Hello again and welcome to installment 3 of my series of blogs concerning newbies to the city and surrounding areas of Los Angeles, CA. This segment will be longer than the previous 2 as there is more information to cover.
So you've gotten into L.A., and of course you need a place to live. There are many options. If you have family or loved ones here, I strongly suggest you ask them if you will be able to live with them for awhile first to get acclimated to the area(s) for a decent length of time, but also most importantly to SAVE MONEY. As I mentioned in the first installment, you'll need a MEGA METRIC F*** TON of it in most cases to afford even something that's CONSIDERED "decent" for this part of the country.
My first apartment here was $700/month with a student discount and described as a bachelor apartment. No kitchen, a VERY small fridge, a bathroom, some cabinets, a living room and a bunch of closets. There was a small ledge that stuck out from the wall I put my hot plate on. Even doing dishes was a bit of a chore as I could only get water out of the bathroom sink. Regardless, it was a great place to start and I have fond memories of my first year here in that room. Now that same place would run you over $1,000.00/month. Ridiculous!
Locating a place to rent won't be tough. The internet is your friend here. You however will be appalled at what the cost of just SHARING a place or a room will be overall even if you do your research first.
The average price for a 1 bedroom apartment where I live is roughly $1,600/month or more. That doesn't include your security deposit... YES YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY. Chances are, unless you have a ton of $, you'll need roommates to even barely afford to survive here. I will be saving that topic for the next one, because if I include it here this will be entirely too long. Roommates here are unfortunately a way of life for most of us (cue the "JAWS" theme, but played at 10 octaves below the pitch we all know and love to give you a MICROSCOPIC idea of how hellish the world of depending on others just so you can live here can be)...as I mentioned in installment 1, you give up a LOT to live here. More than most would even be willing to consider giving up. You REALLY have to want to be here. Or at least have some sort of calling to justify, to yourself anyway, to tolerate the exorbitant price tag. Don't worry, you'll be far from alone in this and will be able to find like minded company fairly easily.
A lot of places won't give you a parking space included with your rent. You'll have to find street parking, which is a hell I would only wish on certain individuals. It's complete b.s., but welcome to L.A. You want to live here, well this is one thing you won't ever be cool with - the bitch of finding a parking space at just about any given time.
My place is 2 bedrooms. One of our inhabitants made the living room into his living area, so there's 3 of us here. Our rent just went up to $2,000/month. Our building is okay, but it's NOTHING SPECIAL for that price. Utilities aren't included, our location is good for what is around it but the building itself isn't anything special. The living room floor isn't level, I just realized that recently. As I said at that moment, very sarcastically, "ALL THIS...FOR $2,000 A MONTH..." Unfortunately it's a reality. I've seen private rooms, not even 1 bedroom apartments for $1,500/month. And even then you STILL have to share a bathroom with 1 or more people. No shit. I've seen SHARED bedrooms for over $700 a month. It's beyond ludicrous, but the landlords get it.
I must say, in all fairness that our landlord in our building is awesome, she and her husband went to bat for the entire building and fought to have it less when the owner of the building decided to raise everyone's rent to a ridiculous amount all at once. It still got raised but not as much as it was supposed to be. They get stuff fixed and/or replaced for us in a timely fashion and are very accommodating, her husband often helps me out by letting me use his tools and even lets me wash my truck in the garage now and then.
Bottom line, do your research, make sure you ABSOLUTELY want to live here, and have enough $ to "live" meaning to just cover rent and food at bare minimum. Some people pay to live on couches/in living rooms what others in places like where I hail from to rent entire houses. The choice is yours, you've been warned.
Next installment: Roommates...cue the JAWS theme......
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