Help! Is there any affordable place left in California? (Los Angeles: for sale, homeowners association)

[caligurl]

Willits certainly is still affordable as opposed to the rest of CA - or at least is still on the reasonable side

[izzy]

Hi,
We're not in the bay area. We are in the foothills. 30 minutes from Stockton. 30 minutes from Jackson. Ever hear of the Frog Jumps in Angels Camp we are about 25 minutes from there in a town called Valley Springs. We bought our home about 11/2 years ago for $320,000. on a little over a half acre. 1,645 sq. ft. 3 BR, 2 BA, with a den. Now it is valued at about $380,000. - $400,000. not bad for CA. We are close enough to cities for my husband to commute. About 35 minutes. But far enough away to have our kids grow up in a small community that doesn't have metal detectors in the schools or police patroling it. Our schools feel very safe and if there is gang activity I haven't seen it. Mostly 4H kids and ranchers mixed with town folks. We have a golf course and two elementary schools. A local market, a starbucks, and a burger king

Folks seem to forget that the foothills have a lot to offer.

Izzy

[kansaslady]

Hey, I'm originally from CA.....now, let's not forget Needles! I betcha you could get an affordable home there!

[lookingfortheperfectplace]

Originally Posted by kansaslady

Hey, I'm originally from CA.....now, let's not forget Needles! I betcha you could get an affordable home there!

funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Caliguy2007]

The Central Valley,The Inland Empire and The Desert Regions are considered more affordable compared to other parts of California.

[tisay_uk]

hello chris,

my husb and i are trying to relocate too in northern ca, we're actually planning on buying a house there, i have even posted a text here asking about this place riverbank which is north of modesto, we were able to visit the place last may and they have a lot of developments there, you can buy a brand new house 4b/2-3 baths, for 300+, sacramento too has some cheap houses. anyway good luck to us!

[Woof]

Originally Posted by WillitsCA

I live In Willits, CA about 3 hours north of SF. (The 1st street light on 101 between here and SF). We're about as far North as you can get from SF before there's nothing but trees. But we're not so far that we can't visit SF in one day.

...
Strangely though, rents here are pretty affordable. In some cases, 1/3 to 1/4 of what a mortgage payment would be. So that's always an option.

.....

I'd be interested if anyone has more information about Willits, it seemed like a nice town when I went through it on the Amtrak bus.

I suppose the cheapest properties - and rents - in Cal that I've seen are in the Mt Shasta area, near the Oregon border. Weed, Dunsmuir, and McCloud are cheap but dumpy. Mt Shasta City is the nicest of the lot and a bit more expensive, you have the mountain on one side and a lake on the other, and a pretty downtown.

Dunsmuir is cheapest and has world-class trout fishing in the Upper Sacramento River that flows through town, plus two waterfalls, but is also full of slack-jawed yokels that hate newcomers and will make your life miserable if you move there, by all accounts.

Not much work in the area. Retail, and there's a small hospital. Good area to retire to.

[Des_Demona]

Cheap places in California (or at least mildly affordable) are the desert areas where weather is pretty bad. The more inland the cheaper you get. The coast is what is desireable in California so anywhere within 30 miles of the coast is going to be expensive. I hear it is still pretty affordable waaaaay up north in the Eureka area but I also hear terrible things about that area. I guess you get what you pay for. If nice mild weather great schools and good neighbors is your desire then it will not be affordable to live there. If you REALLY want to live in California then you can live in the desert where it's either too hot or too cold, far from the ocean and I don't know much about the people there since I'm not a local. People seem to really like moving to Lancaster and Palmdale because of its affordability and it's general distance from LA. A lot of people I work with at UCLA are from those areas and commute here (vanpool of course) but I would not consider those two areas desireable. It is still desert and they are always complaining about the terrible weather they get there and the crime is skyrocketing. It's mostly a place where people from LA move when they are priced out of LA but still want to work out here.

[IloveCa.]

New homes are within your range in the Northern Central Valley area. That's Redding, Red Bluff, Anderson...
Check out Shelter Cove Ca. It's along the Lost Coast and the best get away in California. Also Southern Humboldt County- Garberville area. Beautiful area. Giant Redwood trees and lots of room to.... grow. ;-) Hope you are able to find what you want.

[Screenial]

I'm not sure why everyone is saying the High Desert has such awful weather.I live in the High Desert area, 45 minutes from Palm Springs. The fall through spring is awesome weather ( 70-85 degrees ), with cooler nights. Swamp coolers work great in the dry air, so no high energy bills for me. Yes the summers are very hot, but that's when we go on vacation to some place cooler. We have a nice 3/2 home that we bought for $130,000 two years ago, it's worth $165K now. Only problem, few decent jobs in this area. But if you are a work at home person, it would be great.