Originally Posted by mmhendrie (Post 9197165)

funny - our first year out here our bedroom literally overlooked the 405 (those white UCLA apartments eitherside of the freeway around National)

Originally Posted by mmhendrie (Post 9197305)

We lived in University Village on the Sawtelle side, I forget the building number, but right next to the freeway wall! We did 1 year there, and then applied for the emergency maintenance jobs you can do as a couple - which we got at the UCLA Venice/Barry complex - a much older building, but our apartment was huge, and with the job came heavily subsidized rent, free utilities, and a small salary - I think we went from about 800sqft at UV to about 1300sqft at Venice/Barry.
-Matt

Originally Posted by mmhendrie (Post 9196779)

After getting to grips with the climate changes as you head inland, we've always stayed within 5-6 miles of the ocean - you pretty much get a perfect year round tempurature.

Originally Posted by S Folinsky (Post 9197660)

I have not lived in the Valley since 1972.

Originally Posted by mmhendrie (Post 9197305)

We lived in University Village on the Sawtelle side, I forget the building number, but right next to the freeway wall!

Originally Posted by TimNiceBut (Post 9196329)

Have a look around Craigslist for listings to get a feel for the asking price. You can't really figure out if a house is in a good area if you're not there and I wouldn't try to get something remotely.

Might also be worth checking with some people who are already there to figure out the cost of utilities (especially electricity, the A/C id going to consume a lot of that) as you might have to adjust your rental budget down.

Originally Posted by E3only (Post 9196890)

Culver City is nice and you can definitely rent for 2k a month there. I guess it’s subjective but if I were to move to Culver City, I am sure I could get a 2 bed 2 bath anything from $1750-2300.

Good luck with the move.

Originally Posted by mmhendrie (Post 9196779)

just backing the LA microclimates statement. I'd always assumed, and from prior visits, that LA was hot as hell. We moved into West LA 11yrs ago, and not only did we never use the AC, we didn't even have the heating (gas) turned on. After getting to grips with the climate changes as you head inland, we've always stayed within 5-6 miles of the ocean - you pretty much get a perfect year round tempurature.

Most if not all of Culver City should fall within the range. You might need the AC on for a couple of weeks a year if there's a heat wave, but its not a considerable expensive for the west side. That picture can change radically just a couple of miles further inland, or if you head into the valley to the north etc.

I'm a bit out of date on renting (bought 7yrs ago) but, if a condo is ok, I'd be pretty sure you could get a good comfortable setup for $2k in Culver City. Try searching some online listings (Craigslist perhaps?) and use it in coordination with google maps to get arial shots - me personally, I'd avoid 2-3 blocks of a freeway (noise), 1-2 blocks of a major mall (traffic/noise) - all things you can scout on the maps. Are you going to have any time to do some in-person scouting around out here before you move?

-Matt

Originally Posted by Kim Davies (Post 9198404)

Hi Matt
Thanks for the info what is the rental like in Santa Monica.