Raising a family in Los Angeles (Bakersfield, Torrance: neighborhood, private school tuition, university)

[Lord Lionheart]

That's the bottom line in LA. The higher the house prices the better the school district. PV and Santa Monica are great. I live in Santa Monica and have done for 12 years. It's great if your income is at least $120K - $150K plus. A half decent place in Santa Monica for a family will run you $3000 - $4000 a month. You preferably want to stay North of Wilshire or even North of Montana, but then we are talking major bucks.
Culver City is more affordable but then the schools are not as good as Santa Monica/Malibu or PV. Like I said, you get what you pay for in LA

[jm999]

Thanks for all of the input. I don't mind a long commute as long as its under an hour and a half. I'm expecting to spend a lot of time in the notoriously bad LA traffic anyway so I'm prepared.

My budget can accommodate up to $3000 per month in rent so Santa Monica is probably out of the question. If I can't get a place in a good spot of Culver City then I have some other ideas now. I like what I've heard about Torrance, Redondo Beach, and El Segundo. All seem to have pretty good schools and are relatively family friendly.

So can anyone point out another online resource outside of Craigslist to find legit rental listings?

[morefromcali]

www.westsiderentals.com is a really good source for rentals here. Most landlords list with them. We found both of our houses through them, and it was well worth the 35.00 or so we paid to get access to the on-line photos of the properties!

Good luck

[jm999]

Originally Posted by morefromcali

Apartment Rentals in Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego is a really good source for rentals here. Most landlords list with them. We found both of our houses through them, and it was well worth the 35.00 or so we paid to get access to the on-line photos of the properties!

Good luck

I've heard a lot of horror stories around the web about that site being a ripoff. I heard that they use outdated listings and deceiving descriptions. Any truth in that?

[Charles]

Originally Posted by jm999

So can anyone point out another online resource outside of Craigslist to find legit rental listings?

Try the Recycler for rentals and many other things. Keyword search too. Great for buying & selling cars.

Apartments for Rent Classifieds for Los Angeles and Orange County - Recycler (broken link)

[morefromcali]

Originally Posted by jm999

I've heard a lot of horror stories around the web about that site being a ripoff. I heard that they use outdated listings and deceiving descriptions. Any truth in that?

Really? Wow. We've used them twice and had really good luck both times. I actually had much worse luck with in-person agencies. They did absolutely use out-of-date listings and also some really deceptive adds, like a converted garage with a room divider and no kitchen being called a one-bedroom apartment. But both houses we got through Westside rentals were exactly as shown. Sorry to hear that that might not always be the case!

[T&D]

Hi Joe:

We used Westside Rentals to find our townhouse condo in Santa Monica. We were fortunate that my husband's company pays for a corporate account. However, I think it would be worth paying to use the site when you need to find a place to live. The site seems to have the most listings, and you can sort by neighbourhood, zip code, number of bedrooms, whether or not you have a pet, etc. We checked out craigslist, recycler and rent.com also, but never found much of anything on those sites. We used Westside Rentals from up here in Canada, and then booked appointments and flew into L.A. for one weekend to look for our place. The places we saw were fairly close to our expectations, sometimes even nicer than the photos. The only things we were surprised by were how fast family-oriented rentals are snatched up. Also, we were a bit surprised by the application process for a rental in Los Angeles. We flew back to Canada after submitting an application, but didn't find out for sure that we had the rental until a few days later. Everything worked out thank goodness, and we have an address to send our belongings in 2 weeks!

As for your choices of neighbourhoods, El Segundo and Redondo Beach are definitely a little cheaper than Santa Monica. We looked at rentals in those neighbourhoods also. El Segundo has great schools; Redondo Beach schools are good in the more expensive areas near the ocean. You should be able to find a decent rental for your family for $3000/month in those neighbourhoods. Our 3 bedroom townhouse-style condo in Santa Monica is $3700/month, which is more than we wanted to spend on rent, but felt we had to go that high for the size of place we needed, combined with a good school and proximity to work. Culver City is a bit iffy, imo. It has a reputation for good schools, but I looked into them and the only one that was half decent by my standards was El Marino, and it is a Japanese immersion school with a waiting list.

Best of luck with your move,

T&D

[graffixjones]

Okay, I hope you don't view this as trolling...

First off, are you from Rochester, New York, or Rochester, Minnesota?
Either way, here's how the cost-of-living stats stack up according to Sperling's Best Places...

Cost of living (average of 100 for U.S.)
Rochester, NY: 84.3
Rochester, MN: 97.6
Culver City, CA: 172.0
Redondo Beach, CA: 195.4
Torrance, CA: 167.4
Santa Monica, CA: 212.0 (!)

So, it appears that it's a good thing that you have a job lined up that pays double your old salary, because you'll need it (and then some).

It looks like Torrance is your overall best bet if you want to save both on cost of living and fuel costs. Gasoline is currently on a bit of a downward slide, but we still average more than $0.30-0.50/gal higher than most other places in the nation.

I wish you luck, and don't dismiss the naysayers... they have their reasons to advise you against the move, because the truth is that L.A. isn't for everybody. Some people love it, and some grow to hate it... pretty much like every other place in the U.S.

Good luck.

[jm999]

Originally Posted by graffixjones

Okay, I hope you don't view this as trolling...

First off, are you from Rochester, New York, or Rochester, Minnesota?
Either way, here's how the cost-of-living stats stack up according to Sperling's Best Places...

Cost of living (average of 100 for U.S.)
Rochester, NY: 84.3
Rochester, MN: 97.6
Culver City, CA: 172.0
Redondo Beach, CA: 195.4
Torrance, CA: 167.4
Santa Monica, CA: 212.0 (!)

So, it appears that it's a good thing that you have a job lined up that pays double your old salary, because you'll need it (and then some).

It looks like Torrance is your overall best bet if you want to save both on cost of living and fuel costs. Gasoline is currently on a bit of a downward slide, but we still average more than $0.30-0.50/gal higher than most other places in the nation.

I wish you luck, and don't dismiss the naysayers... they have their reasons to advise you against the move, because the truth is that L.A. isn't for everybody. Some people love it, and some grow to hate it... pretty much like every other place in the U.S.

Good luck.

I appreciate the input. I have researched the cost of living thoroughly. We'll pretty much be in the same financial state we are now which is paycheck to paycheck and saving a little here and there. But me and my wife's opportunities for advancement are much greater in LA. Not to mention I despise the Rochester (NY) weather. We feel like prisoners in our own homes for half of the year.

I think your right, Torrance is probably the way to go. That is the city I keep coming back to in my mind so I think were going to go for it.

[graffixjones]

I agree... if you're going to live paycheck-to-paycheck, it may as well be somewhere you want to be.

Once again, I wish you luck with your move.