Large town/city in Southern California (Los Angeles, San Diego: apartments, for rent, living in)

[juliegalway]

Hi everyone,

I am moving and looking for ideas of a town/city to start in with reasonable rent and reliable transport system an hour or two south of LA, preferably within an hour from the ocean . I am single in my early forties and my background is education and the creative arts therapies. I am open to being flexible to taking jobs in other areas initially such as waiting tables or retail work. I would appreciate any suggestions, thanks.

[Des-Lab]

Define "reasonable". What's "reasonable" for one is considered extortionate by another.

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by juliegalway

Hi everyone,

I am moving and looking for ideas of a town/city to start in with reasonable rent and reliable transport system an hour or two south of LA, preferably within an hour from the ocean . I am single in my early forties and my background is education and the creative arts therapies. I am open to being flexible to taking jobs in other areas initially such as waiting tables or retail work. I would appreciate any suggestions, thanks.

Two hours south of Los Angeles is San Diego.

Aside from Greyhound, the only major public transportation between the two will be train. So, one thought might be to look at which cities and towns the LA-SD train stops in, and see if any of those appeal or meet your needs.

Here is the Surfrider route: http://www.pacificsurfliner.com/#schedules

Between LA and SD, some towns/cities that might fit the bill for you would be: Irvine, San Juan Capistrano, Carlsbad, and Encinitas. San Diego itself might also be worth a look.

However, be forewarned that many of these communities will be coastal communities, and, as a general rule of thumb, the closer you are to the ocean, the higher your rent will be.

Instead of limiting yourself to heading south, you may want to also look inland. If access to LA is your priority, then you might want to look at the LA metro line and see if any of the communities it serves will meet your needs. https://www.metro.net/riding/maps/

In San Diego, from the train station, it's easy to connect to the San Diego Trolley, which will also take you to inland communities (and communities further south).

Obviously, there are also public bus systems within LA County, San Diego County, and Orange County to get you to other places. But a lot of bus routes will be slow going.

If you're serious about living in California, stay open to the idea of using a car for your transportation. You'll have the most options for "reasonable" rents that way.

Suggestion: You may want to ask for suggestions on communities in the LA, San Diego, and Orange County subforums. You'll probably get more suggestions from locals that way. If you do ask in the subforums, be sure to give your approximate budget for rent, as that way people won't recommend places out of range for you.

Good luck with your research!

[juliegalway]

Thanks for your help. I don't need to be near LA initially , I mentioned it as have a friend there and curious about coastal towns such as Huntington beach? Will look at inland places too..wanted somewhere that I could get by without a car initially...I don't want to spend more than 800 on rent.

[Harpaint]

There is a public bus system called Metro. You can look at their route maps online and figure out where to live by that if you don't intend to drive. Seal Beach is a nice town and has quite a few apartments.

[juliegalway]

Thanks for your help, heard of seal beach..

[RosieSD]

This will give you a very general idea of average rents in Seal Beach:

https://www.rentjungle.com/average-r...a-rent-trends/

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by juliegalway

I don't want to spend more than 800 on rent.

Sorry, I missed that you gave your budget above.

I don't want to be a Debbie Downer, but an apartment for $800 a month is going to be very tough to find in Southern California, unless you go inland,are willing to share with a roommate, and/or are OK with a less desirable (i.e. safe) area.

I'm not saying it's totally impossible, but it will be very challenging to find an apartment for $800 or less, even in San Diego, which is cheaper than LA.

So, maybe your first step should be going to a site like Zillow.com and doing a rent search for Southern California using $800 as your maximum. While Zillow won't show you every apartment available, it will give you a nice map that will let you see the areas where rents towards that budget might be located. Then you can go to the county sub forums and ask about those areas.

Also, since you have a friend who is already living in LA, why not pick his/her mind a bit for ideas on areas to start your search in?

Good luck!

[Lovehound]

Ocenanside or San Clemente. Also Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana Mar, Del Mar, all closer to SD than LA.

[RosieSD]

Originally Posted by Lovehound

Ocenanside or San Clemente. Also Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana Mar, Del Mar, all closer to SD than LA.

All great suggestions but unfortunately, I'm not sure JulieGalway will find any apartments within her stated budget of $800 or less in those areas, except for roommate sharing situations.

In San Diego County, apartments more towards that price range will more likely be in places like El Cajon, Escondido, Vista, National City, Lemon Grove, City Heights...

But, never say never.