|
Fortunately, Santa Fe Springs is not a two hour commute with the 105 Freeway from MB, but it might be if Joe decided on Malibu! Hopefully he drove by today, the sun is peeking in and out between the clouds.
|
Just being realistic. My cost:benefit ratio would not include 3 to 4 hours of driving every day... to live at the beach or anywhere else. But if JoeG has bags of money for a really nice house at the beach (not 1200 sq. ft.), he might think it was worth it
|
Jean, I understand your point about living at the beach being expensive because I do live on the beach. However, inexpensive temporary rentals can always be found. http://www.cyberrentals.com/CA/Lewis2SOCA.html $1600 a month. I'm sure that includes utilities. Being that JoeG has seemingly been landlocked all of his life, he may not mind the commute. |
$1600 a month??? Where?
|
Click on the link. |
A furnished apartment, probably less than 750 square feet, for the winter season only at $1600 a month (summer rate higher) on difficult-to-reach Balboa? Well, then, I suppose everything from Capistrano to Oxnard is possible.
|
duh, I can't type today. Sorry Jean, there isn't a link to click on. Since you already cut and pasted, thank you. My point was that they might not care about having a large home and they just might want that view. My own home is small but my view is endless:-D |
Have you factored in all your costs? Commuting, utilities, taxes? Sure, they sell you the sunshine. Sunshine and peanuts. No wonder so many Californians move to Arizona. Or return to where they came from.
|
In January I left behind the Midwest for a week to visit friends who recently relocated to Manhattan Beach. I'd love to do the same at some point because I can't stand the long grey winters in Indiana. I rode the beach bike trail for hours each day and had a perma-grin on my face. Of all the areas I rode, Hermosa and Manhattan Beach were my favorites. I'm taking my husband to MB the first weekend in August for the Surf Festival.
The downside is that my friends pay the same in rent per month for an 850 sq ft apt. (similar to one we lived in during college 20 yrs ago) with a one car garage as I do for a 5600 sq ft house in the Indy suburbs. They love the oceanview but hate putting so much into rent and in the end having nothing to show for it. The parking situation is a hassle. There are only two free parking spaces on their street which are never open. My friend has to feed the meter after work each night from 6-8pm and on weekends she has to try to move her car early in the morning to a free spot. You can only feed the meter for two hours and then you're ticketed for parking longer than two hours in one spot so you have to move your car every two hours if you can't locate a free spot right away. She drives a Durango which is too tall to put in their garage so even when her husband isn't using the garage, she can't. On two mornings a week the streets are cleaned and all cars have to be off the street by 8am. Then there is a mad dash to listen for the street cleaner to pass at 8:36am and be the one to nab a free spot. All that was okay for a week of vacation but I wouldn't want to do it every day. They are looking to buy in MB but even the smallest spaces that are within two blocks of the beach are upwards of a million dollars. All that said, they love the freedom of getting rid of practically everything they owned before and keeping material possessions to the bare minimum. I like that idea myself. Keep us informed of your decisions! |
I hope Joe posts his impressions when he returns.
I just have to chime in here with my personal experience. I commuted from Hermosa Beach to Irwindale (ugh!), which is quite a bit farther than Santa Fe Springs. The 605 freeway was awful with its double-trailer trucks full of dirt & gravel spilling out and dinging my car. However, at the end of the day (especially on Fridays), as I crossed PCH, I felt like I was entering my own personal resort. Would I have had cheaper housing costs and a shorter commute if I had lived in Monrovia or Azusa? Sure. Would I have been happier? No Way! |
We returned yesterday from our house hunting trip to LA (500 freeway miles on rental car). Here's what we found.
Upon leaving LAX we immediately headed down to Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach. While we have been to LA dozens of times, we were not familiar with this area. We realized that Manhattan Beach would be the best choice, particularly since it was so close to the 105 freeway as mentioned. We drove through the area closest to the beach and were amazed at the amount of traffic and congestion given that this was a rainy Saturday in Feb. My wife, Lynn kept remarking, what must this be like in summer?" We concluded that , unless we could afford a place right on the beach (we can't) with plenty of parking, that living really close to the beach would be really hectic for us. We stopped at a fresh fish restaurant on the beach for a great lunch. We spent about an hour driving through an area called the Tree Section that we liked a lot. There were a couple of tiny rentals that we drove by that were in our price range. We ran out of time on Saturday and unfortunately never got back to MB to look inside anything. We headed to Yorba Linda to stay with the folks. We drove past a couple of house rentals in Yorba Linda but at this point, they are slightly beyond our price range and quite frankly, while it is a great area, it's not what we are looking for. Plus it may be a little too close for comfort with the parents. Sunday we woke up early, got our Starbucks fix and drove to Pasadena. We went through some older sections and of course San Marino - just to torture ourselves a little bit. We ended up back in Sierra Madre before noon to meet with a realtor that we met on two previous visits. He had about 8 homes to drive past. He was having an open house so we decided to look at the places and meet with him later to discuss. Of all the place we saw, the very first one met all of our criteria. It was in the foothills of Pasadena on a street that was the boundary with Sierra Madre. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, LR, DR, family room, nice sized kithen with appliances, fireplace and two car attached garage. Right in our price range. It was vacant so we peeked inside. The best feature was a beautifully landscaped, totally private backyard with patio that had an exceptional mountain view. By the time we got back to our realtor, it was late in the day and raining quite hard. We agreed to meet in the morning to look at this house. We found out the next day that a couple from Oregon had put a deposit on this house before we even saw it. Lynn was totally disappointed. Our realtor had about eight or nine places for us to look at and spent the next four hours driving us around and taking us inside each one. We did try to keep an open mind. We looked at homes in Arcadia,Azusa,Glendora,San Dimas and La Verne. While there were definately some nice neighborhoods in these areas we didn't care for the particular locations of any of these homes. The one in Azusa had four bedrooms, 2-1/2 baths and a pool - it was nice. But it was only a couple of blocks from an area that got real seedy real fast. We just kept coming back to Sierra Madre/Pasadena/Monrovia area and pretty much determined that this is where we wanted to be. We spent most of the day on Tuesday driving through this area again. We're not ready to panic yet. If I have to come back before I begin work (@April 1st) - so be it. Worst case scenario, I could start work, stay with my folks, while looking for a place. Plus we have to co-ordinate the move with the selling of our house which just went on the market this week. Even the rain didn't dampen our spirits, In fact, 60 degrees and rain was infinitely better than the 25 degrees and snow that greeted us on our return. We are still leaving the door slightly ajar to the possibility of Manhattan Beach. Lynn keeps asking, What must it be like in summer?" We do appreciate all the input. We are more excited than ever. JoeG |
Joe, I don't know what it was about that rainy Saturday you were here, but everyone was out and about. I think we were sick of the rain and just wanted to be doing things. We remarked we had never seen so many people around in MB that day. Summer parking is about the same, but MB is still a secret to some in LA. More people go to Redondo, Santa Monica, etc. to go to the beach. Lots of locals don't mind walking 6 blocks to the ocean or restaurants, so don't worry about parking and even then you learn where to find where the lots are.
