Moving from Bay Area to Sacramento suburb -- appreciate recommendations on where to live (San Jose: for sale, rentals)

[sir99]

My wife and 1-year-old son are looking to move to the Sacramento area in a few weeks from the South Bay. We will have a nice chunk of equity coming from selling our house here, as we bought in 2009 at the bottom of the market. Our family and friends all live in the Carmichael area; we like it there, and so do they; however we realize the schools can be hit or miss in Carmichael.

- Buying or renting?

We are buying. Strongly considering Folsom or Fair Oaks. Generally leaning toward Fair Oaks as it appears to be more 'centrally' located and we can get a more traditional (older) house vs. the many tract homes in Folsom. However parts of Folsom do contain older homes, which we like. We are very much anti-tract homes.

- Budget or price

Looking top out at $450k for 4 bd, 2 ba -- how realistic is this budget? In the Bay, $450k gets you a 2 bd, 1 ba condo. Really would like the 4 bd to have an office / guest room.

- Employment situation and location

Woodland area for my wife. I am exploring a remote work environment for myself; if not, I will look for another job. I work in high-tech marketing.

- School consideration

Important. The schools are not very good in our area we currently live in.

- Pets (especially those considering rentals)

Two dogs -- will need a good sized yard; a pool would be nice but not required. Grass is important for the kids(s) to play on

- Urban, suburban or rural preference

Suburban -- we currently live near the city and would welcome a kid-friendly, family-friendly area. We would appreciate the ability to go swimming and have a place to stay active, i.e. running, hiking, walking, etc.

- Need or desire for public transportation

No. We both have cars, but would appreciate a 30-45 min commute max each way. No problem when the vehicles are moving, it's the stop and go traffic that poses headaches.

I currently go to the Peninsula from the South Bay and my commute is stop and go both ways. Usually 50 minutes to go 20 miles. How does the Sacramento area traffic compare? I check the traffic every morning on Google, and it appears to only slow down when one gets close to Sacramento proper. Anyone from the Bay move to the Sacramento area and have a good read on the differences on traffic patterns?

Thank you for your feedback ... appreciate tips and insight.

[NickB1967]

If you think that "the schools can be hit or miss in Carmichael", then go to Folsom. Fair Oaks shares the San Juan Unified school district with Carmichael.

If you still are tied to the electronics industry, you might find Folsom preferable as well, or Roseville, although HP and Intel are contracting.

Meanwhile, I welcome my fellow South Bay Area exile. In so many places in Greater Sacto, you can swap stories with your new neighbors about how San Jose and vicinity used to be.....

[sir99]

Really appreciate the feedback, Nick. So should we be subscribing to the theory of looking at school districts vs. the assigned schools? Generally, what I have been doing is looking at the API scores for the assigned schools for a house that is for sale; however I do not necessarily believe that a high API score = great school. To me what is more important is a balance of academics, arts and physical activities/sports, not just testing, testing, testing. Left brain/right brain balance. However, when I do see low API scores for some of the schools, it leads me to immediately rule out the house for sale.

[ryuns]

Carmichael or Fair Oaks would both lead to pretty brutal commutes to the Woodland area. My fiancee's commute to Woodland from Curtis Park is about 35 minutes (to the far west end of Woodland). That's with minor slowing from traffic. You may be able to avoid the traffic if you can take I-80 through North Sac (maybe someone who drives that route regularly can commute), but you're still likely to encounter some, and, depending on your location in Carmichael/Fair Oaks, may have a long-ish drive through town once you get off on 80. Still probably do-able in 45 minutes, but it wouldn't be pleasant. Though Nick is right about that Folsom holds the promise of good schools and a tech industry, the drive from Folsom to Woodland is probably out of the question. Would be very hard to avoid traffic on that route.

That said, Fair Oaks does sound like it would fit your criteria. Schools in that area should be fine if you do your homework and find the right spot. You should be able to find a great house in your price range.

Given your wife's work in Woodland, Davis is an obvious recommendation. That commute is 10 minutes on county roads that never see a lick of traffic. $450k won't take you that far there, but the schools are almost universally excellent and most of the community is very family-oriented. At least poke around the area with your price range in mind and see what comes up.

Keep in mind also that Sac just isn't that dense outside of the center city. There are some areas within the city to consider, like Land Park, South Land Park and East Sac. The schools aren't universally good of course, but the nicer areas generally feed good schools.

[NickB1967]

Perhaps West Roseville (also great school district) would be better? Woodland *is* a torturous commute from either Fair Oaks or Folsom.

Davis might also be ideal, but then you are in Bay Area prices. Davis wants to keep it small and prices are higher accordingly.

