Living in LA - Tell me your favorite area and why

[Anonymous]

We are looking for a second home. Found an amazing house in Encino but not sure. It would be double the price in Brentwood which we also like. Santa Monica really nice but tourists and Homeless population a bit of a concern. We would use as a vacation house now and live 6 months or more out of the year in ten years when kids completely gone. Thoughts? Welcome all input.

[Anonymous]

What's your budget? What kind of stuff do you want to be close to?

Encino in a nice neighborhood, although not a traditional location to have a vacation home. If it were me, I would buy a condo in a place like marina del Rey, Venice, or in the South Bay. If you prefer less beachy, my favorite neighborhoods are in mid-city: Larchmont, as well as the streets off off Beverly & Third. I like them because they are central to most everything and there are tons of shops and great restaurants and foot traffic. Lots of bungalows and small remodeled homes.

If you have an enormous budget then I would consider a house in Venice, Santa Monica or Brentwood (although the people here can be so obnoxious it's actually best to avoid). There's really lovely pockets throughout the city...in Topanga Canyon; in Hollywood Hills off Laurel Canyon; and really any of the canyon roads are neat (Benedict Canyon, Coldwater Canyon). Culver City is centrally located, has an ocean breeze and not as expensive, although, man, still very expensive. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Absolutely agree with the PP.
Really depends on your budget and what u like to do for fun.
Some of my favorites are Manhattan Beach, Malibu, Laguna Beach, Santa Monica. If u like more inland, agree with Brentwood and around the Beverly Center. Also, in Hollywood, around the Ranyon Canyon.
Calabasas is nice too. All are safe and family friendly

Encino is in the valley. It's super hot. If you want to be in the valley, woodland hills is a nice suburb. And u can take Topanga canyon to the beach.

[Anonymous]

Santa Monica, Malibu and Pacific Palisades are the best neighborhoods in LA - hands down. Brentwood is also terrific but not right on the ocean.

[Anonymous]

Encino is so fricking hot and right in the middle of the valley. Ventura Blvd is a nightmare traffic wise - it could take you 30 minutes to drive 3 miles. My advise is to stay OUT of the valley.

Brentwood is perfect! Close enough to the beach without worrying about tourists and a beautiful community. Charming commercial district, too.

[Anonymous]

Manhattan beach

[Anonymous]

Pacific Palisades

[Anonymous]

We lived in Santa Monica for 5 years. Homeless population? There might be a couple of folks in the park or down by the sea but generally, no.

There are lots of family houses for around $2.5-$4 million in Santa Monica that's kind of the going rate.

[Anonymous]

If you want to go cheaper, consider Topanga Canyon. Hippy'ish/artsy vibe, amazing rural views, quick drive down to the beach in Malibu. MUCH cheaper than the areas already discussed in this thread because it's further from the main parts of LA. But it's a 2nd home - do you really need to be convenient to LA? I assume you won't be commuting to an office.

Don't do the Valley. Miserable and easily 15-25 degrees hotter than the beach neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

grew up in brentwood, so I'm partial but...I would look around the santa monica/brentwood border, if you have the $. montana avenue area (on the brentwood or santa monical side), lots of stuff to walk to. You could always do air bnb for the time you're not there. Other possibilites include culver city (more hipster, less beachy) , pacific palisades (where sunset hits the beach, or channel road, etc), even as far up as topanga canyon.

Encino--hot, you get stuck in valley traffic.

[Anonymous]

Our family has a place in Inglewood. We love it. It's been in our family since the late 40's. While the neighborhood around it is kind of sketchy, it's close to the airport and the beach, and the 405 is like half a mile away. We've rebuilt the home that was on site about 10 years ago, and use this place as an AirBNB host site and we stay there when we're in LA. There's a wall all the way around it, and it's like a private compound.

The property is HUGE (by LA standards) almost 7 acres, and has 3 wells that are yielding almost 11 barrels of LSC daily. The oil revenue alone has put 9 kids through college since the 60's

Everyone should own an oil well. It's like a license to print money. And when the barrel price falls below your desired profit point, you just turn it off and wait for the price to come back up. The oil will still be there!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our family has a place in Inglewood. We love it. It's been in our family since the late 40's. While the neighborhood around it is kind of sketchy, it's close to the airport and the beach, and the 405 is like half a mile away. We've rebuilt the home that was on site about 10 years ago, and use this place as an AirBNB host site and we stay there when we're in LA. There's a wall all the way around it, and it's like a private compound.

The property is HUGE (by LA standards) almost 7 acres, and has 3 wells that are yielding almost 11 barrels of LSC daily. The oil revenue alone has put 9 kids through college since the 60's

Everyone should own an oil well. It's like a license to print money. And when the barrel price falls below your desired profit point, you just turn it off and wait for the price to come back up. The oil will still be there!

Holy sh#t, that is nuts. I'm originally from Long Beach, so many questions for you. I had no idea people were privately pumping oil! I assumed all the mineral rights were owned by large companies.
-Who installed the equipment and how much did it cost?
-Where the hell does one even have 7 acres in Inglewood?!?

Kudos to your family. Talk about a smart investment!!!

[Anonymous]

Definitely not Encino. If you want to be outside of the central part of LA county, look farther west to the Conejo Valley, just over the mountains from Malibu. Calabasas, Agoura, Westlake Village. Pretty, suburban area. Does not get as hot as the San Fernando Valley and quicker to the beaches. Close to good hiking and other outdoor recreation. But, you'll be driving an hour+ to get to Santa Monica.

[Anonymous]

Yeah op here - deal with Encino is found a very cool modernist similar to A Quincy Jones design house that's been completely updated and is awesome would be over twice as much in Brentwood - we were not planning on looking there but we wntualku will live there part time but not be working in LA so commute, schools etc not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

I'm from that area. If I had the funds, I'd buy in Pacific Palisades. Encino isn't really a vacation home-type place. The great allure to CA is the coastal beauty, so I'd get as close to it as possible.