los angeles | Imamother

amother

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 6:45 am

I can't really tell you about helath insurance for children or tuition prices (although I do know that tuition is not low like many other out of town places)

As for jobs - what other language do you know and what is your field? There is definitely a need for bilingual professionals in a variety of languages due to the diverse communities in LA, it just depends on what your second language is!!

Good luck with relocating, which neighborhood are you looking into? If you have anymore questions about LA feel free to post them and I'll try to answer them.

yo'ma

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 6:59 am

My husband is bilingual, not me. He know spanish (hebrew and yiddish). We were offered a place to live in the Pico, Robertson area. Actually 2 blocks off Robertson, right near Pico.

amother

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 8:08 am

That's my favorite neighborhood because there is so much going on there in terms of food and shops, you can walk to all, well at least most, of the places you need to get things and there are a ton of young families there as well as compared to the other two frum neigborhoods.

Your husband's Spanish speaking skills will be greatly appreciated in the job market, however is he comfortable understanding and communication with spanish speakers from central America? I know that the Argetinian Spanish (wich I assume he speaks based on your location, but correct me if I'm wrong) is quite different such as making a soft j sound for the double l instead of a y.

I hope you enjoy LA, I do! In fact the neighborhood you're looking at moving into is where DH and I lived before moving away for a year but now we're looking at moving back into the pico robertson neighborhood again, we loved it there.

yo'ma

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 8:14 am

First of all I'm not sure if we're moving there. I have to find out about the cost of living there and job market. Would you have trouble speaking with someone from the south or texas or england, etc? Smile

It doesn't make a difference, but thanx 4 asking.
I know the area. My grandmother used to live there and my mother offered her house to us, so I have to see if it's even worth it.

amother

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 8:56 am

Does that mean that your housing expense would be take care of? Because if so then the cost of relocating is definitely worth it. Jobs pay more here, but housing costs are significant as well so it all sort of balances out and makes it much less costly than relocating elsewhere.

Good luck in makign your decision!

Sorry about the language thing it's jsut that I grew up fluent in Spanish but it was the Spanish spoken in Mexico so a few years ago I met some people from Argentina and I did have a really hard time understanding them.

yo'ma

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 8:59 am

Quote:

Sorry about the language thing it's jsut that I grew up fluent in Spanish but it was the Spanish spoken in Mexico so a few years ago I met some people from Argentina and I did have a really hard time understanding them.

There's nothing to apologize for. I was just saying.
Yes, about the housing expense except for taxes on it of course.

amother

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 9:03 am

what sort of community are ou looking for? Like young famillies, older more established families, litvish, lub, modern, etc. Do you have family living there already?

That's so great about the housing situation, you're very lucky!!

yo'ma

Wed, Mar 26 2008, 9:07 am

Yes, I have family there, but the yeshivish ones moved and I don't have that much to do with them and the mo ones don't have school age children. I'm in between anyway.

TwinsMommy

Sat, May 31 2008, 9:53 pm

we moved from LA to Cleveland because of the cost of living. In our experience, in certain fields, you make the same wherever you are--- it's not that your salary is greater because you live in LA.

We lived in Pico Robertson for 7 years---- 5 years on Alcott and a couple of years on Holt ------ we loved the restaurants and easy walking distance to a great variety of shuls. But we hated the MONEY aspect of living in LA and are much happier here in a 4 bedroom house rather than a dinky 2 bedroom apartment.

Anyone under 40 who buys a house in LA is either living off a trust fund or their parents. Houses are about a million in Pico/Robertson. Houses in our neighborhod here in Cleveland? Under $200,000.

Feel free to PM me--- we belonged to a number of the shuls in that area and still have a lot of friends there.

yogajew

Mon, Jul 28 2008, 10:31 pm

Hi everyone!

I'm really glad I found this topic. Actually, my husband and I are thinking of moving to L.A. (from the San Francisco Bay Area.) We know that it is really really expensive to purchase a home in L.A. and probably will never be able to afford that, but for those who live in or have experience in L.A., do you find the communities welcoming? We were also thinking of moving to Pico Robertson, and perhaps also the valley or Santa Monica.

My husband and I really want to leave San Francisco because of rent prices (average for a one bedroom this year is $1980) and we'd like to find a frum community. The most important factor for us is finding a community that is very welcoming of young families and tight-knit, as well as not being too materialistic.

Thanks for any feedback!

TwinsMommy

Mon, Jul 28 2008, 11:34 pm

leahrivka---- the rent isn't better in LA! so if you're moving for a money reason, really don't bother moving if you're looking at LA. It costs money to move and the rent in LA when we LEFT 3 years ago was approaching $1400 for a 2 bedroom on the dumpy side of Robertson. So for sure it's up to at least $1800 now. We have friends who just moved from Pico Robertson to BOSTON-- that should tell you something! Boston is ridiculous-- but not as much as LA!

But yes, the communities are nice and welcoming---- if you do move to Pico/Robertson I can hook you up with my friends who are still there if you'd like. The communities are very large---- for instance here where we are now, we can easily walk from one side of frum Cleveland Heights to the other. In LA, the frum area of pico robertson is a good 2 mile radius. So you might end up with friends who live a mile and a half from you and you have to schlepp there in the heat for a Shabbos meal. But yep, you'll easily make friends-- it's a great community.

Materialistic? well. heh. yeah.

TwinsMommy

Mon, Jul 28 2008, 11:38 pm

oh my, I just re-read your post--- a ONE bedroom is $1900. ok, yeah, you could get a 2 bedroom in LA for that.... so you would be trading up money wise. yikes. that's scary.

The valley would be a bit cheaper, but there are far more houses than apartments, so finding an apartment to rent might be a challenge. We lived in a GREAT one in North Hollywood as we were becoming frum but it was just outside the eruv. (Colfax and Burbank for you LA people who are wondering).

Not sure about Santa Monica--- not as many frummies there. The main communities are pico/robertson, the valley, and fairfax/labrea. (and then there are smaller frum communities like the west valley and northridge and such).

ganizzy

Tue, Jul 29 2008, 12:15 am

hi I moved to la area about a yr ago.
childrens health plus is around $15 a month per kid (could be less depending on income) there is someone here who helps u fill out the papers and gives u info (for free)
adult insurance is pretty expensive - im paying around $450 a month for me and my husband and around $180 for car insurance for 2 cars (one of had a ticket)
kosher food is pretty expensive, however on regular items you can always find sales (for ex right now one store has the fruit roll up, gushers, fruit by the foot... for $1 a box)
tuition is pretty expensive but I only know prices in the chabad community. they do have the garden school which is either cheap or free - maybe they have that in non chabad as well Question

if u have any other q's pm me (though I dont come on too often - hopefully it will go to my email)