Moving to LA from East Bay: Good neighborhoods with 30-ishmin commute to Sherman Oaks? (Santa Clarita: real estate)

[OKH]

So, I'll be moving down to LA in the next month or two to work in Sherman Oaks. Difficulty: I'm a homeowner in the bay and my wife has accumulated too many animals for most apartments, so I'll be looking to rent (from a cool, pet friendly landlord) or buy a house in the area. I have little direct experience with ideal neighborhoods in that area, so I'm looking to see if anyone can help recommend some neighborhoods to look at.

Looking for:
-3bd/2ba
-Safe (Wife or I can walk my dog confidently during early evening) neighborhood
-Garage
-Central air conditioning
-30 min away from Sherman Oaks
-Wife and I might get on the kids thing soon, so hopefully not abysmal schools?

Budget caps:
-Rental 2500-3000/mo (cheaper is always better)
-Buying 500-600K

What would be some good areas to look at? Specific places or things to avoid?

[Youngcorporate]

Here's a list of areas to look at, Sherman Oaks?, Burbank, Encino, Tarzana, Lake Balboa, Woodland Hills, Northridge, and Valley Village.
All these areas are safe and I'm sure you can find something in one of these areas within your budget.

[kcimos]

w/in 30 minutes of Sherman oaks?
the other side of Sherman Oaks.

[nightlysparrow]

Calabasas.

[ryanms3030]

Sherman Oaks seems like the obvious answer.

As for schools, every public school in LA is abysmal so don't let that factor into your decisions.

[BRinSM]

there are house options in your rental/buy budget in sherman oaks, but they are going to small and probably outdated. homes drop in price as you move north and west from sherman oaks (areas west are much nicer than areas north). there are parts of encino that could also work for you, but they'll probably push your budget. tarzana is a bit less expensive as are woodland hills and west hills. depending on where your office is located, you should be able to get to sherman oaks in 30 minutes from all of these places.

with respect to schools, there are plenty of good elementary schools in the valley, you just need to be smart about it. since you don't even have kids yet and you'll be new to LA, I'd recommend renting when upon arrival. the housing market seems to be peaking right now, so buying may not be prudent at this time.

[jessemh431]

Sherman Oaks is the best option for your commute. Your budget will get you something there. Not something spectacular. But something. If you want the best school nearby look into Woodland Hills and West Hills so that you can be zoned for El Camino Real High School. I know it's a good school. And also that's where a huge majority of my Jewish friends from the SFV went to high school haha

Calabasas has great schools, but your commute to Sherman Oaks will be long. Definitely over 30 minutes.

[JohnG72]

I'd say Sherman Oaks itself but then the schools are LAUSD and your budget is very thin for what you want. The people suggesting Burbank havent paid attention to real estate prices lately. No way in heck you get a 3/2 SFR in Burbank under $600k. $700k would be pushing it. As to renting, again good luck getting a 3/2 anywhere decent in the SfV under $2500/mo.

The exceptions are Woodland Hills, Northridge, and Granada Hills. Some decent charter and other LAUSD schools. But think and research that. It's still LAUSD and IMO their ciriculumn is very flawed.

So if I were you I'd look at Santa Clarita/Valencia or Simi Valley. Good schools, safe nice suburbs. The flaw is if you change jobs and have to commute to somewhere further than SFV. Also, more like a 40 minute commute from those areas, though without traffic it's a 20 minute or so drive.

[OKH]

Thanks for the responses. Wife seems to think Sherman Oaks is a good idea as well, and that's been a common thought in this thread. I was gandering at Woodland Hills and Granada Hills, but the commute seems to vary between terrible and comical, and on JohnG72's comment, I want flexibility if I change jobs.

I can afford more than my budget, but sticking close to a goal amount helped me land my current place (4bd/4ba in the east bay, 10 year old construction, 30 min to SF or SJ without commute traffic, 290K). I expect to rent it our for roughly 3K, which should net me another 1+K/mo after all expenditures and income taxes.

I do agree with BRinSM's comment: The market looks peaky, and I will have to learn the areas first, so I should rent for a year. It will be cheaper in the long term to find the right neighborhood and pay 7% more in 2016 than pay less and get stuck in a hellhole.