Shopping amenities in Placerville (Sacramento, Orange: for sale, real estate, apartment)

[MannyfromCali]

Doing research on places to move to in the Sacramento foothills. Looking at the towns of Shingle Springs, Placerville, and surrounding areas. My wife and kids, 6 yr. old and 18 year old both girls want to be close to shopping amenities- Border/Barnes&Noble Bookstores, Malls, Movie theatres/ restaurants, Dance classes/sports opportunities for the little one, and good schools. My stay-at-home wife would like involvement in Mom and kids type social groups. I like to occasionally go to Home Depot and Sports Shooting ranges. I like to be in a hilly spot not flat. I'm an avid gardener and therefore desire some space around my house, minimum 2 acres in my mind. I'm a nurse by profession. My family dislikes exessive heat in the summer (excess of 90 degrees F). I'm looking at Placerville because of its above the fogline location, possibly cooler than the Sac Delta in the summer. My housing budget is no more than $500,000. We want to settle for the long haul. We live simple lives and drive simple cars but the shopping thing is important to my girls. My questions then:

- It seems unlikely that Placerville would have all the shopping wants of my girls, but what is available there in terms of shopping opportunities? Name some big box stores that are there please. Is Roseville/Folsom the only areas with shopping amenities? How far and long of a drive would that be from Placerville on a midday commute?

- What elementary schools are desireable in the area? Are there any good community colleges around?

- Are there any specific areas to guide my research in reguards to some spaceous properties that are not too remote?

- Am I even close in reguards to the average summer temps in this location?

- To the ladies, are there any active social groups for stay-at-home moms? Just for socializing, company, and friendship, not necessarily civic or political in nature.

I am clear that I will not achieve all the ideal requirements above, but suggestions/discussions and specific area recommendations would streamline my search and visiting plans next summer. I've read and searched this forum fairly extensively and it's given me a generalized feel for the area and I'd like to narrow it down some through suggestions from the local folks. Would you all be so kind as to help me out?

[GLS]

MannyfromCali,

If you haven't already done so, read some of the posts under the thread,
"Placerville/Shingle Springs/Pollock Pines" started by SingleNursemom. There is some excellent info that addresses your questions.

From my perspective, in order to met all your needs ideally you would have a house in Roseville and one in Camino or Pleasant Valley. In Roseville you will find all the "mallmania" and restaurants that your wife and daughter would like.
However, with all those choices comes the purchasing power of hordes of people.

In Placerville we have a new Home Depot, a WalMart (but not "superstore"),
one theater multiplex, and a lot of "mom & pop" type stores with good character, friendly people, but the selection is obviously much smaller than in Sac. We have a small, but quaint bookstore downtown, but it isn't any Barnes & Noble. I think we have three Starbucks if you like trendy caffeine.
We have three or four restaurants with atmosphere, good food and good service. Beyond that, Placerville is mostly "fast food". We tend to catch the travelers to and from Lake Tahoe.

You didn't say if you are still working or retired. Marshall Hospital in Placerville has good care, but we triage serious accidents and life-flight out
the critical to Sac. There are three SNFs in Placerville and some assisted living. If you specialize in critical care, labor and delivery, mental health, etc you may want to look "down-the-hill" for employment. Sutter, Mercy, and UCD has very large hospital systems with great resources and mutiple job openings. However, if you are commuting much study the traffic patterns before you buy a house.

You also didn't say where you are relocating from. If it's from Death Valley, then Sac summers are comfortable. Personally, I hate the heat. I am uncomfortable in Sac from June to November. Shingle Springs and Cameron Park are up the hill, but with about the same heat. Placerville runs about 5 to 7 degrees cooler than Sac, but we still can get over 100 degrees. The elevation of Placerville is about 1200 ft (West end) to 1800 ft (East end).
Therefore it is slightly cooler as you are on the East side and start moving up the hill to Camino (3000ft) and Pollock (4000ft).

