Interested in moving to northern CA (San Francisco, Fresno: insurance, crime, attorney)

[petersa]

My husband and I are considering relocating to northern California after I get done with my schooling. I love the Bay area, but know we would never afford to live there. I would like to live in a community that is culturally diverse, liberal, and overall well-educated. We are both medical professionals and will be making decent salaries, but we are just starting out in life, and it will be difficult for us to save up enough money to break into the housing market. I absolutely love California, but I am very concerned about the high cost of living. Are there any cities in northern California that you can recommend that are good for young couples just starting out that still have the "California" feel and culture that I love?

[humboldtrat]

Check out Sacramento and the surrounding towns to the east of Sacramento. It's a central location and about a 2 hour drive to San Francisco, 2 hours to Reno/LakeTahoe/ski areas and about 90+ minutes from the Napa/Sonoma wine country. You will find housing is cheaper there than in the Bay Area.

[rubyskye]

Originally Posted by humboldtrat

Check out Sacramento and the surrounding towns to the east of Sacramento. It's a central location and about a 2 hour drive to San Francisco, 2 hours to Reno/LakeTahoe/ski areas and about 90+ minutes from the Napa/Sonoma wine country. You will find housing is cheaper there than in the Bay Area.

Yeah, but (and sorry, i don't mean to be rude) but why would anybody wanna live in hot and polluted Sacramento just 'cause it's cheap and centrally located?
It's true that it's easy access to Tahoe and San Fran but ugghhhhh, i can't even stand driving through Sacramento or anywhere in the central part of the state.
And i'm not rich at all, at all but find a way to live in Santa Cruz county. You just have to be open and flexible about living situations and sacrifice some space and "fancyness" to be where you wanna be.
I'd rather live in a shack on the central coast than a mansion in Sacramento ... as an example. I guess it just depends on what's essential to people and it varies from person to person.
O.P. ... if you wanna live in the best of California i recommend finding a way to live on the coast. If you and your hubby are making good money there are ways to live so as not to sacrifice your future home buying plans.
I would think that one of the best ways to save money at this point is to find a way to live to avoid commuting! Gas in Santa Cruz is $3.85 for regular!!! Now that's discouraging.

[humboldtrat]

Originally Posted by rubyskye

Yeah, but (and sorry, i don't mean to be rude) but why would anybody wanna live in hot and polluted Sacramento just 'cause it's cheap and centrally located?
It's true that it's easy access to Tahoe and San Fran but ugghhhhh, i can't even stand driving through Sacramento or anywhere in the central part of the state.
And i'm not rich at all, at all but find a way to live in Santa Cruz county. You just have to be open and flexible about living situations and sacrifice some space and "fancyness" to be where you wanna be.
I'd rather live in a shack on the central coast than a mansion in Sacramento ... as an example. I guess it just depends on what's essential to people and it varies from person to person.
O.P. ... if you wanna live in the best of California i recommend finding a way to live on the coast. If you and your hubby are making good money there are ways to live so as not to sacrifice your future home buying plans.
I would think that one of the best ways to save money at this point is to find a way to live to avoid commuting! Gas in Santa Cruz is $3.85 for regular!!! Now that's discouraging.

I disagree. There are many parts of Sacramento that are nice including areas east of Sacramento towards the Sierra foothills. I've never have found Sacramento to be anymore polluted than other areas of California. It's certainly a lot less polluted than the San Joaquin valley (Fresno/Bakersfield). The OP will pay a premium price for living along the coast as opposed to living inland. (By the way, I don't live anywhere near Sacramento, but prefer warm/hot weather over the constant wind and fog along the coast).

[FrozenShores]

Originally Posted by rubyskye

Yeah, but (and sorry, i don't mean to be rude) but why would anybody wanna live in hot and polluted Sacramento just 'cause it's cheap and centrally located?
It's true that it's easy access to Tahoe and San Fran but ugghhhhh, i can't even stand driving through Sacramento or anywhere in the central part of the state.
And i'm not rich at all, at all but find a way to live in Santa Cruz county. You just have to be open and flexible about living situations and sacrifice some space and "fancyness" to be where you wanna be.
I'd rather live in a shack on the central coast than a mansion in Sacramento ... as an example. I guess it just depends on what's essential to people and it varies from person to person.
O.P. ... if you wanna live in the best of California i recommend finding a way to live on the coast. If you and your hubby are making good money there are ways to live so as not to sacrifice your future home buying plans.
I would think that one of the best ways to save money at this point is to find a way to live to avoid commuting! Gas in Santa Cruz is $3.85 for regular!!! Now that's discouraging.

Yeah, I'm with you on that. So many people are hung up on "price of housing" that they don't realize the benefits that come with the cost. You CAN live without a car in San Francisco as opposed to most of the nation's other cities. You can walk to grocery stores, restaurants and many other amenties near your residence. With the cost of owning a car you can save from $700-$1000 per month by going without one. Think about it: payments, insurance, gas, parking, (attorney fees for the DUI's The crime per capita is low and as you were hitting on the pollution is low in both air and water. My question is, why aren't more people flocking to live here?