Where is a nice area to live near to Burbank?

Thanks angelbunny and sheriG. That is useful to know. I really want mr londonteacher to have as short a communte as possible as he is going to be working really long hours so i guess we will start by looking at the areas nearest hiw place or work-i suppose a patio is the same as a yard. we call them gardens here and i need some outside space.

The company are flying us out for a week of househunting in a couple of weeks so that should give us an idea- I have never visited LA before so have just watched Chinatown as research- yes the valley looks very dry!His work is in the valley at a film studio.
I think the gunshot noises might make me sleepless so silverlake may well be out!

Burbank itself is a great place to live, my Aunt has lived there for 58 years. She raised 5 children there and ran a licensed daycare from the 60's up until retirement about 4 years ago. North Glendale is right next door to Burbank and is also a very nice area. Rent here for houses are high, about 1900.00 and up. You might want to concider looking into an apartment, condo or duplex..a two bedroom would run you approx. 1275.00 to about 1575.00. I wouldnt chose Silverlake if I were you, especially if you have children. Silverlake has a lot of gang activity and although it has some great old homes, it isnt the safest place to live, by far. Burbank and Glendale, South Pasadena & Arcadia have great schools, arent gang infested & are smaller making it easy to get to know your way around your new hometown.
By the way, Craigslist.org has hundreds of listings, but if it doesnt have a picture of the unit, dont bother.
I live in Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks, I have a 2 bedroom duplex, yard, enclosed parking, two large bedrooms, a huge enclosed patio,a large hallway with lots of linen cupboards, hardwood floors, appliances & a/c, I pay 1350.00 per month. I dont care for the Valley much because of the heat and humidity, but the area I live in is nice. I used to live in Northeast LA, in a beautiful victorian gingerbread house, but you could hear gunshots often especially on Holidays. I dont hear them here and am greatful for that.
I wish you much luck in your move.

Well, as far as rents go, I found a little tool that lets you price an apartment to make sure you are getting a good price based on other rents in the area.

www.rentometer.com/

I am not sure where else you could look, though you might find some ideas on some of the more popular social networking sites such as Tribe.net, Meetup.com, etc.

Thanks magnet mum

We would like to just have one car really- he has been with the company nearly 4 years so he was expecting 15 days but as he was a contracter for the first 3 years they are not recognising this service which is frustrating as the redundancy uk package was based on 4 years service. anyway we have made our decision and turned down that payment for the adventure of spending some time in california.

We both do wide eyed well so we are lucky!
I have always really warmed to most of the Americans I have met over the years- much warmer than us Brits generally.

It is good to know we will be able to get by on one salary too. I am sure it is not going to be for ever and we will return after a year if things are not right....so we are lucky to have that as an option.