Family with small children considering a move to LA from Northeast (Los Angeles: for sale, real estate)

[Euphoria007]

We are strongly considering a move to LA area from Northeast, mainly because of the weather. We are in LA right now trying to familiarize ourselves with neighborhoods in and around LA and would love to hear some opinions from people who live here or know more about the area.

My husband is a consultant who either works from home or travels on a business, so a relatively decent drive to the airport would be a plus (would say max of 40 min). We have seventeen months old twins, so not worried about schools just yet, but hoping to send them to a private school when the time comes.

We are planning to rent for the first year and sort of "test drive" the area we decide on before we actually buy. But when we do buy, our budget would be around $600-700K for three bedroom house.

Right now we live in an urban hip residential area that is very diverse, very safe and very family friendly with a strong sense of community. We would love to find something similar in LA. We love going out to restaurants, coffee shops, bars, farmer and flea markets and parks and would definitely like to stay close to everything that urban lifestyle has to offer.

We are staying in Silver Lake right now and although we like some parts of it, it might be a little too hipster for us. It would have been perfect for us five years ago, before we had kids, as we are far away from being a conservative mainstream family, yet it doesn't quite feel right for us.

We visited Pasadena twice and loved how beautiful and clean it is, but we feel it's a little too "proper" for us. Is Burbank similar to Pasadena?

We didn't find Glendale that appealing. Los Feliz, West Hollywood and Hancock Park areas seem nice. Would we be able to rent a decent 3BR apartment there for about $2500-3000?
Any other area we should check out? Is Echo Park and Atwater Village worth checking?

Thank you in advance for any input on this!

[Tiller77]

Check Westchester and El Segundo. You will be in price and there is exactly what you want as i see, quiet family neighborhood and close to airport.
West Hollywood - i think too crime area.
http://www.trulia.com/for_sale/0-275...pcrimes/x_map/

[Euphoria007]

Originally Posted by Tiller77

Check Westchester and El Segundo. You will be in price and there is exactly what you want as i see, quiet family neighborhood and close to airport.
West Hollywood - i think too crime area.
Westchester Real Estate & Westchester Homes For Sale — Trulia.com

Thank you! We'll check those areas out.

[JohnG72]

Originally Posted by Euphoria007

We are strongly considering a move to LA area from Northeast, mainly because of the weather. We are in LA right now trying to familiarize ourselves with neighborhoods in and around LA and would love to hear some opinions from people who live here or know more about the area.


We didn't find Glendale that appealing. Los Feliz, West Hollywood and Hancock Park areas seem nice. Would we be able to rent a decent 3BR apartment there for about $2500-3000?
Any other area we should check out? Is Echo Park and Atwater Village worth checking?

Thank you in advance for any input on this!

Your price range is fine...even a tad high. However, the public schools in those areas are mostly quite poor, although I believe some of the elementary schools are ok. At the high end of your price range, you'll probably be able to rent a 3/2 house. I do not believe you will be able to buy a 3/2 house under $700k in any of those areas. Use Redfin recently solds to verify that.

You may want to check out south Pasadena as well.

[nmnita]

Like has been mentioned you might want to check Westchester, but please don't think Pasadena is too proper. It is slightly more family oriented than the areas you are considering and yet very diverse and close enough to a couple airports for hubby's travel. It is a good mixture of active downtown area, not truly the burbs but still very family oriented.

Some of the areas you are talking about, Echo Park, for instance certainly wouldn't be the best place to raise kids. El Segundo is great, close to the airport, good schools and might have just what you are looking for. I think Hancock Park would be out of your price range and some of the other areas would be less than desirable because you do have the toddlers. Remember, often with the hipster scene you are talking about, will come a little more crime as well. This is what living in the city gets you; lots of fun things, good vibes but also crime. West Hollywood is definitely more a singles scene and does have more crime than some of the other areas you have mentioned.

As for the price range you will be looking into when you do decide to buy, remember, most places right now, I don't know about Los Angeles are seeing a rebound in sales. Those homes that were over a mil 7 years ago, dropped to 600,000 or so are now heading right back up.

[hjt123]

Culver City or Pasadena are your best choices.

Culver City is very close to the airport, but not as picturesque as Pasadena. Pretty cool downtown and arts district though. And it's 10 minutes from the beach.

I feel like you would get bored in Westchester if you didnt vibe with Glendale.

[Tiller77]

hmmm, everybody who I know says Pasadena is not place to live.

[JohnG72]

Originally Posted by Tiller77

hmmm, everybody who I know says Pasadena is not place to live.

The only reason would be poor public schools. Most of Pasadena is pretty nice. Some of Pasadena is elegant huge mansions.