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finding a room in los angeles or santa monica?

I am 18, a senior in high school, I work as a waitress and have saved about 4 grand. My best friend and I are going to Santa Monica college and hoping to transfer to UCLA> anyways we are both from new york...we are moving august 5th. I have been looking @ craigslist now, but a lot of those ads are for ASAP and because our move is like 6 months away noone even writes me back! Well I am worried about this move! We can't afford more than 400-500 dollars a month each. SMC does NOT have a housing program! What can we do???? Where can we find a good place to stay and not a scam??? also if someone could give me some advice about los angeles for two young college girls (fresh out of high school)??? thanks!!! ps. please dont say "save your money, its too expensive, dont go" the tickets are already purchased We ARE going ! this is our dream !!! HELP w/ advice or whatever, please dont be rude though.

Public Comments

1. Even renting a room is likely going to cost you more than $1000 a month, it has for many years in places like Santa Monica (in safe, good neighborhoods). You will need to find a less expensive place to live, like North Hollywood or Van Nuys. Lots of young college students rent out there. It may not be the most glamorous place, but it's relatively freeway close (by LA standards) to Santa Monica. (And if you're coming out here to act, there are lots of great classes in NoHo.) You also might try Culver City, which is close to Santa Monica, but likely it will be over $1000 for a one bedroom in a safe neighborhood, pretty much everywhere will be. : ( A lot of landlords won't rent a single to more than one person in good neighborhoods. Please be careful with craigslist and don't send any money! You must see the rental in person and be sure you are handing money to the right person. There have been lots of scams, people renting places out for great prices, taking the deposit, but they don't really own the place. They take off with lots of peoples' *deposits*. If it sounds too good.... Also, even places like Santa Monica have dangerous neighborhoods, you really have to look in LA before renting. Here is some housing info from SMC's website: http://www.smc.edu/apps/pub.asp?Q=125 You may have a tough time finding a waiter job out here. We have zillions of *professional* waiters -- mostly actors who have been serving for years. The job market here sucks and will probably be even worse next year. Restaurants are really slow right now, no one is eating out. Lots of people in retail are being *laid-off* right now, too. Do your parents have any friends out here that might be able to help you secure a job? Any relatives out here? Try to line something up before you get out here, or it could be a long time before you're employed and $4000 won't last long. You have time to work on it, it's smart to plan so far in advance! Also, before you come out here you need to make sure you will have a place at SMC. The community college system is having a really rough time right now, the fees are too low, too many students, it's really close to crashing. I wouldn't be surprised if they stopped taking out-of-state applicants at some point. The Cal States stopped taking local applications early this year -- before the cut-off date! Too many students, not enough $$. And now they may be changing it so CA residents will likely have to attend a Cal State close to them, not any Cal State. So coming from out of state, you will likely be hit hardest on things like transferring to a UC. I'm sure you already know, but transferring to UCLA is not part of a guaranteed program like to Cal State. CA Community Colleges LA Times article from this week: http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-transfer3-2009feb03,0,5069387.story Anyway, sorry for all the bad news. If you have a dream, you do need to go for it while you're young! (I went to Paris on a whim when I was very young, and ended up living and working there for a year.) But, you have to be smart about it, it's best to have real information, so now you have time to plan and figure everything out. Good luck!
2. Wow, thats a tough one. Being from the Los Angeles area, and having graduated from UCLA, I lived in a 2 bedroom apartment in Westwood (right down the street from UCLA) with 3 other people and still paid about $800 a month. Honestly, you aren't going to find a room to rent in a decent area for the money you are talking about. You might be able to find a room to share with your friend in a house for $900. Santa Monica has its good and shaky areas....You picked a very expensive side of town. If you still want to come to Cali and go to a junior college like Santa Monica, then you should consider a cheaper area, the college system is pretty much the same. Try Long Beach city college, Cerritos college, or Pasadena college. Near Long Beach city college, you can rent a one bedroom apt for around $1100.00, in a decent area. Then once you have established yourself and are ready to go to UCLA, move up there and rent with some additional friends or students. I'm not sure what part of NY you are from, but guys/people in LA should be pretty similar. Just watch out for each other, don't trust anyone, and have fun. Good luck getting into UCLA.
3. Think about it: What landlord is going to want to rent out something 6 months from now? If he has tenants, he's going to want to keep them. If he has a vacancy, he's going to want to fill it immediately, not wait for someone who may or may not come in 6 months. Think, girl! Check out roommates.com, westsiderentals.com, and rent.com. Just so you know, the average price for a 1BR in LA is $1200 in a decent neighborhood. For that small amount of money, you're going to have to settle for a room rental, or an undesirable location. Not being rude, just telling it like it is. (Being from NY, you should be used to that). Just so you know, signing an agreement for a place sight unseen is foolish and dangerous. You might want to look into staying at a hostel for a couple weeks when you first move here. And having a fixed date of Aug 5 isn't good, because landlords like to rent starting the first of the month. You may have to wait for a place, so a hostel would be a good idea.
4. I would recommend you take a look at the Westwood Co-op website : http://home.earthlink.net/~uchaweb/whatis.html
5. Talk about BAD timing. The recession has hit California harder than most other states. Jobs are almost nonexistent here. You will find it extremely difficult to find any job, let alone one that will pay enough to live on. Rent for a tiny 1 bedroom will START in the $1100-1200 range and require 3 times that amount just to move in (first, last & security). That doesn't include anything for utilities, transportation, food, clothing, entertainment, etc. Remember too that you will be paying out of state tuition, roughly 2 1/2 time what a resident (or illegal alien) is charged. Add to that that enrollments are being restricted because of California's budget problems. The state has suspended grants to college student for that reason. Welcome to California, I hope you bought round trip tickets. I'm not being rude. I'm telling you the facts that you must face the moment you step off the plane.
6. Ummm.. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS $500/MO. HERE!! As of right now, because of the economy, a job opening in Los Angeles is almost non existent. With the closings of Shoe Pavilion, Linens-N-Things, Mervyns, and Circuit City (soon to be), it's going to be EVEN MORE difficult. You will also need about $10,000 to start off. Decent prices start at $1000 mo. for either an extremely small studio or a 1bd/1ba apartment if you're lucky. There is no such thing as $550 mo. here. A minimum waged job alone will barely pay the rent. Remember, you need to eat, you need water, gas, electric, personal hygiene, etc. Bottom Line: Look elsewhere, in 3 months you will probably be back in New York with no improvement whatsoever.