Moving to LA from Melbourne, Australia (Los Angeles, San Diego: for sale, apartments, rentals)

[travisboutsis]

Hi everyone,

As the title says, my family and I are seriously considering moring to West LA, and in particular the Culver City area due to personal reasons. Both my wife and I are professionals and getting a job will not be a problem.

Our biggest issue is finding a place to lease for about 3-4 years. We all hear stories here about how bad some areas of LA are due to gangs, crime, etc. We basically want a safe, family friendly suburb.

Also, are there any decent websites that are known to you that would list either furnished or unfurnished houses in West LA and any idea on what the average lease amount is per month?

Thanking you in advance.

[travisboutsis]

anyone out there with some help?

[travisboutsis]

c'mon, there's got to be someone out there with some help.....

[Frank_Carbonni]

I don't know as much about Los Angeles as the residents do, but I can tell you that virtually all areas of Los Angeles have some gang problems, but it is only really bad in certain areas like South Los Angeles (previously known as South Central), East Los Angeles, parts of Downtown, and the areas surrounding Downtown like Pico-Union.

On the upside is that LA is much safer than used to be and most of the attention brought to LA's problems are blown out of proportion by the entertainment industry because it based out of Los Angeles as those people are more familiar with the problems of LA than they would in much worse areas like Detriot or St. Louis.

Much of the San Fernando Valley is pretty middle class and family friendly. The only thing I would say is I would probably put my kids in a private school in the LA area. Most of the school districts in the Greater Los Angeles area aren't exactly known for their high academic quality and let's not even mentioned the Los Angeles Unified School District.

I know that wasn't really helpful, but I hoped that it helped you a bit.

[gypsystar]

How do you know that "getting a job won't be a problem?" I'm sorry, but that comment caught me a little off guard. There are a lot highly educated, professional people living in L.A., and the entire country for that matter, that can't find a decent paying job. Unless you are willing to take anything, I don't think it will be that easy...

[travisboutsis]

I'm a Senior Project Manager/Civil Engineer and have already been approached by at least 6-8 consultancies, and my wife is in the Education sector, and she too has been in touch with various schools. So there's no issue in terms of employment.

As I said previously, our biggest issue will be finding a family friendly neighbourhood to live in. Any good websites that lists long term leases around Culver City/West LA?

[timelesschild]

craigslist classifieds: jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, events, forums
http://westsiderentals.com
iTechMLS

here are some sites on the topic of schools:
Great Schools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community
California School Performance Maps

Culver City and many other areas of the westside are very clean, safe and family-friendly. You will want to live near your work, so usually people find the work first, followed by the housing.

I am not quite sure why no one answered you right away, other than the American Labor Day holiday which was this past weekend.

[travisboutsis]

Originally Posted by timelesschild

craigslist classifieds: jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, events, forums
Los Angeles Apartments, Orange County Apartments, and San Diego Apartments
iTechMLS

here are some sites on the topic of schools:
Great Schools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community
California School Performance Maps

Culver City and many other areas of the westside are very clean, safe and family-friendly. You will want to live near your work, so usually people find the work first, followed by the housing.

I am not quite sure why no one answered you right away, other than the American Labor Day holiday which was this past weekend.

thanks for the info timelesschild...time to start looking....

[CALTOSEATTLE]

Moving to LA from Melbourne,
Good luck with your move. I must say it's a bold decision and you should be ready for a big shock. I live in one of LA's suburb and have been around here for 10yrs and also have been to Melbourne for a vacation and abs loved it there. Life here is kind of different and you have to be very careful when you pick a neighbouthood to live. I assume that you will be working in Culver city(if you don't have deal with kids in school), my suggestion is to probably live here or Santa Monica which is kind of expensive and there will be a crazy commute.

[CESpeed]

I always champion Culver City as a nice, safe area. It's very difficult to find a long term lease because landlords like to reserve the right to raise the rent. For a long-term lease your best bet would be a lease with option to buy. The gang problems in LA aren't really in Culver City. fyi, Culver City is a separate municipality from the city of Los Angeles.