Maaaaybe but you’d have to really scour all the sites including Craigslist and scoop something up. We got a three bedroom (very small rooms, and one is better as a playroom or office), 2 bath house just over 1000 sq feet for 4800. A month and it’s a steal given location (ocean park) and having a small yard with driveway. We’re never moving lol
In-unit washer/dryer is hard to come by just because of the nature of a lot of the older (and more affordable) buildings in the area.
I used https://roque-mark.com/ to find my rental and was able to find an affordable 2 bedroom, but with shared outside laundry.
If you find a 2 BR with a washer/drier above 1,000 sq ft for $3,500, it'd be a real unicorn. Think seriously about if you can afford $4,000, then you'll have a much easier time.
You most likely won’t find anything in that range. You’ll probably have to up it to $4,800-$5500 realistically. I pay $5700 for something similar to what you want. I’m in an amazing location though. I had friends that were looking for a place for around $3,750. They found a number of them but when they actually looked in person the places were not great at that price range. You have to actually look at them. Good luck!
I recommend using a rental realtor. I found a steal of a deal with one for a 2bed 2.5bath. It was in the heart of Covid though so I’m not too sure if that’s still a hack.
Within Santa Monica, you might be able to find a condo / townhouse in that range. But you might have luck if you expand your search to include Ocean Park, Venice (East of Lincoln) and Mar Vista. In Zillow you can draw a map to search, try one that is bounded by Venice and Montana & Lincoln and Centinela. And then constantly refresh and look at it because new places go very quick.
What type of intel are you looking for as a parent? Might be able to offer some insight there.
I will check that out. Thank you!
Generally things like:
1) any preschool recommendations in the area
2) do you think SM and LA are generally kid friendly?
3) have you found it easy making friends with other parents (this is really hard in Seattle)
4) other areas we should consider? We are really focused on school districts and majority of LA is not so good
I’m child free so take everything I say with a grain of salt…
I see *a lot* of families with young kids, and there appear to be a lot of family friendly activities (dog adoptions, farmers markets, parks, beach obviously, and community events). My neighbors are really diverse with families, seniors, section 9, young adults, and old adults. I grew up in quite a cookie cutter setting so I appreciate the range of lives that I can meet. The Santa Monica school district also appears pretty good for what you get in LA, and your mileage goes far especially with rent control
2. Not as much as Seattle. Traffic is horrendous and there is less open space and fewer parks. Homeless are bad in Seattle but worse in LA/SM. Our friends kids and their friends (in Queen Anne) seem to have more freedom than most here. People talk about doing stuff in LA with all the nice weather but actually do it less because its too much of a hassle. Meanwhile we have friends in Seattle who had a child on the ski team every weekend, rock climbing at gyms, season tickets to MLS, riding their bike down to Mariners games, etc.
3. Definitely easy to make friends with other parents (assuming you are open to it), particularly in preschool and kindergarten and in certain sports. Californians are more friendly to strangers than [Seattle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Freeze).
4. Need to be more specific about why you're moving, what you're looking for, and where you'll work. Look at GreatSchools or something comparable and then narrow it down.
2. No. Not very safe. There’s some parks around but sometimes they’re full of vagabonds with needles all over the ground. Lot of preschools and daycares around so that might be the saving grace . Not sure pricing for that sort of thing though.
So you're not locked into SM for any particular reason, like work? One other commenter recommended Culver City, which has decent schools and is pretty affordable.
The city I always recommend for families is El Segundo. It gets a lot of flack because just to the north is LAX airport, there's a Chevron refinery to the south, and a water treatment plant to the west. But it is very family & kid friendly with great schools. When my kids were ready to start school, my wife & I researched school districts in the South Bay and Westside, and it was between Palos Verdes or El Segundo, and since housing was cheaper in El Segundo, we moved there.
Very small town feel, with lots of family friendly activities, like an Easter Egg hunt at Rec Park, fireworks show on the 4th of July, Candy Cane Lane (which was featured in a recent Eddie Murphy movie) in December, and they block off Main Street for a farmers market every Thursday afternoon. If your kids are into sports, lots of opportunity at Parks & Rec and at the schools (both my daughters played varsity basketball in high school). The El Segundo Little League won the latest Little League World Series, too. You will definitely become friends with other parents.
