Moving to LA from Chicago.. HELP! (Los Angeles, Long Beach: for sale, apartments, rent)

[rachela0525]

I plan on moving to LA early October with my boyfriend. He is a chef and I will be persuing a career in video production. I graduate from IADT-Chicago in late September. I know that LA or NY are the places to be for my field, and there are a lot of things he could do in LA as well. Any advice on that?

Also, we were wondering where to live. We just visited out there and loved the Santa Monica, WeHo, Westwood area.. but I know all of these are expensive. We would only need a 1bed. I plan on getting a good job in my field (since its the entertainment capital of the nation!), but I'd still like to have it be a reasonable price with nice amenities. Any advice?

[gio]

Well for those specific areas, expect to spend anywhere from $1700 to $2600 for a one-bedroom. Santa Monica will definitely be the priciest and have the smallest square foot. all three will be safe places to live. As far as amenities, it can be hit or miss. I moved out here from NC a few years ago and every place looked like the ghetto to me but now I know you just have to keep looking (craigslist was very helpful). Also make sure your place comes with a fridge, not all apartments are fully furnished with that. Best advice I can give you is since both of you will need a car, figure out where you will be working and then live near there. It will save you alot of time...........believe me. I wish you the best!!!

[TheRealAngelion]

Originally Posted by rachela0525

I plan on moving to LA early October with my boyfriend. He is a chef and I will be persuing a career in video production. I graduate from IADT-Chicago in late September. I know that LA or NY are the places to be for my field, and there are a lot of things he could do in LA as well. Any advice on that?

Also, we were wondering where to live. We just visited out there and loved the Santa Monica, WeHo, Westwood area.. but I know all of these are expensive. We would only need a 1bed. I plan on getting a good job in my field (since its the entertainment capital of the nation!), but I'd still like to have it be a reasonable price with nice amenities. Any advice?

How much are you looking to pay?

[BreaOC]

Originally Posted by rachela0525

I plan on moving to LA early October with my boyfriend. He is a chef and I will be persuing a career in video production. I graduate from IADT-Chicago in late September. I know that LA or NY are the places to be for my field, and there are a lot of things he could do in LA as well. Any advice on that?

Also, we were wondering where to live. We just visited out there and loved the Santa Monica, WeHo, Westwood area.. but I know all of these are expensive. We would only need a 1bed. I plan on getting a good job in my field (since its the entertainment capital of the nation!), but I'd still like to have it be a reasonable price with nice amenities. Any advice?

Since many of the apartments here are owned by large companies they advertise extensively, and you can find a lot of information on the following sites:
Rent.com
Forrent.com
Apartments.com
Craigslist has a lot of options but you have to be careful with the authenticity of some of the ads. Also, a great site to use is Apartmentratings.com. There you will find a lot of useful info from current and previous renters. Most companies here require your rent to be no more than 35% of your gross (before taxes) monthly pay. Like gio said ask about the appliances. Since he's from out of state, like yourselves, you've probably never heard of having to buy your own refrigerator, but it is rather common here. Lowe's has a great selection and offers free delivery after rebate, so I found that to be my best deal. Hope that is helpful, and welcome to Los Angeles

[CESpeed]

Originally Posted by rachela0525

I plan on moving to LA early October with my boyfriend. He is a chef and I will be persuing a career in video production. I graduate from IADT-Chicago in late September. I know that LA or NY are the places to be for my field, and there are a lot of things he could do in LA as well. Any advice on that?

Also, we were wondering where to live. We just visited out there and loved the Santa Monica, WeHo, Westwood area.. but I know all of these are expensive. We would only need a 1bed. I plan on getting a good job in my field (since its the entertainment capital of the nation!), but I'd still like to have it be a reasonable price with nice amenities. Any advice?

Stick to those areas. A one bedroom will be around $1500, check out craigslist: los angeles classifieds for jobs, apartments, personals, for sale, services, community, and events

Good Luck.

[rachela0525]

We are looking for apartments around the $1000-1200 range. What are some good areas to look that are safe?

[jessemh431]

Studio City, Burbank, Glendale, Belmont Shore area of Long Beach, Pasadena, and possibly Santa Monica.

Look on los angeles apts/housing for rent classifieds - craigslist

[s0nginmyheart]

A few comments... post production firms are crawling all over Santa Monica, so if you are looking for work, that is the place to be.

Secondly, you are going to want to live as close to work as possible. Everybody in L.A. commutes. And by commute, I mean drive their own cars. People hardly take the bus, and there is no train system on the West Side so you get rush hour traffic. Every hour. Every day. That being said, Santa Monica is probably the most expensive place to live in. Actually, the West Side is expensive in general. I would suggest looking in areas such as Palms which is a little more reasonable and could be in your price range.

If you don't mind commuting, you can go further down the 405 Freeway in an area known as the "South Bay" which includes cities such as Torrance, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Lomita, etc... prices here are a little more reasonable but again, you would be looking at a 1 hour drive in traffic to West LA.