Cons of living in Southern California (San Diego, Santa Ana: real estate, apartment, rental)

[soldbyalina]

Vacationing here and living are indeed different just like it is anywhere else in the world.

I moved here 30+ years ago and love and appreciate it every year more and more (as I get older)
I don't like the cold and I don't like rain. And we rarely get below 60 and rain is limited to a few days a year.

Having said that, if you are leaving family behind to live here, I wouldn't because it will get lonely very fast. Alot of folks are plastic and real friends will be hard to find initially until you settle down and start working.

Los Angeles is a great place to live. Seriously. It has issues like any other large city.
Little research and some due diligence will serve you well.

[Returning2USA]

Originally Posted by rocker10805

Hello. I want to move to Southern California. I live on the east coast, and the dark and cloudy days in the winter are just depressing. I have heard though that the LA sunshine could get tiring after a while. I've been to the LA area a few times for vacation, but I'm sure vacationing and living there are very different. I did notice the gap between the rich and the poor is huge there!

I went to play in LA a couple of times and loved it.

So, I got a transfer to work there.

It was a completely different experience. Not saying it was negative but it didn't mean much to me.

Perhaps it was my thought process and I didn't take advantage of things there.

There are a lot of things to do in SoCal and I like the vibe down there that Seattle lacks.

I think it is related to the weather.

[Cinema Cat]

Originally Posted by BGS91762

Also the summers are not as miserable as most parts of the country so lower cooling bills.

Not if you live in the Valley. It reach 111 degrees this past summer: https://patch.com/california/woodlan...unty-wednesday

[Cinema Cat]

Originally Posted by soldbyalina

And we rarely get below 60 and rain is limited to a few days a year.

True. But with it comes the threat of drought. California has an increasing drought problem, which might worsen in the future.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by Veritas Vincit

I wouldn't want to own property in a state that is tending toward political radicalism, where the electorate seems prone to whims and politicians are unable to tackle serious issues. It just doesn't feel like a future-proof situation.

LOL....we've been hearing that for decades.

[BRinSM]

The real kicker for someone moving to the area will be the traffic. If someone is seriously considering moving to LA, I have to assume they have the financial resources to do so and has considered taxes and housing costs. I moved away a couple years ago, but I come back at least twice each year and still get shocked how bad traffic can be. Over the Xmas break I travelled from Calabasas to Pomona and it took two hours, on a Saturday. If it's that bad on a weekend, just imagine commuting hours! You really do have to organize your entire life around traffic patterns when living in SoCal. Obviously you should live to close to work, but weekend trips to places like Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, San Diego, the local mountains, etc. also require traffic consideration. Many last minute out of town trips I considered never materialized because I didn't want to sit for 3+ hours in a car. The same goes for local trips such as beach visits, events downtown, or meet ups with family. You may have a higher tolerance than myself for this level of traffic, but you should be forewarned that it's BAD.

[BGS91762]

Originally Posted by Cinema Cat

Not if you live in the Valley. It reach 111 degrees this past summer: https://patch.com/california/woodlan...unty-wednesday

111 degrees for day or 2 is on big deal when compared to the months of that type of weather in AZ or Vegas. Also, most evenings cool down nicely in So Cal. I’ve never been so hot as when I spent summers in NYC and Boston. I’ve never complained about our weather since.

[ryanst530]

Originally Posted by rocker10805

Hello. I want to move to Southern California. I live on the east coast, and the dark and cloudy days in the winter are just depressing. I have heard though that the LA sunshine could get tiring after a while. I've been to the LA area a few times for vacation, but I'm sure vacationing and living there are very different. I did notice the gap between the rich and the poor is huge there!

The only major downside I can think of is the fact that everyone else loves it here too, and I have lived here for most of my life. The traffic, trash, homelessness, etc. can be avoided quite easily by choosing a better area to live in.

The one mistake many transplants make when moving to California is that they tend to flock to the same overcrowded, trendy areas, and then complain about all of the problems in those areas. Not that there is anything wrong with wanting to live in Manhattan Beach/Santa Monica/Irvine/etc., just that the popularity of these areas means competition will be fierce, and you will need to have the wealth/income to match in order to enjoy the storybook southern California lifestyle that many transplants seem to want in these areas.

[nairbdes]

My wife and I are millennials here in the east side of Lakewood, CA and I think making life comfortable here requires career-driven mentality, and making sure both of us work full-time. I work in tech and she works in nursing so we are doing well for our age - we were able to get our first condo here about 4 years ago when it was a bit cheaper than today. Still priced out of a single family detached house, but that's OK... we don't have kids yet so we don't need all the space - yet.

Weather is usually great, we can play tennis most of the year but less during winter when the days are short and kind of cold (but certainly not THAT cold, just cold for native californians like me who are only used to hot weather.)

I can definitely say if you don't work in a good field, you may struggle with the high rents. Another thing that sort of annoys me is that even in the 'good' areas, you're not far at all from a bad one. (Hawaiian Gardens isn't too far from us, even if our current area is pretty decent, and HG is pretty unsafe at night)

So I would say if you have a good job, you can find a lot of pros here. That's really what it comes down to.

Cons include traffic (I take the metro early in the morning, which helps me get into DTLA), lots of homeless people, some areas with really terrible quality roads that can destroy your car's shocks over time, and kind of absurd prices for single family detached homes. I still think condos can be attainable for younger people, with time and dedication.

[Veritas Vincit]

And that's the thing..if you live in a good area and own property, but the hood is just a handful of blocks (or less) away...you're basically spending life looking over your shoulder. In multiple ways. For one, criminals can travel and do travel. Burglaries, car thefts, muggings and so forth can and do happen beyond the invisible line separating nice areas from the hood. Then someone down the street is selling? Better keep an eye on who're they selling to. So many of today's hoods were yesterday's solid middle-class areas.


And this situation is pretty common in Southern California. Just consider how close Lawndale is to Redondo Beach, how close San Pedro is to PV, how close Harbor Gateway is to Torrance. Think of the shooting at Gable House Bowl..which was just a hood brawl gone bad. If you want to insulate yourself from these things completely, you need more than just a good job, you need to be among the super rich.