You have to be rich to rent in LA (Los Angeles: middle-class, renters)

[Xanathos]

You're being a pedant, and there's no reason to continue discussing with one, as rationality and logic fly out the window in the face of trying to glom on to minutiae in a desperate attempt to keep their position relevant. In this instance, you're attempting to claim that renting is cheaper than buying, which is nowhere near true along the coast. Do "gooder" next time.

[CaliforniaGal]

When we left South Redondo Beach in 2010 - we were paying 1700.00 a month for rent. We lived there for 17 yrs. I believe our rent was like 900.00 when were first got the place. Our landlord was the best but he wanted to retire to Texas to be with his daughter and her family so he sold to this couple. That was the end of it...the price started creeping up.

We messed up by not buying when the market was good. Shame on us. My husband is a Tug Captain/Crew Chief and his tugs/launch boats leave out of Redondo Beach and he was on call a lot- still is. So we just stayed until opportunity came about where we ended up buying the family home just 4-5 miles away. His mother passed away and we bought the siblings out. No more renting.

We are comfortable - but hardly rich!

[Rlnoir2]

Rent is expoloding in my neck of the woods. Even the older buildings are now asking top dollar, its nuts.

[jacktravern]

Originally Posted by seain dublin

Actually when someone decides to share so much on here, you can most certainly question their choices. No one needs a 5 bedroom house for two people, end of story.

He didn't own the house, he was rentiing it up there, wherever up there was. You don't know where he was from or wasn't from as he never said. But saying they came down to LA does suggest from the north as in OR or WA.

^^^^^^^
Yup, this right here.
Folks come on here to these forums, share of ton of their personal info, and cannot be shocked on how they get judged. It wont be all praise.
Not to mention many of them seem to have these huge current or expected incomes but curiously have taken 1 or zero trips out here, and have less than 5 post. If you think you can swing a 5 bedroom house, then surely should have the ability to take several trips to see the place. C'mon now

And last time most of us check, going "down" to a place, means heading south. I could not imagine myself saying "I'm going down to Canada"

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by CaliforniaGal

When we left South Redondo Beach in 2010 - we were paying 1700.00 a month for rent. We lived there for 17 yrs. I believe our rent was like 900.00 when were first got the place. Our landlord was the best but he wanted to retire to Texas to be with his daughter and her family so he sold to this couple. That was the end of it...the price started creeping up.

We messed up by not buying when the market was good. Shame on us. My husband is a Tug Captain/Crew Chief and his tugs/launch boats leave out of Redondo Beach and he was on call a lot- still is. So we just stayed until opportunity came about where we ended up buying the family home just 4-5 miles away. His mother passed away and we bought the siblings out. No more renting.

We are comfortable - but hardly rich!

Lived in Redondo for a couple years when I was younger .
I'm guessing that $1700 rent is now $2500 or more .

I rented a 1 bedroom in Hollywood 2009-2010 for $1100 last I checked prices were like $1700 and maybe more now .

Buying in the "scary and hot" SFV valley in 2010 seemed to make sense when mortgage was about the same to buy a house as it was to rent a 1 bedroom apartment .

[Xanathos]

Originally Posted by jacktravern

^^^^^^^
Yup, this right here.
Folks come on here to these forums, share of ton of their personal info, and cannot be shocked on how they get judged. It wont be all praise.
Not to mention many of them seem to have these huge current or expected incomes but curiously have taken 1 or zero trips out here, and have less than 5 post. If you think you can swing a 5 bedroom house, then surely should have the ability to take several trips to see the place. C'mon now

And last time most of us check, going "down" to a place, means heading south. I could not imagine myself saying "I'm going down to Canada"

So, your issue here is multitudinal. The first being that the gentleman in that other thread wasn't looking for a 5 bedroom home here. He was looking for a 3 bedroom, and had very cogent reasons why 3 was the exact number needed. The size of his current home didn't really mean anything to what he was asking. Seain just decided to be overly judgemental about their current living arrangement in some bizarre sort of mental gymnastics in order to tell them they should be living in a 1 bedroom apartment here. The other issue, specific to that thread, was that the individual stated they had just spent a week here looking at houses, and the whole point of the thread was trying to figure out where they could live that would be safe and offer at least 3 bedrooms that wouldn't be a horribad commute to Santa Monica because their real estate agent was showing them slums. His expectations weren't unreasonable.

That whole thread was a great microcosm of the blinders people who have been here for a long time have with regards to the living landscape, and just how out of whack the situation here is compared to most of the country. I could literally count on one hand, with fingers to spare, how many metro areas you could stroll into and say you're going to be making more than 3 times the median national household income and feel like all you'd be achieving for quality of life is lower middle class at best. The easiest way to spot a long-time local is not to hear them talk about "The 405" vs. "405" or what their favorite restaurants are, it's to observe how completely oblivious they are to how wealthy one has to be here to do more than merely subsist and survive, with absolutely no hope of flourishing.

[DallasGuy1]

Yea you need to earn at least 100k in LA for a middle class lifestyle. Even then, doubling up in a 2BR with a roommate or significant other is almost required if you want to have anything resembling a savings account. There are some 1BR deals you can find if you're tenacious and lucky but the neighborhood and commute may not be ideal.

[NyWriterdude]

Originally Posted by l1995

NYC has higher rents than LA, and you don't need to make nearly that much to live on your own. And a single person does not need a 2BR.

I think some rich yuppies are just out of touch and think that you can't live somewhere unless you have a giant fancy apartment in a yuppie neighborhood.

I don't think these are the rich yuppies that are out of touch. I think some people move to LA and except to live like they see on tv, without having the kind of job (or prospect) that would enable them to do that.

Sure you can buy that house in Beverly Hills if you're making tens of millions of dollars per year. Making 30k? Of course you can do that. You'll be riding some combination of the bus or train and making using Lyft sometime.

You won't be in Beverly Hills. You'll be living in places like Bell Gardens, Pasadena, parts of San Fernando, maybe Mar Vista or Culver City, etc.

[NyWriterdude]

Originally Posted by NewbieHere

It's true, Santa Monica was very expensive back in 2007-2008, before Snapchat. I remember attending a Xmas party there and the valet parking guy said it's cost about $3000 or more to rent one bedroom there.

Venice wasn't nearly as expensive though. Venice still had a lot of ghettoness in those years, at least parts of the neighborhood did.

[NyWriterdude]

Originally Posted by jacktravern

^^^^^^^
Yup, this right here.
Folks come on here to these forums, share of ton of their personal info, and cannot be shocked on how they get judged. It wont be all praise.
Not to mention many of them seem to have these huge current or expected incomes but curiously have taken 1 or zero trips out here, and have less than 5 post. If you think you can swing a 5 bedroom house, then surely should have the ability to take several trips to see the place. C'mon now

And last time most of us check, going "down" to a place, means heading south. I could not imagine myself saying "I'm going down to Canada"

Down is really under the earth, and up is in the sky. It's a flaw in the language. LA is no more down from Seattle than it is from Tijuana.