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I am 16 years old and me and my mom want to move to California because we love it there but my dad doesn't because he said we can't afford it and that there is too much traffic.
Well we live in Florida and its pretty expensive to live down here too $2,000 a month is where we are at right now and we moved here to save money and it ended up being about the same price as it was at our old house because the pool and hot tub drives up our water bill.
So we are barely cutting by right now.
Also I have friends out in L.A. and a Aunt in San Fran
My Dad is a nurse so he could pretty much get work in ANY city and my moms work has a transfer system so finding jobs wouldn't be hard.
Its just convincing him we CAN afford to live there.
So if anyone knows of any decent places (that aren't TOO pricey) to live in our near L.A. I would highly appreciate it. Preferably if its within driving distance of The Grove because I love there Farmers Market and Theater.
Also Im homeschooled so no reason to find a place near schools
For you all who say stay in Florida you obviously have never lived here...FLORIDA SUCKS
Also I know what L.A. is like I have been there before and I adore it. No less smog and crime then there if here in Florida. Its costing us $2,000 a month plus bills. I dont think it will be THAT different in California.
Answer
I always find it interesting that teens, with no experience in the real world or with finances, always seem to think they know more than their poor, dumb, stick-in-the-mud parents. One indicator of this is that you think the pool and the hot tub drive up your water bill. Maybe they do in Florida. But when I had a pool here, it only cost me about $20 to fill it up for the summer. The real killer is the electric bill to run the filter, and the gas bill to heat the water. Not sure what you use in Florida for heating, but here in CA we use natural gas (methane). We were getting bills of $400 per month for electricity, and an extra $100 per month for gas in the winter if we wanted to use the hot tub.
As already mentioned, it's MUCH more expensive to live here than in Florida. You get MUCH less for your money here. If you have friends here, ask them how much they are paying for rent or mortgage. Tell them you're thinking of moving here, and see what they say. If they're good friends, they'll tell you to stay put. You can probably get a 2 BR apartment in a decent (not great) area for about $1500 or so per month, but you also need to factor in commuting costs and time. Your dad is right about the traffic here. It sucks hard, and is the worst thing about living here. It really sucks the life out of you.
So do a little research before badgering dad, and see what kind of budget you come up with. Good luck.
If you want to live here and enjoy the weather, then you have to pay for it. You put up with the smog and the traffic, enjoy the weather and pay your rent or mortgage. My advice is to start checking out craigslist, rent.com, and apartments.com if you are looking to rent. Youâll quickly see that the minimum rent for a non-ghetto place is about $1,000/$1,200 per month for a studio/1BR. Really nice areas (like the West LA area) easily run $3,000 or more. Want to live near the beach? Expect to pay a premium.
The answer to this really lies in the answer to the question, âWhere do you workâ? Itâs not good at all to live in South Bay if you have a job in Pasadena. Itâs stupid, in fact. The one thing that grinds people down more than anything here is the traffic. Itâs the worst thing about living here. So rather than worrying about âcheap and safeâ, your FIRST order of business should be getting a place close to your job. THEN you can worry about safety and price. But, to reiterate, nothing is cheap here.
One thing that many people just cannot grasp about LA is the sheer immenseness of this area. Around most cities, you have a central city area, some suburbs, and then spaces between cities. Around LA, there is a solid mass of urban, suburban, and commercial property that stretches for about 100 miles in every direction. From the air, you cannot tell where one city ends and another begins. Because of this urban sprawl, there is no line of demarcation where the housing prices drop steeply. 30 years ago, that line was around Corona, southern Orange County, and Simi Valley. Now itâs past Riverside, Palmdale, and western Santa Barbara county.
"LA" is such a big place, there are so many neighborhoods/cities where you can live. Of course, even within a city or neighborhood, there are safer sections and less-safe sections.
In Los Angeles, some nice sections are West LA, Brentwood, Westwood, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey, Los Feliz, Silverlake, and Eagle Rock. Palms and Mar Vista are pretty good, too. In the Valley(part of LA), you have Encino, Tarzana, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Granada Hills, Woodland Hills, Sherman Oaks, West Hills, and Chatsworth. Glendale and Burbank are good places, and are incorporated cities of their own.
To the east: South Pasadena, parts of Pasadena, Altadena, Arcadia, Monrovia, Glendora, San Dimas, Laverne, Azusa, Rancho Cucamonga.
Along the beach: Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Torrance, Palos Verdes, Rancho PV.
