New to the Reno area (Carson City, Dayton: fit in, real estate, power lines)

[redwhiteblue]

I just moved here a few weeks ago and am not sure if it's really for me. I really hope it grows on me, I haven't met anyone that doesn't just love it here.
What am I missing?
Can anyone give me any insight, please tell me what you love about Reno?

-Aside from the obvious population difference how do you think Minden/Carson City area differs?

-I see many transients around town even away from downtown do you find this to be an increasing problem?

Does anyone know the population of Reno as well as the county?

Thanks!

[verynicebecky]

where is it that u moved to here from?

[verynicebecky]

not sure i would call the transient situation around town a "growing" one but perhaps a continuing one...meaning small numbers but thriving. i have heard the rumor is that when inmates from the facility up in susanville, ca are released, reno is the 1st bus stop and some get off here. that may only be a rumor tho.

[redwhiteblue]

I moved here from Northern Idaho, Coeur d'Alene to be specific.
I only lived there for a little over a year but didn't realize that I got so used to a small town.
But I am really enjoying the wonderful sunshine here as it is raining for the next 3 days in Idaho.

[verynicebecky]

oh, i know what u mean. i grew up in sacramento, have lived in las vegas, but moved to here a yr ago after living in towns of populations of less than 1,300 for the past 17 yrs. i find that my needs are pretty simple and i dont need what a large city has to offer, other than close access to the VA hospital. what i do like about reno are the sunny days and the lack of humidity.

[garth]

Originally Posted by redwhiteblue

Aside from the obvious population difference how do you think Minden/Carson City area differs?

I'll try this question. We recently bought a home in Minden.

First, I don't consider Carson City/Minden in the same breath. Maybe others do, but I don't. To me, they're two different places seperated by 15 mintues driving time past cattle and alfalfa. Even though I enjoy my bovine neighbors, I try to do as much of my shopping or daily activities in Douglas County rather than heading up to Carson City/County.

The same goes for Reno. I try to avoid it at almost all costs. There are still reasons for going up there, but they are far and few between for me . . . but there lies the difference that you were asking about.

If you live in Reno, you likely will never need to go anywhere else to get what you want. You have it all right in town, especially now that you're getting that cool Cabella's off I80 and Bass Pro Shops is considering moving in to the south side of Reno.

If you consider Carson City or Minden, I can't say that you'll find everything you need all of the time in town. As I already mentioned, I have had to head to Reno for a few things, but at least it's not a daily occurrance. We do have our Super WallyWorld, Target, grocery stores, Trader Joe's, and neat little specialty corner food stores (Sierra Nevada Trading Company) in some neighborhoods

Another big difference is quality of day to day life. A place like Minden (Douglas County) is generally a safe and clean place to live. I have yet to identify anything in the town limits that I would consider a ghetto, unsafe, or a place to avoid. Take a look at the per capita stats and you will see what I mean.

I don't think you can do the same thing with Reno. For the times I've been up there, I've seen the usual things found in any city. There are good areas and there are bad areas. Conversely, I will say that a place like Minden has good areas and better areas.

If you'll note, I haven't made the same contrasts using Carson City to Reno. That's because Carson City seems a little like a small version of Reno rather than a large version of Minden. In other words, you get the worst of both and not the best of either when you live in Carson City. Someone may disagree with me, so I'll have to offer that it's just my opinion.

Oh btw, here's another positive about Minden/Douglas County. It's considered a low tax county in the state. It has quite a bit of revenue from the Stateline hotels on Lake Tahoe. They're in Douglas County and are an easy drive up Hwy207. It's almost like Minden is a suburb of Tahoe since it's +/- 15 miles to the shore, depending on your valley location.

Anyway, Douglas County and Minden uses that revenue to the benefit of the community. They keep the taxes down, have been burying the phone and power lines, have built a community swimming pool complex, and are doing lost of nice things to improve the look and quality of life in the community.

Douglas County has also invited stores into their community that add to the tax base, which Carson City/County failed to invite or chased away. These are the places like Super WalMart, Target, Home Depot, Best Buy, etc. However, they did it in such a way that it benefits the county (tax revenue) but puts the burden of the traffic and looks of the facilities on Carson City.

How did something like that happen? Well, they were all bulit at the north end of Douglas County, basicly 10 miles from North Minden but immediatly over the county line from Carson City. Carson City gets the burden of the traffic and the view of a shopping center while Minden and Douglas County get an extra 10 minute drive to those stores but keep their fields of alfalfa, views of grazing cattle, and bucolic nightime views of unadulterated Sierra Nevada mountains. I take that exchange any time.

I hope that has given you some insights.

BTW, something else just came to my mind. Things seem like they're changing a little in Minden. Whereas it was a realy sleepy little country community not that long ago, I seem to be smelling a little gentrification of the town. Small little boutique places are opening up. A new little jazz coffee house comes to mind along with a sushi restaurat. There's other places hitting the new malls or filling the older downtown area, too, which sponsor different performance artists or music styles during the week. Those first two just come to my mind.

