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Old 01-04-2011, 12:26 AM
 
282 posts, read 615,464 times
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So I am on my continual search for a cheaper nice (I know oxymoron,haha) place to buy land & slow down. I have asked you guys about a couple other places & now my foucus has turned to SLO county. I currently live in Sonoma county which I love overall except that land is so expensive. How does SLO compare to Sonoma county,besides way less people? Nature/climate wise it looks similar except for no redwoods/firs & less rain, what do you think?

Looking around I have found a bunch of properties in Paso Robles,Santa Margarita,Templeton & Atascadero with acreage & suitable houses. I am really keen on the idea of being close to the coast & in a lot of sun,this is why I have ruled out Oregon,I love it there but too much cold rain & clouds for us & the coast is far from any of the affordable spots with jobs. I plan on taking a trip for a few days to look at some properties there & the towns & the proximity of the coast & SLO. We would probably work in SLO & are willing to commute 30 min. or so to own land.

Here is one basic example property: http://realestate.slocountyhomes.com...stingID=157802

Is the coast warmer & less foggy than Marin & Sonoma? I have been to Big Sur & it was similar but a little warmer,according to the charts on this site though towns like Pismo & Cambria recieve 30% less clouds & fog than Bodega bay. We don't mind being 3-4 hrs. from SF,we love to visit there no & then but aren't big city people & even Santa Rosa is getting too busy for our taste,LA I could care less about,but that is what like 4 hrs. south?

Anyways I would appreciate any input on these towns & areas. I have heard that jobs are hard to come by? One of us is in medical & has found a bunch of job listings in SLO already,the other works at Starbucks & could transfer to SLO Starbucks & I run a landscape business which I would have to start over,I thought with the acreage though I could start a small nursery & do some design display gardens. How is the work load for self employed tradesmen there? Would I have any chance? I do garden maintenance & design. We would have $150,000 to put down on a house & are looking to buy in the $250-400 range so our mortgage would be $600-1,200-ish depending on the property with 2 -3 incomes(if we can get any kind of work,haha).

So anyways let me know if this is a stupid plan or if it sounds somewhat possible/realistic & what town would fit us best. We want to stay within 15-40 min. of the beaches & have no mexican gang BS or tweeker haven,well it is California,so as little tweek & gangs as possible for this low budget

Last edited by BodegaHead; 01-04-2011 at 12:36 AM..
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Old 01-04-2011, 09:55 AM
 
Location: San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties
6,390 posts, read 9,624,497 times
Reputation: 2622
The affordable land is east of 101 beyond Santa Margarita, Atascadero, Paso. A nursery is a great idea, but, you will really need to check your well for output.

Case history, friends of mine, horse breeders live east of Templeton, Gallo put in several hundred acres of grapes within a mile, drilled the necessary wells. My friend's well went dry, they had to tap their retirement money to deepen the well.

The coast is as foggy as up north.

Living east of in that central east of the county you can commute to SLO for work, but you would want to try to find work in your area, especially if gas hits 5 bucks a gallon as is predicted.

The least expensive area of the county, and indeed one of the cheap places in the state is California Valley, for a reason. Some people like it, some people would rather die than live there.

Hope this helps.
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Old 01-04-2011, 10:09 AM
 
Location: Columbia, California
6,664 posts, read 30,498,023 times
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My parents have a ranch home in that area. They built on 15 acres they bought for $35,000 in 1998.
My father did not want the cold, mother did not want the heat. So they got both. Winters are cold and windy, Summers are hot and endless. I drove thru in Feb 99 and got snowed on.

Atascadero has a state mental hospital. Starbucks are plenty.
Yearly they seem to get the multi car demo derby on the 101 during the fog, often a 20 car pile up.
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Old 01-04-2011, 10:25 AM
 
Location: San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties
6,390 posts, read 9,624,497 times
Reputation: 2622
You are painting a dismal picture there Ferretkona, winter nights can dip below freezing, but the days will be in the 50's minimum. Wind depends on topography. Yes the summers are hot, too hot for me, but my sister and my wife love the heat. If I lived in the heat, I would build a ramada with wysteria and grape growing on it, put my work bench and adirondack chair out there, watch my wife work in the yard.