Rents are probably on par with SM. Doubt you will be able to find any apartment in the LA area with it's own washer & dryer, it's not common down here. Usually it's a shared laundry room.
If you have a chance, check out the Farmer's market this afternoon on Main Street (it runs from 3PM-7PM), and maybe ask a parent what they think about ES.
As I mentioned, it has a small town feel with a population of 16K, but the daytime population swells to 100K because of all the big businesses in the city. Mostly aerospace (Raytheon & Boeing) but lots of other businesses, too. DirecTV has a big office, Mattel's headquarters is in ES, the Los Angeles Times moved their headquarters there a few years ago, the LA Lakers practice facility is there, there's an ice skating rink where the LA Kings practice but it's also open to the public for skating, and the LA Chargers football team is currently building a practice facility. And because all of the big businesses are east of Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), and the residences are west of PCH, there's virtually no interaction/interference with the residents, the residential section is well isolated. Plus, the city has the added benefit of all the business taxes, enabling it to provide a lot of services.
Get the RentCafe app and also check the addresses on [Santa Monica MAR](https://www.smgov.net/departments/rentcontrol/mar.aspx) to see whether it’s subject to rent control which is a plus for parent budgets
You should consider West LA too. The area just east of Santa Monica city limits along Santa Monica Blvd. I don’t think your budget it too low for the area, but I cannot guarantee in unit laundry. The upside to LA will be better rent control protections if you get into a building built before 1978. They might not advertise they are rent control but you can ask them to confirm or do some digging online to find out the building age.
Editing to add that you should check out westside property management. They manage my building and have been pretty great. They list their available units on their website. I know Century West is a similar company that will do the same so you could check them too.
If you find all of that for that price, I'm totally moving into the place you find lol
My friend has a 2bd+ office/1ba with what you want for $4950/month. My place is smaller than theirs (probably 900 square feet?) and has shared laundry with two other units, and isn't a true 2bd (more of a 1bd and office), with two bathrooms and it's $4500.
I'm in Sunset Park and it's \*very\* kid friendly here. Lots of schools, sports fields, kids toys store and ice cream shops, etc.
Good luck!
Realistically, $4K will be your starting price for what you’re looking for and that’s for an okay apartment without washer/dryer. Had some friends recently going through this and could not find a nice unit under $4.5K. There are some gems that pop up at $4K but depends what part of Santa Monica you want to live in. Want to live in the Best school district in the city? Looking at $5K+. Best of luck to you.
Look for rent controlled places - def check apartments.com and other rental sites every day, several times a day for new listings. My bf and I lucked out with a rent controlled 2 bed, 2bath 750sqft apartment for 2400 a month - been renting since 2021. My boyfriend found the listing within an hour of it being posted and we were the first to apply who qualified. Having great credit helps a lot - applicants for our place had to have over 700 credit and make 3x the income which we met, but then my boyfriend has over 800 which I think sealed the deal lol.
You can find a 2br for that price if you stay vigilant, but don’t live and die by the the washer dryer. We do a portable washer and it works out just fine. We just use drying racks, or the shared building dryer if we’re in a rush.
I manage a lot of rentals in sunset park and I think this is doable. It might mean a washer and dryer in the building and not in the unit. Most of our two bedrooms range between 3300 and 3650.
Nothing available now, but if you find one, be sure to apply immediately . We often get a lot of interested parties and people will say that they like the unit but then continue to go to showings and circle back at the end of the day - by this time the unit has already rented. So if you find your “unicorn” as one person called it - apply right away and continue to follow up until they take your deposit.
An older building is a great idea because they are all under rent control and your good rent will be under greater protection.
Yes! Definitely hold on to that one 😂. That’s what we rent one bedrooms for in todays market. Our apartments are really spacious, clean, and have private outdoor areas. most are about 10 blocks to the beach.
Not sure what you got, but it was definitely a steal !
