Texan here.  Have been offered to buy a 3 bedroom-4 bath condo over off of Century Park West in Century City, L.A.  It's seems clean around there in my 3 visits over the last 4 years, saw zero crime/riffraff and has parking garage, security etc.  It's 2 miles over to the UCLA-Geffen Med School, my kid has used the condo for four years with roommates and I've only had dealings with the property company that manages the condo for a private owner.  I paid the last two months on a lease and received an offer by email for potential purchase of the property.  I am honestly very leery of investing in California...

Any thoughts on the matter, viability of the market, vicinity, etc., would be greatly appreciated!

Best Regards,
Hking

Not a clue.  Haven't been in that area hardly at all recently.  If I had to guess, I'd think it's perhaps somewhat less "stable" than in the past because L.A. County/ccty has some more political funkiness compared to the past..  I'd also hazard a guess that you're talking enough money that "professional" advice is a good idea?

News reported California homes went up 9% last year.  Real estate has traditionally been a good move in California.

Is this to be lived in or as an investment/rental?  

One would need a lot more info to make a call on this, info which you should not divulge over the internet.

You nailed it, it is the "political funkiness" that I am most worried about, ha.  I'm a retired attorney and also have commercial real estate partnership experience.  That being said I know squat about such things in California but I do have some friends/extended family who are attorneys in Orange County who could handle the matter.

Thanks for the reply,
Hking

This would be strictly investment real estate, as I'm fairly sure it is currently.  Agreed on the OPSEC.

Best regards,
Hking

I’ve been around there fairly recently and like everything else in LA County the sketchy elements of society have started to bleed into the nicer areas, and century city is no exception. Still, it’s one of the better parts of town and I’ve never felt too unsafe driving or shopping around there. I think that any areas that have always been nicer and may work to maintain that level of safety, with fewer homeless and more police presence than the surrounding areas will continue to see decent growth and demand.

I pop into the Hometown now and then and saw another hit here.  I took a look at Google of the greater area.  While perhaps not "new," I would think it's not the oldest condominium heavy area.  Something I'm vaguely aware of is some of the older or maybe oldest really big condos have made the news some.   The longest-term owners got in at much lower prices and maybe fees are getting past their abilities to deal with.   So deferred maintenance, insufficient reserves and the big bad investors are trying to drive out the older, long-term owners, etc., to increase their own profits, etc.  There have been some fire safety problems at some condos and maybe earthquake retrofit deadlines or expenses are problematic?

That surely is a speculative and negative perspective, given that we don't know ANYTHING about the exact property and neighborhood the OP is considering.

There are several large condominium developments by me which are good investments - high occupancy rates (100%), well maintained, great neighborhood, price appreciation,...