Relocating to San Joaquin County (San Francisco, Long Beach: real estate, apartment, crime)

[Corona]

Greetings all,

My wife and I are moving up there in the next month or so and are looking at homes in parts of Lodi and even fewer parts of Stockton.

We've lived in Long Beach, an apartment in semi-ritzy Belmont Shore and a quasi-decent area a couple of miles away. We live in Corona now, in a very good area, although probably not the best. [I also used to work in downtown L.A. and grew up in Chicago, so I'm familiar with urban life. My wife was born and raised in a small, inland CA town.]

I've read several posts on this forum about gangs and crime in Stockton and Lodi. But it's hard to measure what people's perspective is. Was everyone expecting Irvine, California-like utopia?

[gizmo980]

Hi there- I lived in Stockton for 3 years (1999-2002), when I was attending University of the Pacific... and parts of it really are that bad, as others have said in the forums! Some areas are okay, like around UOP and the Grouse Run or Brookside neighborhoods. For 2 years I lived on Grand Canal Blvd. (off March Lane), which was a nice upscale-ish shopping street. I mostly avoided going south of UOP, except to visit my favorite Chinese restaurant. Most of the south/east neighborhoods are kinda scary, even for a city-savvy person like myself. As for Lodi, I always thought it was cute and seemed safe, but some have told me otherwise.

To answer the rest of your question, I wasn't really expecting it to be wonderful! I only moved there for college, and knew about it's reputation as a city. I grew up in a nice suburb of San Francisco, but I've lived other places (Maryland, Oregon, Tahoe) and have traveled extensively... so I am definitely not sheltered or ignorant about other areas. Now I'm back in the Bay Area, in the literal "ghetto", where it's about as safe as downtown Stockton. But if you know what parts to avoid, I think any place can be liveable... and to be honest, the heat in Stockton probably bothered me more than the crime! Good luck in whatever you choose.

P.S. If I had to pick between Stockton and Lodi, I'd personally choose Lodi.

[Corona]

Thanks Gizmo!

I've already been told the south and south-east sides of town, particularly south of the 4 freeway are bad news, so I'm not even considering that part of town. There is a nearly new house on the far southwest part of town up against a branch of the river, but I'd be worried about where the nearest grocery and drug store was.

There are some nice looking houses in the UOP-Pacific Ave. area I'd like to check out. In Lodi, mostly on the far northwest side and Woodbridge.

Leaning more toward Lodi because it's smaller and Corona is huge in comparison.

[dooozie]

We are presently relocating to Lompoc. I can't wait to get out of the SJ Valley. The heat in the summer is unbearable and the fog in the Winter is dismall and never ending. I have lived in the SJ Valley for 40+ years. I originally came from the SF Bay Area (Alameda) . There is a lot of gang problems in the SJ Valley, and crime is rising. I guess that is what you can expect with the growing population . Good luck with your relocation.

[dooozie]

We will be relocating to Lompoc around the 1st of the year - or at least after we sell our house here in the San Joaquin Valley. I have visited Lompoc on three different occasions and it looks like a beautiful area. I was wondering if anyone lives there and what is their opinion. One thing I have found out is that house are very expensive there.

[Corona]

Originally Posted by dooozie

We are presently relocating to Lompoc. I can't wait to get out of the SJ Valley. The heat in the summer is unbearable and the fog in the Winter is dismall and never ending. I have lived in the SJ Valley for 40+ years. I originally came from the SF Bay Area (Alameda) . There is a lot of gang problems in the SJ Valley, and crime is rising. I guess that is what you can expect with the growing population . Good luck with your relocation.

Thanks!

We have similar summer weather in Corona, which is east of Anaheim Canyon and, logically enough, east of Anaheim. When they talk about weather in L.A., Corona is one of those inland valley areas, which tend to quite warm in the summer, 90s-100.

Don't know if the fog will bother me or not. I would say that most areas with growing populations are struggling to keep up with crime, crowded roads and crowded schools. All those issues were brought up during the local election.

After talking to a friend and our real estate agent, we've narrowed the list of houses to look at down about 6-7 from about a dozen.

[izzy]

Hi,

Have lived in the San Joaquin Valley for about 15 years. I've lived in Manteca and Lodi. Out on the river in Lodi. I have kids that live in Stockton and Lodi. Stockton is the kinda of town where you have to be very savy about where to live and not to live. If there are kids in your family it is more of a concern because of gang violence. If no kids than the Mircle Mile/ UOP is nice and older upper class homes. Keep in mind that you can go a few blocks in stockton and go from nice neigbhorhood to bad neighborhood. Have a local show you around not a realtor.

I would go for Lodi over Stockton. Much nicer town. A few bad areas. A few problems with crime. But more normal for a town...then in comparison of Stockton.

There are good things about Stockton. Delta College...UOP...Shopping. Lots of events. But not for living full time. At least not for our family...we have kids.

Forgot to mention...we now live in Valley Springs, CA. 35 minutes from Stockton. It is a great small town. Very safe and driving distance to Hwy 99 and Stockton. It is a very small foothill town.

I have posted some pics on my pic page the last four are of Valley Spring neighborhood. We are in the foothills. The rest of the pics are of areas within an hour drive of Valley Springs. We are 45 mins. from snow.

http://home.comcast.net/~lesrox/photos.html

Izzy



Catch you later.

Izzy