I live in westside LA, and I’m going to be traveling a lot next year, so it doesn’t make sense for me to keep a full apartment any more if I won’t be there a lot of the time. Do you all have any advice on where to look for relatively inexpensive housing options?
I’ve tried Craigslist and Padmapper, and right now it seems like I can find substandard housing (a partitioned off part of someone’s living room, a chipboard shack, a room so small it’s not up to code) for around $600 a month, but a room in a shared apartment or someone’s house starts around $900 a month. Of course, studios and apartments are more expensive than that.
Do you have any recommendations on other housing search methods or neighborhoods to try?
I need to stay within reasonable bus distance (one hour?) of Westwood and LAX, so, probably, yeah. But if you know of other places that meet those criteria that aren’t in the Westside, that would be great.
Compton may be cheaper. That’s within one hour of the Westside and LAX when the traffic isn’t bad. When the traffic is bad the Westside and LAX are barely within one hour of each other.
OK, assuming you don’t want to live in Compton, I’d think you could find some non-standard arrangement with someone. A lot of people have a spare room, don’t really want a full-time roommate, but might be tempted enough by a few hundred dollars a month to accept having you around periodically. I think it would be a friend-of-a-friend kind of thing, so spread the word of what you’re looking for among people you know, and see if something pops up.
You could try Palms and/or Culver City. It’s a lot cheaper than the other side of the 405, and it meets your prerequisite for bus accessibility to LAX and Westwood. The number 12 Big Blue Bus goes between Robertson and UCLA, and there’s a Culver City bus that goes down to LAX (or maybe it was Aviation Station; I don’t remember for sure).
You know, I looked at Culver City and Palms, and that’s actually where the $900/mo figure for a bedroom in someone’s house came from. I’ve also looked at apartments/studios in that area, and while they can be found that are less expensive, those are typically too far off the main bus lines for me to consider.
Try the Inglewood/Hawthorne/Lawndale area. Go east of the 405 and you get into cheaper housing. Of course, the neighborhoods are not as nice, but if you won’t be there most of the time…
I honestly think Inglewood is not as bad as everyone makes out. I live very close to Inglewood, and a lot of the neighborhoods there are very well kept. Lawndale I would say is the same. If you speak Spanish or feel comfortable in a heavily Hispanic area, you would be okay in Inglewood or Lawndale. The parts of Hawthorne I’ve been to are pretty sketch. I recommend you drive around the area and check out the neighborhoods.
I myself lived on the Westside for four years before moving down to the LAX area. My neighborhood is 90% black and Hispanic. My landlord is nicer, the rent is cheaper, my neighbors are more considerate, and I’ve experienced far, FAR less crime here in the “bad” neighborhood than I ever did on the Westside.
Ooh, can’t help you there. Depending on how direct the route is, commuting from Inglewood might not be so bad, but I’m betting Hawthorne and Lawndale are right out. It takes me half an hour by car to get from Hawthorne to Westwood.
I can tell you now: you aren’t going to find any cheap housing on the Westside. How much time are you going to be out of town?
You’re the guy that forced me to make an account here. I had to respond to your seriously stupid belief that “Los Angeles” comprised only the downtown area. Seriously bro, how could you have ever come to have that notion?
You know, I would totally go for the hotel-type arrangement, but I have to maintain an actual residence here for various reasons. Thus, my predicament. Maybe I should just get a place in one of the really outlying suburbs, or even San Diego, and rent a car and drive in.
Here’s my idea of the week. Pay someone you know a few bucks a month to maintain an address for you. Then on the rare occasion you’re in town, stay in a hotel/hostel/etc…whatever you feel comfortable with. Hotel expenses may still balance out to less than $600 a month, and you get hotel amenities like the magic vacuuming fairy and free breakfast! Assuming, of course, that you don’t own a houseful of stuff that needs to be stored.
I guess I was a little mistaken. But still though, you thought ‘LA proper’ was only the downtown core and the surrounding lower-income areas. Seriously, how could you live / have lived here and think that.
That seems really high to me. The business section of the Times keeps reporting that rents are on the upswing, but I’m not seeing it in the ads. Just now the management company of the building I live in is offering a one bedroom in Culver City for under $1200, south of Washington and west of the 405 in the Culver City panhandle.
When did I say that?