Moving to torrance? (Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Redondo Beach: homes, construction, best schools)

[cyndida]

Hi,
My husband has been offered a position at a co located between Marina del Rey and Sta Monica.
We like the idea of Torrance due to its good schools and is close to our budget for homes.
Can u tell me if his commute will be an insane thing to go through?
Can u also give me some insides of the area. We are from NY, now living in CT and we know this will be a huge change for us. thxs!

[KnoxTown]

That won't be a fun drive, but its really not too bad.

[JTGJR]

What's your housing budget? Torrance to MDR, during rush hour, is doable. But, you're probably looking at 45mins during rush hour. Possibly double that going to Santa Monica. There are many other small cities that may meet your budget requirements with an easier commute.

[cyndida]

well right now his commute is a bit over 1 hr but he takes the metro north so no worries abt traffic. Our budget is abt 700-800K. Not too big but not too little - although that here can get us a nicer one. Impossible to believe that there is a state more expensive than CT!

[KnoxTown]

Originally Posted by cyndida

well right now his commute is a bit over 1 hr but he takes the metro north so no worries abt traffic. Our budget is abt 700-800K. Not too big but not too little - although that here can get us a nicer one. Impossible to believe that there is a state more expensive than CT!

California is very expensive, you got that right. I think you will be able to definitely find something good for that price. You might even check Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, and maybe Manhattan.

[JTGJR]

Redondo, El Segundo, Westchester, Playa del Rey, Marina Del Rey and Culver City are all good options. Redondo, ES and Culver City all have good school districts as well, if that's a need. You'll not find too much in Hermosa or Manhattan in your range. Torrance is a good area with mostly good schools, but I think you can open up your search a little bit to include some of the other beach cities and cut down on the commute a bit.

[JesusisLord]

That's an excellent commute as of December '08 or January '09. This is the completion of the 405 widening project. The 405 Freeway has been undergoing 3 years of Construction to get rid of the Bottleneck in West Los Angeles. I remember when they put a carpool lane between the 405-90 Interchange and the 405-105 Interchange, traffic improved significantly. From the San Fern Valley to south and the South Bay to North will improve greatly!! They are adding two new lanes to each side of the freeway.

[cyndida]

Thank you for all you posts. SCHOOLS are a main thing for us. Our kid is a very good "A" student and has been through a good system so far, we cannot mess that up. That is why Torrance came into my search. This is really hard I have no clue what I will be facing in that side of the country.
Thanks guys

[JesusisLord]

All of the schools in Torrance are decent, I would say South and West are the best schools. There is a large Asian population in Torrance, and many seem to be very well educated as well as pushing their children through education! But North High and Torrance high are still strong schools!

[JTGJR]

Here's one place to start for some information. LALife.com Also go to wikipedia and look into each of the areas to get some recent and historical background and demographics. There's another one around, but I never remember the URL. If Charles sees this, I think he has it on the tip of his fingers.