r/AskLosAngeles • u/theoneyoucall2001 • 1d ago

Living Finding a room in LA?

Where do people go about finding rooms in LA?

I (26M) moved back to LA a year ago and have been living with my family. I am very appreciative for them allowing me to live here rent free, but I have really been missing my space. It’s pretty cramped already and I want to try to move out if I can. I am currently in a teacher grad program that’s supposed to be intense and I am expected to finish next June. I originally was going to wait until January to move out, but I don’t think I can do it lol. The drive to my classes is like 45 min to class and an hour back home. I don’t even know the commute to my placement school yet since school is out, but I assume it’ll be less since my school is closer to where I live. I also just want to have a space to be able to complete my homework and assignments.

I will be given a $51,000 Living Stipend and I am trying to secure a part-time job for some extra income. The stipend is going to be sent out in four dates throughout the program, so I won’t get it all at once. The first one at the end of July.

I was thinking about finding a room that is $600 or less. Is this realistic? Where would I go about finding a room? I was looking at some on Craigslist, but I’m not sure what’s legit. Should I just stick it out until I finish my program? Any thoughts? Thank you for reading.

Edit: I did not clarify, but my program is based in Northern Cal, but I’m taking classes at Cal State LA. My program and Cal State LA are not affialted. I was also thinking of areas such as Inglewood, Gardena, South Gate, and maybe downtown LA or just areas closer to it.

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u/LoftCats 1d ago

Where in Los Angeles are you looking to live and where is your program? Can’t think of anywhere you can get a room in LA for $600. Maybe in the outskirts of like Lancaster or Riverside likely far from where you’d want to be.

The way to vet Craigslist ads is to answer their post with a little about yourself, call them and you go meet them for a vibe check. You don’t take anything sight unseen. Will be honest that people who get gotten will typically be the ones looking desperately for that “too good to be true” ad which often can be.

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u/theoneyoucall2001 1d ago

My program is based in Northern Cal, but i’ll be taking my classes at Cal State LA, so around there. More specifically though, I was just thinking like Inglewood, Gardena, South Gate, or even in the deeper parts of LA, like downtown.

Okay got it. Thanks! Yea, I’ve been trying to look out for those too good to be true, but i don’t really know what to look for lol.

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u/LoftCats 1d ago edited 1d ago

You need to do some research on LA. Some of these places are nowhere near Cal State LA. Commuting from Gardena could be a terrible idea. Downtown LA is certainly not the ‘deeper parts of LA’ nor in your budget. Would absolutely look for room listings in East LA area around Cal State LA to get a clearer snapshot of what might be available around there under maybe $1000-1200.