[ryuns]

Originally Posted by sir99

Really appreciate the feedback, Nick. So should we be subscribing to the theory of looking at school districts vs. the assigned schools? Generally, what I have been doing is looking at the API scores for the assigned schools for a house that is for sale; however I do not necessarily believe that a high API score = great school. To me what is more important is a balance of academics, arts and physical activities/sports, not just testing, testing, testing. Left brain/right brain balance. However, when I do see 3/10 on API scores for some of the schools, it leads me to immediately rule out the house for sale.

For the big districts, it's probably the individual schools. Sac Unified and San Juan Unified both have some good schools and some lousy schools, which isn't surprising, given the wider array of neighborhood types they serve. For those, you probably want to have a look at the particular schools. Not sure what I'd recommend to check those besides, maybe, greatschools.org. They do include user reviews--I'd have no idea how to weigh those though. Our neighborhood shares a district with a very poor neighborhood and the local elementary school does pretty poorly on testing, yet the user reviews all praise the school and teaching staff. Who knows what to make of that?

Some of the white flighty suburban cities have almost universally good school districts (to my knowledge, anyway). Roseville, Folsom, Davis, and Rocklin come to mind.

Of course, it pays to add the disclaimer that your involvement is a far bigger determining factor in your kids' chances of success than anything else. And since you're asking these questions in the first place, I'd wager they'll be all right. (I get to say these things because I don't have kids and don't have to worry about anyone in my own bloodline )

[NickB1967]

Originally Posted by sir99

Really appreciate the feedback, Nick. So should we be subscribing to the theory of looking at school districts vs. the assigned schools? Generally, what I have been doing is looking at the API scores for the assigned schools for a house that is for sale; however I do not necessarily believe that a high API score = great school. To me what is more important is a balance of academics, arts and physical activities/sports, not just testing, testing, testing. Left brain/right brain balance. However, when I do see low API scores for some of the schools, it leads me to immediately rule out the house for sale.

I would, because assignments to schools can get shifted around within a district, and in some districts the dreaded one hour across town each way busing has reared its ugly head. (San Jose Unified!)

[sir99]

Originally Posted by NickB1967

Perhaps West Roseville (also great school district) would be better? Woodland *is* a torturous commute from either Fair Oaks or Folsom.

Davis might also be ideal, but then you are in Bay Area prices. Davis wants to keep it small and prices are higher accordingly.

This is great info, Nick. Davis wasn't really on our radar, but we will check it out. I assume that commute to Folsom is a "reverse" commute?

Would it matter if my wife would leave at 7 a.m. to go to Woodland from Fair Oaks? How much further is the drive from Folsom vs. Fair Oaks to Woodland?

[sir99]

Originally Posted by ryuns

Carmichael or Fair Oaks would both lead to pretty brutal commutes to the Woodland area. My fiancee's commute to Woodland from Curtis Park is about 35 minutes (to the far west end of Woodland). That's with minor slowing from traffic. You may be able to avoid the traffic if you can take I-80 through North Sac (maybe someone who drives that route regularly can commute), but you're still likely to encounter some, and, depending on your location in Carmichael/Fair Oaks, may have a long-ish drive through town once you get off on 80. Still probably do-able in 45 minutes, but it wouldn't be pleasant. Though Nick is right about that Folsom holds the promise of good schools and a tech industry, the drive from Folsom to Woodland is probably out of the question. Would be very hard to avoid traffic on that route.

That said, Fair Oaks does sound like it would fit your criteria. Schools in that area should be fine if you do your homework and find the right spot. You should be able to find a great house in your price range.

Given your wife's work in Woodland, Davis is an obvious recommendation. That commute is 10 minutes on county roads that never see a lick of traffic. $450k won't take you that far there, but the schools are almost universally excellent and most of the community is very family-oriented. At least poke around the area with your price range in mind and see what comes up.

Keep in mind also that Sac just isn't that dense outside of the center city. There are some areas within the city to consider, like Land Park, South Land Park and East Sac. The schools aren't universally good of course, but the nicer areas generally feed good schools.

Thanks much Ryuns for this and the kind words. Would it matter if my wife commuted at 7 a.m. and drove home at 3 p.m.? Difference in drive time from Fair Oaks vs. Folsom?

[NickB1967]

Originally Posted by sir99

This is great info, Nick. Davis wasn't really on our radar, but we will check it out. I assume that commute to Folsom is a "reverse" commute?

Would it matter if my wife would leave at 7 a.m. to go to Woodland from Fair Oaks? How much further is the drive from Folsom vs. Fair Oaks to Woodland?

I leave at 6:15 to avoid freeway back up from Roseville, and that is just to the Watt rail station for the hop downtown. If her Woodland job is fixed and your work is more flexible, then forget Folsom or Fair Oaks altogether and look at Davis or Fiddyment (West Roseville)

A commute from Davis to Folsom is a reverse commute overall, save for the causeway to downtown section.

A commute from West Roseville to Folsom is also torture, because Sacramento has no beltway loop.

See California Highways (www.cahighways.org): Sacramento Freeway Development for what could have and should have been....