Military - moving to LA AFB in January 2014 - need help

[5pyg1a55]

Where are you moving from?

Marie87 has pretty much given you some EXCELLENT advice on every point

Especially about building wealth & housing and good schools (regardless if you have kids or not), and many difficulties and risks with LLing.

The SoCal bubble is going to pop again. If you buy now, you may lose money in 5 years time or more. Rents also fluctuate here as housing prices do, so your monthly nut this or next year may not correlate to what a rent may be in 5 or 10 years- it's not always a slam dunk. The property taxes here are going to sting.

LA AFB is the most boring of bases in SoCal (no personal offense intended in any way), but that might work in your favor. Port Hueneme can be rowdy...You don't want to know half the things I've seen with that crowd. Oceanside as well...there's definite benefits to living around a boring base.

Most of the places you're looking are good. And you're right, West of the 405 is a good general rule of thumb. Marina del Rey would be first choice, or Manhattan Beach, but there's no inventory in your price range/requirements in these posh neighborhoods. Attached garage is going to be your biggest issue. Not impossible, but it will take a while to find a place that suits you.

Inventory is low here in general, esp places under $800 in safe/nice areas. Just doing a very quick look on redfin, there's only 2 places for sale today in the whole of el Segundo under $650, neither have attached garage, and both happen to be in the only tiny area of el Segundo that has any crime to speak of. Right across the street from an LAX runway. Adding "attached garage" yields a few places in the only areas you mentioned that would be at the bottom of my list: North Redondo, East Torrence and Westchester.

Rushour can get ugly everywhere. There are some small pockets of walkable villages, but on the whole, LA is not a walking city. Renting for a couple months can give you the opportunity to really get to know the lay of the land, and look for places hands-on.

[nativesun1979]

I appreciate the information provided by everybody and the various viewpoints for consideration. I am not dead set on purchasing, but it is one of the possibilities. I'm hoping to at least narrow down the communities I would like to live in when I visit in August, and get a feel for both the rental and the purchase markets. I do understand that even though we have no plans for kids that we should try to live in an area with good schools if we decide to purchase.

One of the other condo communities we were looking at was Fusion. Does anyone have insight into that property?

[nativesun1979]

Any more info to provide or info I need to provide to continue to receive advice. Really looking forward to the trip in August.

[nativesun1979]

Still looking for help or personal experience with the two communities mentioned.

[jyh0710]

The 360 is probably your best bet. It's across the street from the base, it seems people buying there are either working for or with the base.

[nativesun1979]

Any first hand experiences with that community? Anyone have experience with Fusion?

[DontH8Me]

I've heard Fusion is mostly retired folks - don't know if that's true. Just word of mouth. Skip the 360 if you ever plan on selling down the line - you'll never recover your investment. You'd be better off looking at an SFR in the communities known as Del Aire or Holly Glen. SFRs are always highly sought regardless of age - it takes a long time to find a buyer for a condo in the area you are talking about. I have family and friends who have been in real estate in the area since the 1970s.