Beverly Hills versus Westlake Village

[taydigga]

Originally Posted by bpeeps

Beverly Hills sucks. Media, television, and film make it seem more glitzy and glamorous than it is. It's just filled with douchebags driving BMWs who cut you off in traffic. Save the extra money and spend it on quality of life elsewhere. There are plenty of other cities where your wife could have the superficial title of living somewhere elite. Santa Monica, Calabassas, Malibu, Brentwood, etc.

I will say you're half right here. I don't really like Beverely Hills because the people there are rude and pretentious and the driving is horrible. But, I will not lie, it is glitzy and there is definitely a lot of money there. My experience from hanging over there in the residential neighborhood is that those people tend to be snobbish, classist, racist and self-absorbed. I have run club over in Beverly Hills and so I walk over there and run over there and they just are rude. You have way more choices than that btw., you can get the best of both worlds in Santa Monica or even Pasadena. But there's tons of areas here. I'd say save some money and move to one of those places.

[Carlite]

You guys might want to look in a neighborhood of Santa Monica that's mostly houses (for a more suburban feel) or possibly in Pacific Palisades.

[nightlysparrow]

Since you don't need to commute, what about Malibu? Has BH status, but more laid back, and much better views.

[sirmilton]

Based on your freedom of working from home, and your wife's desire of being around fancy, walkable places, I would definitely suggest BH, Westwood or Santa Monica. I am affraid if you are in Westlake or Thousand Oaks, you may be a bit too far away from what your wife would enjoy. And since you are able to move around b/c of you job you will be able to enjoy many of the surrounding areas of BH, Westwood and Santa Monica. I honestly feel your wife would enjoy living poor in BH way way way more than living well in Westlake. However, it seems you like more suburban, quiet, peaceful places. In this case maybe you could compromise and find a quieter place in Brentwood, Pacific Palisades, or Malibu.

BH isn't as bad as people make it out to be ITT. I have met many Dbags, and many nice people. Traffic is about as bad as in most west side areas, maybe a little worse but its certainly nothing extraordinary. Thousand Oaks is quite different. A much more country feel, slower, more family oriented... the usual suburb stuff. Commute is not bad at all to LA if you avoid the bad hours or use an app to make sure your not gonna get stuck.

[bluezeppelin]

Westlake Village isn't even really LA proper, it borders Ventura County, and it's so far out that you won't be making it out to the city that often.

My suggestion for you would be to consider some of the nicer parts of the San Fernando Valley, which would be a compromise between the Westlake experience and the central city experience yet close enough for you to make regular trips out to BH (which isn't going to be all it's cracked up to be, you will get tired of it), downtown, and the west side.

I am not familiar with what in the Valley is still nice because a lot of it went downhill since I left years ago, but you might consider the West Valley, the hills near Porter Ranch, or perhaps the region that butts up against the Santa Monica Mountains (Encino, etc).

Good luck!

[Capablanca]

Originally Posted by Onething6

I wouldn't say it is our only options, it is her choice for a location and my choice. It will very likely come down to one of the two. That is why I am looking for people to weigh in on both pros/cons to help us in our decision. And yes, the Beverly Hills option would likely be a 3 bedroom in south Beverly Hills. Our budget would be $5000 max for Beverly Hills and $4000 for Westlake Village. We have visited these cities and many others.

As others have said, I would not choose either one of those two. Westlake Villiage is just not really LA, as it is basically almost in the 805 which I do not like. Again, what is is about these two locations that makes them your ONLY two choices?

I would recommend Calabasas, but its still pretty far from central LA. Encino, Sherman Oaks, Tarzana, Woodland Hills and Studio City are GREAT valley locations. Very very diverse areas although there is a large Jewish and Persian-Jewish population in Encino and Sherman Oaks. Studio City is a bit more liberal/artsy/earthy as you'll find LOTS of gyms, yoga studios, organic markets, etc. I LOVE Studio City.

[Onething6]

Thanks for all the great advice. Two things I didn't mention that are important for this discussion. I need great public schools for my kids, and I hate really hot summer weather. Westlake and BH both have great public schools and limited 90+ degree summer days. Malibu has both but is beyond pricy at the low end. I want to avoid LA public schools but Pacific Palisades might be an option.

[nightlysparrow]

You are asking for posters to take sides on the city-vs-suburbs debate. Everyone knows the upsides and downsides of each.

Sounds like this is a marital issue between the two of you, not a real estate one.