Looking to move to Sierra Foothills..but where? (Napa, Davis: buy, live in)

[westwhen]

I have been in Valley Springs years ago...purchased a horse there...I loved it and it has always been in the back of my mind to check out again...sounds like it hasn't changed much..I like that. What do people do for a living there?

[izzy]

Hi,
Sorry I took so long to respond. The holidays and all kept us busy. Most folks commute to either stockton or modesto. That is where the higher paying jobs are. Most folks who don't commute are either ranchers are work in the local schools and the businesses I mention in my last post.

Stockton is about 35 minutes...Modesto about 50 minutes. Both are rather large cities, urban living. Stockton...Modesto are areas to be careful of if buying a home...there are some high crime areas in those two cities. Here in Valley Springs we are a lifetime away from all that.

I went to the dispatch office of the sheriff department here in town. Mostly older ladies in there running the office part. Friendly, very small town feel to the area. There are a couple of shopping centers, small centers, opening up here. Mostly food places, a healthy juice place, Hawg Dawgs (great hot dogs and burgers) a harley theme place, upscale.

Lots of horse people in the area. Crab feeds, Pasta Dinners, and other fundraiser events for the youth

Izzy

[liv]

I see your original posting was from January 07, hopefully you are still looking for feedback for your decision.
I am 23 yrs old, born in Sacramento, but raised since age of 7 in Placerville.
I absolutely love it up here, not only is it gorgeous, but people are friendly and the way of life up here is hard to come by.
I feel its a very safe place to raise children and start a family. Plus your not too far from Lake Tahoe and the big mountains, or the beach in the other direction. I would definately recommend Placerville, or one of its outlying communities, such as Omo Ranch which is very beautiful, bordering National Forest. Hope you find some help in this, good luck!!!!

[cw68]

You may also want to check out Amador County. I haven't a clue what prices are like, but I have a friend who has a small ranch there. They don't have a ton of money, but have seven kids, all homeschooled, a few horses, goats and they breed labradoodles and basset hounds. It's very small town, but he commutes to Folsom for work and into Sacramento proper for church. I don't know exactly where their new place is, but their old one was by Fiddletown. The wine country ambience would also work well for your gift shop.

[Nora Charles]

Originally Posted by Phanay

Hi WestWind,
I just answered "darylhallfan," a member here looking for an affordable place to move to. Check out my reply on his page 5.
39 miles up from Bakersfield in the Sequoias. Horse acreage, high dessert, mountains, flat lands, forrest acrage. We have it all.
No graffiti, no gang-bangers. On your search engine, type in Lake Isabella, and you'll find many places. www.freemanslakesiderealty.com and other realty places. The lake goes upwards. The higher you go, you'll run into snow during the winters.
The area is just called 'Lake Isabella, CA,' because it is one of the largest shopping towns here besides 'Kernville,' which is in the high forrest area.
Kernville, is quite pricy. Would love to live there myself but am tired of digging the car out of the snow. Originally we had retired to a small town outside of Reno, NV. Deciced to come back to the sweet land of California. Had a hard time on the net looking for an affordable place. Contacted many agents and no one knew of anything we wanted all the way from Sacramento to Bakersfield, from the coast to the mountains.

My brother said, "why don't you try Lake Isabella?" What!
I checked it out and was in awe of all the different types of homes up here.
Many of the realty offices has virtual tours and/or pictures of the entire places for sale. Found several in our price range and printed out the photos, did the research of each and on the areas they were in. Sent my brother to these places since he lives in Bakersfield. Then my husband came up here to see the one I settled on. We purchased it.
With all the frustration I went through, I really do not want to see anyone else go through it if I can do something to help.

There is a magnanimous amount of mobile homes on private land to purchase. There are small lots to miles of acrage.
Trout is my favorite to fish for, though there are others. This is a fishing/hiking/camping/river-rafting/bird-watching/boating/etc. community.
The San Joaquin River, runs all the way down to Bakersfield.
This is a laid-back community. . . except when the fishing derby is on in October. But then it dies down again. As I said in my other 'reply post,' my gas tank lasts more than a month. I can fill my tank up in San Fernando (Topanga/Victory Blvd) and get here and fill up again in Bakersfield, finding that I had only spent $6.00 in gas! Of course I have a Ford Probe.
It could take you a little over 2 hours to go around the lake if you go fast and do not like scenery.
I live between the high-dessert and the forrest area.

Check it out on your browser's search engine.
Enjoy!

I'm responding to 'phanay' - The Sequoias. I'm a single, 54 year old woman looking to relocate from Washington State to California. I 'zoomed' in on the Lake Isabella area on the map because it was relatively close to my 'second family' who live in Porterville. Also it was in the foothills, which I'm also looking for. I've heard that it's hot in the summer. Do people commute to the valley for jobs?

