Moving to Southern California - Looking for suggestion on areas to live

[don911]

My job is relocating to Seal Beach California and we're trying to figure out where to live that is "affordable" and not horrible commute. We plan on renting for probably a year before we decide if we want to buy.
My wife is in biotech and we thought we narrowed the areas around Orange county due to some companies that she was interested in. However my wife may have a job opportunity in Santa Monica. The job will be great for her but the area is totally opposite of where we were planning. Also, the areas between seal beach and santa monica look to be far more expensive than Orange county which was already expensive. Plus garages seem hard to find.
Anyone have any insight / suggestions for nice areas in the south west LA area?

Thanks!

sorry, meant to post in off topic. moderator, please move to off topic. thanks.

[mark waller]

Welcome and good luck!!!!! I lived in Long Beach for several years and there are some great areas and like any city some areas you don't want to be in. Over by CSULB (Cal State University Long Beach) there are some older but well kept apartments with single car garages. I rented my house out for awhile by Recreation Park and it hardly was open for more than a week so you need to be ready to jump. The house had a yard and garage. Off street parking can be at a premium.
I would suggest the city of Lakewood. It is just East of Long Beach and Seal Beach. It's an older community but nice homes in the community but still close enough to the beach. IF looking at a map the 405 freeway is the divided for ease of looking. North up the 405 Freeway towards Santa Monica can be challenging and with rent control in Santa Monica prices are crazy.
Well my 2 cents........I am sure you will get more.

[Charles Freeborn]

My wife is native of Orange County and mother-in-law still lives there. Most of OC is pretty bleak - concrete jungle. Anaheim Hills isn't too bad, comparatively. Santa Monica is nice, as is anything along the coast, but the cost goes up in a hurry the closer you get to the ocean. I'll ask her for other ideas.
-C

[rayng]

i would not live in south los angeles. of the beach communities, consider rancho palos verdes. prices are high but neighbors are great, homes all have garages, and you and your family will be safe. i'm not so sure about long beach.

[mrm930]

+1 for rayng

Rancho Palos Verdes is really nice. My wife's cousin leaves there and when we visit seems to be alot nicer than other areas. So many areas in SoCal that are just concrete and bad strip malls.

Good luck - love the weather and the car community out there, but real estate is on another planet. Way out of control

[Ronbo]

You really need to nail down whether the wife will be working in Santa Monica or OC before you can find a place to live, otherwise you risk an absolutely horrendous commute.


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[DRACO A5OG]

It really depends on your budget. There are bad and good areas in all cities, Yes, even Beverly Hills, there really is a "Slums of Beverly Hills" it was just not a Movie title.

I've been a realtor since 1989, very familiar with both Los Angeles and Orange Counties, currently assisting couple of Pelicans locate their new homes to rent and buy. As a fellow Pelican, of course I will keep your baby away from the less desirable areas

PM me if I can guide you to your new home for your family and baby 911. Gratis, landlord pays me

Jim

[gshiwota]

Check out Huntington Beach. Feel free to PM me if you want more info.

[don911]

All, thanks for all of the ideas. The santa monica opportunity is really throwing a wrench in our plans as we weren't considering that area at all.

Jim, Thanks for the offer to help. I'll get in touch with you as we can use all of the help we can get.

[zippy_gg]

Originally Posted by DRACO A5OG

It really depends on your budget. There are bad and good areas in all cities, Yes, even Beverly Hills, there really is a "Slums of Beverly Hills" it was just not a Movie title.

I've been a realtor since 1989, very familiar with both Los Angeles and Orange Counties, currently assisting couple of Pelicans locate their new homes to rent and buy. As a fellow Pelican, of course I will keep your baby away from the less desirable areas

PM me if I can guide you to your new home for your family and baby 911. Gratis, landlord pays me

Jim

+1 You cannot go wrong with a professional Realtor and Jim knows the area quite well, and he is always ready to help a fellow Pelican.

