Placerville/Shingle Springs/Pollock Pines (Sacramento, Oakland: low income, sales, apartments)

[rick baratta]

Can you tell me about property taxes, insurance, utilities, etc in Shingle Springs..I'm on a fixed income, and these items could determine where I settle down.

[KidBlue]

Property taxes in Shingle Springs are 1 percent of the appraised value of the property and this increases no more than 2 percent per year. In addition, there may be voter-approved bonds. We have $50 for fire equipment and $50 for a high school in our tax area in addition to the property taxes.

Insurance is tricky because it depends on what area of SS you are living in. If you live further than one mile from a fire hydrant and five miles from a fire station, you would be in zone 10, the highest fire risk. The lowest zone I've seen in SS is zone 4. It seems to run around 60 cents per square foot per year.

Utilities can also vary quite a bit. Rural areas have well water and septic systems and usually propane. For us, our water costs about $20 per month (not counting pump repairs!), propane is about $300 per year since we have an electric water heater, and septic is $500 every 7 years for pumping.

Electric is the highest. It runs us about $400 per month in the summer since it's so hot here, but drops to about $180 in the winter. Our house is kind of large and two story, so costs more to cool and heat. We heat with mostly wood which runs about $300 per cord, maybe a little more.

Hope this info helps. It's hard to say exactly like Cameron Park because the rural areas vary so much.

[rick baratta]

Hi Kid Blue,

First of all thank you for the quick and comprehensive reply. It gives me a ball park idea of the overhead in SS.

Seems as if you are paying about $10,000 a year. I calculate that I am now paying about $8000.

Of course I live on a 25 acre small holding with several outbuildings for staff that increase my costs.

It appears I will actually have less costs (aside from gas and food) to live in SS, than I am paying now. Of course I have to pay and feed three staff members to keep this place up. Unheard of in the USA.

Thank again,

Rick Baratta

[Jennerbear]

Originally Posted by Jaxn

I appreciate the time you took to reply to my post.
I am not very familiar with the area, obviously. I think that the Pollock Pines posting caught my eye because my maiden name is Pollock...seems like a fitting place for me to live! (Although I am from Utah, I KNOW snow...don't much care for it now.)
You asked about our crop, well...not much for crops, actually. We just incorporated as a service dog provider and want to find some land where we can have our dogs. We don't have kennels, just keep them with us in our home, but want lots of land for them to run and enjoy their lives.
I think we have decided on Sheridan. My husband works in Yuba City, but Placer County codes are much more dog friendly, and I like being closer to Sacramento.
This is a nice forum...thanks so much for your help!

I live in Pollock Pines - we're moving ONLY because we want a horse and don't have an acre. Our home gets JUST enough snow to be quaint, allow the children to sled and have snowball fights... then melts. We're 25 minutes from Sierra at Tahoe and LOVE it here. The summers are nice and super mild - spring is beautiful, fall colorful. We've lived here 10 years, and in all 10 years there has been only ONE winter that we thought, "Where's the sun??" The dogwoods are beautiful. People talk in the Safeway, and make eye contact. There is, of course, a bit of riff-raff. It has lessened in the 10 years we've lived here as more upper-middle class families have moved up here. I cannot speak for the school system as we homeschool. We're actually PRAYING for snow as we just love it when it happens. We ARE at 3800 and not 4000 - seems to make a difference. OH, and I grow AMAZING tomatoes, a giant pumpkin, 2 cherry trees, and a golden delicious tree. I had bell peppers, roses, lilac (wild and cultivated). I love the way it smells here. To wake up to clean, fresh air is just... worth it's weight in gold.

Also, there are "punks" in Placerville and pretty much everywhere anymore. You really just have to either move to Idaho or get used to it.

JMHO,

Jennerbear

[greenegal]

I'm from Pennsylvania and have been doing some research on Eldorado county. We are retired and think this may be the place for us. I read all the comments on the communities and found them very helpful. Thank you all for the candid comments.

I live in a very rural part of western Pennsylvania and wanted to know about high speed internet access in some of the areas. Is it available through cable (tv) or the telephone (DSL)? We have Hughes Net or dial-up available here.

On choosing a place to live connectivity is high on the list and we do not want Satellite.

[justducky2]

Originally Posted by greenegal

I'm from Pennsylvania and have been doing some research on Eldorado county. We are retired and think this may be the place for us. I read all the comments on the communities and found them very helpful. Thank you all for the candid comments.

I live in a very rural part of western Pennsylvania and wanted to know about high speed internet access in some of the areas. Is it available through cable (tv) or the telephone (DSL)? We have Hughes Net or dial-up available here.

On choosing a place to live connectivity is high on the list and we do not want Satellite.

Depends on where you live in the County. I have broadband via cable, but I live in a community with infrastructure. There are some pretty rural places in this county, and I don't think everyone has cable, or even gets dsl. So - it depends.

[Jennerbear]

We have a T1

[dkperreira]

My husband & I are looking to relocate to this area from the Bay Area once he retires & I' will probably be needing to look for work m not a commuter-any suggestions? Employer situation-are jobs hard to find?? I have a pretty varied background-"Jill of all trades"...We are looking to relocate in a few years....
Thanks!

[justducky2]

dkperreira, it really depends on what your background is....we have Blue Shield customer service center, schools, government, a hospital....so it depends. Also, Folsom is not far, depending on where in the county you relocate to.

[dkperreira]

Thanks for the reply-how long have you lived in the area & where??