In Orange County aka "The OC": Seal Beach , Huntington Beach , Newport Beach , Corona Del Mar , Laguna Beach , Dana Point , Capistrano Beach , San Clemente , Brea, Yorba Linda, Orange, Tustin, Irvine, Laguna Hills, Rancho Santa Margarita, Lake Forest
To the west: Agoura, Calabasas, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Simi Valley, Moorpark.
This is not an all-inclusive list, but it's a start. If you want to see the safety and price factors, go to www.lalife.com. Also, the LA Times did a nice job of outlining all 277 neighborhoods in LA County: http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/. Time to get researching!
I always find it interesting that teens, with no experience in the real world or with finances, always seem to think they know more than their poor, dumb, stick-in-the-mud parents. One indicator of this is that you think the pool and the hot tub drive up your water bill. Maybe they do in Florida. But when I had a pool here, it only cost me about $20 to fill it up for the summer. The real killer is the electric bill to run the filter, and the gas bill to heat the water. Not sure what you use in Florida for heating, but here in CA we use natural gas (methane). We were getting bills of $400 per month for electricity, and an extra $100 per month for gas in the winter if we wanted to use the hot tub.
As already mentioned, it's MUCH more expensive to live here than in Florida. You get MUCH less for your money here. If you have friends here, ask them how much they are paying for rent or mortgage. Tell them you're thinking of moving here, and see what they say. If they're good friends, they'll tell you to stay put. You can probably get a 2 BR apartment in a decent (not great) area for about $1500 or so per month, but you also need to factor in commuting costs and time. Your dad is right about the traffic here. It sucks hard, and is the worst thing about living here. It really sucks the life out of you.
So do a little research before badgering dad, and see what kind of budget you come up with. Good luck.
If you want to live here and enjoy the weather, then you have to pay for it. You put up with the smog and the traffic, enjoy the weather and pay your rent or mortgage. My advice is to start checking out craigslist, rent.com, and apartments.com if you are looking to rent. Youâll quickly see that the minimum rent for a non-ghetto place is about $1,000/$1,200 per month for a studio/1BR. Really nice areas (like the West LA area) easily run $3,000 or more. Want to live near the beach? Expect to pay a premium.
The answer to this really lies in the answer to the question, âWhere do you workâ? Itâs not good at all to live in South Bay if you have a job in Pasadena. Itâs stupid, in fact. The one thing that grinds people down more than anything here is the traffic. Itâs the worst thing about living here. So rather than worrying about âcheap and safeâ, your FIRST order of business should be getting a place close to your job. THEN you can worry about safety and price. But, to reiterate, nothing is cheap here.
One thing that many people just cannot grasp about LA is the sheer immenseness of this area. Around most cities, you have a central city area, some suburbs, and then spaces between cities. Around LA, there is a solid mass of urban, suburban, and commercial property that stretches for about 100 miles in every direction. From the air, you cannot tell where one city ends and another begins. Because of this urban sprawl, there is no line of demarcation where the housing prices drop steeply. 30 years ago, that line was around Corona, southern Orange County, and Simi Valley. Now itâs past Riverside, Palmdale, and western Santa Barbara county.
"LA" is such a big place, there are so many neighborhoods/cities where you can live. Of course, even within a city or neighborhood, there are safer sections and less-safe sections.
In Los Angeles, some nice sections are West LA, Brentwood, Westwood, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey, Los Feliz, Silverlake, and Eagle Rock. Palms and Mar Vista are pretty good, too. In the Valley(part of LA), you have Encino, Tarzana, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Granada Hills, Woodland Hills, Sherman Oaks, West Hills, and Chatsworth. Glendale and Burbank are good places, and are incorporated cities of their own.
To the east: South Pasadena, parts of Pasadena, Altadena, Arcadia, Monrovia, Glendora, San Dimas, Laverne, Azusa, Rancho Cucamonga.
Along the beach: Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Torrance, Palos Verdes, Rancho PV.
In Orange County aka "The OC": Seal Beach , Huntington Beach , Newport Beach , Corona Del Mar , Laguna Beach , Dana Point , Capistrano Beach , San Clemente , Brea, Yorba Linda, Orange, Tustin, Irvine, Laguna Hills, Rancho Santa Margarita, Lake Forest
To the west: Agoura, Calabasas, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Simi Valley, Moorpark.
This is not an all-inclusive list, but it's a start. If you want to see the safety and price factors, go to www.lalife.com. Also, the LA Times did a nice job of outlining all 277 neighborhoods in LA County: http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/. Time to get researching!
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Title Post: Cheap places to live near L.A.?
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