Finding an apartment in the LA beach area

[Margalis]

So I might be moving to LA. I'm looking for one-bedroom apartments in the El Segundo / Manhattan Beach / Hermosa Beach area. I'm having a hell of a time finding listings. Anyone have any suggestions? Should I go through a realtor or Craig's List or something else?

In Boston there are a lot of realtors with a lot of apartments to show but so far I'm coming up pretty empty in LA.

[Morfiend]

I would suggest finding a few realtors in the area, and giving them your criteria. They can give you MLS listings. Thats what I have found the best way to do it is.

[Broughden]

My wife and I are using craigslist right now trying to find a short term apartment while house hunting. Lots of apartments but no one wants to do short term or month to month.

Anyway lots of apts on craigslist. Its also how I subleased my place in NYC.

[Nebu]

I have to know.  How expensive is a 1BR (I assume 500-700 sq ft) place in proximity to the beach? 

[Margalis]

MLS = ?

[HaemishM]

Multiple listing service (I think that's what it stands for). It's the computer database where all the houses listed with realtors are stored. You should be able to find it on the Internets.

[Merusk]

Yep, there's any number of places on the internet that will get you MLS listings.  They're a day or so behind the ones the Realtors get so that those bloodsucking leeches can find all the best deals, though.

http://www.google.com/search?q=apartment+mls+listings&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

I used apartments.com years ago and it was ok.  Just have a disposable e-mail address for when any of these places want you to sign up because they DO sell the lists.

[Selby]

I have to know.  How expensive is a 1BR (I assume 500-700 sq ft) place in proximity to the beach? 

Between $550-1500 depending on how nice it is and the location (projects\Barrio\junkie town are obviously on the lower end and don't always have things like meeting fire code).  That's the winter rates.  In the summer some nicer places have specific summer rates that are 2-3X that just for tourists.

[Broughden]

I have to know.  How expensive is a 1BR (I assume 500-700 sq ft) place in proximity to the beach? 

Between $550-1500 depending on how nice it is and the location (projects\Barrio\junkie town are obviously on the lower end and don't always have things like meeting fire code).  That's the winter rates.  In the summer some nicer places have specific summer rates that are 2-3X that just for tourists.

Uhm....a quick search on craigslist shows that most in Redondo within proximity to beach are 1500-2500 a month. Still not to bad by NYC standards.

[Selby]

Uhm....a quick search on craigslist shows that most in Redondo within proximity to beach are 1500-2500 a month. Still not to bad by NYC standards.

Craigslist is helpful, but not always the most reliable and once again, location is king here.  LA is kind of odd in that one block can be very expensive and a few blocks over can be considered\actually be a bad neighborhood.  A friend of mine lived a few blocks from the beach here in SD but it was a total shitbox closet for something like $600/mo.  It is always a mixed bag trying to get an apartment\rental unit.

[Sky]

We had a 2000sqft 3br condo with a great master suite 15 blocks off the beach (Long Beach, close to PCH) for $1500/mo as our first LA band house. That was in 1990 or 1991.

Nice college neighborhood, didn't live in the barrio until the next couple band houses :)

For one of the better beaches and closer proximity...well, I can see $2500 pretty easy, though that's just a guess based on info that's almost twenty years old :) Kinda funny to think that I was fucking beach babes in LA when some kids here were playing nintendo in their pjs. 

[schild]

Kinda funny to think you used to live on the beach near LA and now you live in bumfuck nowhere in a hippie house, you hippie.

Edit: I mean that in a nice way. You know, the 'you're surreal' way.

[Bunk]

I work in Real Estate software, so I have a rather deep database of Agents:

http://kellykgibson.com/home.asp - this one's cute at least

http://labeachliving.com/home.asp - we've dealt with these guys for quite a while

http://loriestherpark.com/home.asp - wow, another cute one. Site's kinda weak though

http://michelleapostol.net/home.asp - Now these guys have a tool on thier site I'd suggest checking out. It's an automated Market Trend report generator we make. Fill in the form on the left side of thier home page, labeled "Market Trends" It will send you a report within minutes, including maps, community info, and all the recent trends in the market based on sales over the last three months. Really cool stuff. Honestly, I'm not just hyping my own products.

[Nevermore]

How much do you have your heart set on the Manhattan/Redondo Beach areas?  When I lived in Southern California, I had a little (ie: tiny) place in Long Beach that wasn't too expensive, comparatively speaking.  And it wasn't in the crappy, get knifed walking to your car area of Long Beach either.  It was  near Belmont Shore, which is a nice little neighborhood.  I was maybe three blocks away from the water.

[Margalis]

Long beach is a little far out from where I'd be working. Closer to the airport is better.

Edit: Checked out some of those websites bunk, very few 1 BR listings. From what I hear finding rental places through realtors is more difficult in LA than some other places. The website search stuff was nice though.

[Morfiend]

I have to know.  How expensive is a 1BR (I assume 500-700 sq ft) place in proximity to the beach? 

Depends on your area. I live in Orange County, and a 1b/1b close to the beach (5 minute drive or less) is probably between $1500 and $2500 depending on size and quality of neighborhood.

[Bunk]

I deal with LA Realtors a fair bit, so I'll see if any of them can make a suggestion for rental leads.

[Selby]

Long beach is a little far out from where I'd be working. Closer to the airport is better.

Unfortunately that area is either realy nice (NW of LAX ala Westchester and Marina del Rey) or really bad (S, E ala Inglewood and Crenshaw) without that much in between that I can recall (been a while).  Traffic just sucks both ways along the 405 most days, so I can relate to wanting to live as close to work as possible.

[Mr_PeaCH]

Don't throw out Torrance when trying to find a place in the South Bay.  I guarantee it will be nicer than El Segundo in any event.

Manhattan/Hermosa
Redondo
Torrance
El Segundo

In terms of niceness but also relative expensiveness.

[Arnold]

Don't throw out Torrance when trying to find a place in the South Bay.  I guarantee it will be nicer than El Segundo in any event.

Manhattan/Hermosa
Redondo
Torrance
El Segundo

In terms of niceness but also relative expensiveness.

I used to stay in torrance 2-3 times a month when I doing business with GM.  I really liked that area.