My kid and 3 roommates (all students) have a nice 4/2.5/2 townhome (abt 1650-1750 sf – not sure) with LR FP, DR, huge kitchen, oversized attached garage and private enclosed patio in a very nice (upscale) eastern suburb of LA for $1950 month. Most of it (flooring, mouldings, plantation shutters, tub enclosures & doors, etc) has been upgraded since it was purchased by the latest investor a few years ago. IIRC, it was built in the mid/late ’80’s (no residential RE is very “new” in the vast majority of this area until you pass well over the San Bern County line).
My kid’s 1/4 portion of all monthly expenses is a very reasonable +/- $600 (incl 1/4 utils), depending on amount of heat or A/C used. Their gas and elec are separate bills and they also have wifi. The owner pays water, sewer and trash thru HOA dues and it is a very large, beautifully-landscaped and maintained complex with all amenities, including roving security in golf carts.
I think LA county rents might be comparable to SD rent up to about 12 miles from the (SD) coast but in East LA and beyond rents are much less as these cities are between 26 and 50 miles inland (from the Santa Monica Pier). Almost all are extremely liveable (even “charming”), uncrowded cities with more generous SFR lots (on avg) than in SD. It is clear to me that LA County did not sell out their open space to Big Development in past decades as SD County and its cities did. These wise decisions LA area leaders made in the past contribute greatly to their livability factor today, imho. Sure, LA County’s freeways are crowded but that is primarily due to millions of residents from four adjacent counties using them in their daily commute to work and back. That phenomenon isn’t as pronounced in SD County except for (possible 150K?) Southern RIV County daily commuters and a few straggling daily commuters residing in the OC.
In my mind, $2700 is a RIDICULOUS amount of rent to pay for a 1388 sf 3/2.5 in (congested) CarmelV (SD). Especially if it doesn’t even have a garage or only has a one-car garage! Likewise, the 588 sf condo in a 40 year-old part of MM (the congestion capitol of SD) for $1500 mo (w/carport pkg?) is a ripoff. Uhhh, no … I don’t care if there IS a ramshackle plywood “tool closet” to store stuff in front of each assigned carport space, lol. SD County’s quality of life has gone down the tubes in so many of its areas because City/County leaders have allowed in much too much density in recent decades. In older parts of Chula Vista, the (apt) density isn’t bad (mostly a few older small, scattered one-story “court” apt developments) but it is terribly congested in 91914 and 91915, especially in the multifamily areas. It is so bad on some streets that a motorist has to slow down and pull over a little to let an oncoming vehicle pass, due to too many parked cars on the sides of the (narrow) streets. Why? There aren’t any parking lots for residents, just bare-mininum-width 2-car garages facing the alley (which you can’t park in, except to quickly unload groceries). They also didn’t build any driveways on these (numerous) blocks full of PUDs. It was just really poor planning all around … a comedy of errors the city allowed in. I feel sorry for all the poor slobs who bought into that mess and are now stuck with 1-2 HOAs collecting their monthly dues and MR that is thru the stratosphere.
I don’t know why SD County’s leaders had to ruin everything for the existing residents while other CA counties elected to preserve their quality of life so somehow managed to refrain from letting Big Development run amok calling the shots. Our leaders shot themselves in the foot because now we have hundreds of thousands (million(s)?) more residents since 1987 (debut of MR in SD Co) to provide public services (and water) for, not to mention clogging our streets and highways.