Finally, as I have remarked in other threads, if you want "a minimum" of 2 acres, $500K will get you something decent a few miles outside of Placerville. In contrast, the further down the hill you go the less chance you have for getting land for anything reasonable, and the hotter it gets in Summer. We are fortunate because we have a home in Pleasant Valley, a rural area outside Placerville, and keep an apartment on Garden Highway near the river in Sac. We get the Delta breezes in the Summer and skip the commute 3 days a week. We shop in Sac and go to specialty restaurants in Sac when we are at the apartment, but come back home to get away from the people. If you are in a position to do this it is an excellent compromise between access to services and rural tranquility. Good luck. This area lways needs good nurses, but you can see from the other thread, you are going to get some competition from other nurses moving here.

[MannyfromCali]

Thank you very much for your reply, much food for thought. I am comming from
Orange County, CA. I apologise for the delayed response, I was on vacation with my family but am back now to continue monitoring the Sacramento forum. Your suggestion of having two places is ideal but unfortunately unreasonable for me. The reason we are moving is to find a less crowded place and have it pretty much paid for so that we get relief from the rat race of OC. I do see your point about nurses moving to that area. UC Davis sounds attractive since I already work for a UC Hospital. Thanks again, I'll look into Camino or Pollock for closer study. By the way, do you happen to know what school district serves those two towns for elementary and are they any good?

MannyfromCali

[KidBlue]

MannyfromCali,

I would also urge you to check out Pollock Pines (Camino is pretty expensive in some areas) both for the housing cost and also the temperature being a little lower that Sacramento in the summer. But when it gets over 100 it can even be in the mid 90's in Seattle and Portland, so it's impossible to escape entirely.

There are several school districts serving the Placerville area:

Gold Oak Union Elementary
Gold Trail Union Elementary
Mother Lode Union Elementary
Placerville Union Elementary
El Dorado Union High School District

You can check out demographic information at California Department of Education under data and then DataQuest. You can check out academic information under the same site at EdData. Most of the schools in the Placerville area are excellent.

Happy searching.....

[KidBlue]

Ooops, forgot to say there is a new Target in El Dorado Hills and a new Chili's restaurant. There is also a theatre complex. There is also going to be a new shopping center soon in El Dorado Hills and another one near Hwy. 50 in Folsom, with more theatres! I heard that a Lowe's may be coming to Cameron Park also. I think your kids will survive near Placerville!

[MannyfromCali]

Thank you KidBlue, that list of schools gives me just the info I need for one aspect of my research, and the shopping too!

We will be vacationing in South Lake Tahoe in April and plan on spending a couple of days in the Placerville area for an actual look. Would you recommend
going around with a willing realtor to make our exploration of the area more efficient and focused? Do you know a realtor that I can contact? Thanks again.

[DMenscha]

You might try these guys.

CA real estate listings and homes for sale, home buying, home selling information – Quest Properties - Homepage

I have no affiliation with them at all.

[JohnStar]

I think you will find everything you're looking for in and around Auburn, which is up 80 rather than 50. You can get to Tahoe ( North Shore) by taking 80 and stop off in Auburn to check out the area. You can even stop by the Roseville mall a few miles down the road.

[JenniferLynn]

Someone is going to have to compromise here. The hilly, cooler areas around Placerville just do not have the shopping amenities you're looking for. You will have to drive down into the (hotter) valley for those.

The drive from Placerville to Folsom is about 30 minutes during non-commute times. You will have to live with either the heat or the drive.

[MannyfromCali]

My wife stays home so I would think driving to Folsom or Roseville to shop during the day off of traffic rush hours should be ok. If it takes 30 minutes as you suggest, that isn't too bad, here in Orange County, So Cal. It can takes that time to go to the mall anyway, a mere 8 miles away due to traffic congestion! Thanks for the travel time advise, it gives me a feel for distances to the business centers of the area.