I cannot recollect a multi car pile up on 101, that is SOP for the Central Valley roads during the winter.

99 was the second time in 40 years it snowed north of the grade,

Back to the poster, this nursery is east of Santa Margarita, Plant California native plants in your Garden! Visit our native plant nursery for your garden, attracting butterfly and bird. alike. How much more California Friendly can our plants be?

As the economy improves tradesmen and nursery prospects will improve, there are a lot of very wealthy people in the area, and they like their landscaping.

I am looking for a source for redwoods, as the monterey pines planted by my grandfather in our own private forest have reached the end of their years and are dying. I plan to replace them with redwoods.
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Old 01-04-2011, 10:42 AM
 
282 posts, read 615,464 times
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Thanks for the advice guys. I read bad things about Cal. Valley in some other posts & also Nipomo. What is wrong with Cal. valley? Weather,tweeker-ville? Gangs?

Is there any type of economy in Paso? I just figured that SLO would be the best bet for jobs,but if there are some up there that would be great. Thanks for the nursery inspiration highnlite. I figured I could sell to other nurseries & maybe do appointment only to the public since the land wouldn't be commercial. I was planning on growing Cal. natives/mediterranean plants. Also my mom & fiance want a horse,so we would have an acre or so for that as well.
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Old 01-04-2011, 01:44 PM
 
Location: San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties
6,390 posts, read 9,624,497 times
Reputation: 2622
Nipomo is fine, getting pricey though. California Valley is bleak, grassland few trees, the "town" is a failed planned community, there are no services and no jobs. Homes tend toward singlewides.

There may be things called gangs in SLO County, but they are not really gangs. Now people get all worked up about gangs, but they only pick on each other. I would rather live with gangs than whited tweakers..

There is probably meth in California Valley, along with alcoholism, seems to go with singlewides.

Plenty of room for horse throughout the county, plus, 300,000 acres of wilderness in SLO County adjoining a million acres stretching from the SLO Santa Barbara County line to I5 at Gorman. If you are interested in trail riding, it is a great area.

North County economy is based on Wine, grape production and tourist services.

Cal natives and mediterranean plants are a great idea. If you get down here go to the San Luis Botanical Garden on Hiway 1 between SLO and Morro Bay, you will love it.

Our family has been financial supporters of it from the start.
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Old 01-04-2011, 07:07 PM
 
Location: Northern Colorado
4,932 posts, read 12,703,933 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by .highnlite View Post
Nipomo is fine, getting pricey though. California Valley is bleak, grassland few trees, the "town" is a failed planned community, there are no services and no jobs. Homes tend toward singlewides.

There may be things called gangs in SLO County, but they are not really gangs. Now people get all worked up about gangs, but they only pick on each other. I would rather live with gangs than whited tweakers..

There is probably meth in California Valley, along with alcoholism, seems to go with singlewides.

Plenty of room for horse throughout the county, plus, 300,000 acres of wilderness in SLO County adjoining a million acres stretching from the SLO Santa Barbara County line to I5 at Gorman. If you are interested in trail riding, it is a great area.

North County economy is based on Wine, grape production and tourist services.

Cal natives and mediterranean plants are a great idea. If you get down here go to the San Luis Botanical Garden on Hiway 1 between SLO and Morro Bay, you will love it.

Our family has been financial supporters of it from the start.
The only real gang is in SLO and in a bad neighborhood near downtown, but with all the cops they won't do much besides tag and try to hassle you on the street.
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Old 01-05-2011, 05:59 PM
 
230 posts, read 620,919 times
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Hi Bodega!

Great questions! I have lived in the SLO County area for 17 years, except for a soggy and pointless excursion to the Seattle area. So, I'm going to give you the long-version answer to your questions. Hopefully you'll find a little nugget of wisdom in here.

The home that you posted is in the area where my ex father in law owns a place. It's near a street called "Play Doe," which always cracked me up. That's a nice area of people who own decent homes and wanted some land around them. I never saw anything there that looked tweaker-ish, and what they consider gangs in SLO County, never live out in the country.