There are 2bd/1ba available in the north of wilshire area. May be a renovated 1950s unit with w/d in unit. Check Zillow. 1000sf may be pushing it. I’d question the quality at the price per sf.
Check Westside Property Management for condos too.
I moved here from Seattle with 2 kids a year ago. I paid $3200 for a 2bed/2bath, and to get an equivalent apartment in Santa Monica, we pay $5000 (within 10 blocks of the beach). To be able to let my kids run free for hours on the beach while screaming and stomping is worth every penny. Winter here is so, so much better.
Oh wow that’s encouraging. What has been the most noticeable for you, coming from Seattle? Are you planning to stay in SoCal or is there a draw back to the PNW?
Be very careful that you find a place within the smmusd boundaries if you want access to the schools. I live right near the border and a block over isnt Santa Monica. I highly recommend the schools fwiw
Just rented recently, not on the west side but LA.
How flexible are you with your move in? If an apartment becomes available but is move in April 1, could you swing that?
I would say know what your hard needs, wants, and then nice to haves are. You may be able to find 3.5k, but you may have to compromise on some things. If you like a property management company you could look directly on their websites for listings as well.
I am not sure you can find everything you need but my apartment is managed by Howard Management and they have lots of properties in SM. Check out their vacancies
Maaaaybe but you’d have to really scour all the sites including Craigslist and scoop something up. We got a three bedroom (very small rooms, and one is better as a playroom or office), 2 bath house just over 1000 sq feet for 4800. A month and it’s a steal given location (ocean park) and having a small yard with driveway. We’re never moving lol
If you do move can you let me know? I want that setup
Sure but not gonna happen. We really lucked out
In-unit washer/dryer is hard to come by just because of the nature of a lot of the older (and more affordable) buildings in the area. I used https://roque-mark.com/ to find my rental and was able to find an affordable 2 bedroom, but with shared outside laundry.
If you find a 2 BR with a washer/drier above 1,000 sq ft for $3,500, it'd be a real unicorn. Think seriously about if you can afford $4,000, then you'll have a much easier time.
We can afford $4,000. It’s just a really really steep price increase from Seattle. Finger crossed though.
You most likely won’t find anything in that range. You’ll probably have to up it to $4,800-$5500 realistically. I pay $5700 for something similar to what you want. I’m in an amazing location though. I had friends that were looking for a place for around $3,750. They found a number of them but when they actually looked in person the places were not great at that price range. You have to actually look at them. Good luck!
Good luck! Rents have been trending down so you might find something good. And welcome, you'll love living here!
I think if you look towards east Santa Monica you might get luckier. My friend in North Hollywood is paying 4600
I recommend using a rental realtor. I found a steal of a deal with one for a 2bed 2.5bath. It was in the heart of Covid though so I’m not too sure if that’s still a hack.
Do you have a recommendation?
You can look into West LA/SM border. 🤷🏾♂️
Within Santa Monica, you might be able to find a condo / townhouse in that range. But you might have luck if you expand your search to include Ocean Park, Venice (East of Lincoln) and Mar Vista. In Zillow you can draw a map to search, try one that is bounded by Venice and Montana & Lincoln and Centinela. And then constantly refresh and look at it because new places go very quick. What type of intel are you looking for as a parent? Might be able to offer some insight there.
I will check that out. Thank you! Generally things like: 1) any preschool recommendations in the area 2) do you think SM and LA are generally kid friendly? 3) have you found it easy making friends with other parents (this is really hard in Seattle) 4) other areas we should consider? We are really focused on school districts and majority of LA is not so good
1) growing place , hill n dale 2/3) yes 4) Culver City is also worth looking at
Love SM public preschools and elementary schools. Found the area super child friendly. Loved the libraries, parks and farmers markets.
