Best Little Town In CA (affordable too) (Los Angeles, San Diego: houses, buying)

[jolee]

Well a few years ago my family and I went on a vacation to the Sequoia
Mountains and King Canyon National Park. On the way there we stumbled on
a city called Exeter. Well long story short we fell in love ! We sold our
home in San Diego and moved. We bought our home about 3 years ago
for $200,000. It sits on 5 acres with 30 fruit trees. Our neighbors are
wonderful, down to earth and most have horses. I wanted to share this with you and tell you how totally happy we are and would never move back.


ABOUT EXETER:
Exeter is a city in Tulare County, California, United States. The town of Exeter is situated at the base of the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. The area has scenic beauty, a thriving business community, and a population who take great pride in the town’s heritage, quality housing, good schools, and a very low incidence of crime.

Exeter is located on State Highway 65, 2 miles south of Highway 198 and 15 miles east of Highway 99. Exeter is within a 3 to 4 hour drive of both Los Angeles and San Francisco, and 30 minutes from the entrance to Sequoia National Park.

Situated in the middle of California’s agricultural heartland the great San Joaquin Valley, one of the world’s most fertile valleys, Exeter is known for the sweetest oranges in the world. Exeter is also known for its abundant supply of citrus, deciduous fruits, nuts and table grapes.

National recognition was given to Exeter in 2000 as “One of America’s Prettiest Painted Places”. Professional artists depicting the history and culture of the area have painted huge murals on exterior walls throughout the downtown area. There are currently 21 murals in this outdoor art gallery, and more are planned.

[Screenial]

Sounds nice. What is the economy in the area based on?

[Axiom]

Originally Posted by jolee

Situated in the middle of California’s agricultural heartland the great San Joaquin Valley, one of the world’s most fertile valleys, Exeter is known for the sweetest oranges in the world. Exeter is also known for its abundant supply of citrus, deciduous fruits, nuts and table grapes.

Former Visalia resident here

Boy do I miss the fresh fruit and veggies that are readily available there. Nothing like it!

Unfortuantely one of my favorite things about the area was also what drove us away... one of those gotta take the bad with the good kind of things I guess (except in our case - not this time)

Because the whole area sits in a valley and because of all the agriculture (read: pesticides) not to mention spillover yuck from elsewhere, the air quality can be dismal.

The following quote is from 2005, hopefully the all out assault to clean up the air is well underway by now:

"The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and the Steven and Michele Kirsch Foundation today released the report Clearing the Air in San Joaquin Valley that projects a startling forecast for the future of San Joaquin Valley skies. Despite recent positive steps taken to reduce air pollution in the region, complex factors unique to the Valley, have created a situation where air quality is not only getting worse but will become the nation's dirtiest if an all out assault is not launched."

All that said, there really were many things we loved about the San Joaquin Valley

[dak]

sounds like a great place!,by the way my beautiful cocker spaniel is named jolee,,what is the price for buying about 5 acres of land., i would love to build my own home,,i am a semiretired carpenter and mason,,have any idea,,would love to get more land if i could afford it,,,thanks,dak

[California911]

The central valley, especially Visalia, has the worst air quality in the USA...
City Mayors: The most polluted US cities

The most polluted US cities in 2007 Rank Smog:
Most polluted cities
1 Los Angeles (CA)
2 Bakersfiled (CA)
3 Visalia-Porterville (CA)
4 Fresno (CA)

As you can see, the worst #2 - #4 are all in the same ~50 mile radius from visalia/exeter. Being from there, I have first hand experience living in this filth.

The town is quaint, given, but I feel that living there steals away your quality of life by, say, 35%, because your health will be greatly affected. The houses are too expensive for a rural town like this.

The ONLY good thing about this area is that it's 1/2 between LA & SF...for concerts...oh and there are a lot of prisons in the area...which is totally awesome.

[visboy]

I live in the Exeter-Visalia area and strongly disagree with calif.911. The air has gotten
better, look at the stats. It has been a great area to raise our kids and if you are in the medical field the opps. are awesome. Overall its a great area, and if they can improve on the air quality it could be great.

[Cali_Okie_Girl]

your looking for a little town..i use to live in Oak Park, neighbors to Agoura Hills, Westlake, Thousands Oaks..that area. Its pretty expensive but so worth it! its great for kids, the schools there are wonderful! I'd have to say Oak Park...here is a website to Oak Park

Oak Park Update, your link to the community

[jcp123]

Dang, 5 acres and a house for $200k in CA? Sign me up!

[killer2021]

Originally Posted by jcp123

Dang, 5 acres and a house for $200k in CA? Sign me up!

me too! Just need the CA incomes to support it! Making 100k and buying a 200k home booyah.

[LP41]

Visit Exeter and the surrounding area........then make formulate your opinion.....Yikes