I think that the comparison to Sonoma can be made as far as the general terrain, the wine growing, and the odd mix of old school western with nouveau vino. I've always found Paso's downtown to be charming, friendly, and so much fun to walk around and enjoy. There are some run down areas near the fairgrounds, but I have yet to find a town that does not have a run down area. You would be at least 45 minutes from the ocean if you chose a place on that east side of town. The 46 (WEST) is an easy drive to the junction near Cambria and Cayucos. But you'd have several local roads to get through from that property, in order to reach the highway.

If I were to look for a place up in that area, I'd probably try to find something on the west side of the 101, and probably near Templeton or further south in Paso. I also like Santa Margarita and south Atascadero, if you're looking for good prices and properties similar to what you've posted here.

The beaches. No, not as cold as the beaches up north. I've been to the beaches all along the coast from San Diego to Vancouver, B.C., and am a beach fan. Cambria is more of a town than a beach, though there are beaches there. they tend to be a bit cooler most of the time because of their location, but they have the lovely pine trees and a bit of a tiny Carmel feeling. There are plenty of gorgeous and sunny beach days to be had in SLO County, not as cold and breezy as the northern areas of the state up in Marin, etc.

Gangs and tweakers? Oh gosh. Well, I see posts all the time from people that have either lived in SLO all their lives, or came from a small town. Yes, there are those people in the County. They exist, as they do everywhere, but the crime rates stats belie any posts that claim that the County is crime-ridden, but I see that here all the time. City-Data has great stats to check out, and even in SLO the City, the crime rate is well below the national average. Trust me, I've lived 4 miles from a place that has double the crime rate of SLO City, and still I haven't been a victim of anything. The smaller towns are going to have less crime, of course. I just have never felt unsafe in SLO County. Not north or south of the Cuesta Grade. Random crimes happen here, but it's not an everyday part of your life.

Oh, and I also had considered Oregon, because it's just so darn beautiful! But man... after living near Seattle for a few years, I finally admitted that I can't do the months and months of gray skies. I may end up with a smaller house, and slightly higher gas prices, but money means nothing when you and your dog are sitting in the house day after day from November to June, because it's too icky to go outside. lol. I have family in Oregon now, so I'll be content with long visits...

Hope I covered everything. I think you'd be very happy in SLO County. It's just got so many diverse experiences.. from beach, to ranch, to arts, and lots of great food. Like Sonoma, but I think it's more conducive to a happy lifestyle. Did I miss anything? haha
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Old 01-05-2011, 06:04 PM
 
230 posts, read 620,919 times
Reputation: 436
Quote:
Originally Posted by ferretkona View Post
My parents have a ranch home in that area. They built on 15 acres they bought for $35,000 in 1998.
My father did not want the cold, mother did not want the heat. So they got both. Winters are cold and windy, Summers are hot and endless. I drove thru in Feb 99 and got snowed on.

Atascadero has a state mental hospital. Starbucks are plenty.
Yearly they seem to get the multi car demo derby on the 101 during the fog, often a 20 car pile up.
I'm pretty sure that if there was ever a 20-car pile up, it was a once in a lifetime thing. Are you talking about the Central Valley? Because the fog here is just not that bad. Summers cold and windy? I'm honestly quite confused... What area are they in? Further east toward Kettleman City? Because your description sounds kind of off.
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Old 01-05-2011, 06:22 PM
 
Location: Northern Colorado
4,932 posts, read 12,703,933 times
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Alot of people that work or commute to SLO live in Atascadero because it's cheaper and not so busy. In Templeton, most people commute to Atascadero or Paso Robles for work and a small few to San Luis Obispo. Paso Robles I don't see as many people commuting to work in San Luis Obispo as Paso has it's own employment factor. You might also want to look in the five cities since alot of people there commute to Santa Maria or SLO for work. Five Cities is probably our area closet to resemble a large bedroom community with it's cookie cutter homes, big box centers, outlet mall, Regal movie theater, bowling alley, de-centralized Arroyo Grande downtown, and high percentages of whites.

Also, the cheapest part of five cities is Grover Beach followed by Arroyo Grande. Pismo and Shell Beach are more expensive as it's a nearer area.
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