The mid-wilshire district??

jjjoy, LPN · Mar 21, 2007

Could you be more detailed? How much is being asked for what type of apartment? What source are you seeing these listings in?

Unless someone's been living in a rent-controlled apartment for a long time, even less than desirable areas can be rather pricey compared to other parts of the country.

My guess is that these great deals you are seeing are in old multi-story buildings (built in 1910 or 1920) with lots of units but no parking.

Maybe these great deals you are seeing closet-sized as well.

Mimi_C, BSN, RN · Mar 22, 2007

I saw some of the units on apartmentguide dot com and also some on a website of a developer that bought like some of the old hollywood hotels or something and converted them into apt units. I'm looking for a two bedroom and they had some on their site for like $1100+ which looked pretty good in the pics. It just seemed too good to be true...and you how how the old saying goes. I can't even find a new or newly renovated 2br highrise in atl for that low of a price so it just made me wonder...what the heck is wrong with that area?? The website is swelgroup dot com ...am I allowed to put web addresses on here? (hope so...)

Thanks for the input

jjjoy, LPN · Mar 22, 2007

You can definitely find 2BR apartments around LA for the same price. Look on Craigslist Los Angeles. They aren't particularly fancy but they aren't dumps either.

I'm surprised to hear that Altanta apartments are so expensive. Are the ones you're referring to right down town? For fancy new apartments in high rise buildings with security parking, the price in LA WILL be much higher. I'm pretty sure that the Swelgroup apartments don't have parking and that's why they're so affordable even though they've been renovated and are lovely buildings.

If you work near where you live, you can manage in LA without a car. Just keep in mind that LA in general isn't geared towards the carless and it's very geographically spread out. Usually people who opt for the bus have no other options. Some folks might feel intimated to use public transit in the evenings. Personally, I'm an advocate for walkable cities and use of mass transit, but LA still has a long way to go.

Are you planning to move first and then find work? Because LA is so spread out, it might be a good idea to not lock yourself into any kind of a lease in case you find a job 20-30 miles away and want to move closer. For example, the UCLA medical center and the USC medical center are 14 miles from each other. Yahoo maps says it's less than 20 minutes by car on the freeway... but that depends on time of day and doesn't account for long intersection signals or looking for parking or walking from wherever you park to the facility. Give yourself 40 minutes if it's not rush hour and you know exactly where you're going. By bus... at least an hour during non-peak hours! And probably a transfer or two as well.

Mimi_C, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2007

yeah the housing market has changed in Atl over the years. My 2br east of the city out in Lithonia is $1100 and it's not a highrise or exceptionally luxurious or anything like that (and I have a sucky commute to and from work) it's just gated and not as old as some of the other apts in the area. I'm over here b/c I got booted out of my old house which was on the outskirts of Buckhead until someone decided to start throwing up cookie cutter mansions on my street and I started seeing signs being put up about my little neighborhood becoming a "live, work, play" next thing I know we couldn't afford the property taxes anymore...but that's another story. I just figured that if $1100 buys what I have now in atl will that equate to a "shack" in LA or somewhere with bullets whizzing by my head when I step out the door, or schools where my child isn't safe. I really do want to be adventerous and move to Cali but it's kinda scary b/c I don't know as much about the different areas as I wish I did. I think I would probably be ok w/o my car I have been debating whether or not to leave it behind. Atl isn't very friendly either for those without cars. The couple of times that I did take the subway in LA it seemed ok but I did notice that It didn't really go anywhere and I would probably have to get a bus too to go to any non tourist places. I'm not sure how I would do in Atl w/o my car which is why I'm not sure about not having one in Cali.

I hoping to secure my job first and then go from there...I guess I'll get this figured out eventually ...somehow. Thanks for all of your input though

jjjoy, LPN · Mar 24, 2007

Good luck!

If you have specific questions, I know the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena area best, which is just north-east of downtown LA. The farther you go from there, the less I can tell you about it! I don't have any children so I'm not too attuned to such needs.