chico, paradise, or durham? (Magalia: real estate, HOA, neighborhood)

[acdkayak]

We have two young girls (1st grade and preschool) so schools are a major priority.
We are older parents (I am 42) (so we dont want to be in a party area)
We are somewhat flexible on price and even size of lot (as long as it has at least a 3 car garage -with HOA that allows driveway/street pkg OR large workshop
Would like activities (playgrounds, parks, and such nearby -- walking/biking distance would be ideal).

Our price limit is around 400k, though we would like to spend less.

Parts of Chico seem to meet this, as do Durham and parts of Paradise. I would love thoughts and comments.

Thanks!
A

[BeauCharles]

With a budget like that in Butte County you can be assured of being in a pretty nice neighborhood and all three of those communities have good schools. If you avoid the older areas adjacent to the university in Chico you won't be affected by the party crowd. This is one of the few areas of California where you can still send your kids to neighborhood schools pretty much without reservation. I'd probably choose Durham or Paradise just because they're quieter communities (Chico is starting to get that California plague known as gangs).

[msdmoney]

It really depends more on the type of town you want to live in. If you want more of a small city environment, Chico. Paradise is a small sleepy retirement community in the hills, and Durham is even smaller but more centered around the ag community.

[1/7]

Thanks for listing the characteristics of these three places. My wife and I are looking for a semi-rural area with decent climate and not far from a larger city/town. Sounds like what you described about Durham may interest us.

[mateo45]

FYI, with only about five thousand people, and one hole-in-the-wall "grocery store" (aka the Durham Country Market), Durham is a pretty limited "town", and it's really more like a suburb of Chico now (which is only about 6 miles away), where you'll probably end up doing your shopping anyway. Although culturally, you'll find it's much more conservative than Chico, if that's important to you.

But with a combined population of over 50,000 people, Paradise and it's next door neighbor Magalia are hardly "sleepy", though uncrowded, yes, and they do have a substantial number of retirees. And you'll also find there's quite a bit more "bang for your buck" there in real estate prices than you'll find in either Chico or Durham. Aside from the "big-box" stores located in Chico, Paradise/Magalia also have plenty of supermarkets, hardware stores, restaurants, etc. close by.