Cars

I definitely need to get a car before I move. I'm probably going to buy one in October. I looked at a Chevy Aveo and Mercury Milan last week. The Aveo was good except no A/C. The manual was ok and I could live with it but it wasn't as good a manual transmission as my old Saturn.

I looked online at a few other cars. I do love how the Dodge Charger looks. The gas mileage isn't as good though. Also, as much as I like the Impala and the Milan, I really would like the car to be smaller. But it will just depend on what cars are under 10K in October.

Plans

The current plan is to move in mid January. My contract finishes at the end of the year so I'm planning to finish it out.

At bare minimum, I need to save up money for an apartment and a down payment on a car before I move anyway. The plans are: Change cell phone to Verizon by August, get a car by November and save 2000 by December. With my last paycheck, I can then move out to LA and find a place to live, then a new job.

Neighborhoods

I picked up a book via Amazon called " Newcomer's handbook for moving to and living in Los Angeles "

I've spent a few days reading about different neighborhoods. North Hollywood. Fairfax. Malibu. Topanga Canyon. Van Nuys. Playa del Rey.

So many choices. I'm leaning towards a few particular ones at the moment but I'm not finished yet! I'm still comparing what I read in the book to the rents I look up on Craigslist.