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Old 03-06-2012, 05:40 PM
 
65 posts, read 134,381 times
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Backstory (skip if you like): My husband and I (Santa Monica) are ready to make the transition from renting to buying, but buying in Santa Monica is out of the question due to our price range. Although we've been throwing around the idea of looking for work in a more affordable part of the country and moving wherever he finds a job, we also want to explore less expensive options that would still allow him to commute to his current job at least three days a week.

All that said, the only areas that are geographicaly bearable that have homes available in our price range seem to be the Gardena/Hawthorne/Inglewood general area. Can any natives of that area give me some insight into how liveable they are for a family with small children?

We would need to live in an area where there aren't people partying until 3 am and would prefer a high ratio of homeowners to renters. Occasional property crime is not a huge concern for me, but serious gang activity or high violent crime rates occurring against random strangers obviously are not good. I am fine with living near people from different cultural/ethnic backgrounds. My primary concerns are price, and the safety of my children. Public schools do not have to be stellar as I plan to do a lot of my educating at home. I am more concerned with things like drugs and guns in the school than I am with good test scores.

Our ideal would be a condo complex that had some kind of central outdoor area where children could play safely without being accosted by random passerby who do not live in the complex.

We intend to stay in the home until it is fully paid off, so resale value is not as much of a concern as us being happy with the location and willing to settle in there indefinitely. The main goal is that we would like at least some of the housing money we pay every month to go back into our pocket instead of it all going into someone else's.

Is there anywhere in this general area that would be a nice place to settle down?
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Old 03-07-2012, 02:29 PM
 
65 posts, read 134,381 times
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I'll take that as a no.
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Old 03-07-2012, 02:47 PM
 
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big difference between SM and Hawthorne...but out of the 3 you listed i'd say Hawthorne, west Hawthorne... Inglewood Ave/405 will be the divider between what you can and can not afford since SM is out of the question...entire area is family oriented and diverse...mainly black and latino...Lawndale is not so bad either...
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Old 04-10-2012, 05:11 PM
 
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I have lived in all three cities you mention, along with Redondo Beach and Torrance. I have lived in Gardena for the longest and really enjoy it. It is defiantly affordable and has some new townhouse communities. Condos are on the out in this area and are typically 20 or more years old. Torrance still has some nice condos, but they can be pricey. Torrance and the beach cities have good schools, but everything else is about as bad as LAUSD. Inglewood has real issues as far as schools and crime, but there are still a couple good areas in Hawthorne, but most of the schools are low-performing or marginal. If you are interested in a Christian school, CrossRoad Christian Academy has been around for more than 60 years and has a nice campus in Gardena just outside of North Torrance near El Camino Community College. Have you checked out closer cities? The commute from the South Bay to Santa Monica can be pretty awful.
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Old 04-10-2012, 06:15 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles, CA (South Central)
203 posts, read 574,699 times
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As a whole, you get what you pay for. These three areas were a bit out of my price range, since I was buying it as a single man, but the houses that were close to my range were either cheaper because the neighborhood wasn't AS nice, or because the house needed a lot of work.

There are a LOT of nice pockets in all three areas, for sure. My favorite part of Hawthorne that isn't on the West side near Aviation/Manhattan Beach would be the Crenshaw-Van Ness, 118th/105 - Imperial area, where the houses are. Very quiet, families, home owners that don't rent much.

In Gardena, I grew up in the 139th between Crenshaw/Van Ness area, and the houses there are nice, and you don't have too many issues.

Inglewood has plenty nice areas...my favorite there is between Imperial and Century, and Van Ness and Crenshaw, basically right next to the Hawthorne area I described. It's called "Century Heights" and I've even heard rumors that you have to know somebody selling a house to find one on the Northern side of it, where it is very hilly and feels like a mini Ladera or Baldwin Hills.

