Thinking about relocating from Detroit to Los Angeles. (Brea, San Fernando: sales, renter)

[1handbro]

I'm currently considering moving to Los Angeles from Detroit, Michigan. I currently work for a security company here, that also have a main headquarters located in the Downtown, Los Angeles area. I recently visited Los Angeles this past April for the first time, and I must say I fell in love with the city. Im in the process of trying to get transferred along with my school credits too. I want to finish out college in Los Angeles, and hopefully get a good paying job in the process. I have family there that dont mind me settling in with them, until I get on my feet. I've been doing research on the state of California, and all I read about is how the state is financially strapped. The state of Nevada leads the country in unemployment, followed by Michigan, then California. The million dollar question is: Is it a good idea to move to California, even though its not that much better than Michigan right now? I plan to have a decent paying job to afford the cost of living there, but is it worth the risk? Also, is California a good state to try and make a career in the criminal justice field? I need to know the pro's and con's of living in a state such as California.

[Charles]

College costs for non residents are very high. They are much lower once you become a resident. Check it out.

[SeptemberRays]

Are you kidding about Criminal Justice being a good field for Los Angeles/ California in general?

We have a ton of criminals so I'm sure you'll have no problems gaining a job in law enforcement. If you loved the city why not give it a shot? Even if just for a year or six months. At least you can say you did it!!! Don't worry about the negative if you already have a good situation lined up which it sounds like you do.

[Ceece]

Police and firefighters have also lost their jobs recently due to budgeting problems. Depending on how close you are to finishing college you may want to finish up where you are to avoid high tuition. There are no guarentees but if you want to move and you have family willing to take you in then go for it.

[Troof]

Eat as much White Castle as you can before you move out here... (seriously)

Aside from the cost of living differences that many might/will point out, keep in mind the differences in state income taxes. It can be a sizeable difference depending on your particular tax bracket:
The Tax Foundation - State Individual Income Tax Rates, 2000-2010

And sales tax is ridiculous here, along with the ever sneaky 10% VAT tax that they hit you with for things like getting your sub toasted at Subway...

[editors_desk]

if you pay attention to credible news sources not pandering to the obama regime... you'll stay put. this is for sure NOT the time for such a drastic change of one's life. i guess your race will make easier or harder depending on that fact. white folk got nothing coming in california but taxed to death while watching the state turned into a third world land of babble and bankrupt to boot. we all know detroit got shot in the automotive foot in the 80's and is only stumbling around economy wise... just for the sake of safety i would be thinking in terms of staying with some form of family or friends. the big move could be a real disaster but in this climate of race card baiting and upside down world if it's race that you have to rely on well this is the perfect chance to exploit that re-distribution of hope and change i suppose. california is becoming a progressive nightmare and the state is moving in the wrong direction law enforcement wise. folks in california are watching thousands of convicted felons released for over-crowding as rape, murder, etc. seems to not be the main concern there... let's lay off more cops and firemen/teachers. this is the scare tactics being used to continue to milk tax payers for even more as the state erodes into disrepair and cultural chaos... that multi-cult insanity is no more evident then in los angeles. we got it all... 3000 gangs, illegal aliens in the millions, spray paint, garbage, theft and corruption as well as anything else nasty you can think of... los angeles has it and more of it. if you pay attention to statistics; the white flight has begun. good luck.

Originally Posted by 1handbro

I'm currently considering moving to Los Angeles from Detroit, Michigan. I currently work for a security company here, that also have a main headquarters located in the Downtown, Los Angeles area. I recently visited Los Angeles this past April for the first time, and I must say I fell in love with the city. Im in the process of trying to get transferred along with my school credits too. I want to finish out college in Los Angeles, and hopefully get a good paying job in the process. I have family there that dont mind me settling in with them, until I get on my feet. I've been doing research on the state of California, and all I read about is how the state is financially strapped. The state of Nevada leads the country in unemployment, followed by Michigan, then California. The million dollar question is: Is it a good idea to move to California, even though its not that much better than Michigan right now? I plan to have a decent paying job to afford the cost of living there, but is it worth the risk? Also, is California a good state to try and make a career in the criminal justice field? I need to know the pro's and con's of living in a state such as California.

[Lovehound]

I think you should move here but you should regard it as a temporary solution. I agree that L.A. and California are going to crash in the near future, but I expect you should have maybe 5 years before it takes the fall. Do not buy property.