So, that will be the final difference between a big Reno and a small Minden. It's the size of the venues. Things will be be smaller down here, and perhaps more community oriented, but in my view it's better.

Here's some Minden pics that might show some of the differences:

Pond in Park area behind some houses:



Minden and part of Garnderville coming down from Lake Tahoe:



Some neighbors on the valley floor:



Traffic on a Minden street:



More Minden Traffic:



Minden Park in old downtown:

[redwhiteblue]

Thanks Garth!

I really appreciate the insight and loved the pics.
I think Minden would be a better fit for me at this point, I would prefer a smaller town. And yes I do agree Carson City and Minden are very different.
May I ask where you moved from?

[garth]

Glad to help rwb . . .

as for where we moved from, do I really have to admit it? Okay, I will, but don't hold it against me.

My wife and I are from SoCal, both born and raised. If you can believe it, I grew up in a beach community way down in SoCal with a population of about 6000 (at the time), not a stoplight in town, and a half hour to anything other than local groceries. If we wern't swimming in the ocean we were riding our horses in the surf or shooting rabbits in the hills. It was a different era.

Of course things began to change and the half hour to anything disappeared. The population increased, the Eastern imports took over, horses became persona non grata on the beaches (even though they were there long before the imports), and the culture was stolen out from under us. It's now elbow to elbow with people without a care for the history and culture of the region.

I think you may have found the same thing up in Northern Idaho, except with California ex-patriots. The last time I was up there, I met more ex-Californians than natives.

Hopefully, the same won't happen around here. I know I'm doing my best to fit in rather than change things. I've never understood why someone would want to settle somewhere where they felt they had to change it into the place they left.

Now that I'm off my soapbox, I bet you'll never ask me another question. Just come on down and spend some time in the area. I think you'll find a lot to like in Douglas County!

[redwhiteblue]

Hi Garth,

You have had so much to say I love it! It's nice to find informed people that are willing to share their information at length.

Well I actually drove down to Minden this afternoon. It was very pretty and just the small town I was looking for. Of course not knowing any of the areas I was pretty much stuck on 395. We did drive down Buckeye until the end but only found a small cluster of new homes, and then we went down Johnson Lane but ended up turning around due to again not knowing where we were going.
The shopping center that had Borders, Best Buy etc... was that in Carson City?
I didn't see any grocery stores in Minden although I am sure it's because I didn't go down the right street.
It seems that if you live in Minden you would be spending a lot of time in Carson City, do you agree?
I also picked up some real estate guides and thought the prices were pretty high.

[garth]

Originally Posted by redwhiteblue

Well I actually drove down to Minden this afternoon. It was very pretty and just the small town I was looking for. Of course not knowing any of the areas I was pretty much stuck on 395.

Isn't it always confusing when you first hit an area? All it takes is time, but the problem is that time isn't always what we have. Let's see if I can help a little.

Originally Posted by redwhiteblue

We did drive down Buckeye until the end but only found a small cluster of new homes,

What you did was turn east on Buckeye off 395, just past the Carson Valley Inn. On Buckeye, you first passed the Douglas County Court facilities, a little of an existing neighborhood (Winhaven) and then to a new development of homes on the left by a production builder. It's right next to an elementary school.

Had you kept going on Buckeye, you would have noticed the conditions getting dryer and dryer. That's the way it works here. The hills on the east side of the Carson Valley are the Pinenut Range and there's less and less water as you head towards them.

Had you turned westbound, off 395, you would have been heading towards the Sierra Nevada and the wet part of the valley. Things are greener and more lush on the west side.

Anyway, eastbound up Buckeye towards the Pinenut Range you will find houses on acreage. There's some nice places up there if you like the dryer type landscape. Some of the houses will well exceed $1 million.

You would also have come across the local Junior College. It's not a big place but it offers some enrichment opportunities for adults.

Originally Posted by redwhiteblue

and then we went down Johnson Lane but ended up turning around due to again not knowing where we were going.

Yup, know it well. That area is basicly all residential. There's a gas station with a pizza shop, along with an elementary school and a small business park, but most of the area is just old homes and some new ones.

The newest homes would be at the very top of Johnson Lane. Again, it's a production development by the same builder you saw up Buckeye. They're each on about an acre. They're nice places, but there's also a lot of mixed stuff in the area.

I didn't find Johnson quite right for me, especially since I wanted to actually be in town. It's something like, oh maybe, 8 miles into Minden from the top of Johnson Lane. I wanted the feeling of a small town where I could walk to the market, stroll to the farmer's market, ride the bike down to the coffee shop and chew the rag with other locals without getting into a car. That dictated an in-town location for me, which is what I found in my little area of Minden.

