Thinking of moving to the North Coast? Read this first! (Ukiah: buy, construction)

[boney89]

One of the best threads i saw on this forum. Awesome job guys .Look like my priority to visit in future north ca.

[Cherie Elliott]

Absolutely loved reading your post about the North Coast of CA. I am familiar with all those towns and the area. Your post is so informative and accurate. Hopefully people reading what you wrote will truly enjoy the read and then head to the North Coast to visit.....or move. Thank you so much.
Cherie

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Cherie Elliott

Absolutely loved reading your post about the North Coast of CA. I am familiar with all those towns and the area. Your post is so informative and accurate. Hopefully people reading what you wrote will truly enjoy the read and then head to the North Coast to visit.....or move. Thank you so much.
Cherie

Feel free to add updates to the OP, if you think any are needed.

[CaliforniaPlaya]

Originally Posted by mgforshort

When we bought our home in Paradise I wanted to install...

I hate to think about a major fire, to rebuild here, after the insurance paid, could involve waiting for several years.

WOW! Those words are so difficult to read now, as if there was a premonition that was going to happen. Hope things work out for you and your town.

[JB316]

I agree, great post.

Although, I will fight you tooth in nail over how great I think both Ukiah and Willits are. Mendocino County is an amazing area to grow up or retire. I can see how people in the prime working years of their life wouldn’t want to live there though.

[JB316]

Originally Posted by Rapunzel24

Thanks DCMann2 for the useful information. What do you think about Willits?

Doesn't Ukiah have the better hospital than FortBragg/Mendocino?

Thanks in advance.

Regarding the hospitals in the area, both Willits and Ukiah have good facilities. The hospital in Willits in particular was a massive upgrade at the time. Newly built several years ago.

https://www.northbaybusinessjournal....vated-to-level

And for Ukiah:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.uki...ew-er-icu/amp/

[Caliartist]

I've stumbled on this thread a few times in my research.

My wife and I live in Riverside, CA. If you haven't heard of it, it is hot, and has no river. We are tired of living in the desert and last year we took a vacation up to Manchester, CA.
We both loved the forests, the coastal bluffs and the foggy weather. We are dreaming about moving up somewhere on the north coast. The problem is, the same for us all, what will we do for work? She is a college professor and I do fabrication work for a major museum in LA. We have both taught art at all ages levels and have Master's degrees but even then, there seem to be very few jobs.

So, our dream of moving up to the coast, getting a humble cottage and spending our days painting and woodworking may just have to wait until the perfect job posting comes along. I envy all of you already up there and we hope to join you someday.

[arius25]

Very informative article. We have two kids (elementary and middle school aged) and are thinking about a move to the Mendocino area, from Los Angeles. We love everything there but are anxious about the lack of people with kids living there. We are not loaded in the Silicon Valley sense of the word but doing not too bad financially and would be able to work remotely. We're still toying with the idea of moving...

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Caliartist

I've stumbled on this thread a few times in my research.

My wife and I live in Riverside, CA. If you haven't heard of it, it is hot, and has no river. We are tired of living in the desert and last year we took a vacation up to Manchester, CA.
We both loved the forests, the coastal bluffs and the foggy weather. We are dreaming about moving up somewhere on the north coast. The problem is, the same for us all, what will we do for work? She is a college professor and I do fabrication work for a major museum in LA. We have both taught art at all ages levels and have Master's degrees but even then, there seem to be very few jobs.

So, our dream of moving up to the coast, getting a humble cottage and spending our days painting and woodworking may just have to wait until the perfect job posting comes along. I envy all of you already up there and we hope to join you someday.

I'm not sure I understood you correctly; your wife is a college professor, but only has an MA? Then she's not a professor, she's an instructor or lecturer at some level.

But you could look for community colleges in the area. Farther north is Humboldt State University, but they would require a PhD for most teaching positions. Humboldt also has College of the Redwoods, a CC. I'm not as familiar with Mendocino. If one of you got a salaried job, like at a CC or high school, the other could organize art workshops. You two might run your own art school. In summers, you could attract people from the Bay Area, as a getaway residential program. With the equity you have in your home in SoCal, you might be able to buy a place with some guest houses and a workshop, and add a couple of yurts.

Just thinking outside the box.

[JB316]

Originally Posted by arius25

Very informative article. We have two kids (elementary and middle school aged) and are thinking about a move to the Mendocino area, from Los Angeles. We love everything there but are anxious about the lack of people with kids living there. We are not loaded in the Silicon Valley sense of the word but doing not too bad financially and would be able to work remotely. We're still toying with the idea of moving...

What makes you think there aren't people with kids living there? Just curious, perhaps you found some data that is contrary to my experience, but places like Ukiah and Willits had a lot of families with kids in the area from what I remember. It's actually one of the more affordable counties in the state that people can move out to and raise a family. The schools aren't highly rated like you'd find in these mega-wealthy bay area or Los Angeles hubs, but they aren't bad, just run of the mill average public schools in a rural area. If you're looking for great schools that would likely challenge your children you might find (just to the south) the cities of Santa Rosa and Novato that may offer more options. You'd still be roughly an hour from the "Gateway to the Redwoods" from there, close enough for many trips.