Job offer for 150k in Los Angeles, should I take it?

Job Advice wrote:

LRCommunity wrote:

"hey guys I'm rich and have a degree is software engineer and I need to let everyone on letsrun know about it by asking them for housing advice"

Well I have news for you, whether it's 116k or 150k, it's firmly middle class in central Ohio. Save your vitriol for people buying 100million dollar penthouses or something.

My update is that my wife has convinced me to take a last minute trip...tomorrow...to go see LA. So I guess I'll see first hand and hopefully determine that it's

Have a great time seeing all the sights: Hollywood Blvd, Disneyland, Burbank.

Back in Columbus. I'll say that its an interesting place, overly busy, and I'm pretty sure I can't afford what I want with the salary offered. I really feel like I'd need 200k just to not totally hate the place I was living. Granted, it's way too big to see everything out there in the couple days we were out there, however I don't see finding a big home that is affordable as a thing that will happen with more time searching.

I'm going to turn the offer down.

yeah......no wrote:

mahmood wrote:

Wouldn't the Ohio guys want to research public transport? If OP works downtown wouldn't there be express buses from the outlying areas to downtown? I would think one of the top research priorities would be public transport, particularly in LA.

Am I off base on this?

PS. Flagpole, welcome back brother. SOME of us missed you.

public transport in LA? buses? um.....no. they exist but are not used for anything serious, and for good reason.

Only option i would look into would be the new light rail from Santa Monica to down town.

I might be wrong, but I've never met anyone who used buses for long commutes in LA. Or used buses at all.

Aren't there express buses that go from outlying areas (Park & Ride) directly downtown with a few stops in the suburb and a few stops downtown but mostly in the HOV lane...............hence the term "express".

mahmood wrote:

yeah......no wrote:

public transport in LA? buses? um.....no. they exist but are not used for anything serious, and for good reason.

Only option i would look into would be the new light rail from Santa Monica to down town.

I might be wrong, but I've never met anyone who used buses for long commutes in LA. Or used buses at all.

Aren't there express buses that go from outlying areas (Park & Ride) directly downtown with a few stops in the suburb and a few stops downtown but mostly in the HOV lane...............hence the term "express".

if by "express" you mean 45-60mins on the bus plus transport time of 20+ mins to and from the park and ride locations....and then walking for who knows how long once you are dropped off downtown....hence the term "no"

If you know how to drive you can go from downtown to the beach in 30 minutes on surface streets while staying off the freeways. Olympic and Pico are East-West arteries. I would never cross the mountains through the 405 or 101 pass to downtown. That's a recipe for wasting your life. LA is totally manageable. Just get over n00bishness and learn the traffic patterns.

BTW, I lived in LA 13 years and drove from Echo Park to the beach for work all the time. It's no big deal.

New York Angeleno wrote:

Job Advice wrote:

The job (un)fortunately is in downtown LA. It is in the finance sector, but in IT. The traffic is a worry, for sure. Right now my commute is 25 minutes.

If you know how to drive you can go from downtown to the beach in 30 minutes on surface streets while staying off the freeways. Olympic and Pico are East-West arteries. I would never cross the mountains through the 405 or 101 pass to downtown. That's a recipe for wasting your life. LA is totally manageable. Just get over n00bishness and learn the traffic patterns.

BTW, I lived in LA 13 years and drove from Echo Park to the beach for work all the time. It's no big deal.

I’m guessing you haven’t lived in LA for a while. Waze has destroyed shortcuts. Any secret route you used to know has as much or more than the freeway.

Silly. LA isn't the tourist sites. It's driving up hairpin turns on Angeles Crest, lunching at a biker bar, stomping in the snow at the observatory, or eating a picnic above the clouds (Highway 2), and then connecting to 138 Pearlblossom Highway and the high dessert with the Joshua Tree, to Highway 5 to Muskrat Love 101, and then dropping down into the Santa Monica Mtns. to drive into an ocean of blue sky and surf and then having shark for dinner in Malibu with the breeze in your hair. You can do all of this in a day and few hundred mile drive. You can't do that in New York.

LA Woman wrote:

Have a great time seeing all the sights: Hollywood Blvd, Disneyland, Burbank.[/quote]

Job Advice wrote:

Back in Columbus. I'll say that its an interesting place, overly busy, and I'm pretty sure I can't afford what I want with the salary offered. I really feel like I'd need 200k just to not totally hate the place I was living. Granted, it's way too big to see everything out there in the couple days we were out there, however I don't see finding a big home that is affordable as a thing that will happen with more time searching.

I'm going to turn the offer down.

LA is easily liveable on 150k a year. You just have to decide what’s important. If you want a McMansion you need more money. If you need a Lexus and a BMW you need more money. The problem with living in LA is your friends will care what your house looks like. They’ll care how much your house cost.

It’s not for you wrote:

...

LA is easily liveable on 150k a year. You just have to decide what’s important. If you want a McMansion you need more money. If you need a Lexus and a BMW you need more money. The problem with living in LA is your friends will care what your house looks like. They’ll care how much your house cost.

My wife and I don't exactly agree on what's important, however we do agree that a 1200sq ft apartment for $3500/mo is not it. As crazy as this is going to sound...we have 4 Savannah cats, and we want them to have their own room.

Now if I get a different offer and its more like 200+, then yea, I'd reconsider. In the meantime, I think I might look at some other areas like Tampa, Miami, Phoenix, and Las Vegas.