What other cities do you guys feel are reasonable to commute in from that have decent sized housing for a family? My brother is thinking of taking a job in Santa Monica so I wanted to try to get some input for him. Thanks in advance.

 

Maybe someone else is confused... Umm, what is your question?

"What other cities do you guys feel are reasonable to commute in from..."

-eh?

"...that have decent sized housing for a family?"

-eh?

 

He is basically looking for something over 1700sq. feet. 3 bedroom 2 baths, and a garage. He told me that lots of the housing he's seen has been smaller condos with carports.

 

no exactly sure what the question is but i can tell you this-

If you have a 9-5 job and you have to travel west to go to work anywhere past /near downtown you are going to be stuck in traffic forever! I live in Alhambra which is normally 25 min or so from the deeper part of downtown. If I leave at 6AM in the morning I can get there in maybe 1-1.5 hours. Now mutiply that by 2 for the drive home and you will be wasting 3 hours of your life in traffic every day. Best thing to do is try to get a job that is east of where you live, that way you go against traffic.

 

^THE best solution. While attending Loyola Marymount I lived in Sta. Monica and the "commute" BACK to Loy was much easier than the "commute" to. What should be an easy 20 min. drive to/from can easily turn into an hour plus at times, no joke. As for housing I wish I could advise you but it's very hard to find decent housing even at not-so-decent prices for the L.A. area.

 

Is your brother looking for something to buy or rent.

 

If he is working in Santa Monica, I would suggest trying to stay somewhere in the immediate surrounding area. Try Culver City, Marina Del Rey, or West Los Angeles area. You can find really nice houses/apartments here.

 

Such places are available in the Palms area and Brentwood, for starters.

I live Brentwood-adjacent in West LA, and there are some condos around here with 3 bedrooms.

It's not necessarily cheap around here though.

 

My sister-in-law and her husband live in Santa Monica. Good luck. Their house is just under 1400 sq. ft. and built in the 40s with basically no yard. They paid $605 for it 3 years ago, and a comparable one now goes for around 850.

 

He's looking to buy and prices probably won't be a huge shock as northern california is pretty crazy too

 

Playa Del Rey, Mar Vista, and Venice. Or if you live north of the canyons you can take the canyons to PCH (beach view) everyday to work.