Moving to Long Beach from Iowa -- HELP! (jobs, housing, driving out there) (Sacramento: apartment, rental)

[becky55]

My boyfriend and I are moving to Long Beach the beginning of 2011. We are planning on coming out the beginning of December to look at places to rent/jobs/visit his school.

We are looking for the following: large studio or 1 bedroom that includes some utilites, want to pay under $1,000 for rent, but looking more towards the $800 area...

this issue we're running into is... he has a dog. He is a boxer..so he's not under 35 pounds. I feel like EVERY ad or apartment/house/condo to rent says "Pet Friendly (dogs under 35 lbs.) We are having a heck of a time coming up with anything that is decently priced, not trashy, that will allow a dog. He is house trained and we are VERY out-doorsy people, so going jogging, to the park, the beach, is stuff we'll do on a regular basis...

Also. The drive out there. We're coming from...IOWA. It's a 26 hour drive..and we plan on driving strait through (we've done 21 hours before...so it's not an issue) the issue is..which way do we go? Do we wait til that week and look at the weather and possibly take 1-80 over or do we take I-35 south to Oklahoma and come over? Anyone taken this drive?

Jobs. He will be attending WyoTech and hopefully working part time somewhere "school related" (he's also very computer savy, and has a lot of experience in IT help desk...) and I work in childcare. Looking for a full time nanny position and/or childcare center (that pays decent).

any help is GREATLY appreciated!!!

[bhcompy]

In December you're probably going to want to take 40 to cross the western US. Least chance of inclement weather, really. i70 is well taken care of as far as plowing and such, but through vail pass and such you won't want to be on the road if there is a storm.

As far as Long Beach, your rent may be doable, but you're looking at older places and many many landlords do not allow pets at all.

[bluevelo]

I'm a native Iowan, from Des Moines. You are in for some major culture shock. And, you are going to have a very hard time finding a decent apartment in Long Beach < $1000. The words LA/Cheap/Safe don't go together.

[bluevelo]

Originally Posted by bhcompy

In December you're probably going to want to take 40 to cross the western US. Least chance of inclement weather, really. i70 is well taken care of as far as plowing and such, but through vail pass and such you won't want to be on the road if there is a storm.

As far as Long Beach, your rent may be doable, but you're looking at older places and many many landlords do not allow pets at all.

I also recommend I-40. I was living in Mississippi in 2007 and drove out here from Jackson on I-20 to I-40. In the winter I would stay off of I-70/I-80 entirely. Here east of Sacramento, they will routinely close I-80 and US-50 if the weather is too bad...

[becky55]

Originally Posted by bluevelo

I'm a native Iowan, from Des Moines. You are in for some major culture shock. And, you are going to have a very hard time finding a decent apartment in Long Beach < $1000. The words LA/Cheap/Safe don't go together.

I'm ready for the culture shock (ready to be out of Iowa for a little while and experience other things for a while!) I've found quite a few studio/1 bedrooms for around $850..so I think that's what we'll be going with...

Thanks though!

[becky55]

Also, can anyone tell me areas to shoot for as far as "safe"... or what areas are really bad and I should avoid? I keep finding addresses of listings, and I have no idea what is save and what isn't. I definitely don't want a place where I'm scared to go check my mail after dark or walk outside to my car...

[JohnG72]

Originally Posted by becky55

Also, can anyone tell me areas to shoot for as far as "safe"... or what areas are really bad and I should avoid? I keep finding addresses of listings, and I have no idea what is save and what isn't. I definitely don't want a place where I'm scared to go check my mail after dark or walk outside to my car...

It's easier if you post an general address...something like "800 block of Magnolia Ave" or something.

Long Beach is pretty checkered as to the good areas, the bad areas, and the so-so areas. In general, the anything south of about Redondo is pretty ok and gets better the further south you go. There are transitional areas between about Junipero and Redondo that are just ok, and I suspect you may find stuff that fits your price range in that area. The area of downtown is literally block by block in some areas. Some parts of the area bounded by Pacific/710 fwy/PCH/405 Fwy are ok, and may fit your price range, but again, its literally block by block. And then the area north of the 405 and south/east of about Cherry are ok, getting better the closer you go to Lakewood and the 605. Might be stuff in this area that fits your price range as well.

[becky55]

Originally Posted by JohnG72

It's easier if you post an general address...something like "800 block of Magnolia Ave" or something.

Long Beach is pretty checkered as to the good areas, the bad areas, and the so-so areas. In general, the anything south of about Redondo is pretty ok and gets better the further south you go. There are transitional areas between about Junipero and Redondo that are just ok, and I suspect you may find stuff that fits your price range in that area. The area of downtown is literally block by block in some areas. Some parts of the area bounded by Pacific/710 fwy/PCH/405 Fwy are ok, and may fit your price range, but again, its literally block by block. And then the area north of the 405 and south/east of about Cherry are ok, getting better the closer you go to Lakewood and the 605. Might be stuff in this area that fits your price range as well.

thanks for your help!! I'll have to do some research on these areas and see what I can find!

[uptown_urbanist]

Definitely go the south route; we drove much of I-80 this summer, and there are signs all over the place warning of winter closings and mandatory snow chains. On another cross-country trip we did the I-40 route, and in the winter it's definitely the way to go.

The dog thing is going to be tough, but if you're good tenants and have a good rental and credit history you might be able to find a landlord willing to work with that, especially if you also look at options like back houses or small buildings not managed by large corporate owners. When you're there you might also want to try just walking around your target neighborhoods and calling numbers you see on the "for rent" signs. We've had luck that way. Can you offer pet references? That might help. Be prepared to pay a pet deposit, too.

One other thing to ask about when renting is whether or not the refrigerator comes with the rental; it's not always a given, and you don't want to show up on move-in day to discover there's an empty spot where the refrigerator should go. (native Californians never seem to find that odd, but it was new to us!)

Cost of living is obviously going to be much, much higher, but at least when it comes to utilities you should save quite a bit. You probably won't have too much need for heat OR a/c, which will presumably be a nice change from Iowa. That might help with the budget a bit.

[becky55]

Thanks uptown_urbanist!

We've already figured out the fridge situation.. I noticed that a lot of them come with stoves and the spot for the refrigerator in the picture is empty... I already have one that we can bring with us. and yes, we find this very odd!

We've thought about the cost of living and we're ready for the difference, but we never considered that the utilites would be less! We were budgeting about $150 a month for electic... because in Iowa, it's not rare to use your heat in the morning and your A/C in the afternoon! (today is one of those days! woke up to 35 and it's going to be 83 this afternoon!) I'm not one of those though, I like my windows open until it's about 95 and humid..