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Possible Job in Los Angeles
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12-05-2016 11:18pm#1
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Your location sounds good but I still think you are lowballing the rent a bit. I concur with everyone's recommendation to get a car. Public transportation, while available and not expensive, is seen as the resort of the poor and low-class. Trying to use it in the summer can be miserable, and it can be unsafe.
Parking for the car is not generally an issue in LA because it is pretty spread out and all the shops have generous parking. I can't remember ever having had to pay for parking in LA, even in Hollywood where my mother's buried. Of course there are streetside parking meters and private parking garages, but nothing you will need to specially budget for.
A 2002 car is a beater in the US. They don't last as long as they do here and you'll notice way fewer older cars on the road. I would personally not buy a car more than 10 years old, but if you are handy with cars you will do OK. You will need to get a California driving license within a few months of arrival, but if you study the rules of the road you will do more than well; it is a doddle to pass and you can basically take the day off and walk in to get it done. Once you purchase the car, there will be additional sales tax (and this is significant), and charges to transfer the title over and purchase your tags (which you do periodically in the US). There is also a yearly road tax and inspection similar to what they do here, but it should not be costly for the kind of car you are thinking of driving. The major way you might pay for a car in California is the truly abusive fines for tickets. If you do any highway driving, and you will if you are going to be where I think you are, your other major cost will be in time spent waiting in traffic jams.
No TV license fees are charged in the US. However, the Internet bill will not normally include phone or "cable" (TV service). I've found that going with a reliable and high-rated local Internet service is far superior than going with a major national brand like Time Warner or Comcast (and the customer service is invariably better). Ask at your studio who people recommend. Since there's no TV license fees, by the way, there's nothing in the world preventing you from using your broadband connection to stream on-demand programming, so have at it.
You will pay more than that for your electricity, particularly if you have electric heat/hot water and electric cooking. You will need air conditioning in the summer, no kidding. You can ask your electric provider for a plan to balance your bills over the year so you aren't hit with huge bills in the summer. Some apartment complexes have central boilers, which is nice but not particularly important. You might have gas (kerosene) heating and/or cooking. You may pay separately for water and wastewater and trash disposal, or it might be included in your rent (rentals have been switching over from included utilities nationwide over the past few years). Speaking of water, in LA I highly recommend you get a point of use filter for your drinking water if possible (I used this one, cheaper on Amazon, and it purified even Houston's notorious municipal water: http://www.waterchef.com/store/products/WaterChef-C7000-Premium-Countertop-Water-Filtration-System.html). Sales taxes are normally charged on utility bills, including Internet, phone, cable, electricity, gas, water/wastewater, and trash pickup. You may be required to separate recyclable waste.
Wherever you rent, make sure you have a secure deadbolt; this should be standard but is sometimes not on older or low-end properties. You will always sign a lease for a fixed period of time and renew it at the end of the term. Renewals are not automatic (typical notice is 30 to 60 days depending on the applicable clause in the lease) and you are not fully protected without a lease. You will likely incur extra fees/deposit if you have a pet or a waterbed. Sometimes only part of the deposit is refundable.
Oh, something that hasn't been mentioned: You will quickly tire of I LOOOOOOVE YOUR ACCENT WHERE ARE YOU FROM OH MY GOD I LOVE IRELAND I'M PART IRISH.
(Edit: I just realized I assumed you were being recruited by a TV/film/animation/entertainment studio of some sort. An educated guess, lol. I agree with the other poster who said to make sure your visa paperwork was being handled by the employer. It is not easy to get in that way. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should you be required to cover the cost of your visa, even in part, even as a reimbursement to the employer, even as a payroll deduction... in fact it's illegal to make you.)0 -
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l statutorio wrote: »TeaBagMania wrote: »Lots of good info here. LA is expensive; the few people I know pay north of 1400 for a small two bedroom apartment. The public transport in LA has improved over the years. I regularly fly into LAX and catch the train and bus to within a block of where I need to be, but to live with it every day would be a struggle
I lived near the ocean and never needed AC, in fact the apartment didn t even have AC, we did have a central boiler so that was nice, utilities were almost nothing.
49K a year is going to be a tight budget for LA. Had a job offer with similar salary about 12 years ago in Santa Barbara, I declined it. You could survive on that salary but not live
I think you'd have lived pretty well here 12 years ago on $50k.
It wouldn't get you far now though :mad:
You would think so but LA has always been over the top expensive I was there 99 to 01 and a small house in a nice area was 300K, you might be able to make that work on a single income 50K job but you would have little left to spend elsewhere. similar areas are now ranging from 500K to 750K, its crazy
There was always the possibility of living in the hood with the gangbangers 0 -
TeaBagMania wrote: »You would think so but LA has always been over the top expensive I was there 99 to 01 and a small house in a nice area was 300K, you might be able to make that work on a single income 50K job but you would have little left to spend elsewhere. similar areas are now ranging from 500K to 750K, its crazy
There was always the possibility of living in the hood with the gangbangers
We're looking to buy here and to be honest I'd be delighted if we could find something in the $750k category in Santa Barbara. It's one of the craziest housing markets I've seen anywhere.0 -
él statutorio wrote: »We're looking to buy here and to be honest I'd be delighted if we could find something in the $750k category in Santa Barbara. It's one of the craziest housing markets I've seen anywhere.
Every year Forbes magazine come out with their rankings of the top 10 per capita income counties (and therefore the highest house prices too) in the US.
Top of the list is always Greenwich County, CT, where all the Wall Street hedge fund trillionaires live. Second is always Marin County, CA where George Lucas and all the Sillicone Valley trillionaires live. Third is usually Santa Barbara. Where you (and Oprah Winfrey) live. Good luck to anyone, who isn't a Hollywood moguel, wanting to buy a house there.
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Every year Forbes magazine come out with their rankings of the top 10 per capita income counties (and therefore the highest house prices too) in the US.
Top of the list is always Greenwich County, CT, where all the Wall Street hedge fund trillionaires live. Second is always Marin County, CA where George Lucas and all the Sillicone Valley trillionaires live. Third is usually Santa Barbara. Where you (and Oprah Winfrey) live. Good luck to anyone, who isn't a Hollywood moguel, wanting to buy a house there.
Yes and no.
Montecito is where Oprah and all the celebs live. It's in Santa Barbara county but not the city per se. Splitting hairs as it's only a few miles south of Santa Barbara proper, but still.
Now that place is off the charts expensive, SB is more affordable (by comparison) and Goleta (a few miles north) is cheaper again.
But, I digress.0 -
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