Cars in L.A as an insight into poverty/wealth of residents (Fresno: real estate, rental)

[stan4]

You know, whenever I saw a really awesome cars, I always thought to myself, "Well that may look like someone has a lot of money but they just spent that money on a car, so they probably don't have that much money."
We live in a very affluent area. However, now that I have a job and money, I find that it's not that hard to have a really nice car and it really not make any kind of dent into your disposable income, savings, etc.

So I try not to make any judgements either way.

[svicious22]

Originally Posted by Monkeymike

As far as the topic goes, I see things a bit differently as a transplant. I grew up in Chicago. An easier indicator of a particular neighborhood's socio-economic standing was the cars that were parked on the street. When apartment shopping I would go through the parking lots of various complexes and see what people drove and the age/ condition/ brand of car largely reflected the complex. Crappy complexes had crappy cars. Higher end complexes had nicer, newer cars.

After I started coming to LA I realized pretty quickly that vehicles aren't a good way to determine the income level of a neighborhood. There are a lot of dumpy houses in Panorama City with really nice cars in the driveway. And here is why I think that is:

Cost of living

The cost of living out here is so high that if you can afford to live out here, a car payment (or lease) ends up being a very small portion of your income as a percentage. In Chicago a $550,000 - $650,000 house would be a mini-mansion. Out here it's an entry level home that might need a lot of work, sitting in a questionable neighborhood.

You see that person out here and you wonder why they're striving to own a high end car when they live in a pretty meh area but in all actuality even if they're living in a run down shack in an average part of Van Nuys they likely paid $500,000+ and a person that can afford a $500,000+ house can generally shake off a $300 - $600 a month car payment no sweat.

You must not have been in Chicago in a while-in Chicago PROPER in any neighborhood you'd actually want to live in 550-650K is condo territory or small, bling-free starter home, anything resembling a "mini-mansion" is going to be in the millions.

[Teckeeee]

Moved back to So Cal and I can't figure out why people have $$$ sports cars................

There is so much damn traffic you can never open it up to enjoy your 100k car you will just put around foul it with carbon deposits and will be neck and neck with me on the freeway with my Toyota.

[Escort Rider]

Originally Posted by diallomacedo

THE CARS IN FLORIDA AREN'T NEWER, LOS ANGELES IS JUST POOOOOR. I CAME FROM THE DC/MD/VA AREA AND LA IS POOR. EVERY WHERE YOU LOOK--POOR. UP POOR, DOWN POOR, RIGHT POOR, LEFT POOR. The media makes Los Angeles look amazing, but it honestly is the poorest place I have ever visited. Its too poor, additionally, the average person is less educated here versus the east coast. Lack of sophistication too. However, the weather is nice...

I suppose the irony of your talking about educational levels is completely lost on you.

[luzianne]

Off topic, but kind of along the same lines. I live in Kansas City (Kansas suburb) and if you look at homes/apartments for rent online here, generally they are very nice looking inside other than the low rent, run down areas. But for a medium range for KC, you can get a nice place. Just out of curiosity I searched a couple of times for apartments/homes in Los Angeles, but also other places in California and was surprised to see that the homes/apartments available for rent aren't nearly as nice as Kansas City. I mean yeah, if you have a whole lot of money to spend in California you can get something really nice, but for the most part just the mid range (for California, which would be very high range for Kansas) price would get you an apartment that looks very stark and not very aesthetic as compared to here. You can only rent a nice place if you are rich? It could be that I am just finding places in LA that aren't comparable to the same relative price range (mid range) in Kansas City, but I've been surprised that most of the places would not be places I would rent, even at Kansas City prices.

And this isn't to put down California. I actually fell in love with California when I went there and that's why I even bothered to search housing.

Back to the topic of cars, we stayed in Calabasas. We ate at King's Fish House and leaving there and walking from there, in front of Starbucks, over to the grocery store, there was BMW after Mercedes after Jaguar after you name it as we passed by. There was not one just normal car along that whole string of parked cars. I almost took a picture; wish I had, but I didn't. We have BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar, etc. in Kansas City. But they are here and there, not every single car!

[bpeeps]

Originally Posted by Teckeeee

Moved back to So Cal and I can't figure out why people have $$$ sports cars................

There is so much damn traffic you can never open it up to enjoy your 100k car you will just put around foul it with carbon deposits and will be neck and neck with me on the freeway with my Toyota.

Plenty of places and times to drive with minimal traffic. Not every road is the definition of gridlock.

[goldenglory18]

Originally Posted by luzianne

Back to the topic of cars, we stayed in Calabasas. We ate at King's Fish House and leaving there and walking from there, in front of Starbucks, over to the grocery store, there was BMW after Mercedes after Jaguar after you name it as we passed by. There was not one just normal car along that whole string of parked cars.

In Los Angeles (especially more expensive areas like Calabasas) that IS the normal...

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by goldenglory18

In Los Angeles (especially more expensive areas like Calabasas) that IS the normal...

Yep, I know. It's just so different than what I'm used to! I like it, though!

[goldenglory18]

Originally Posted by luzianne

Yep, I know. It's just so different than what I'm used to! I like it, though!

It sure isn't bad to look at, either (I'm definitely a car guy!)

[True Freedom]

Originally Posted by goldenglory18

In Los Angeles (especially more expensive areas like Calabasas) that IS the normal...

yeah, BMW's, Mercedes, Lexus, etc are dime a dozen out here. I'm starting to see too many Maserati's and Bentleys these days, which kind of make them seem a little hackneyed. You have to get a real exotic to stand out (if you want to stand out) .. a Ferrari, Lambo, Maclaren, Bugatti. Of course, again, just one man's opinion.

I still drive my 20 year old beater truck.