I live in the "Tree Section", surprised you heard about it on your first visit. It is less congested than the area around the pier/beach. Hope you keep us updated where ever you end up, as you have quite a following here! |
MBnancy,
We were impressed with "the Tree Section." I kept wondering why they call it that. After about 15 minutes Lynn said "I can't believe all the mature trees around here!" Duh. I was amazed at all the huge new homes that were under construction. You could not drive one block without seeing at least one. Apparently people are buying the small homes(like the ones we would rent) tearing them down and building these large two story narrow homes. Unbelievable! Coincidently I just got off the phone with a guy that I went to high school with. He lived in Southern CA for several years but is back in the midwest. When I told him that we were moving he said that he lived in Palos Verdes and loved it! I asked him if it was too congested. He said that he never went anywhere else. He stayed there all week-end. JoeG |
Joe, in a beach community when it rains, traffic increases tenfold. I hope you give Manhattan Beach another try.
|
Jope, I am a bit prejudiced, since I have lived my life in the Pasadena/San Gabriel Valley area, but I always found the beach communities to be too conjested, with too much traffic for my tastes. I like a nice yard on a quiet street in the foothills. I like having a quiet downtown area, like in Sierra Madre, Monrovia, Glendora. Not that I don't like the beach--I love the beach and I live just a short walk from a beach now--but not the LA area beach communities. It was never worth it to me to spend the extra money and the extra time commuting to live so close together and to deal with traffic every time I left my house, especially when the most I could ever hope for was a few blocks from the water. Of course, YMMY.
And, yes much of Azusa is seedy. It will be the next place in along the foothills to gentrify, and the older neighborhoods are already seeing some change, but you still have a lot of drugs and gang actvity in some areas. The further north you go you'll find newer gated and condo communites, but, sadly, the neighborhoods closer to the freeway that I like so much (the tree-lined, pre-war, pre-tract housing neighborhoods) are also some of the seediest. |
So sorry, I meant to say JOE, not Jope! It's Aloha Friday--what can I say?
|
I first suggested Azusa, as I believe it really has a bright future. However, I would not live in Azusa if not for the small gated community just past the ranger station that exists here.
Literally, the homes here are surrounded by mountains on all sides, there is a river, and at night if you go on a walk, you would swear that you were 100 miles away from Los Angeles (and Azusa). Yet, it is only separated from the rest of the city by less than a mile...but what a difference a mile makes. Really, there are mostly well educated professionals up here, and a nice diversity of people. It is too bad that the author of the thread didn't drive a little further north, as I don't know anywhere else in Los Angeles County that is as beautiful as this little area with homes as reasonable as they are (new homes averaging about 2,700 sq. ft. for under $300 per sq. ft.). |
|
And the near future of Azusa:
http://www.mnspazusa.com/Theplan.html I believe construction may have already commenced, as far as the grading is concerned. Furthermore, there will be a new freeway offramp that will lead right into the better parts of Azusa, bypassing Azusa Avenue, Citrus Avenue and Irwindale Avenue. I couldn't imagine moving back to Pasadena to a 1,800 sq. ft. price for the same price as something 50% larger here, just 10 miles away and in what I feel is a much nicer neighborhood than most in Pasadena. I am just shocked at all the traffic each time I am in Pasadena these days. |
Roccco,
I wish we would have had more time to explore the area that you described. It does sound great.You may have found an area that is going to substantially increase in value over the next 10 years. I appreciate the heads up. here today gone 2Maui, You hit the nail on the head in terms of our concerns about the congestion, smaller, more expensive housing near the beach vs. the peace and quiet neighborhoods in the foothills. One thing to keep in mind is that we are renting for one year. If the beach area drives us crazy after a year - we'll move. But what a year! At this point, we do have a sense of areas that we like. I think that it may just come down to what place becomes available first. JoeG |
| All times are GMT -8. The time now is 11:47 PM. |