[patz]

Draco be the shizzle. Work with him.

As to location, depends on the commute, I currently live near DisneyHell and commute to South Gate. 32 miles and I get there in 35 +/- minutes ONLY because I leave at 5:15 AM. Any later, fuggetabout it, 1 hour plus. I leave at 3 and it's a crapshoot, 45+ and if there is an accident, 2hours +.

[douglas bray]

Look at my avatar.....that is Jim in my driveway, wishing his car was as fast as mine. LOL.

[Nostril Cheese]

Traffic will be your biggest concern over anything else.

Rancho PV is nice, but its the Beverly Hills of the South Bay. $$$$ It will also take you twice as long to get anywhere as there is no direct freeway access.

Anza Avenue will help relieve the frustration of traffic.

El Segundo, Hermosa, Redondo and Manhattan Beach are all nice.

There are parts of Signal Hill, San Pedro and Long Beach that are somewhat affordable and nice.

South LA is what the locals renamed South Central LA. Don't go there.

Anything west of the 405 will be reasonably safe. The closer to the beach, the nicer and more expensive it is.

The OC is miles and miles of identical tract homes and soccer moms. Good Vietnamese food.

[motion]

Originally Posted by DRACO A5OG

Yes, even Beverly Hills, there really is a "Slums of Beverly Hills" it was just not a Movie title.

No kidding... I drove there to buy a motorbike and was afraid to get out of the pickup. It was at night.

[Head416]

If you live closer towards Santa Monica your commute south to Seal Beach won't be too bad. If you live near Seal Beach her commute to Santa Monica will be a nightmare. From Palos Verdes you would have it much easier than her. I recommend you stay within a few minutes of the 405, or you could find yourself in the car for 20 minutes before you ever get on the freeway.

[look 171]

Getting in and out of Santa Monica is no longer fun. If you must, live nearby. If it takes 20 min without traffic, then plan of doubling that time during rush hour. Add a little more if its driven dy freeway. We used to do some work on those beach front homes, no more due to the traffic and parking. My house to Santa Monica is 25 minutes. during rush hour, its 1:15-1:30.

Bixby Knoll part of Long Beach is nice. Personally I look into Cerritos, Torrance, and some areas between Huntington and Seal Beach. Westchester, Player Del Ray and is close to Santa Monica but near flight patch, but really not too bad. My wife lived out there at one time. When you decide a certain location, post it here and I am sure one of us will tell you if the place is good or not. Out there, near Santa Monica (still LA) there are good and bad pockets. You just have to know. Is school important?

[don911]

We've heard traffic into Santa Monica is bad so we're looking for areas closer and hopefully my commute to Seal Beach will be ok. Prices seem so crazy in that area. We thought orange county was bad but they seem to be 25-30% higher. I need a two car garage which seem un heard of for what I want to spend. I don't really want to spend more than 3k for rent and seems 3k doesn't get much in the area. Schools are not important as it's just the two of us just need a safe area.

[Nostril Cheese]

Santa Monica to Seal Beach is gonna suck. Seriously. Hope you like getting up at 4:30AM to beat traffic.

[DRACO A5OG]

Yes, you will hit the 405 Parking Lot after the Southbay Curve, both ways. We don't even have the FasTrac for the 405 yet. Going to Downtown L.A. is less stressful now a days, but still trafficy yet more bearable with the express lanes.

You could get a Townhouse with a 2 car private direct access Garage for that price range near Marina Del Rey, Culver City, Westchester, El Segundo your wife will avoid the 405 going north, going south is a little easier for you since you will be going against main morning traffic. This ocation will also give you an optional road Highway 1 PCH.

Townhouses are less private but more "safe" as you wrote, You want the nosey neighbor to keep an eye on you.

Jim

[Hugh R]

Jim is great as a pcar person. He and I need to do lunch at a dim sum place in Glendale that he mentioned.