New to Los Angeles, get a CA cell phone number? (San Diego: apartments, rentals)

[IamReady2Move]

I'm living in Whittier, and I'm looking to move to West Hollywood. I found some places on West Side Rentals, and called the numbers. Called 4 places 2-3 days ago, and got the voicemail.

No problem, people are busy. A few days have gone by, no one returns the call. I only left my name, number and the address of the property I saw online.

My cell phone number is still from the East Coast - I wonder if they think I'm moving here from far away? I've heard how a lot of people look for jobs and apts in LA long distance, make arrangements and then completely flake and change their minds.

But I''m in CA - I was thinking I should get a local cell phone? Just to make it clear I really, really am here?

[disgruntled la native]

It can't hurt. But I might recommend being more detailed in your messages about your intentions. Saying you are here, want to move in this amount of time, and this is your budget, and this is when you're free to look

[Spikett]

I was looking for a new apartment recently and some places simply never responded - and I'm talking smaller complexes here. The managers were never there, no one ever responded to voice mails. I decided I wouldn't be interested in living somewhere where management was so non-responsive and looked elsewhere.

[mayorhaggar]

I had a San Francisco number when I lived in Long Beach, and had no problems getting local people to call me.

[jw2]

Get a Google Voice number to get a local phone number. It will forward to your existing number easily.

The rental market is hot in many areas and some (inconsiderate) landlords don't call back people if it has already been rented.

[1200RT]

I doubt it has to do w/ your phone number. In the 'modern' world, where people get a cell phone number and it stays with them "forever", its not uncommon to have an area code from another region. As mentioned above, a google voice number is one way to do it, but honestly, no one really cares.

IIRC, there was an in-depth discussion about this about a year ago, where someone was concerned about having an out of state number listed on his/her resume. The general consensus was not to worry about it.

FWIW, I recently relocated from Santa Monica to Orange County, and haven't thought once about changing my 310 cell number to a 949. I've had the same cell number since I emancipated myself from my parent's plan when I came to CA for college, well over 10 years ago. Before that, I had a 201 (northern NJ), which now belongs to my sister, who inherited it on the family plan we had at the time.

[Miss Pip]

When I left San Diego, one of the first things I did was change my phone number to 310 and update my business cards.

[ferretkona]

Sadly many people do not realize that someones area code has little to do with where they are.
A out of state cell number can cost you long distance fees when returning such calls thou.

[Joe Van Fossen]

Originally Posted by jw2

Get a Google Voice number to get a local phone number. It will forward to your existing number easily.

I'd also recommend this. It's pretty quick and easy to set up.

[bpeeps]

Originally Posted by ferretkona

A out of state cell number can cost you long distance fees when returning such calls thou.

Maybe in 2001 when cell phone companies still cared about long distance phone calls. Majority of all plans these days only charge you if you're making international calls, not long distance. Long distance is rolled into the price of your phone service bill.

As for the OP, I was searching for apartments back in December. I cannot recall the amount of landlords that didn't call me back. As annoying as that is, it's very representative of the type of service you'll get from them as a resident. So consider it a good thing and move on. You'll find a great place just from the sheer amount of places there are to live in LA. It has little to do with your phone number these days.