Originally Posted by redwhiteblue

The shopping center that had Borders, Best Buy etc... was that in Carson City?

Nope, that's in Douglas County. It happens to be immediately across the county line, I mean you can spit into Carson City/County from the Douglas County part of the parking lot. That gives Douglas County the tax monies and Carson City/County the traffic.

BTW, there are two intersections up there at 395. One is Topsy Lane and the other is Jacks Valley. The Topsy Lane location is where the new Casino is slated to be built, across 395 from the WalMart. It's the Beverly Hillbillies themed casino planned and owned by "Jethro" from the 60's TV series. It's been going through the Douglas County approval process and I think everything is pretty much in order.

The theory on this place is the same as the shopping. Douglas County gets the tax revenue since it's just into Douglas County, while Carson City/County sees the effects of traffic, congestion, gawdiness, or whatever bad things come with such a place.

Originally Posted by redwhiteblue

I didn't see any grocery stores in Minden although I am sure it's because I didn't go down the right street.

Oh sure, they're here. For simplicity, let me just plop both Minden and Gardnerville into the same discussion. They abut each other and neither is so large that anything in either place is too far away. So, we have a Scolari's, a Raley's, and a Smith's. Then, close to my home is a niche kind of store. It's smaller than big grocery stores but offers specialty or better quality type stuff. It's called the Sierra Nevada Trading Company. It's at the intersection of Ironwood and Lucern at the north end of Minden.

Originally Posted by redwhiteblue

It seems that if you live in Minden you would be spending a lot of time in Carson City, do you agree?

Nope, I respectfully disagree. I spend very little time there, unless you want to consider the Home Depot up at Jacks Valley Road, or WalMart at Topsy Lane, Carson City just because of proximity. I will go there but Minden/Gardnerville offers me pretty much everything else I need.

In fact, I will often head up to South Lake Tahoe (CA) before I ever step into Carson City, just for variety. I can be there within 20 minutes, about the same time as it takes to get into downtown Carson, and I enjoy the environment on the hill better. There's lots of restaurants and shows to choose from.

Originally Posted by redwhiteblue

I also picked up some real estate guides and thought the prices were pretty high.

There's the rub. It's not cheap here but it's less than some other places . . . like up in Tahoe. You can find less expensive housing out in Dayton and up in Carson, but there's a reason why they're cheaper.

In the Carson Valley, and even within the Minden market, you can be all across the board on your prices. It's hard for me to give an exact range, but let me limit my estimate to the actual town of Minden. In the case of the neighborhoods called Winhaven, Mackland, and Westwood, you can find nice clean decent SFH's ranging from the low 300's to well over a million. The bulk are probably in the 300-500 range.

Then you have something like the La Costa development where the prices are in the mid-400's to high 500's. It's being developed like a mediterrean village with paseos, parks, ponds, neighborhood markets, neighborhood evening venues, etc.

If you head further down into Gardnerville (I'm talking like and extra 3 miles-no biggie) you have a pretty large housing development. It's called Chichester. There's another one down there too by the same company that's building La Costa. They less expensive, perhaps in the high 200's to low 300's. Then again, the market has slowed and I haven't looked lately so perhaps it's even better than my esitmate.

One last thing . . . you also have an older area in Minden. It's adjacent to the main downtown street called Esmeralda and was established in 1905. BTW, that's where the Minden Farmer's market is held. The older area is shown in my photos with the horse/carriage and the Minden square. It's a really pretty area and is setup well for lunch in the park and a stoll under the trees.

So, the next time you're in town, turn right instead of left. Perhaps take Hwy 88 turnoff at the north end of Minden, make a right turn at the traffic circle near the swimming complex, and head into the Westwood area. Then, head back out, go across the circle, and head into the Mackalnd subdivision.

After touring those areas, head back north on 88 until you hit 395. Turn right, head down to Lucern and turn left. As you pass a little shopping area called Minden Village on your right, you will come to the Sierra Nevada Trading Comapny gorcery store. Pass it and continue straight ahead. As you pass La Costa tract on your left (across a new park/pond), you will enter the Winhaven tract. You might want to take a little drive through there . . . btw the photo of the pond behind the houses in my earlier post is in the Winhaven tract.

Now, if you're looking at places like Genoa or some of the Golf Course Communites along Foothill Road, be prepared to spend much more money. It seems everything get more expensive the closer you get to the base of the hills. There's nice places there, and I'm sure there's some deals, but similar homes in Minden should save you some money. The added expense will be that you have to drive 5 minutes to get to the golf course . . . . . . instead of walking out of your doorway. Big whoopie, right?

I hope that enough info to get you started. If you happen to have a more specific question , or can give me a price range you're looking for, maybe I can direct you towards a neighborhood. I'm not a Realtor, nor a mortgage banker or escrow agent, so I'm not chumming up business. I'm just a new local guy who might be able to help a little.

Good luck!