sonoma (San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Napa: real estate, apartment, crime)

[shadow91]

can anyone tell me about sonoma california? Please be honest. I am looking for crime rate, professional positions, housing, drug ratio amoung teens, etc, to include high schools.

[calif]

Downtown area is very cute. Nice park and a couple nice restaurants surround the square. On the outskirts they have some gang activity. Agua Caliente is what the area is called I believe.

[Ready2migrate]

got any advice on where it's affordable to live in Sonoma County ?

[RoadHazard]

"Affordable" is a relative term. Compared to the other 49 states (and even most of California), Sonoma County is expensive. It's wine country, after all, and within commuting distance (barely) to San Francisco.

The town is Sonoma is among the more expensive towns/cities in the county. It's cute, historic, interesting, and closer to both SF and Napa than much of the rest of the county.

There are a few suburbs just north of Sonoma that itself are a bit cheaper but also less charming. Agua Caliente and Boyes Hot Springs come to mind. Real estate agents often describe these as Sonoma (and legally, they might be) but the locals consider them suburbs. They're not bad places, really. Just not quite as clean/safe/friendly as Sonoma proper.

Going a bit farther north gets you into Glen Ellen, a very small and fairly expensive town. Still farther north takes you to Santa Rosa, a real city with lots of variety of housing.

Sonoma County staddles two valleys, with two parallel freeways. The western half along 101 has the only two real cities, Petaluma and Santa Rosa. They're both varied and pleasant, although in Petaluma you're paying for closeness to San Francisco. The eastern valley has only smaller towns, as described above. Both sides are nice and both have loyal fans. Napa Valley is the third parallel valley, to the east.

In both valleys, traffic is concentrated along a single freeway. Commute traffic can be nasty. Unless you work at home or off the beaten path, this might affect your lifestyle and pricing.

Bottom line: Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park/Cotati, parts of Petaluma, and outlying areas of Sonoma are probably the most affordable areas. I'm sure I'm missing some, but that's a start.

[Ready2migrate]

you seem to have alot of inside info, thanks. We have a 25 yr old house with 3 1/2 bd and 2 1/2 baths, a garage and 0.33 acres of grass in a "nice"-ish houseing tract suburb...all for under $145.000 ! From what we've been reading, it looks like that doesn't even begin to translate into anything house-wise in Sonoma county. We won't need to commute if we work from home, but will that make enough difference...dunno, it sure doesn't sound like it.Our orginal criteria was : hot but not schorching summers, low humidity,no snow, LOTS of clear skies,within 3-4 hrs from the redwoods and able to have a small house, just big enough for the kids to visit every so often....it's no big deal to leave upstate NY, but to trade it for a 2 room or less apartment is a bit depressing

[grapico]

Pretty sure median housing price for the county is around 500k. You could get into some less than desirable areas in Santa Rosa or RoPo for fairly cheap though...

Was just in Calistoga last week and grabbed a few fliers just to see and this one shack was selling for 1.2

Making around 58k a year puts you in range of HUD to give you an idea.

There isn't much work up here, I mean there are jobs of course which are commutable too ... Novato, San Rafael, Santa Rosa ... going into SF could be a POTA.

3-4 hours to redwoods? More like 10-20 minutes, there are several nice areas for that. 4 hours puts you in Yosemite or Tahoe.

Maybe you should look farther north like Mendocino, its cheaper... esp if you are just going to work from home.

[RoadHazard]

Originally Posted by Ready2migrate

..all for under $145.000 ! From what we've been reading, it looks like that doesn't even begin to translate into anything house-wise in Sonoma county.

Yikes. You're right: $145K won't buy you anything in Sonoma County. Abandon all hope. Around here that's a nice boat, not a house.

Grapico is right. If you want to be 4 hours from the redwoods you could pick literally anywhere in Northern California and save money. Sonoma County *is* the start of the redwoods, and the further north you go, the woodier (and cheaper) it gets, all the way to the Oregon border.

The "Gold Country" around Highway 49 is nice. It snows in the winter 'cause it's in the mountains, but it's picturesque and interesting, and not very expensive. Check it out.

[Ready2migrate]

REALLY helpful, thanks ! got the impression that thr further north you go, the more dreary weather there is. Also heard some sound bites from other threads of things being less "conservative" than we've yet to experience...I don't think anyone needs to appologize for thier choice of being Dem/Rep or for their views on pot, but being the "odd man out" can be lonely and uncomfortable. We'd like to be in an area where there is a good blend of views. What's your take on the politcal climate in the area ?

[Ready2migrate]

again, this is really helpful, , it is weird to think that what is upper middle class in upstate NY is poverty level in many places in California...a real wake up call...so much has changed since I lived in Sonoma in the 60's. Maybe we need to look into indenturing ourselves to some rich family who needs live in help !
If I look more north, I see places that are pretty cut off. Have you ever heard of, or been to Anderson Valley...?

[grapico]

What do you mean less conservative? I wouldn't say any town up here is conservative, and they range from liberal to extreme liberal and quirky having gay bear fests, considerable lbgt stuff going on, lots of aging hippies, pot banks, etc. But there is also a pretty big rancher strong hold and such with lots of farmland, along with considerable hispanic population in east county. West county is going to be more hippie stuff, south, and closer you get to SF, more yuppie.