Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Weird time to be planning a move, but life is weird these days!
We're moving to LA from Chicago, sometime between Oct 1 and the end of first quarter of 2021. We are hoping our income and needs are sufficient to find a happy niche there.
Family income @200k (with potential for big increase mid-2021.) Husband has a good techjob, but having other tech jobs available is definitely desirable. I will likely return to full-time teaching in a few years.
We homeschool, so school districts aren't super important, but relative neighborhood safety is. Mixed-ethnicity family (Latinx/White.) Will probably end up driving kids all over the area for activities. Looking forward to weekends at beach/Sequoia/Joshua Tree, if that makes a difference. We don't need a big or super nice house. Family of 5, but one is in college and won't be home most of the year, so a small house is fine. I've lived in older, smaller homes my whole life so I'm not really needing much except safe and comfortable, with at least a small backyard for gardening. A few chickens would also be nice.
Lived in Austin for 16 years, so sort of a baby LA in terms of traffic. (We've been in Chicago for just under a year.) We're comfortable with the idea of living in a funky urban area in LA proper as well as on a little more land in the valley somewhere in the general LA area.
We're okay with renting for a year or two first.
I hear so often about how unaffordable LA is. Are we overreaching? We're just at the start of this plan, so we know we have a LOT of narrowing down to do.
I should add that we are location independent. Super flexible. Husband may travel for work a good bit in 2021, so being not too far from an airport would be nice.
I know you say home school, but in general the more desirable areas and relatively safe areas to live are located in these school districts. In general each district is actually the entire city. An A- and above are probably some of the best areas and independent cities outside of LA City. LAUSD isn't listed high mainly because the students are mostly lower income classes instead of the middle and upper middle class in those higher ranked areas. But it doesnt mean they aren't good places to live or safe in LA City. A lot of the san fernando Valley is safe and desirable especailly the southern and western/northern hills. The central flats and east/northeast arent as desirable. A lot of the hills from Malibu to Hollywood Hills are very desirable. And most of areas on the westside (west of La Brea ave plus Hancock Park) are desirable. Mid City is so-so. South of the 10 and east of La Brea Ave minus Hancock Park and some other hilly areas are considered not good. Pasadena also isnt listed high, but overall PAsadena/Sierra Madre/Altadena is a good city to live but that many choose private schools over public. Also a lot of areas from the 405 freeway eastern side aren't that great. Includes Inglewood, Carson, Compton, South LA and the parts of Long Beach, San Pedro, South Gate, and so on.
What are you thinking your budget is for housing? $200k is a healthy salary, but some people at that income may want to keep their rent <$3k while others may be willing to stretch to $5k or beyond. No matter, you'll have so many options. The greater LA area is huge! I think you'll need to hone in on your priorities for your neighborhood beyond just safety. Some areas are practically desert (or actual desert e.g. Palm Springs) and get very hot in the summer, can you handle that? Do you need/want to be near the coast? Are you looking for a locale near the heart of LA or can you handle suburban areas like Orange or Ventura counties? Being flexible is great, but knowing what you want will also be important when moving to a 5 county region that has a populate pushing 20M people.
I have lived in the LA area for over 20 years now and have experienced much of what the city has to offer, which can be an overwhelming if you are going to try and do it all. There is still a long list of things I want to do and see.
Like every city, there are good places and bad places to live, which are defined by the people who live there and the policies of the location. In Los Angeles, you can find a pocket in an area some would say is bad, that is a great place to live, so it's really hard to define any area as good or bad. There are some areas that have had a bad reputation in the past, that are now thriving and great places to live now. I'm going to give you my email at the end of this so you can email me directly with specific questions if you'd like, or even just an opinion or feeling on an area.
Except for your job, most people in LA have this 5 mile radius where most of their life happens. So even though it is true that traffic can be a nightmare, for the most part that effects your commute more than anything. You will find your playground, supermarket, hair stylist, gym... most things you will do within that 5 mile radius, so you won't be sitting in that traffic. I live in the city of Glendale which is only 5 miles from downtown Los Angeles, but feels like a world away. I used to work in Burbank which is only 7 miles away and had an average commute of 15 minutes. Then my company moved to Hollywood which is only a few miles further, but in a different direction and my commute changed from 15 minutes to between 30 and 45 because it's a busier area with less direct freeway access. Many people who are trying to get as much house for the money are hitting the outer edges of the city such as a city called Santa Clarita which is a newer development where you can buy a bigger house with more land for much less than anything you could buy closer to LA, but unless you can work from home or find a job in that area, you will pay the price by sitting in traffic. There are a lot of rentals in that area both houses and apartments.
I'd love to answer any specific questions you have as I'd like to help and I remember what it was like when I was making the move here from Denver, having no friends or family to give me any advice other than from the ones who have never lived here and had nothing but warnings and gloom and doom. Well, I've lived here now for over 20 years - longer than anywhere else in my life and I love it! Maybe I've been fortunate, but I have always found friends, always had decent neighbors and have had a blast.
