Suggestions for living in between Hollywood and Simi Valley (Los Angeles: apartment, for rent)

[zachary37]

My wife and I are considering moving to LA, as I have been offered a pretty good job opportunity there. We would both like to stay with our current employers as we have been with them for 8 and 10 years. The problem is that my job would be in Hollywood, and my wife would be working in Simi Valley.

We are fairly young (early 30's) and have a year-old baby. Before the baby was born we went out regularly and were active in the art/music/fashion scene. We don't want to be somewhere too boring, but good daycare and schools are something to consider, and those are generally in boring places.

I have a motorcycle and would regularly commute on that. Unless it makes a lot of sense to do otherwise, my commute should probably be longer than hers. We are looking at $2000ish a month for rent. We have a house in Oakland that we are underwater on, so it looks like we'd need to rent it out until the market turns around, and pay about the same amount in rent in LA.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks, Zak

[Charles]

Originally Posted by zachary37

My wife and I are considering moving to LA, as I have been offered a pretty good job opportunity there. We would both like to stay with our current employers as we have been with them for 8 and 10 years. The problem is that my job would be in Hollywood, and my wife would be working in Simi Valley.

We are fairly young (early 30's) and have a year-old baby. Before the baby was born we went out regularly and were active in the art/music/fashion scene. We don't want to be somewhere too boring, but good daycare and schools are something to consider, and those are generally in boring places.

I have a motorcycle and would regularly commute on that. Unless it makes a lot of sense to do otherwise, my commute should probably be longer than hers. We are looking at $2000ish a month for rent. We have a house in Oakland that we are underwater on, so it looks like we'd need to rent it out until the market turns around, and pay about the same amount in rent in LA.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks, Zak

Sell the motorcycle - or get both a $1M life insurance policy for your family and a long term disability insurance policy for you. Together those will probably cost more than the gas money you'd save by riding a motorcycle to work.

SoCal's housing will probably "turn around" when Oakland's turns around (there are a lot of other factors too) so if you're going to buy a house in SoCal , waiting out Oakland might not help you. Besides rates are low now - you'll have to make assumptions and crank some numbers but not selling in Oakland might not be the best idea.

What are your hours in Hollywood? Can you flex out to something like 6A-230P? If so, that would really give you more housing options. Otherwise you or she are going to have a messy commute.

With a one year old, you will continue to have two full time working parents?

Considering everything, I'd still look in Simi. You can still get a babysitter and go on dates on weekends to satisfy your entertainment requirements. Close for your wife to her (presumed) daycare, close for your wife to her job, but your commute won't be great. Simi is safe, has lots of housing options, and it's schools are a couple notches above most of the schools in the San Fernando Valley - which would be your other option. I would have also suggested the Conejo Valley (Agoura Hills, Thousand Oaks, Calabasas) but the 101 drive would most likely be worse than the 118/5/170/101 drive.

I realize schools for your kid are several years away but 1) you might stay where you're at for several years and 2) good schools are often indicative of "good" neighborhoods.

If the San Fernando Valley, look at this

California School Performance Maps

and notice there are pretty good schools in the north and west ends of the San Fernando Valley along your route.

Also check out HousingMaps to find housing in your price range.

[JohnG72]

Northridge/Porter Ranch.....10-15 minutes rush hour to Simi Valley(opposite traffic). But pretty bland and cookie cutter. Your money will go relatively far here. Farther from Hollywood, but with your bike I guess it doesn't matter.

Encino/Sherman Oaks.....more things to do, but further from Simi. Maybe 25-30 minute drive. $2k is more than enough for a 2 bedroom apartment(should be about $1400), and is enough for a small 2 bed/1 bath house.

Charles, that map is fantastical. I've never seen more damning evidence of exactly how poorly LAUSD is run. There are a few places in LAUSD where a non charter school ranks 3-4 points higher than surrounding schools, despite having exactly the same demographic, and I assume those are schools with "rogue" administrators of some sort that do not adhere strictly to LAUSD guidelines and therefore have experienced some success. A good example seems to be Canterbury Elementary schools in Arleta with a 6 score, while only one other nearby non charter school has a score even as high as a five, and most are in the 1-3 range. This despite the exact same ethnic makeup as all surrounding neighborhoods and similiar economic conditions. Amazing. Why LAUSD doesn't go in and find out what that school is doing right totally mystifies me. Its like the LAUSD brass WANTS schools to fail. And don't get me started about how school districts with nearly identical neighborhoods as LA's are doing much better. In particular Pico Rivera and astonishingly, Long Beach. Some areas of Long Beach are downright scary, yet their schools almost all perform above what you would expect from the socio-economic conditions in those neighborhoods.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by JohnG72

Charles, that map is fantastical.

Here's another mapping tool for Magnet Schools in LA

Los Angeles Magnet School Test Scores - California Schools Guide - Los Angeles Times