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Old 05-10-2014, 10:07 PM
 
Location: Portal to the Pacific
8,736 posts, read 8,668,443 times
Reputation: 13007

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Quote:
Originally Posted by thelopez2 View Post
Seattle is Seattle and Santa Monica is Santa Monica. If you love one, it is highly doubtful you'll love the other. At the high salary of good lifestyle you currently love, why bother moving?
That's what I'm afraid of. No doubt the weather is awesome down there, but I'm one of those crazy people that likes clouds and rain and seasonal dynamics... and coffee.... and lots and lots of nature at my front door. But I also like adventure and new experiences... and if there is a little more money mixed in

We do have a sorta close-ish family member in LA too... and we fly to Mexico to visit family regularly and it'll be cheaper and easier to get down there from LAX. Also I need my husband to really consider in what ways this position will further his career vs the company he's currently with.

I think if we're given an offer and it's what is promised then we'll at least fly down and look around some before rejection/acceptance. I now know to consider Santa Monica and El Segundo... THANKS for the help!
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Old 05-10-2014, 10:57 PM
 
Location: TOVCCA
8,452 posts, read 15,041,876 times
Reputation: 12532
Look at Agoura Hills. Nature trails around apartments, deer, coyotes, top-notch school system, just off the 101, super-low crime, lots of shopping. I have friends who live in the apartments below. The amenities are great. Free wi-fi, a fitness center, pool, pet friendly, surrounded by trails. Husband could make Hollywood in an hour.

Agoura Hills Apartments in Los Angeles County | Avalon Oak Creek
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Old 05-10-2014, 11:27 PM
 
Location: Earth
17,440 posts, read 28,602,920 times
Reputation: 7477
Quote:
Originally Posted by nightlysparrow View Post
Look at Agoura Hills. Nature trails around apartments, deer, coyotes, top-notch school system, just off the 101, super-low crime, lots of shopping. I have friends who live in the apartments below. The amenities are great. Free wi-fi, a fitness center, pool, pet friendly, surrounded by trails. Husband could make Hollywood in an hour.

Agoura Hills Apartments in Los Angeles County | Avalon Oak Creek
That's an hour's drive at 4 AM on a Sunday. Not at any other time. That commute normally is very long and quite horrific. I would not recommend it to anyone.

In any case, they're working in Santa Monica. In which case Santa Monica itself is the best option, but that's really expensive. The closest somewhat reasonably priced place with good schools is El Segundo.
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Old 05-11-2014, 01:56 AM
 
Location: Los Angeles
5,864 posts, read 15,244,428 times
Reputation: 6767
I too had a great life in Seattle though mine was living in the city. I will always love Seattle and thoroughly enjoyed living there for 10 years. For me I had an opportunity in Los Angeles and I decided to move. My time in Seattle was great and I was excited about living in a new city and experiencing Los Angeles. I love it here and its quite enjoyable learning about LA. Despite the 'cesspool, fake, plastic, smoggy' comments people on CD say about LA, it is a fun, unique and beaufiful city. Seattle is a great city but LA is truely amazing.
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Old 05-11-2014, 12:15 PM
 
Location: Philadelphia
5,294 posts, read 10,208,375 times
Reputation: 2136
If you live by the ocean, you'll get plenty of fog, particularly in the months of May and June, or in summer evenings. LA is very dry, though, but it does rain some in the winter months. I do think you'll come to appreciate the different kind of nature in SoCal. There are gorgeos hiking trails with different kinds of flora (cacti, palm trees, different kinds of subtropical foliage) and the dry landscape kind of looks intriguing many times. The good thing about more sun and warmth down here is that you can be outside much more than up in PNW, and the ocean is more swimmable than up there. You can really use the ocean from July-October, sometimes even as early as May or June.
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Old 05-11-2014, 11:33 PM
 
59 posts, read 103,480 times
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For what you describe, yes places near the northern outskirts, like Santa Clarita, or toward the Agoura Hills/Thousand Oaks area would give you the lifestyle you describe.

But holly molly the commute to Santa Monica from either area would kill you after a while. Public transportation is limited to non-existent for such a commute.

So yes, you would want to live in Santa Monica. And much of Santa Monica is nice, and some areas are really nice. But it's expensive, and as with any other beach towns, houses/condos tend to be built right up on another so personal space is limited. There are tons of bike paths and easy walking areas, and they have their own bus lines, but Santa Monica is also a major tourist destination, so the area can certainly gets congested when the weather is nice (which is most of the year).

It would certainly be a different life than the one you have now.
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Old 05-12-2014, 09:05 AM
 
17,815 posts, read 25,634,677 times
Reputation: 36278
Quote:
Originally Posted by thelopez2 View Post
Seattle is Seattle and Santa Monica is Santa Monica. If you love one, it is highly doubtful you'll love the other. At the high salary of good lifestyle you currently love, why bother moving?

^^^^^ this. From what it sounds the OP has everything her and her family need and than some in the Seattle area.

In addition her lack of knowledge of the LA area is mind boggling. A child even with mild autism is going to have difficulty with a move, has she even thought of schools? If she has to put him in private school there goes most if not all of the salary increase that wouldn't go to the increase in the COL.

And her husband isn't going to want to commute from Agoura Hills to Santa Monica, especially since he currently has a cakewalk of a commute in Seattle.

Sometimes the move you don't make is the best move.
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Old 05-12-2014, 10:07 AM
 
Location: TOVCCA
8,452 posts, read 15,041,876 times
Reputation: 12532
Quote:
Originally Posted by majoun View Post
That's an hour's drive at 4 AM on a Sunday. Not at any other time. That commute normally is very long and quite horrific. I would not recommend it to anyone.
Right NOW 9:07 am rush hour on a Monday, using freeways, Googles reports it's 39 minutes.

There is also the route going over the canyon.
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Old 05-12-2014, 10:59 AM
 
Location: Pasadena, CA
10,078 posts, read 15,856,342 times
Reputation: 4049
Quote:
Originally Posted by nightlysparrow View Post
Right NOW 9:07 am rush hour on a Monday, using freeways, Googles reports it's 39 minutes.

There is also the route going over the canyon.
To put it simply, Google doesn't comprehend how bad LA traffic is. It's always super optimistic on travel times, especially at rush hour.
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Old 05-12-2014, 12:04 PM
 
601 posts, read 755,770 times
Reputation: 604
Santa Monica is close to a the foothills of the mountains, lots of bike and hiking paths there. If you can find a nice place near Montana ave, that area is a yuppy (no offense, it's just a pricey area and the people there wear it on their sleeves) village-like area that would probably be very good for your family.

As for coffee - there's an impressive amount of good, independent coffee shops in the area
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