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Looking for suggestions for the best places to live in the San Luis Obispo/5 cities area and for reputable property management companies or Realtors that handle rentals.
I have lived in Florida the past 4 years (not a very good experience and I have a medical condition aggravated by the severe heat and humidity) after spending most of my life in frozen New England. For years, I have spent every vacation visiting Ca, from the Bay Area to the Central Coast. My best friend and my sister live in Oakland. My husband and I have decided that SLO County is where we want to be. We are both used to small towns and big city traffic would drive us crazy. Also, we have both always lived by the ocean and would be miserable if we were more than 15-20 minutes drive from it. We love hiking, biking, photography, kayaking, nature exploration of all types but also want to be close to (small) city amenities such as nice local shops, varied restaurants, movies and the occasional play. Access to college courses will be great too!
We are both liberal/progressive thinkers and there seem to be a lot of like-minded people in the area.
We hope to be able to join The Sierra Club and/or similar organizations for progressive causes and maybe do some volunteer work as well. (We are open-minded, though, and would not limit friendships to people who think like us.)
We narrowed our search down to San Luis Obispo itself or the 5 cities area up to Morro Bay. We are definitely aware the area is expensive but we currently live in a comparably expensive island in Florida. My husband is self-employed as a web designer and I work in the vacation rental/property management industry. We initially found a rental in Arroyo Grande through Craig's List but it fell through.
Our budget for either a 1 bedroom with office area or a 2 bedroom is up to $1,500 a month. There seems to be plenty on Craig's List in this price range as we don't need a single-family home or to be in the best neighborhood - just a reasonably safe one. Ideally, we would like to be near downtown SLO so we can enjoy biking and walking to get where we are going whenever possible (we will be giving up a 2nd car for now to help offset the higher cost of living in the area). However, are all the DT places filled with students/loud? I am in my late-30's and my husband is in his early 50's. We are relaxed and like to meet people of all ages but don't like a lot of noise at night - unless we are invited to the party
It seems ALL the rentals in the area are handled through property management companies. I have seen lots of negative posts about some of them on CL. We would prefer to rent through a private landlord but where do you find one? Are there other sources for housing in the area besides Craig's List?
I have checked the college housing board, the Tribune and all the websites I could find (hotpads, trulia etc). I have also run our own ad on CL which netted only the original rental that fell through.
Are there any property management agencies in the area that are reputable? Also, my husband had some credit issues due to his divorce, though my credit is pretty good. We do have good savings and could pre-pay 6 months worth of rent if need be. Does anyone know what the credit requirements to rent a place through an agency out there are? It is 640 and up where I work now. (We have no bankruptcies, liens or judgments.) My husband can prove his income and he has rented the same place in FL for 15 years with zero late payments. We are going out to visit the area for 10 days in May and hope to find a rental at that time. We will bring landlord reference letters.
I would love to hear from people who live in SLO or the surrounding area who can recommend how to best go about finding a rental and where the best places to live in the area are-taking into account what we are looking for...
It is extremely expensive to live here if you aren't lucky enough to have landed some sort of public service job. If you have a pet, good luck finding housing. If you want a two bedroom for $1500 that isn't a dump, good luck.
The rental market for affordable housing is an issue here, so my suggestion is if you find something on Craig's List and it looks decent... Secure the rental now and don't wait to see it in person.
Most areas here have water issues. Grover Beach and Arroyo Grande have water restrictions. Northern areas like Cambria and such have water issues. Los Osos has sanitation issues AKA the bumper stickers they used to have that says Los Osos can't agree on sh**.
Its a beautiful place to live. But not the place if you don't have cash to buy a home or if you are hoping to land that 6 figure job.
Good Towns Near San Luis Obispo and Finding Housing
Quote:
Originally Posted by SLO_Lady_805
It is extremely expensive to live here if you aren't lucky enough to have landed some sort of public service job. If you have a pet, good luck finding housing. If you want a two bedroom for $1500 that isn't a dump, good luck.
The rental market for affordable housing is an issue here, so my suggestion is if you find something on Craig's List and it looks decent... Secure the rental now and don't wait to see it in person.
Most areas here have water issues. Grover Beach and Arroyo Grande have water restrictions. Northern areas like Cambria and such have water issues. Los Osos has sanitation issues AKA the bumper stickers they used to have that says Los Osos can't agree on sh**.
Its a beautiful place to live. But not the place if you don't have cash to buy a home or if you are hoping to land that 6 figure job.
Not looking to land a 6 figure job. My husband works for himself doing web design. I will be looking for work in property management/vacation rentals/admin. I also have a BA in Sociology/Social Work from a good school and may apply to work for the county. We have about a years' worth of living expenses saved, at any rate.
We are not interested in buying for various reasons...it is not a priority for us.
Our income between the 2 of us should be about 85K, more if I get a county job. We could pay more than $1,500 a month but would rather not as we only need a small place and prefer to spend our time doing outdoor activities, camping, hiking and traveling. An apartment, duplex or condo is fine too. No pets right now. There seems to be plenty available in the $1,500 range on Craig's List and most of it looks to be in decent shape, some are remodeled. Are these all scams or something?????
Can anyone recommend a reputable property management company?
I am familiar with the water restrictions. We have them here in Florida as well.
I think we have narrowed our search down to North Grover Beach or Morro Bay. My mother will be joining us and will be renting her own place (studio) nearby-she doesn't drive and I want to be near her to help her out so we need an area where walking or biking to stores is feasible. Do any locals have other ideas for towns/areas to check out?