Regard California as a stepping stone, or don't even bother to come here.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by editors_desk

in this climate of race card baiting and upside down world if it's race that you have to rely on well this is the perfect chance to exploit that re-distribution of hope and change i suppose. ... that multi-cult insanity is no more evident then in los angeles.

What is, and what would be preferred to this "multi-cult insanity?"

[majoun]

Originally Posted by Lovehound

I think you should move here but you should regard it as a temporary solution. I agree that L.A. and California are going to crash in the near future, but I expect you should have maybe 5 years before it takes the fall.

I personally want to come back to L.A. and am actively looking for work in L.A. so I can move back from the Bay Area. Mainly because there's no place like home, and it is pretty bad all over right now. My family and friends are in L.A. much more so than S.F. or other parts of the Bay Area (which I do like as well being the Pan-Californianist that I am.)

The issue that will most likely cause L.A. to completely crash is more long term, and it's not illegal immigration or anything previously mentioned in this thread - it's water, which will take down the entire southern part of the state. This will probably be an issue in about 20 years or so.

As for the short/medium term - there is a strong possibility of things going seriously wrong in a bad way, but it's not too late to reverse course. Not yet. And the expansion of the Metro does represent a silver lining amongst the gloom and doom. If the Metro is actually expanded as planned right now, and an L.A. city bankruptcy can be avoided, L.A. could be saved. (Breaking up the city of L.A., which is so big and bloated as to be ungovernable, could not only prevent a bankruptcy, but would also be much better for L.A. as a whole. Most of the independent cities are doing far better than the city of L.A.) As of right now it's still salvageable. Whether it will turn into Detroit on the Pacific or whether it'll be able to save itself is at this point unclear. Cautious optimism with a dose of skepticism is warranted.

As for the state - a new Constitution would put the state back on its feet, unfortunately there are some very powerful interests opposed to that because they stand to financially and politically lose from such a process.

L.A. has some very serious problems but still has many good aspects. Compared to Detroit it'll seem like an improvement. Some parts of L.A. have improved over the years despite what some here might think. And there are many good people in L.A. as well as bad people (despite L.A.'s deserved reputation for rudeness and hostility).

Do not buy property.

I'll agree with this, but this is pretty much conventional wisdom due to the RE bubble and its aftermath. A whole generation and many people of older generations such as myself have been turned off to ownership because of the housing debacle, not that I could ever afford to buy.

[Lovehound]

You've made a lot of interesting points Majoun. Yes I agree that at some point a water crisis is inevitable. We in LA cannot import any more water from NoCal because they need it themselves, can't import any more water from the Colorado River because Las Vegas, Phoenix and other cities need it and we don't have the right to take it away from them. As long as LA continues to grow the only thing water conservation will do is postpone the crisis but eventually it has to happen. There is only one solution I can think of: salt water desalination. That's bound to be expensive and I don't see how we can do it without more nuclear power (but the tree huggers won't let us build more nuclear power plants).

I too think that crisis can still be avoided, but I have no faith in anybody doing anything until after it's reached crisis stage. I think that Los Angeles should be broken up but we tried that when the San Fernando Valley tried to become independent, and it turned out that the SFV is a cash cow for LA and the voters and politicians not in the Valley wouldn't let us go. Politicians don't like to give up power.

The state is going to have a problem as long as there are voters and politicians who want bigger entitlement programs, larger government and more taxes. They are the ones who will destroy the state, turning California where only the very rich and very poor can live.


I think it makes sense for people who already own property to sell it and buy a different property, but if I were a renter I'd hold off for a few years and see how things go before investing in property.

The "housing debacle" shouldn't turn you off, just make you more cautious. It wasn't owning houses that caused the mess, it was stupid politicians and greedy investors, the politicians for allowing the situation in the first place (the stupid idea that every citizen should be able to buy a house no matter how poor they are) and the investors took all the worthless paper and packaged it up so it wouldn't stink and sold it to unsuspecting other investors. Everybody should have known that you can't buy a house where the mortgage is 100% of your take home pay, but people were allowed to do it. How can that NOT cause a problem? It's like gambling with other people's money. If you win you win, and if you lose they lose.

Housing will stabilize and become a good investment again, and it's really nice to have your own home instead of being squashed into a big building with lots of other people. There will be a day when all this is behind us and once again owning a house will be the American dream, but only for those who can afford one.

There's plenty of houses in the SFV for $200K-$300K. That sounds pretty affordable to me. Or you can live in a small city in some other state and get the same houses for $50-$100K.