Looking to move to Sierra Foothills..but where? (Sacramento, Bakersfield: for sale, mobile home)

[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?

[rgb123]

I only lived there for 7 months -- but back in illinois now and am wanting to move back. I am 30 and single.

I really loved auburn and had thoughts of living there one day. It seemed to me there is a bit of a...disturbing and growing meth problem in the area, but maybe locals can comment more on this. I went to a jazz fest in auburn and the cute downtown became less charming after dark (some very strange people wandering about!) but I still...very much liked the area, also liked loomis and I actually lived in Rocklin which was perfect for me at the time.

My friend lived in Nevada City and loved it there as well. I now have a friend all the way up in Truckee as well who is also quite happy. What about grass valley?

The thing is...I am completley uqualified to talk about affordability and will be similiarly interested to hear how people answer your questions!!

best wishes.

[gizmo980]

I'm not sure how far south you want to go, or what type of community you'd like (size, age, entertainment, etc.)... but my friend's mother lives in Sutter Creek, and that's a really nice area. Jackson & Ione are the main "cities" there, and Amador County also covers Amador City, Pioneer, Volcano, and other small towns. It's old mining country, and still has the '49-ers feel about it... very quaint and friendly! Location is also pretty good, only 1 hour from Sacramento & Stockton, 2 hours from Tahoe, and 2.5 from the Bay Area. Anyway, if you're looking for a small town, these might be worth looking into!

[greatbasinguide]

Westwhen. I don't know if you will gain much by moving to the areas you are thinking of. The Sierra foothills are the fastest growing area of CA, there are developments going up all over. If you truly want a quiet area you will have a problem. You might look at Oroville and Cherokee. Brownsville, Penn Valley is pretty upscale. I think the laid back life style is pretty much gone. Nevada City is probably the nicest small town in CA, you would like it there, you might look at Allegheny and North San Juan.

My sister has a couple acres in Atascadero with horses goats and sheep.. She complains of the winter cold there. We like to visit her and eat at the Stockyard in Templeton. Years ago we bought bulk wine at Rotta (sp?) winery west of Templeton and hauled in our VW microbus up to our homestead near Magalia.

My wife's Peruvian Paso came from Juan Guyayar (sp?) just north of Paso Robles.

We are actually doing the reverse of what you are contemplating. We are going to leave the Sierra, and move to near Santa Maria where we have land. Time to be warm. The nice part of living in the Sierra is the vast amount of National Forest to ride in, the bad part is that land is snow covered half the year. On the coast we can ride year round.

[westwhen]

I have been in Paso Robles 20 years...8 years in Cayucos before that and SLO for a couple of years..20 years ago I liked it and I was out in the country. Now I am 3 miles from Walmart and gaited communities popping up all over my area. Traffic is getting crazy on my road and I take my life in my hands just getting my mail. Its the people who are moving here that ruin it..( the people with money from LA or Bay Area) they are bringing with them all the city problems and they don't much respect the "country ways." On one hand it is good for my business as I board horses and there is a need and almost a shortage of places. But it is more suited to a younger person or couple now that wants to build up the business..I got it started someone who doesn't mind the growth or is from LA and thinks this is still a small hometown community.
I know everywhere is growing but this has got to be the fastest growing place around...I think the weather is very simular to Foothills (below snowline)
and I would prefer more rain as it is dry here.
I would prefer to keep moving north to So. Oregon..but the main part of family is in No Calif. so I need to stay closer for awhile.

[westwhen]

Well I would think outside of Sacto would still be a good place for you..my friend lives in Rocklin.
Hey I will be looking for a roomate when I settle there..that could be an affordable answer..if you don't mind the commute.( and a country lifestyle)
I have to be somewhere fairly close in as I also do not want to be isolated.

[greatbasinguide]

8 years in Cayucos!? I bet that you are an interesting person.... Last hippie wedding I went to was in Cayucos, up on a hill in the spring, Greatful Dead songs, flowers in her hair etc. and a big reception at the Vets hall I recollect. Now, remember, the same people you dislike in Templeton are moving to the foothills. Take a drive up 49 from Oakhurst to Alleghany, take a couple days.. beautiful country, but look at the number of new homes.

I plan to ride in the San Rafael Wilderness in the spring winter and fall and the Sierra in the summer. Right now my horses just stand around in the ice and snow eating, boring for them.

Remember that rain makes mud, and the horses will churn their corrals to a sea of mud. It is awful here when the thaw comes in March, I the horse are in mud to their fetlocks, hoof rot, liver flukes all sorts of bad things come with damp and mud.

If I could handle the heat I would spend time in Parkfield. There is a good sized ranch there open for riding.

[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!

[westwhen]

Thank you for the info I am familiar with Lake Isabella...
My problem is I need to be in No. Calif as my family is in Napa Valley and for now I need to be closer (2 hours or less) and Napa Valley is out of my price range!
If I didn't have to be near to the family right now I would probably be looking out of state!

[izzy]

Hi,

I live in Valley Springs, in the foothills. It is 35 minutes from Stockton, 45 minutes from snow, 30 minutes from Jackson. It is a small town. Don't even have a stop light in town yet. Just a four way stop for the two highways that run through town...Hwy 12 and Hwy 26. We are also about 1 hour 20 minutes from Sacramento. Big trees national park is 45 minutes from here and they get snow. Some other surrounding towns that you might have heard of are San Andreas, Angels Camp, and Murphy's. All on the way to big trees.

Rolling foothills, oak trees, green in the winter and dry brown in the summer.

Most homes not right in town are on 1/2 - 5 acre lots. Our home which is only ten years old on a half acre, 1600 sq ft. appraised for $400,000. last March. You can buy a new home here on a 1/2 acre for about $365,000.

Nice schools, safe community, very country feel. Everybody knows everybody. Don't think there is enough folks for a gift shop business. But I don't know, we are growing. We just got a Starbucks

Businesses in town are MarVal Market, Longs, couple of pizza places, burger king (only fast food place), a couple of banks, 3 gas stations. A couple of sandwich places, and a hardware store, and a Chinese food buffet.

We have a golf course with an Inn. Surrounded by homes. The big event every year is the Frog Jumps in Angels Camp. The schools shut down for it.

Well if you want to see pics from the surrounding area. Here they are on my personal picture webpage

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

Catch you later.

Izzy