Thinking about moving to SoCal

[socal88]

To be honest, you will not find a house for under $400K in LA County or other parts of SoCal with the exception of Palmdale / Lancaster and areas further out east in the Inland Empire heading out toward the desert, which I would not recommend for a single person. Plus, not a lot of culture and you'll get extreme heat in the summer in these locations.

At least with Chicago (or at least its surrounding suburbs), you'll be able to find a decent home under $400K and have most of your other criteria met. And even if you're in the suburbs, compared to the greater LA area / SoCal, there is less sprawl with shorter distances (including better public transportation) if you want to go to into the city to enjoy cultural activities / amenities while also having wide open spaces not far outside the city to enjoy riding a motorcycle plus casinos.

[ticking]

Originally Posted by UP 270

Vegas gets too hot and Salt lake city/Utah is not diverse. Yeah LA is probably out of my price range. Thoughts on Palmdale?

It's a sprawling desert city....very hot at times during summer. High crime area, although the houses aren't too expensive.

[apple92680]

You can get a condominium in Santa Clarita for around $400k, but it won't be brand new, probably 2005--2010 build. Santa Clarita is closer to Los Angeles than Palmdale.

Palmdale itself is not high crime. Lancaster, 8 miles to our north, has higher crime. It also has a higher African American population.

Palmdale's 2022 crime rate was 18.4 / 1000.

Lancaster's 2022 crime rate was 24.08 / 1000.

To compare, Santa Clarita's crime rate was 11.19/1000

Palmdale is a predominantly Hispanic and Anglo city. The west side of the 14 (93551) in Palmdale is called "Rancho Vista" and was a planned community. It's well developed and feels just like any other planned community in Southern California. I live in Rancho Vista. Most of my neighbors are contractors, law enforcement, firemen, aerospace, nurses, educators, business owners and lots of retired people from Los Angeles. My wife and I are college professors.

Both Palmdale and Santa Clarita tend to trend more conservative and Republican than the rest of Los Angeles County. We are represented in Congress by Mike Garcia, and in the state Assembly by a Democrat (Juan Carrillo) and a Republican (Tom Lackey).

[cmdreset]

"abundance of beautiful woman, culture, no limit poker, and open places to ride a motorcycle" for $400k, with Vegas as too hot and Denver as not diverse enough.

An upper mid-west former industrial city (Detroit, Cleveland...) would tick all the boxes (there are beautiful women everywhere and there is plenty of "culture" in these cities)

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by UP 270

Vegas gets too hot and Salt lake city/Utah is not diverse. Yeah LA is probably out of my price range. Thoughts on Palmdale?

I was just in Salt Lake City over the summer. It's not Los Angeles, but it is more diverse than you might assume.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by UP 270

Vegas gets too hot and Salt lake city/Utah is not diverse. Yeah LA is probably out of my price range. Thoughts on Palmdale?

Palmdale is also hot and I'm not sure if it's very good as far as crime goes.

[Thekdog]

Bakersfield or Riverside.

But even at that price point the houses will be small and old.

[Gaylord_Focker]

Originally Posted by MechAndy

I could be wrong, doesn’t under 400K near LA give you gangs and graffiti?

Over 400K will get you there too.