Moving from London to Fairfield CA in 2012?? (San Francisco, Sacramento: real estate market, rent)

[Del n Michelle]

Hi all, we need advice, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!
We are moving to California from London, England in 2012. We have a brother living in Clayton CA and he is good at some advice but we would love to hear from some people who have actually lived and worked in this area all their lives. We are a couple who will be in our early 40's (young at heart too) and will be bringing our 5 year old son with us, he will be 9 then. We also have 3 other children who will be 23, 22 and 20 but they all want to stay in England. My brother, who has worked very hard, is in a different financial position to us, but we are looking at buying a house for around $400k. I will be working as an air conditioning engineer and the wife will be working in an office, preferably in a financial institute. We looked at Sacramento, Davis and Fairfield. We dont want to be too close to my brother in Clayton, but close enough to visit and get some emotional support. We don't want anywhere that may flood, where the crime rate is high or anywhere that is too boring. We want good schools and a good standard of living, can anyone help?????

[humboldtrat]

Originally Posted by Del n Michelle

We don't want anywhere that is too boring.

Fairfield is boring. As for buying a house for $400,000 - well maybe. That's in the low range. But who knows what the housing market will be like in 2012.

[Del n Michelle]

Thanks for that humboldtrat, can't wait to move there now, is it really that bad? Are there any other areas between Clayton and Sacramento that are nice, affordable an safe?

[humboldtrat]

There's nothing wrong with Fairfield, Vacaville (Spanish for "cow town"), Davis or Dixon. Once small farming towns in the Sacramento Valley, these towns have grown quite a bit in the last few decades. Many people live here because housing is cheaper than in the San Francisco bay area or in Sacramento. But many of these people then commute to jobs 30 - 40 miles away in the big cities.

Fairfield is OK. Lots of new housing and shopping but not much else if you're looking for "excitement". I know nothing about the quality of schools.

Travis Air Force Base is near Fairfield and Vacaville and is a big employer in the area. Genentech (a biotech company) has a large campus in the Vacaville area near the intersection of Interstate 80 and I-505.

[Kingsnkali]

Fairfield is really windy in the summer. It's cooler than much of the Central Valley though.

I think I would consider the eastern suburbs of Sacramento. Probably still less than 2 hours from Clayton. The schools will be very good. Folsom, Roseville, Rocklin etc. Should be plenty of air conditioning/office work too. Plus, you will be close to the Sierra Nevada mountains for recreation.

Hard to tell what houses will be going for in 2012 though. Right now, 400k could get you a nice home in the eastern suburbs of Sacramento in this down real estate market.

[Del n Michelle]

Thanks KingsnKali.
We feel that east of Sacremento will be too far. After listening to what others have input, we are now considering Davis. Although everything you've said is everything we want, such as good schools and the recreation, however, we have a concern about flooding and hopefully we wont get too many or severe earthquakes!!
We're visiting Clayton this March and are expecting to visit Fairfield, Davis, Sacramento and other areas that we're interested in. I guess we've a long way to go before we decide!
Do you think we would get all the positives in Davis that we would get in say, folsom?
We REALLY appreciate your views.xx

[humboldtrat]

Originally Posted by Del n Michelle

we have a concern about flooding and hopefully we wont get too many or severe earthquakes!!

I wouldn't worry about flooding in the Fairfield to Davis/Dixon area. I have lived here my whole life and there's never been any flooding in this area. As for earthquakes, they're more common along the coast where the fault lines are and the threat of earthquakes in the interior of the state is minimal.

[hdsnowbird]

Let me tell you about Fairfield. I lived there from 1982 until 2004.
if your looking for a nice place to live....Fairfield is not it! at one time Fairfield was nice, But even now the US Air Force tells the military members not to live off base there.

Top Ten Reasons why Not to live in Fairfield:

1. the 99 cent store clerk was murdered because she tried to charge 99 cents for an item and the murderer aurgued that it should have been 50 cents so he shot her.

2. There is a large gang problem, mostly with the Nortes and Surenos espicially in the State street area.

3. If you don't speak spanish that is a problem. our son was the only english speaking child in the 3rd grade class at cleo gordon elementry school.

4. The other person that commented, must have lived in Rancho Solano or the West side, Waterman Blvd. where its okay ... not too bad, and Rancho Solano is a Gated community.

5. The Shopping Mall is very dangerous at night and there have even been a few kidnapings and stabbings there. and Gang Riots.

Who said Fairfield was boring!!

6. Stay away from the Target Store at night off of West Texas Street. too many crimes to list

7. need some sight seeing.... go to the local Kmart parking lot and the closed down Albertsons Market in Mission Village .... And view the Hookers and Crank Monsters.

8. while trying to get copies of our marriage license and birth Certificates, (yes I was born in Solano County Too) My young daughter and myself, had a very eye opening visual experience of two very large persons "breeding" on the Bus Bench right in front of the county buildings and water fountians.

9. The Homicide Rate topped the 2007 worst city in Solano County, Taking away Vallejo's long time record.

10 We finally moved when the 20 plus year neighbors, son:
the middle child about 17 was shot in the head in the driveway 2 houses down from us. and too many robberies in the neighbor hood.



Also on Flooding: Airbase Parkway Floods, the city has tried to take measures to help with flooding, but many of the state streets and downtown areas still flood, also out by the Budweiser plant floods too.

from experience we have lived in the East side, West side, by the mall, and by what was at one time called Paridise valley, which is now a golf country club.


Vacaville is not too bad yet. Davis is a Yuppie town, that you can not even smoke in your own car without getting a fine. Dixon is a nice town. Also Winters is nice small town and very close to Lake Berryessa. parts of Suisun are ok.... Benicia is a nice town too, but seems to have a small drug problem, and problems in the park too.

maybe look over the Bridges.... but rent gets pretty high ...Martinez, Concord, Antioch, Pinole, are just a few.

Wages are real good in Contra Costa County!!!

Napa is not too bad, my inlaws live there, but there is some gang problems in the older section of town....(NOT downtown)

Hope this helps guide you. Good Luck!

[fairywench]

Very True, the last Post. And speaking of Earthquakes, We just had one tonight!! Shook most people's houses, and was felt all the way to SF. They do happen once in a blue moon, but when they do, its like, What the hell was that?

Speaking of the crime rate, this is true. I live in Suisun that borders fairfield, and my neighbor 2 months ago was grazed by a bullet when he did a drug deal out of the house, that went bad. The guy tried to shoot him, but just as he tried, he pushed the gun away.

If you move here, MAKE SURE you have a gun for home protection!!!!!! Because trust me the only reason people havnt broken into our home, is because most know we have a shotgun.

Just an FYI

[hdsnowbird]

not to disprove one of the other comments but..........
they must be very young!

lets see from 1972 till 1988 we only had small earthquakes up to about 5.5
in 1989 we had the Loma Preada Quake which took down the Cypress Structure Freeway in San Francisco, the Bay Bridge fell in parts..
in Fairfield at the time, it broke out some of our windows, and knocked pictures off the wall and off of shelves.

While my husband was in the service.. we were in southern california for the Big Bear Quake and the Northridge Quake.

There was a small quake 4.0 tonight centered in Green Valley which is 3 miles from fairfield. not a big deal.....

Earthquakes do not happen often!!! most damage is in the large cities.

I would not worry about it!

I would be more afraid of Tornados or Hurricanes back east!