The thing about these three areas though? The apartments and local shopping areas may scare you a bit. People who are unfamiliar with these ares probably think they are "hood" just because of what you see from the main streets (Crenshaw, Van Ness, Imperial, Rosecrans, etc etc)...but when you go inside the neighborhood, it's like "wait....this is what's behind here???" I've had this reaction a million times, especially when people came to my house in Gardena...on Rosecrans and Purche, they are JUST NOW redoing the shopping center where a few buildings had burnt down...so folks who drove on Rosecrans may have thought it was a rough area just from seeing that.
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Old 04-10-2012, 06:27 PM
 
4,536 posts, read 10,577,162 times
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The real problem from your perspective is that while there are pockets of each of those cities that are nice/safe/affordable, the high schools in those areas are not at all safe.

BTW, where your rent money goes is nothing you should ever consider. It's utterly irrelevant. You paid for a roof over your head. End of story.

Another FWIW, if you have 2 kids and a family income under $100k, you are very unlikely to see much of a tax advantage from owning unless you currently itemize. Simply put you probably don't pay much in state taxes, and with current low interest rates there is not going to be much interest to write off.

If it fits with where you work, homes are MUCH cheaper in West Covina, Covina, Whittier, and La Mirada. $275-325k for a decent family home in a safe area with high schools rated 6 and 7.

Last edited by JohnG72; 04-10-2012 at 06:36 PM..
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Old 04-10-2012, 06:48 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles, CA (South Central)
203 posts, read 574,699 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnG72 View Post
The real problem from your perspective is that while there are pockets of each of those cities that are nice/safe/affordable, the high schools in those areas are not at all safe.

BTW, where your rent money goes is nothing you should ever consider. It's utterly irrelevant. You paid for a roof over your head. End of story.

Another FWIW, if you have 2 kids and a family income under $100k, you are very unlikely to see much of a tax advantage from owning unless you currently itemize. Simply put you probably don't pay much in state taxes, and with current low interest rates there is not going to be much interest to write off.

If it fits with where you work, homes are MUCH cheaper in West Covina, Covina, Whittier, and La Mirada. $275-325k for a decent family home in a safe area with high schools rated 6 and 7.
Eh....with the schools, Gardena is average-decent, not nearly as bad as Morningside or Inglewood High. Leuzinger might be a bit worse than Gardena, and Hawthorne High might be about the same. But regardless...a LOT of us who grow up in these cities end up going to Private Schools, mainly Bishop Montgomery, Serra, St. Bernards for High School, Magnet schools such as King Drew, or even Palisades and the other charter schools. Same for Middle Schools...a lot of us went to the Christian Private schools.

It's really a matter of what your expectations are. I've seen the dynamics in L.A....so the schools in these areas are typically average and slightly below average, but not HORRIBLE and poor as folks may think. I definitely wouldn't say they aren't "Safe" though...SaMo high has had race riots.
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Old 04-17-2012, 01:24 PM
 
65 posts, read 134,381 times
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Thanks for all the info, everyone. I'm weary of explaining why we are making the choice to buy rather than rent, so I won't. But it's not negotiable. We will be buying a place by the end of the year, and are mostly limited by our down payment size, so I just want to get the most bang for my buck. It sounds like Gardena might be a decent place to start. The commute won't be great, but there are ways to ameliorate that like working slightly "off" hours like 7-3 or 11-7 or working from home a couple of days a week, both of which are possibilities for my husband.
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Old 04-18-2012, 06:02 PM
 
5 posts, read 18,674 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xmasevemom View Post
Thanks for all the info, everyone. I'm weary of explaining why we are making the choice to buy rather than rent, so I won't. But it's not negotiable. We will be buying a place by the end of the year, and are mostly limited by our down payment size, so I just want to get the most bang for my buck. It sounds like Gardena might be a decent place to start. The commute won't be great, but there are ways to ameliorate that like working slightly "off" hours like 7-3 or 11-7 or working from home a couple of days a week, both of which are possibilities for my husband.

If I may ask what is your budget? Where will you be commuting to?
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Old 04-18-2012, 10:26 PM
 
65 posts, read 134,381 times
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We could probably go somewhere near $300K for a dream home but prefer to stay well under that. Commuting to Santa Monica with the option of working from home a couple days a week or working slightly "off" hours like 7-3.
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