Lifestyles
Where to Live in Santa Monica
Between LA’s Pacific Palisades and Venice, very tightly to them, there’s Santa Monica, a city at the coastline. It stretches for just over eight square miles on land.
It’s never too hot or too cold in this resort city with under 100K population that has one of the world’s biggest number of sunshine days a year — 310.
Its population grows since 2000 and more well-heeled people positively decide about moving to Santa Monica (SaMo) because of its numerous benefits.
What is it like to live in Santa Monica
Santa Monica is a beach city in California, which is chosen by affluent people for its high-end living standards, huge focus on environmental development & sustainability & abundance of options for entertainment besides beach leisure.
The city is full of vibes of events, festivals, farmer’s markets, the finest restaurants plus street culture & ambiance, driven by musicians, cyclists, volleyball players, picnics on the sand & friendly locals.
SaMo is increasingly more chosen by IT and other companies, including startups working in the so-called “SoCal” (a.k.a. “Silicon Beach”).
which move here because of the amazing climate, manicured lawns, hundreds of super fine restaurants and eateries, aptly convenient transport infrastructure & a hotly-growing real estate market, which is itself a long-term passive investment.
Although it is possible to find all styles and sizes of homes and condos, older and newer, they are well above LAC’s average prices.
The real estate cost spans from $0.6 to $12 million to buy and from $1,650 to $15,000 a month to rent.
An average buying price of a cute, decent & spacious house with 3-4 bedrooms will be around 2-4 million (although that will depend on the neighborhood; top prices over $25M aren’t excluded in the market today).
Although there are pretty much no people moving to SaMo specifically for school education for their children, the city has 11 elementary and middle schools, 3 high schools, 13 private schools & 2 colleges, spread around the city area.
They all are ranked A+. Also, colleges have the country’s highest rate of transfers to the University of California with a notable share of students converting to the Ivy League’s Columbia University.
Although SaMo is primarily for well-heeled residents, all strata of society find their places in city life today, working for thousands of tourists, which rediscovered SaMo in recent years.
The choice of recreational activities is immense in SaMo and includes:
· Miles-long public beach and others in the adjacent area
· Several farmer’s markets, selling fresh produce and flowers
· Fitness areas as a legacy of Muscle Beach, which later moved closer to the Venice beach
· A dozen of great parks, such as Palisades, Douglas, Tongva, Clover, Marine & others
· Bike and hiking paths, some of them being over 20 miles long; many of them going through parks, atop picturesque bluffs
· The Santa Monica Stairs is a popular place for active cardio
· The Pier is a huge entertainment site with a solar-paneled Ferris wheel, carousel, many diners, aquarium, video arcade & more. This is also a popular place among anglers
· Well-developed shopping, the gem of which is definitely the Third Street Promenade, the main shopping center of SaMo, incorporating alfresco and in-store shopping experience, where one can buy anything from clothes and homeware to bakeries’ products and fresh seafood
· Eateries of all sorts are oftentimes located along beachside and shopping routes with open terraces to deliver gorgeous dining experiences
· Entertainment consists of theaters, cinemas, open-air movie screenings, summertime concerts, burlesque performances, kid shows & musicals.
Santa Monica neighborhoods
SaMo is divided into 8 neighborhoods, each with its own unique architecture, history & beach proximity. They also differ in housing prices. Let’s consider where to live in Santa Monica.
These neighborhoods are adjacent to the beach: Ocean Park, Downtown, Wilshire Montana & North of Montana.
Next to them, without direct beach access, are Sunset Park, Pico District, Mid-City & Northeast.
The North of Montana does not have schools and it is the most expensive neighborhood, where real estate prices easily start at $3M and end at $30M.
It is filled with Mediterranean and Ranch homes with large territories to give it more space from one’s neighbors.
This area is chosen by those preferring less noise, more convenience of living & amazing landscaping. A well-established medium home price will be $4-5M.
In Wilshire Montana, streets are packed with palm trees and luxury condominiums.
It’s a bit quieter city area with a relatively low average home price of $1.6M. Although, beach-looking houses are places of the habitat for affluent people, with home prices on the Palisades Beach Road ranging between $5M and $15M.
Away from the shore, one could find a much cheaper apartment in one of the many-story buildings, which look at the rest of the much-lower elevated city architecture.
The Northeast Santa Monica sits between Montana Av. and Wilshire Blvd., being mainly filled with Mediterranean & contemporary homes, set back from the street.
This area is preferred by those wanting to live in a house with a pool and a large lawn. Although one can find something well below $1M, the average price for a good house here will be approximately $7M.
The Mid-City West is also sometimes referred to as the ‘Pointing Finger’ because of its shape, which is as if points at the shore.
The main offer of this neighborhood is composed of luxury condominiums, townhouses & single-family homes with an appealing average price of just $1.2M.
Pico is the most diverse hood of SaMo, having all types of homes, where the biggest share of African American population of the city settles. The average home prices are pretty much the same as in the Mid-City.
Sunset Park. Many choose it for the variety of old homes (of the 1930s and the 1940s) with an acceptable medium price of $1.6M (there are even offers with the cost of just below $600,000).
Ocean Park is one of the most popular places to live and it has the ambiance of a ‘small town’.
It’s filled with a plethora of bungalows and condos, where a lot of creative people settle, primarily, artists and employees of Silicon Beach, who work in the local tech hub.
Although it is possible to find something below $1M, be prepared for the average price of $3M.
Finally, Downtown Santa Monica is the most vibrant and buzzing hood, where the long Public beach stretches.
There are a lot of pedestrians and traffic due to its busy public transportation network, super popular Santa Monica Pier & the heart of the shopping district.
There are also fabulous condos and houses, some of them having an immense price of well over $20M.
Santa Monica is a great place to live for affluent, creative & modern people, who strive for top-notch services, a life filled with vibrant emotions and luxury shopping & who want to spend their lives in one of the world’s best cities.
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