Where can I buy a house in Los Angeles for under $100,000?

Question

I currently live in West Virginia and I wanna go to LA and become a movie star. I will have to have a pretty modest house to start out with, does anyone know how I can buy a house for less than 100,000. I don't want to rent or live with roommates.

Thanks!

Maybe in Santa Monica or Venice? I like the thought of living near the ocean.

Answer 1

You're joking, right?
First of all, you don't just move to LA and become a movie star.

Answer 2

I don't want to sound condescending either, but Jesus H. Christ, are you kidding us with this? If you move to L.A. you will rent alright, and you probably will have roommates too.

You couldn't buy a home for under $100,000 in the worst rural hellholes of California (Bakersfield, Redding, etc.)... or in the middle of the most dangerous urban ghettos (Compton, Oakland, etc.) Even in those places, they are selling houses for $400,000 - $500,000.

The 2nd and 3rd most expensive cities in the entire country is San Francisco and Los Angeles -- just behind New York City. You couldn't find a decent home for under a million dollars in a Westside community. That means Malibu, Santa Monica, Westwood, Brentwood, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, or Century City are pretty much all way, way, way beyond your means.

Answer 3

Are you serious??? Or are you joking?
5 years ago, a small tiny 1 bedroom house in venice sold for
$750,000.
In Santa Monica you wont pay less then a million.
I think you better become a famous movie star first and then buy your house. The cheapest houses here in Los Angeles go for 400,000 Dollars.

Answer 4

no such animal exist, 500K is the norm for a home, i'm sure you can find condos for 300K, santa monica and venice are out of the question for 100K. If you have 100K to put down then that's a start, but you better be able to pay for a 200K- 400K mortgage from there. I'm not trying to be mean, that's the truth. If you make less than 100K income-wise it's really hard to live out here. I'm sure people that are much more motivated than me live on less, but I'm telling you that you really won't be going out much or having much fun for less.

Answer 5

Sorry it took me so long to answer this question. I couldn't stop laughing.

$100k can't even buy you a room at Tio Antonio's Cardboard Box Hotel and Spa.

The average, that's AVERAGE home price is half a million dollars. And that's for the entire southland, from South Central to Malibu.

You might be able to buy a child's playhouse for that kind of money. Unfurnished.

But don't worry. When you become a movie star (and you will as soon as you arrive), you'll be able to afford a house, no problem.

Answer 6

Sorry about the rude responses from my SoCal neighbors. However, we'll just chalk it up to a lesson learned. You see, no matter how many times we tell people that it's expensive out here, the message never seems to get out. The myth that you can just move out here and become a movie star is an old one. One feature for Hollywood since the 1960s has been its attractiveness for desperate runaways. Every year, hundreds of runaway adolescents leave their homes across North America and flock to Hollywood hoping to become movie stars. They soon discover that they have extremely slim chances of competing against professionally trained actors. Many of them end up sinking into homelessness, which is a problem in Hollywood for adults as well as youth. Some return home, while others linger in Hollywood and join the prostitutes and panhandlers lining its boulevards; others go to Skid Row in Downtown Los Angeles; and yet others end up in the large pornography industry in the San Fernando Valley.

I don't know how desperate you are in WV, since I have lived here all my life. However, I understand the strong desire for something better, to get out of a miserable situation and go ANYWHERE but where you are at the moment. If you're going to do it, it's going to take hard work, some knowledge, some luck, and a change in attitude.

First, you have to get rid of the idea that you can just show up in "Hollywood", and be discovered.

Second, you need talent, or a skill. I'm talking real talent, here, not just singing in church. The streets of Hollywood of people who came out there thinking they could just show up. Take a good, hard look at the first few episodes of any season of American Idol. Those episodes are FULL of people who THINK they have talent, but really don't. The sad part is that they truly believe they can sing, since people have been telling them that they can, and they want to believe it. When Simon tells them the truth, it's devastating. So, take a good, hard look at yourself, and ask if you can take that sort of criticism.

Third, you need to realize that you will have to make sacrifices. Like living with roommates and/or renting. Probably both.

Finally, this isn't Kansas. It isn't West Virginia, either. So many people from rural areas and small towns come to LA and find out the hard way just how big it is. LA itself is over 450 square miles of people WHO JUST DON"T CARE ABOUT YOU. The LA metro area is probably ten times that size. Many people out here just care about themselves. Remember, you're giving up your support network at home to come here. It's a real shock for some people, and they hate it and move somewhere else.

So why am I typing all this? Probably because I believe that you're desperate where you are, and want to come here. I'm rooting for you, so I'm trying to give you the info you need to make it here, and not wind up on the streets as a statistic. So do your best to formulate a plan, have a skill, some talent, and a little luck, then come out . The weather's great, wish you were here.

BTW, I checked out the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for Santa Monica and Venice. The cheapest there is a 1 bedroom, 1 bath condo for $350K. For just over $100K, there are some pretty "distressed" houses in places like Hemet, which is about 80 miles away in Riverside County.

Answer 7

Not sure if you can, housing in California in general is quite expensive,and LA is not any better. You would have to live several hours away, and you would still get a small mobile home. Becomeing a movie star? While it is the right place to be to get started in the business, it is very competitive.

Answer 8

100,000 would be a good down payment for a condo in LA. in fact their building some new sky rise condos near downtown LA by Staples Center.

Also universal city is near some of the TV production centers and i've known people who start off working small jobs there.

Anyway good look keep yourself in shape if you want to be a movie stare maintaining your body and looks will be your full-time job.

Answer 9

DREAM ON.

You can't even get a house for that price in the worst parts of Compton. Median home prices for homes in LA County (including the ghettos and far flung edges like Pomona and Antelope Valley) was $528k. And you want to move to Santa Monica or Venice? Really, girl, you are DELUSIONAL.

You aren't even likely to be able to buy a small condo for $100k.

I rent a studio for just under $900 in an adjacent suburb of LA, and I am a working professional.

Take a look at the real estate section of the LA Times and it should burst your bubble.
http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/?track=topnav-realestate

Answer 10

Sorry, but that isn't going to happen. Your best bet is to rent. You don't necesarily have to live with roommates, so be openminded in your search. The ONLY way that I could see that happening is if you bought a foreclosure...but even that would be tough in the LA market because you would get bidded out. Renting a nice place is your only option until you make it big.

Answer 11

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahhaahahahahha! A 1500 2 bedroom and 1 bath starts at 250,000!!!

Your favorite movie stars are not from here...

WAKE UP

If you are 13, then I forgive you for being so naive. Then, keep on dreaming. Lots of fun to do that.