And from that I gathered that places closest to Ventura Blvd would be the safest to live. And Encino/Tarzana are two places where my wife could catch #240(goes north on Reseda Blvd) to go to CSUN. She does not mind catching a bus.

From your opinions I guess I should look more into granada hills area. I have to find a bus route that takes my wife to CSUN first. Are their any specific streets that you know have apartments/condos that you would recommend ?

We really love the Lindley Ave place in Encino. So we might just pull the trigger on it unless I find something better. Anyways, thanks again for your inputs.

[gav_sharma]

Originally Posted by Charles

I forgot to ask this myself.

Maybe a two to three block radius, especially west of CSUN is loaded with college kids but there are some nice traditional ranch homes on large lots immediately east between Zelzah (the original name for Northridge), White Oak and Louise. Also north of CSUN. She can ride a bike. You could jump on the 118 and go all the way to Ventura or cut east on the 23 to the 101.


Here are two examples, a couple miles north of CSUN, but probably representative of the homes east of CSUN too.

Granada Hills (http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/apa/1486242537.html - broken link)

FANTASTIC 4BR/2BA HOME (http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/apa/1486156757.html - broken link)

from HousingMaps

Well Ranch homes will be out of our budget. We are looking for something under $1200/month 1 or 2 bedroom. Could you recommend any specific streets or apartment complexes you would recommend which has 1/2 bedrooms ?

[KIND639KOOL]

Originally Posted by gav_sharma

Well Ranch homes will be out of our budget. We are looking for something under $1200/month 1 or 2 bedroom. Could you recommend any specific streets or apartment complexes you would recommend which has 1/2 bedrooms ?

granada hills is one of the original tows that consist of its own community of buisnesses and buisness owners.one of the safest towns.see the buisnesses along chatsworth from balboa to zelzah.

[DowntownVentura]

hey gav
on your original selections, I would be leery of the Hatteras apt if it is close to Reseda Blvd. I hear that it is not great, crime-wise. I heard it second hand so take that for what it is worth.

Between Lindley and Dickens, Dickens will be better walking around town. Lots of stuff one block away. Lindley is a quieter neighborhood.

I am not saying Northridge, Granada Hills, etc are not worth checking too. I guess it depends on how much time you have.

Try this for rentals

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