Not looking to land a 6 figure job. My husband works for himself doing web design. I will be looking for work in property management/vacation rentals/admin. I also have a BA in Sociology/Social Work from a good school and may apply to work for the county. We have about a years' worth of living expenses saved, at any rate.
We are not interested in buying for various reasons...it is not a priority for us.
Our income between the 2 of us should be about 85K, more if I get a county job. We could pay more than $1,500 a month but would rather not as we only need a small place and prefer to spend our time doing outdoor activities, camping, hiking and traveling. An apartment, duplex or condo is fine too. No pets right now. There seems to be plenty available in the $1,500 range on Craig's List and most of it looks to be in decent shape, some are remodeled. Are these all scams or something?????
Can anyone recommend a reputable property management company?
I am familiar with the water restrictions. We have them here in Florida as well.
I think we have narrowed our search down to North Grover Beach or Morro Bay. My mother will be joining us and will be renting her own place (studio) nearby-she doesn't drive and I want to be near her to help her out so we need an area where walking or biking to stores is feasible. Do any locals have other ideas for towns/areas to check out?
Ha ha good luck finding a job for yourself. There is alot of competition for jobs in San Luis. You are better off looking for work in Santa Maria and that's if you have alot of experience to back your degree up in the social service field.
As for rental/property management, also a very hard field to break into. You have to know some one to get into their group.
Please don't end up moving here and becoming another one of the area's homeless people. You are on the path to joining many who have come here and failed to secure a job. We have enough already and not enough housing for those in desperate need either.
Ha ha good luck finding a job for yourself. There is alot of competition for jobs in San Luis. You are better off looking for work in Santa Maria and that's if you have alot of experience to back your degree up in the social service field.
As for rental/property management, also a very hard field to break into. You have to know some one to get into their group.
Please don't end up moving here and becoming another one of the area's homeless people. You are on the path to joining many who have come here and failed to secure a job. We have enough already and not enough housing for those in desperate need either.
Why such a mean-spirited response? I am 40 and my husband is in his 50's, we are not kids. If you read my post you would see we are not depending on my potential income working locally to pay the bills. My husband has his own business that he can do from anywhere. He can cover our basic costs so there is no chance of us ending up homeless. That aside we do own property in another state and have relatives in CA. Also, I believe I mentioned we have at least a year of living expenses in the bank (not that we plan to use much of that money but it is there if we need it).
I understand you are concerned about people coming in to the area not knowing how expensive things are and somehow ending up homeless (though wouldn't most leave or move in with friends or relatives before that happened??) I know the area quite well and have spent time there. There is plenty in our price range for rent on Craig's List and we have made some positive contacts with landlords.
Just because a person is moving to the area and buying a home with cash does not mean they are poor and bound to end up on the streets. Very insulting post response.
I moved to Martha's Vineyard years ago with my (now-grown) son and was told I would never make it but I ended up finding great housing and getting an excellent paying job even though I was told there was, "No decent jobs or housing to be had." I lived there nearly 10 years and never went homeless or hungry-far from it in fact.
My post is looking for advice on housing options/reputable property management agencies and good places to live in SLO County. Could we stick to that topic, please? There is too much negativity out there as it is.
Just because some people could not make it in a place does not mean my husband and I won't. Everyone is different.
Last edited by MaireM; 04-30-2015 at 10:37 AM..
Reason: spelling
You can certainly find rentals for $1500 or less, more so in the 5 cities area; SLO will be more expensive. The ads on craigslist are not scams, at least I don't believe so because that's how I found the place I am living at now (this was about 2-3 years ago).
There is a lot of competition for rental/property managements so if you feel one is not treating you right, there are at plenty others to use.
Here's a cool rental in your price range. Pismo is cool & SLO is only 10-15 min or so inland from it.
If I could leave the Bay area today I'd rent that spot ok:
There are rentals there in you're price range & it's a nice place but he job thing seems to be your biggest concern. Just look into jobs now & see what you can find in your field.
Here's a cool rental in your price range. Pismo is cool & SLO is only 10-15 min or so inland from it.
If I could leave the Bay area today I'd rent that spot ok:
There are rentals there in you're price range & it's a nice place but he job thing seems to be your biggest concern. Just look into jobs now & see what you can find in your field.
Thanks! We were just out there looking at rentals and this one did come up but they were not ready to show it yet and we had to leave the next day...
We put in some applications and will have to see what happens...So many people show up for open houses that it is very discouraging to say the least.
We have the money to pre-pay a years' rent and thought that would/should make a difference but it's impossible to even talk with the agent holding the open house.
We are thinking that next time we go back we will show up at the open houses half an hour early, bring a rental resume...and bring cash, in hopes of being taken seriously.
For now, we are back in FL. It is in the upper 90's today with massive humidity and the air quality is so poor you can barely breath when you walk outside...which I will NOT be doing until I go back to work on Tuesday.
NO quality of life here whatsoever (sorry, heat is killing me today...)
For now, we are back in FL. It is in the upper 90's today with massive humidity and the air quality is so poor you can barely breath when you walk outside...which I will NOT be doing until I go back to work on Tuesday.
NO quality of life here whatsoever (sorry, heat is killing me today...)
Where is Florida do you live?
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Good Towns Near San Luis Obispo and Finding Housing