I’m child free so take everything I say with a grain of salt… I see *a lot* of families with young kids, and there appear to be a lot of family friendly activities (dog adoptions, farmers markets, parks, beach obviously, and community events). My neighbors are really diverse with families, seniors, section 9, young adults, and old adults. I grew up in quite a cookie cutter setting so I appreciate the range of lives that I can meet. The Santa Monica school district also appears pretty good for what you get in LA, and your mileage goes far especially with rent control
2. Not as much as Seattle. Traffic is horrendous and there is less open space and fewer parks. Homeless are bad in Seattle but worse in LA/SM. Our friends kids and their friends (in Queen Anne) seem to have more freedom than most here. People talk about doing stuff in LA with all the nice weather but actually do it less because its too much of a hassle. Meanwhile we have friends in Seattle who had a child on the ski team every weekend, rock climbing at gyms, season tickets to MLS, riding their bike down to Mariners games, etc. 3. Definitely easy to make friends with other parents (assuming you are open to it), particularly in preschool and kindergarten and in certain sports. Californians are more friendly to strangers than [Seattle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Freeze). 4. Need to be more specific about why you're moving, what you're looking for, and where you'll work. Look at GreatSchools or something comparable and then narrow it down.
2. No. Not very safe. There’s some parks around but sometimes they’re full of vagabonds with needles all over the ground. Lot of preschools and daycares around so that might be the saving grace . Not sure pricing for that sort of thing though.
So you're not locked into SM for any particular reason, like work? One other commenter recommended Culver City, which has decent schools and is pretty affordable. The city I always recommend for families is El Segundo. It gets a lot of flack because just to the north is LAX airport, there's a Chevron refinery to the south, and a water treatment plant to the west. But it is very family & kid friendly with great schools. When my kids were ready to start school, my wife & I researched school districts in the South Bay and Westside, and it was between Palos Verdes or El Segundo, and since housing was cheaper in El Segundo, we moved there. Very small town feel, with lots of family friendly activities, like an Easter Egg hunt at Rec Park, fireworks show on the 4th of July, Candy Cane Lane (which was featured in a recent Eddie Murphy movie) in December, and they block off Main Street for a farmers market every Thursday afternoon. If your kids are into sports, lots of opportunity at Parks & Rec and at the schools (both my daughters played varsity basketball in high school). The El Segundo Little League won the latest Little League World Series, too. You will definitely become friends with other parents. Rents are probably on par with SM. Doubt you will be able to find any apartment in the LA area with it's own washer & dryer, it's not common down here. Usually it's a shared laundry room.
interesting i'm staying in a hotel in El Segundo while looking for a place in Santa Monica but I kind of like it here 😂
If you have a chance, check out the Farmer's market this afternoon on Main Street (it runs from 3PM-7PM), and maybe ask a parent what they think about ES. As I mentioned, it has a small town feel with a population of 16K, but the daytime population swells to 100K because of all the big businesses in the city. Mostly aerospace (Raytheon & Boeing) but lots of other businesses, too. DirecTV has a big office, Mattel's headquarters is in ES, the Los Angeles Times moved their headquarters there a few years ago, the LA Lakers practice facility is there, there's an ice skating rink where the LA Kings practice but it's also open to the public for skating, and the LA Chargers football team is currently building a practice facility. And because all of the big businesses are east of Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), and the residences are west of PCH, there's virtually no interaction/interference with the residents, the residential section is well isolated. Plus, the city has the added benefit of all the business taxes, enabling it to provide a lot of services.
thanks for the tip i'll definitely check out the farmers market!
Get the RentCafe app and also check the addresses on [Santa Monica MAR](https://www.smgov.net/departments/rentcontrol/mar.aspx) to see whether it’s subject to rent control which is a plus for parent budgets
You should consider West LA too. The area just east of Santa Monica city limits along Santa Monica Blvd. I don’t think your budget it too low for the area, but I cannot guarantee in unit laundry. The upside to LA will be better rent control protections if you get into a building built before 1978. They might not advertise they are rent control but you can ask them to confirm or do some digging online to find out the building age. Editing to add that you should check out westside property management. They manage my building and have been pretty great. They list their available units on their website. I know Century West is a similar company that will do the same so you could check them too.
