[tennis368fan]

Originally Posted by california_is_superior

Vacaville is really expensive (700 and up or a new home) its about a 30 minute to Sac ...nothing real special

False.

COUNTEREXAMPLES:

Vacaville Unified School District: Ashbourne Park by Richmond American Homes: 1950+ square feet single-family homes from $349,000.

Travis Unified School District: Encore by Meritage Homes: 2050+ square feet single-family homes from $486,990.

Existing homes are less expensive, as they begin in the $300,000 range. Below, you can view an example of an existing home in the Travis Unified School District, a district that performs at a level similar to the level of Benicia Unified.

755 CALICO TRAIL, VACAVILLE, CA 95687

List Price: $339,000
4 Bedrooms
3 Baths
2,278 Square Feet
MLS #:20737630 - Use this number to search on free home searching engines for more details.

Originally Posted by Viphya

...I would not even consider Vallejo, Benicia, Hercules, Pinole, Crockett, Martinez, or American Canyon if your worried about schools or safety at all. Vallejo is one of the worst areas for crime/gangs etc. in the Bay Area...

Benicia, Martinez, and American Canyon should be taken off that list. Those cities have good school systems, particularly Benicia and Martinez. American Canyon is zoned within the Napa Unified School District, which is not bad, but not the very best either. It certain beats going to Vallejo schools.

In fact, American Canyon Middle is the highest performing middle school of Napa Unified School District's non-chartered middle schools that are zoned to certain neighborhoods.

Try these links:

Napa County 2007 API Report by California Department of Education: County List of Schools

Napa County 2006 School Rankings Report (Scores out of 10) by California Department of Education: 2006 Base API County List of Schools - NAPA County

Solano County 2007 API Report by California Department of Education: County List of Schools

Solano County 2006 School Rankings Report (Scores out of 10) by California Department of Education: 2006 Base API County List of Schools - SOLANO County


GreatSchools.net - Lets parents read reviews of schools and view user-friendly information. It has a stricter scoring system, so for California schools, 8 out 10 means that the school is already very good.

Originally Posted by Viphya

...As far as floods, there were major floods there every single year I lived there. I lived on a mountain above the valley, so was never flooded, but every year I would get stranded up there because the roads in the valley were under water. People who lived on the floodplain would regularly get their houses flooded. I worked with people who tried to raise their house, or sandbag etc, but it never worked, and year after year, they would loose a bunch of stuff to water damage. I never understood why they stayed, but some people just love where they live I guess. The fact is that houses built on a flood plain are going to get flooded no matter what you do. The houses I'm talking about were right on the Napa River though, in the middle of the valley, so if your wise in picking your location, and if your looking south of the valley in Napa etc, it will be a lot easier to find places that are not in the floodplain...

Check out the FEMA flood maps:

FEMA (not as user-friendly, but very, very precise) : FEMA Map Service Center - FEMA Issued Flood Maps

ABAG FEMA map (more user-friendly, but still precise) : " + theTitle + "

Originally Posted by twinboysmomma

Benicia is a great town. Its nothing like Vallejo. Really, nothing like it at all.

Benicia is very small, with lots of upper middle class. It has VERY low crime (the lowest in the area and it feels very safe here), great schools, gorgeous parks everywhere, cute mom and pop restaurants, quaint downtown, and its a mostly white-collar area. We not are native Benicians, but we love it here.

Ditto. Benicia has refineries, though. Based on other threads, its seems as if residents are not bothered by its presence. Its presence is not visible or detectable by smell to many residents in Benicia. However, if you are still worried, Travis Unified School District's attendance area is a good alternative. Here's a link to the district's attendance area map: District Boundaries. That district does not require a heavy investment in homes and is much less expensive.