Northern California (Sacramento, Redding, Chico: hotel, work, new home)

[Earniefan]

Hi all! My husband and I are looking into northern California for our next move. We're General Contractor's so with all the building that's going on there we think it might be a good place to go. I don't know much about California, northern especially. Can anyone make a suggestion about a town or area that you think may fit what we're looking for. The higher the altitude the better(we're coming from Wyoming). Low humidity, if that's possible. My husband likes to ice fish, so do the small lakes freeze in Cali? My biggest concerns are safety, weather, living in a community, and cost of housing. I realize house prices are inflated all over Cali but it seems some areas aren't as bad as others. Oh yeah I want to live somewhere that has a Wild Oats or some other kind of organic, all natural grocery store. I would prefer to be in or be able to see the mountains. Northern to us is north of Sacramento. Thanks for your help!

[krudmonk]

Lakes freeze over up in the Sierras, but only the shallow ones. You should have no problem finding a nice town up there.

[greatbasinguide]

There are no mountain towns with a wild oats. Ice fishing is common, but, unlike the east, the ice is quite variable. That is depending on the weather the ice may be rotten, also, many of the reservoirs release water during the winter leaving a gap between the ice and the water, absolutely fatal. There is little humidity in California. The Central Valley and the coast has what passes for humidity in CA, but it not like the east.

The town you are describing in Reno Nevada.

[humboldtrat]

Check out Quincy, the county seat of Plumas county. It's a nice town up in the mountains, northwest of Reno. The lakes do freeze up (although there have been some warmer than usuall winters recently). They have a nice county fair in the summer. Quincy has a Safeway store. I don't think many of these small towns would have a Wild Oats or Whole Foods store. No big-box stores in Quincy - you would have to go to Reno or Chico to find a Wal-mart or Costco.

[Carolyn Montgomery]

I would look into Redding. It's 2 hours and 45 minutes north of Sacramento on Interstate 5. I would imagine they have a "Wild Oat's type store. Since they are the biggest town between Sac and the Oregon border, they have more to offer than a city of their size normally would. Some snow in the winter, plenty of snow the further north you go (30 minutes to an hour). But watch out! The summers are blistering at 100+ degrees on many July and August days. Fortunately Lake Shasta is a huge lake on the northern side of town.

Carolyn Montgomery
Realtor

[CADRMNDANES]

Check out Auburn - Lake of the Pines.
Grass Valley.

Anything around there is good for contractors. Especially if does remodels. He will have to check out the local contractors board. They have a couple of home shows at the Auburn Fairgrounds each year. People here are looking for reputable contractors. Too many pass scams.

I wouldn't risk any Ice Fishing here. It's not like the midwest. Lake Tahoe never freezes over. We had someone fall through the ice last year in Donner and it's very cold up there. The ice here is not thick enough to drive on like in Minn, Wisc and Michigan.

[greatbasinguide]

and, I have seen trucks driven on Donner, ice is like anything else, you need to know what you are doing. Icefishing is very common on Prosser, and Independence, and on the Coldstream ponds, kids ice skate on all of Truckee's local ponds and lakes, the moron that died on the ice died by waiting until the weather warmed and the ice softened.

Towns like Auburn, Lake of the Pines, and Redding are not in the mountains, Redding on flat ground, the others are in the foot hills, about 1,500 ft ele.

Truckee is at 6,000, Reno from 4,000 to 4,800, feet. Truckee of course is booming, with 6,000 new homes being built, however housing is rather expensive.

[CADRMNDANES]

Auburn is at the base of the foothills. Lake of the pines is in the hills.

Housing in Truckee is way over priced for you get in the town. Too many tourist and hotel employees.

[greatbasinguide]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 4.8 km² (1.8 mi²). 3.9 km² (1.5 mi²) of it is land and 0.9 km² (0.3 mi²) of it (18.48%) is water. Lake of the Pines is located in the foothils of California.

Truckee has a complex economy driven today by the technology boom of the the Bay Area. Second homes comprise a large sector of the available housing. Much more housing is being built. There are 6 or 7 golf courses in Truckee.

If you want the mountains, Reno is just minutes from Truckee and Tahoe. Most of the workers, teachers, police cannot afford to buy in Truckee, they live in west Reno and commute up the hill.

[Earniefan]

Being builders ourselves we don't have the concerns over housing costs that others do. So that helps.

Is Truckee extremely liberal? A friend of ours laughed and said he'd give us 9 months in California, he lived in Sacramento and thinks we wouldn't be able to stand the views of the people. I believe this is what he meant by what he said anyway. We are open minded and accepting of the fact that everyone has their own way of thinking. But I'm not sure if we could stand being surrounded by a unified group of people with very different ideas than we have. He said that almost everyone in California is a tree hugger. I think it would be pretty amazing for everyone in any area to carry the same view on anything.

Glad to hear that there are ice fishing opportunities there. What about hunting? My husband is an avid pheasant hunter. We also like to hunt deer and Elk. How's the Roosevelt Elk hunting down there?