If Los Angeles is so horrible, why is housing expensive?

Are you kidding? LA is great.

It’s not horrible. Problem solved.

Lots of people need to live close to work, I suppose.

A whole lot of people live there and/or want to live there. The land is limited so housing is expensive.

Its just the stigma of being California.

LA is a shit hole.

L.A. is the pinnacle of the entertainment industry and one out of every 3 people living there are wannabe actors, musicians, comedians, film makers, directors, script and TV writers, models. It is overcrowded, limited space, and primo real estate is a hot commodity.
NYC is the east coast parallel of L.A.
No big mystery, people flock to the places that incorporate their interests, personally, work related or recreationally related.

I live on 5 acres in the Sierra foothills because I want space, peace, privacy and farm animals for pets. Not too many apartments in L.A. that would let me put a kiddie pool on my balcony for my geese. lol

It’s all the people wanting to live there – because it’s so “nice” – that make it horrible.

To paraphrase Shakespeare on the topic: No place is good or bad; it’s people make it so. (The apostrophe is intentional to my intended meaning.)

I hate LA. It’s expensive because quite a lot of people disagree with me.

Because it’s not horrible. Yes, it’s crowded and there are “celebutantes” there, but that doesn’t mean it’s horrible. The weather is excellent, according to many people. Right now, it’s January, the coldest month, and it’s sunny and 70 degrees in Los Angeles. People like that. Additionally, it’s by the ocean, it’s near mountains, much of the natural landscape is beautiful, and like @Coloma said, people go there because it’s where stuff happens.

(My sister lives there and I might live there some day—though I’ll always love NorCal). :)

Basic supply-and-demand. There are apparently millions of people who don’t hate LA and want to live there. Some of those may hate it and are there due to work, but in any case, loads of people wanting X, limited amount of X = $$$$$.

@DominicX Yay NorCal! Shit, if we’d only get some damn rain & snow!

I live in Los Angeles, Hollywood, California. It’s expensive here. The only place I know that is more expensive than Los Angeles in this entire country is New York.

@partyrock San francisco is right up there.

@Coloma – Yeah my second choice ! San Francisco is expensive too! My sis lives up there.

Weather: warm enough to wear shorts most of the year, reasonable humidity, no shoveling snow, no tornadoes

Amenities:
Can go to the beach most of the year and not freeze, a few hours drive from skiing and hiking.

Good restaurants for reasonable price (not like SF Bay Area). Plenty of clubs.

[We moved away from LA because we didn’t want to raise kids adept at graffiti and gun play.]

@RocketGuy lol, where did you move to then, Mars?

I guess that depends on what parts of Los Angeles the city or Los Angeles the county you think are horrible. I spent some years growing up in Los Angeles county, really gorgeous places that my current “nice” part of Arizona can’t compare to.

With job security, I’d gladly pay more for housing and go back to California.

@FutureMemory – ha! The first day, we drove into Silicon Valley and noticed there was no graffiti along Hwy 280 => freaky! Then watching the news that night: what’s with the human interest stories?! Where’s the gang shooting update? What planet are we on?!

9 years in LA will do that to you.

I can name a bunch of tasty restaurants that are reasonably-priced in the Bay Area. You just have to get exploratory and find them!

I have been in LA for nearly a year, I absolutely hate it here and I am looking forward to moving away. It is expensive, and there is always traffic. I agree about a few states over the rent is cheaper as is the cost of living, esp. in this economy for in the year of being here only one of us has found a job and it is nt a full time job. I have gone through my savings and part of my inheritance attempting to fulfill this darn lease we signed. In March we leave.

Supply and demand