I would really advise locating the place where you or both of you would be working and see what a 10 mile radius from there looks like on a map. Hopefully you will have an opportunity to come and out and do some scouting which I strongly advise. stay in a hotel near where you might want to live. Get up at the time you'd be driving to work and do the drive, see how good or bad it is. find a local coffee shop and just sit and listen to the people. At night, walk the neighborhood that you are considering and see how safe you feel and what the people are like. I know one night doesn't tell the whole story, but I'll bet you will get that spidey sense that might go along way.
if you have any specific questions or just want to know some fun things to do, email me at davewatro@aol.com my name is Dave funnily enough.
If I don't hear from you, good luck with your move!
Definitely a lot of options given that you home school and are location independent.
In terms of LA proper, based on your income level and a house with at least some backyard, I think the Valley would be your best. Depending on your house budget and given that you don't mind a smaller, older home, you might be able to get a place in Sherman Oaks, Encino, or Tarzana. If you want more bang for your buck, I'd look into Woodland Hills. You can get even more bang for your buck in the north Valley, but I'm personally not a fan of the area for various reasons.
While not exactly funky per se, if you want somewhere that has a slightly more of a hip vibe, I'd take a look at Atwater Village or Eagle Rock, which are in northeast LA proper. While I think these areas are quite overpriced at this point, it's worth checking out.
Outside of LA proper, I'd also look into Burbank, Glendale, and Pasadena, which all border LA. And each city has plenty of amenities. Assuming your house budget is $1M max, you can still find some decent smaller homes in this price range.
If you don't mind heading out a little further from LA proper and want to be somewhere quieter, I'd look into areas such as Agoura Hills, Westlake Village, and Thousand Oaks. Great, family-friendly areas and you'll be able to stretch your dollars further. Also, you can hop over the mountains and get to Malibu in 20 minutes.
If you have a desire to be close to the coast, based on your income level, your best bet would be Redondo Beach or Torrance in the South Bay. I'm not a particular fan of these areas, but just putting it out there. Depends on what floats your boat.
Hi
Many people who are trying to get as much house for the money are hitting the outer edges of the city such as a city called Santa Clarita which is a newer development where you can buy a bigger house with more land for much less than anything you could buy closer to LA, but unless you can work from home or find a job in that area, you will pay the price by sitting in traffic. There are a lot of rentals in that area both houses and apartments.
The OP probably won't find any neighborhood in Santa Clarita where they can have chickens, though. It's not that type of town. Your neighbors will complain and your HOA will not allow it.
The place that immediately comes to mind is Chatsworth, which is on the northwestern edge of the San Fernando Valley off of the 118 freeway. Burbank has an airport offering domestic flights, which is 30 minutes away. There are some nice ranch homes with some property out that way, and you are actually in the City of Los Angeles, as weird as it may seem.
The second place that comes to mind is Lakeview Terrace on the northern edge of the San Fernando Valley. This would put them closer to Burbank airport.
Shadow Hills would be very close to Burbank airport, and it has a lot of equestrian type properties. Yet, this will be the most expensive option of the three.
I see a couple comments on here preaching about heavy traffic. As I'm sure is the case in Chicago (I lived in Evanston from 2017-2019), traffic here in LA seems to be decreased for the long haul because of the pandemic. Yes--some sort of rush hour will still come back in the near future, but traffic will never actually return to pre-COVID19 levels. Basically, traffic in LA peaked, permanently, in March 2020. SO, don't let traffic concerns deter you from a good neighborhood or affordable housing situation, because traffic is more tolerable now. Lots of companies, including mine, will continue an intermittent work-from-home policy for years to come, and that will undoubtedly have a positive impact on LA traffic congestion.
Even with a salary of 200K, you'll want to take a careful look at what you can afford and where. As a very ballparky example, 3 beds with a yard, 1400 sq ft, in one north LA modest middle-class bedroom community I know can run $800,000 or more. Also don't forget to consider the steep property tax when looking at prices. The average county property tax rate is 0.755% which would be an extra $6000 per year for an $800,000 home.
Neighborhood safety can be tricky because sky-high real estate prices have caused partial gentrification in some areas. You can't always tell about an area just from the house prices. House prices about tripled in S. Cal. in the past 25 years. So in some neighborhoods you have high-income people moving into older areas and paying high mortgages living mixed in with lower income people who purchased theirs long ago at a fraction of the price for similar housing, in areas where the crime rate is maybe not what you would want. Check the crime maps carefully.
Burbank and Ontario airports are vastly more convenient to use than LAX. Until the virus, LAX had a chronic local traffic jam, not enough parking sometimes, and slow security lines. Even LA admits it's too small for all of its traffic, but it's not economical for it to physically grow because real estate is so expensive.
I see a couple comments on here preaching about heavy traffic. As I'm sure is the case in Chicago (I lived in Evanston from 2017-2019), traffic here in LA seems to be decreased for the long haul because of the pandemic. Yes--some sort of rush hour will still come back in the near future, but traffic will never actually return to pre-COVID19 levels. Basically, traffic in LA peaked, permanently, in March 2020. SO, don't let traffic concerns deter you from a good neighborhood or affordable housing situation, because traffic is more tolerable now. Lots of companies, including mine, will continue an intermittent work-from-home policy for years to come, and that will undoubtedly have a positive impact on LA traffic congestion.
Of course I moved away in March, 2020. I couldn't image how great it is driving in LA these days. I imagine its like the holidays all the time now.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
