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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
This is difficult.
Re: Would you live...
What's important to you? Are you planning on buying a house or renting? How much are you willing to spend? Some people like a more quiet, residential feel, other people want to be in the center of it all and don't mind taking 30 minutes to drive 3 miles. What we like is irrelevant.
My reactions to your cities (from those I remember)
West Hollywood - walkable, lots to do, expensive, crowded, little space for the money, trendy, gays make things fun, traffic, adult-oriented
Pasadena - families
Beverly Hills - depending on the location - walkable, expensive, pretty, good mix of apartments to SFHs
Culver City - up and coming, some parts some people wouldn't want to live in
Palms - low cost alternative to Culver City, West Los Angeles, etc.
Westwood - little space for the money, college students
Brentwood - families, expensive
Pacific Palisades - no.
Santa Monica - liberal granola people, many areas highly walkable, lots of young peopl, lots of farmer's markets, expensive
Houses in many of these areas will cost you north of $1 million for a 2 bedroom. If I had unlimited money, I'd live in Santa Monica. Second choice, Beverly Hills. Third choice, Brentwood. If I remained childless, it would be first choice Santa Monica, second choice West Hollywood, third choice Culver City. I like to walk to things and wouldn't have to worry about school districts.Way too random. You are talking about places that are potentially 2 hours away from each other in rush hour traffic. Or more.
What kind of place are you interested in - how much do you want to spend,. where will you be working, will your kids be in public school or do you want private (some areas have private schools that are very hard to get in to and most places have public schools that I would never send my kids to)?
House or apartment? Suburban or funky? Buy or rent? What kinds of things do you do for fun?
I live in Pasadena and it is about a good 20 minutes away from downtown LA.
I am with shellybell... I prefer Montrose. I used to live there and loved it. It is about 20 minutes from LA too, just in a different direction of Pasadena.
But everyone is right.. you need to think about specifics. If you could give us more information, we might be able to make better recommendations.
My Realtor gave me these random places. I haven't lived in LA in over 10 years so I'm really unfamiliar. I'll be working in downtown LA but I don't want over an hour commute.
We know the prices but are hoping to find something nice in a area with families but not far from the theater. Not frou frou but not overly artsy. We will probably buy with the way the prices are.
I hate asking for help but my Realtor has been sending me all types of places in all these areas. It's so hard to pick an area that isn't far from the city when I haven't lived there in so long.
I want to pull my hair out.
Are you talking about the theaters downtown like the Ahmanson? Will you be sending your kids to public school? A friendly place for kids, in general, means about an hour from downtown LA. Depending on when you are getting in the car.
Most important - how do you define "nice" when describing a home? If yuu can afford an 800K home, your choices will be different than if you are going for a 350K condo.
Seriously - we are totally not flaming you and want to help. Give us some more info and we can help you narrow down the list.
For sure, Santa Monica and the Palisades is out given your desire for a 1 hour commute! Which I totally understand.
Yes, the theaters downtown. I don't care how long it takes to drive to entertainment. I just have issues with morning commutes. The most we want to pay is 3m. Anything above that is ridiculous. We are looking at private school for a toddler next year and I will have a senior in high school that can't decide on what he wants to do. So possibly private for him too. This is ridiculously frustrating.
I do appreciate the help.
You might consider Montrose or if you can afford it, La Canada. You can take the 2 Freeway towards downtown and should be do-able in an hour. You can get to West LA as well. I love South Pasadena and it is reasonably close to downtown as well. Great for kids/families.
Private daycare/preschools for toddlers are easier to find - it is the high school situation that might be problematic. Most LA Unified High Schools suck and private schools can be a freaking nightmare to get in to. La Canada has an excellent school district, particularly if you are thinking long-term. A little further out but also with excellent public schools is Burbank. Which you could probably do in an hour. And it is relatively affordable.
Ha, you must have a big family! If you are in that price range then go for La Canada, South Pasadena, Beverly Hills (although Beverly Hills has crappy freeway access).
You might also look in to places like Hancock Park which has GORGEOUS homes near the Wilshire Country Club. And some good private schools in the area. Close to downtown. The surrounding areas are kind of crappy (Hollywood) but your commute would be better.
Also, you could look in the Hollywood Hills - great homes, a little isolated.
Have you checked realtor.com? You can get an idea of the homes in different areas.
May I through in a few more cities. I voted Pasadena BTW, so on that note:
South Pasadena, Sierra Madre, Altadena, Montrose, La Canada, La Crescenta
FYI - I'm not sure what the budget of $3 mil gets in these areas, but I'm coming from a schooling point of view.
Also, if I may, have you considered public transportation into downtown LA? Metro Gold Line (MTA) runs from Sierra Madre to Union Station downtown. Could help with consideration of commute time. HTH
Okay, 3 million would definitely get you something in any of these neighborhoods. ?It will buy you a lot of house (probably something with a separate guest house, pool), but you'll still be side by side with neighbors. ?If it's space you're looking for, that might be tough.
I agree with everything Alisa said. ?Beverly Hills has horrible freeway access, however, if you're able to work non-traditional hours (like getting into the office at 10:30, you can be downtown in 20 minutes). ?Hancock Park has amazing beautiful homes with lots of character.?
(I only know about the Westside though.) ?
Good ?luck!