Westchester Neighborhood (Los Angeles, Orange, Santa Monica: crimes, mortgage, townhome)

[Tiller77]

Hi people!
I'm going to move to Los Angeles. After inspecting the area, I stopped at Westchester, as in my opinion, there is a good value for the house and neigborhood quality. You can buy a good house 700k-900k and the neighborhood looks lovely. I have the family: child and wife.
My second choise was Cheviot Hills, but there is more expensive houses, although the quality of the area is not much higher, than Westchester (imho).
I could be wrong, so I will be very grateful for your advice. Finally i'm looking for quiet lovely place for family. What are good and what are bad at that area?
Thank you!

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Tiller77

Hi people!
I'm going to move to Los Angeles. After inspecting the area, I stopped at Westchester, as in my opinion, there is a good value for the house and neigborhood quality. You can buy a good house 700k-900k and the neighborhood looks lovely. I have the family: child and wife.
My second choise was Cheviot Hills, but there is more expensive houses, although the quality of the area is not much higher, than Westchester (imho).
I could be wrong, so I will be very grateful for your advice. Finally i'm looking for quiet lovely place for family. What are good and what are bad at that area?
Thank you!

Keep an eye out for schools:

California School Performance Maps

[majoun]

Originally Posted by Tiller77

Hi people!
I'm going to move to Los Angeles. After inspecting the area, I stopped at Westchester, as in my opinion, there is a good value for the house and neigborhood quality. You can buy a good house 700k-900k and the neighborhood looks lovely. I have the family: child and wife.
My second choise was Cheviot Hills, but there is more expensive houses, although the quality of the area is not much higher, than Westchester (imho).
I could be wrong, so I will be very grateful for your advice. Finally i'm looking for quiet lovely place for family. What are good and what are bad at that area?
Thank you!

Thought about Culver City or El Segundo? If you have kids, being in a non-LAUSD area is a must

[1200RT]

We spent a few years in westchester before buying in Santa Monica, and recently moving to Orange County. We really enjoyed it there, and I really believe its one of the best areas to buy, as location is great, home prices are not as outrageous as other equally nice/safe areas of City of LA, etc. With that being said, as mentioned, it is city of LA, so you'll have LAUSD to look forward to. I want to say that the westchester schools sit in an area where they host an interesting mix of kids, and Westchester HS is not a good school, if i remember correctly. Westchester seems to be one of these interesting areas where you can't really judge the neighborhood by the schools, as an extreme case here.

If schools are not an issue (private, home schooling, whatever), I think it's probably a great idea. If you'll be doing the public school thing, you may want to look at an independent city, as mentioned in another post - but your money wont go as far.

Ah, stay the heck away from LMU .... I recall the LMU students treating the neighborhood as their personal race track, parking lot, frat house, etc. Only an issue on the streets immediately surrounding the college. Don't do your house hunting during the summer when school is out of session.

[Tiller77]

Thank you all.
And yes El Segundo is a nice area, but too close to airport.
Once i have been in the house where I was watching planes take off

[Tiller77]

Originally Posted by Charles

Keep an eye out for schools:

California School Performance Maps

wow, why that low rating for schools???

[1200RT]

1) it's lausd.
2) it's 73% black, 15% Latino. Statistically, a though mix for lausd. They also bus kids from other areas (also black/Latino). There are not great areas of "Westchester", other side of sepulvedava.

As I said - if public school is your choice - look elsewhere. If not, you'll like it there. Also as I said, public school rankings are not representative the area itself in this case.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JohnG72]

Originally Posted by Tiller77

wow, why that low rating for schools???

Most of the kids whose parents can afford to mortgage a house or townhome in Westchester send their kids to one of the numerous private schools in the area.

Most of the kids attending public schools in westchester are bused in from other areas. If you need further proof, park outside Westchester High School as class lets out. The student body is almost entirely African American with a handful of Latino students. No Caucasian, no Asian students. Westchester is a very ethnically diverse area with near equal amounts of Caucasian, Latino and African American and a few Asians. So the public schools there are not at all representative of the surrounding neighborhood. Yet another result of LAUSD's terrible attempts at social engineering.

[Tiller77]

So, if i understand it correctly, except of schools, this area is quiet and without any crimes? Family oriented neighborhood, no nightlife and a bit boring?
I like silence at my home place.

[Tiller77]

And what about Cheviot Hills schools?
As i see according to trulia and redfin, i can buy there about 800-900k