Rents in LA skyrocketing faster than SF (Jackson, Westwood: foreclosure, renting)

[jm1982]

Good point .

A lot of people poo poo other states because they might not have a ton of high paying prestigious jobs , but you don't need those high paying jobs when cost of living is much lower.


Regarding college you can get a loan, but the issue is paying it off . I think there is a value in college , but many are spending huge sums and that can be a big burden . I think doing community college and transferring to a 4yr is a good idea.

There also seems to be some opportunities with online programs that are reasonably priced .

[kttam186290]

Originally Posted by jm1982

Yeah I know what you mean. I am actually considering a move to South FL , would probably be renting first.

The nice thing over there is living near the beach is a lot more affordable than in L.A

Yeah, hope your prepared to pay exorbitant amounts for hurricane insurance. And, you'll get at least one per year, so consider yourself warned!

[bluevelo]

Originally Posted by seain dublin

Once you have lived in Southern CA, FL is a downgrade. The main thing is the weather, as you mentioned the humidity is brutal and makes being outside uncomfortable for a good part of the year.

Those storms you mentioned(which happen everyday in the summer) are the only relief from that stifling humidity, they only last about 30 minutes and than it's more uncomfortable than before it rained.

Than there is the lack of scenery, as flat as a pancake.

FL works if you're from Michigan and have never been out west.

I'll chime in here from north of you (yes, I've been to LA a number of times but not lived there). In the late 80s, I looked at jobs on the east and west coasts of Florida - roughly from the Space Coast to Ft. Lauderdale and Tampa on the other side. I kept a big cheap map of the US on my apartment wall at graduate school, and everywhere I sent a resume, I put a push pin... and I'd sent out a bunch ... anyway flew down to FL and did interviews - and when we got back, my fiancee at the time got a pair of scissors and careful CUT from Florida from the US map.

A couple of years ago, my last GF and I went to a conference she had in Ft. Lauderdale but flew into Miami as we went to Providenciales, one of the islands of Turks and Caicos (British West Indies) for a short vacation before turning for her conference. We stayed overnight at the hotel in the Miami airport as there were only two flights a day then to Provo from MIA (the other choice was going to ATL via Delta then to Provo - um no).

Some of the rudest people I've ever encountered anywhere from the hotel employees to most of the workers at that airport. Everyone seemed Cuban, or of Cuban descent and just horribly, horribly angry in Miami. Ft. Lauderdale was better... but the humidity, the beaches aren't all that great - very narrow strips of sand, a LOT of garbage and smoking everywhere (Turks OTOH was awesome). While its true that there's cheaper real estate in FL, a lot of the cheap stuff is in pretty skanky neighborhoods... much of South Florida is very 3rd world - the gated communities are awesome; the quality of the construction and how people act outside the gated world is a scene straight out of a Cops episode. Very seedy.

Now, Northern Florida and parts of the Gulf coast are nicer ... Tallahassee isn't so bad BUT you have a Huge Redneck Factor to consider once you get away from Florida's metros. On balance, if the cost of real estate isn't a factor for you, there's no real reason to live in Florida IMHO. California, despite its "problems" is a much nicer place and keep in mind, we are what... the 10th largest economy in the world? Or something like that...

[bluevelo]

Originally Posted by New Horizons

For years I dreamed of owning a home in LA. But I'm feeling real content here in Phoenix. The weather for the most part is an 8.5 out of 10, it's beautiful (the freeways palm trees and In-n-outs remind me of Socal), but the best part is you can survive in this city on a blue collar or service worker's wage. Not everybody has the resources to go to college. If they run out of room here they'll just keep building outward. Besides, that's what freeways are for.

Arizona is my #1 place to move to when I retire. Yes, its hotter than hell 3-4 months a year, but the rest of the year is great, they are way ahead of the curve compared to Cali on water conservation, and as a more diverse population moves in the next decade or so the right wing wack factor will get watered down some. I've read studies that say the best places to put cities IS in the desert - it takes less energy to cool down to 70-75 degrees vs. trying to heat a home to 65F in a climate where the temp spends a lot of time at zero or lower.

[jm1982]

A lot of the expensive stuff in L.A is in skanky neighborhoods though.

A lot of people say much of L.A is third world too.

The beaches aren't great?...That part especially I don't get..

The point is you can live on the beach for less than buying a place in Inglewood or somewhere like that in L.A

Garbage in Fort Lauderdale? Even their 'bad parts' looked a lot cleaner than places in L.A..

Also they don't have the hoards of homeless like the L.A beaches..

[bluevelo]

Originally Posted by jm1982

A lot of the expensive stuff in L.A is in skanky neighborhoods though.

A lot of people say much of L.A is third world too.

The beaches aren't great?...That part especially I don't get..

The point is you can live on the beach for less than buying a place in Inglewood or somewhere like that in L.A

Garbage in Fort Lauderdale? Even their 'bad parts' looked a lot cleaner than places in L.A..

Also they don't have the hoards of homeless like the L.A beaches..

I understand the point of being able to live on the beaches being a lot cheaper. I'm just saying the beaches *themselves* are overrated. Narrow, dirty, and crowded with a LOT of tourists.

Ft. L is much nicer than a lot of Miami. But FL in general just looks rundown as hell to me. Add the humidity and that's enough to run me off.

[New Horizons]

College is great don't get me wrong. I finished my AA, went to USF in Florida, moved out here with my folks, got accepted to ASU, but can't afford their tuition. It's between 5 and 6 hundred per credit hour! I don't qualify for any student loans because there is this thing called the "Satisfactory Academic Progress" When you've been in college for as many decades (you read correctly) as me, and have dropped as many classes as me, the system cuts you off. Can't blame them I guess. I know I should have completed my 4 year degree in Florida where it was cheaper, but I wanted out of Florida badly, and so did my mom. She bought a 70's ranch home here, now I pay rent to my parents, keep the money in the family. I'll be on the road truckin' soon anyway. And I may very well inherit this home eventually. Hopefully that would be many years from now though.

So now I'm in trucking school in Phoenix, trying to parallel park an 18 wheeler. Anyway I'm so happy to be out in this beautiful part of the country. I'd rather be a trucker in Phoenix than an accountant in Florida, that's what I was studying before moving here.

Thanks for reading.

Originally Posted by jm1982

Good point .

A lot of people poo poo other states because they might not have a ton of high paying prestigious jobs , but you don't need those high paying jobs when cost of living is much lower.


Regarding college you can get a loan, but the issue is paying it off . I think there is a value in college , but many are spending huge sums and that can be a big burden . I think doing community college and transferring to a 4yr is a good idea.

There also seems to be some opportunities with online programs that are reasonably priced .

[jm1982]

Oh ok sounds good. Sounds like you are happy where you are which is great.

Good luck on the trucking career. Parallel Parking an 18 wheeler sounds like quite a challenge!

[kasuga888]

I recently move to SoCal and I still don't get how a large portion of the population survive out here. I'm a software engineer and make decent pay but I still find paying 1300 for a studio as a whole lot of change per a month! I sometime wonder who are all these young hip folks renting at the new 1800+ apartments popping all around.

[jm1982]

Many of them may have help from parents, or they are sharing the $1800 apt with someone else ,making it $900 mo .

It's easier to burn out quickly or spend more than you make when you have a hip $1800 mo place, a cool car and go out to all the cool places.

I doubt most of these people have much savings to speak of.