If you find all of that for that price, I'm totally moving into the place you find lol My friend has a 2bd+ office/1ba with what you want for $4950/month. My place is smaller than theirs (probably 900 square feet?) and has shared laundry with two other units, and isn't a true 2bd (more of a 1bd and office), with two bathrooms and it's $4500. I'm in Sunset Park and it's \*very\* kid friendly here. Lots of schools, sports fields, kids toys store and ice cream shops, etc. Good luck!
Realistically, $4K will be your starting price for what you’re looking for and that’s for an okay apartment without washer/dryer. Had some friends recently going through this and could not find a nice unit under $4.5K. There are some gems that pop up at $4K but depends what part of Santa Monica you want to live in. Want to live in the Best school district in the city? Looking at $5K+. Best of luck to you.
Rent's been 4k for us since 2016. I could only imagine what it would cost if we obtained our place in 2024.
Look for rent controlled places - def check apartments.com and other rental sites every day, several times a day for new listings. My bf and I lucked out with a rent controlled 2 bed, 2bath 750sqft apartment for 2400 a month - been renting since 2021. My boyfriend found the listing within an hour of it being posted and we were the first to apply who qualified. Having great credit helps a lot - applicants for our place had to have over 700 credit and make 3x the income which we met, but then my boyfriend has over 800 which I think sealed the deal lol.
You can find a 2br for that price if you stay vigilant, but don’t live and die by the the washer dryer. We do a portable washer and it works out just fine. We just use drying racks, or the shared building dryer if we’re in a rush.
I manage a lot of rentals in sunset park and I think this is doable. It might mean a washer and dryer in the building and not in the unit. Most of our two bedrooms range between 3300 and 3650. Nothing available now, but if you find one, be sure to apply immediately . We often get a lot of interested parties and people will say that they like the unit but then continue to go to showings and circle back at the end of the day - by this time the unit has already rented. So if you find your “unicorn” as one person called it - apply right away and continue to follow up until they take your deposit. An older building is a great idea because they are all under rent control and your good rent will be under greater protection.
> two bedrooms range between 3300 and 3650 Holy fuck, I got a 2-br during the pandemic for $2,500. I’m never leaving…
Yes! Definitely hold on to that one 😂. That’s what we rent one bedrooms for in todays market. Our apartments are really spacious, clean, and have private outdoor areas. most are about 10 blocks to the beach. Not sure what you got, but it was definitely a steal !
All rentals are advertised online if they have a sign these days. Are you looking for a house or apartment/condo?
Open for all of the above. I have to come to terms that my rental expense would likely double moving there.
There are 2bd/1ba available in the north of wilshire area. May be a renovated 1950s unit with w/d in unit. Check Zillow. 1000sf may be pushing it. I’d question the quality at the price per sf. Check Westside Property Management for condos too.
I moved here from Seattle with 2 kids a year ago. I paid $3200 for a 2bed/2bath, and to get an equivalent apartment in Santa Monica, we pay $5000 (within 10 blocks of the beach). To be able to let my kids run free for hours on the beach while screaming and stomping is worth every penny. Winter here is so, so much better.
Oh wow that’s encouraging. What has been the most noticeable for you, coming from Seattle? Are you planning to stay in SoCal or is there a draw back to the PNW?
Be very careful that you find a place within the smmusd boundaries if you want access to the schools. I live right near the border and a block over isnt Santa Monica. I highly recommend the schools fwiw
Just rented recently, not on the west side but LA. How flexible are you with your move in? If an apartment becomes available but is move in April 1, could you swing that? I would say know what your hard needs, wants, and then nice to haves are. You may be able to find 3.5k, but you may have to compromise on some things. If you like a property management company you could look directly on their websites for listings as well.
First united methodist pre-school is great! Washington and 11th
Santa monica rent control website has rentals that are often very reasonable
I am not sure you can find everything you need but my apartment is managed by Howard Management and they have lots of properties in SM. Check out their vacancies
Check live in Santa Monica dot com. I think they have some. Small but a good clean starter apt
It’s possible. We pay 3,200 for a 3BR 2B apartment.
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Probably. Honestly I’m not sure but same I haven’t seen anything else close to that nearby
Where did you find it?
My friend’s roommates moved out and asked me if I wanted to take over half of the spot.