[peony]

Originally Posted by westwhen

Has anyone any information about Penn Valley...a place I drove through and seemed like a nice little community.
I am a single 50 year old woman and want a safe and pleasant place to live . I also have a gift business I may be looking to open a store in an old town touristy type area..any suggestions to all my questions?

westwhen, I lived near Penn Valley until last year. It is rural, a little hotter than Grass Valley in the summer. It doesn't usually snow but last year when it did snow a little, it didn't stay on the ground very long. Penn Valley is a safe and pleasant place to live. There's a gated community off of Pleasant Valley Road called Lake Wildwood. There's a shopping center across the street. There's a subsection along Oak Meadow Rd which is one of my favorite parts of Penn Valley, very peaceful. There is a lot of building going on in that area, upscale homes. Pleasant Valley Road north of Lake Wildwood will take you to an area called Bridgeport. I used to swim in the Yuba River there and go on the wildflower walk. The wildflower walk is a short hike which follows the Yuba River on one side and you can view wildflowers in the spring. An utterly beautiful place. Pleasant Valley Road will take you into North San Juan which is a very scenic drive. I lived in North San Juan for awhile, but it snows there and is a bit out of the way if you need to work every day. The area west of Pleasant Valley Road on Highway 20 towards Smartville/Marysville is all open country. I used to drive this back way to Penn Valley coming up through Sacramento. As far as your business, you may want to check out Nevada City which has some very nice stores on or around Broad Street. Grass Valley has a nice gift store called Ruby's. Penn Valley is about 6 miles west of Grass Valley, and Nevada City is about 3 or 4 miles north of Grass Valley. Nevada City's climate is very different than Penn Valley. They get snow. Almost forgot, the Briarpath Co-op in Grass Valley is a good place to check for rentals, although Craigslist has a Gold Country thread now.

[jdavid93225]

Originally Posted by westwhen

I see there is a lot of past information on this. But I am open to hearing more opinions. I have 11 acres in Templeton (central coast) that is very desirable with a Horse Boarding Stable, that I will be selling. I am looking to scale down with just a few horses and maybe 2-5 acres. Auburn or Placerville outlying areas interest me. I want to pay cash ( after selling my place) and have a few dollars left to build a barn and shop. I need a house or Mobile already on the property to live on.
I will need to have some employment and do not want to live way far out. But where I live now is growing so fast with lots of LA folks moving in..it is making me crazy. I love the trees and streams of the Sierra Foothills and the more laid back lifestyle. But am not a snow person.
Auburn seems to be overpriced and hard to find small acreage with home for resaonable price. Seems Placerville has more to offer. Is this true?
Has anyone any information about Penn Valley...a place I drove through and seemed like a nice little community.
I am a single 50 year old woman and want a safe and pleasant place to live . I also have a gift business I may be looking to open a store in an old town touristy type area..any suggestions to all my questions?

I don't know how far north you've considered going, but I was just up in Anderson this past weekend, and it is beautiful. It is located between Red Bluff and Redding. I think you may very well find something to your liking in that area. The area is actually at the foothills of the California Cascades, with Mt. Lassen to the East, and Mt. Shasta to the north. I would think this area would work well with your gift business, due to the popularity of the Lake Shasta/Mount Shasta area for tourism. The weather is fairly temperate, but does get hot at times in the summer (sometimes up to 110 deg. F). I think you may find some places a little higher up that are a bit cooler at those times. I recommend at least looking at the area, because, as I understand it, prices are still fairly affordable (as far as California goes).

[ladyexec]

I live in the area (Atascadero). Where is your property in Templeton and how much do you want for it? Is it listed.....let me know.

[unplugthephone]

Regarding Penn Valley... we live in this town on 5 acres with several horses and are very happy. Lots of water for irrigating, good wells, good schools, nice small community within minutes of larger towns and good shopping. We have a large horse community and a two town arenas and can trail ride through parts of the giant park here. People are nice, weather is exceptionally well compared to the nation. We watch the doplar radar a lot and huge storms typically split toward the east and west around us. We grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables in the long growing season. Everything does well here agriculturally speaking and yet we are not flat... just enough hills and good views to keep it interesting.

If someone wants to open a gift store I'd love to be part of it. We could use one... most people drive "up the hill" to Grass Valley or Nevada City to shop in their many shops. Penn Valley has some small shops but could definitely use more.

[DMenscha]

Izzy lives in the BIG CITY of Calaveras County! There's smaller places around too. Mountain Ranch, San Andreas, Mokelumne Hill, and don't leave out Bummerville!