Relo to OC, Looking at Long Beach to Laguna rentals - your help appreciated! (Santa Ana: cheap apartments)

[savannabanana]

Hi all,

First off, let me say that I've read many, many of the threads on City-Data with folks asking similar questions to this one. A lot of the info I've learned in those threads has informed some of the info in this one, so please keep that in mind. :} I do think that each person's situation is different, so any help you can give for my particular one is much appreciated!

My partner was offered a job in Laguna Woods, and we'll be moving within the next month or so (I may be going out to join him after he starts). We are in our late 20s/early 30s, no children. I do not yet have a job, so we will be living off his salary of 70k. I visited the area with him and, while I liked a lot of things about south OC (oh, that weather!), I'm concerned about the bedroom community/suburban quality. It is what it is, of course, but I've lived in the Northeast (and mostly in college towns or small cities) all my life, so the 'burbs ain't quite my thing.

Here are the basics that we are looking for in a rental:

- 2 bedrooms
- Max of $2k/month for rent (could possibly go up to $2100 if the place was super-awesome)
- A townhome or small house rather than an apartment - ideally, but would consider apartment if it was amazing
- Easy access to interesting things to do (walking would be even better) and freeways
- Not too tortuous a commute for him, but not too tortuous if I need to get to LA (I may be freelancing up there occasionally). This is important, obviously, since the commute is such a huge factor anywhere in SoCal.

Based on what I've read on these forums, the ideal areas seem like the southeast parts of Long Beach (Belmont Shore, Naples, Seal Beach), and the other beach towns and vicinity in OC (Huntington, Newport, Laguna areas). I think I would want to stay away from Irvine and Santa Ana and the like -- not that there's anything wrong with them, but they just don't seem like my scene.

I'm really gunning for Long Beach because of its easier (sorta) proximity to LA, but would be very interested to hear the input from the locals.

Lastly, should I cross-post this to the LA forum, or do you think people will see this thread?

Thank you so much for your help!

[woodrough]

The drive from Long Beach to Laguna Woods could easily be over an hour, depending on the time of day he has to go. Not quite as bad from Seal Beach, but still potentially painful. Keep in mind that Laguna Woods is really south OC, beyond Irvine. In my experience doing the commute that direction (not from Long Beach, but further north), the stretch of 405 from the 22 to the 55 is pretty awful, and is regularly at a standstill during rush hour. I don't think there are any good alternate routes, but maybe someone else will know a trick. He could use the 73 toll road once he gets down there, but by that point he's already past the worst of the traffic any way, so it wouldn't save that much time.

"LA" is huge, so it's hard to really judge what would be a reasonable commute for your freelance work. Do you have any idea what parts of LA you'd need to go to? The difference between downtown, the westside, the valley, etc. is huge, and there is really no location that will give you easy access to all of them, so you need to choose which is most important.

In any case, I think it might be dangerous to choose a housing location based on "may be" and "occasional" work. I don't think there are any decent locations that have both a non-torturous commute to Laguna Woods and LA, but of course that depends on your definition of torturous and "LA." For me, non-torturous is probably half an hour or less. Somewhere like Fullerton or Anaheim is close to in the middle between Laguna Woods and LA (downtown - if you need to go to the valley, forget it), and you could probably do either drive in not much more than half an hour without traffic, but unless you're commuting at 3am, there's going to be traffic.

[savannabanana]

Thanks for the thorough reply, woodrough. I will clarify a few things: I have a film and television background, so any freelance work, I'm guessing, would be in Hollywood/the Westside. Honestly, I'd more want to live in Long Beach because it seems like a community we would both enjoy -- any freelance work I'd do is less important. I'm just nervous about the OC, and especially south OC, being a cultural fit for us.

It's worth noting, too, that he works in video games, a field that often has unconventional work hours. At his last company, core hours were 10am-4pm, so it wasn't uncommon for him to work 10am-7pm or so. I realize that traffic in SoCal is a pretty all-encompassing thing, so this might not make a difference, but perhaps not having to be someplace at 8am would make a Long Beach-Laguna commute a bit more bearable.

I don't think either of us are expecting to drive anywhere in this region without traffic -- it's more a question of how much, and what sacrifices we are willing to make.

[TinkerBelle_81]

There are cheap apartments/condos for rent in Park Estates, one of the more expensive areas in Long Beach which is across Cal State Long Beach. The apartments are a bit old but rent is cheaper compared to other apartments ($1k for a 1 bedroom+ $100/month for parking) and the neighborhood is safe and very nice.

[savannabanana]

Thanks for the tip, TinkerBelle_81! We were already looking around the CSU area (Los Altos), so that is good to know.