Retiring and considering Carmichael, Fair Oaks or Orangevale. Good/Bad Idea? (Sacramento: sales, crime)

[LoriBee62]

We are from the Bay Area and considering retiring to Sacramento suburbs. Since we'll be retired, commuting and traffic isn't a consideration for us at all.

I want a house in an established neighborhood (big trees, good sized lot) with a pool, in the price range of $300-425K, ideally single story. We love mid-century modern architecture, and it seems the homes that exactly fit the bill for us are in Carmichael. In fact, my on-line home searches keep pointing me to Carmichael, Fair Oaks and Orangevale.

I've been reading a lot of these forums and am having a hard time gleaning whether or not these are good neighborhoods. How would those cities be for a retired couple? Mostly considering safety, neighborhoods that are expected to remain stable and are not on a downswing. We're homebodies, so give me a movie theater, garage sales and a Home Depot nearby and we're happy. I just don't want to end up next to the house with 15 motorcycles and pot growing in the back yard (we've got that here in Sonoma County, thank you).

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide!

[caligirlz]

Carmichael, Fair Oaks and Orangevale are nice neighborhoods. Orangevale probably less so, unless you prefer a more rural setting. You can check the crime maps for safety. As far as the 2nd criteria (neighborhoods that are expected to remain stable and are not on a downswing), it's going to be hit & miss. And you will need to visit the area to determine which neighborhoods fall into that category.

There are some really nice neighborhoods along Fair Oaks Blvd, the Ancil Hoffman Park area, American River Drive. However, once Fair Oaks meets El Camino things start getting a little more run down. The area near Whole Foods in Arden is nice also, although some parts may not be considered Carmichael. There are nice, older homes with larger lots off California Ave south of Fair Oaks Blvd. Then there are pockets of nice areas in Carmichael also.

Overall, I think Fair Oaks is decent, older with larger lots, except for close to Sunrise Blvd, and the closer you get to Orangevale, and of course, the pockets in every neighborhood. There is always someone.

The higher your budget, the less likely you will be in one of the declining areas.

Perhaps you could share some homes you are looking at, and then we can give you more specific feedback.

[LoriBee62]

Thanks so much for the feedback. Yes, we need to take a drive through the towns and get our own feeling, but I appreciate hearing from locals also. As for specific homes, we are a ways out from actually moving. Just planning for retirement right now, so mostly I was interested in the general feel of the cities. Would you live there? If not, why not? That sort of thing.

I've seen a number of posts regarding these towns where commute and/or schools are a consideration. Being that we would be retired, I was looking to get an idea of them from that slightly different angle.

[cb73]

I'm in Carmichael and my area seems a little on the downslide lately. I'd really suggest you look at Garden of the Gods (off Eastern) and Arden Park (off Watt)--both are really nice areas and very stable.

[Curmudgeon]

As much as I enjoyed much of living in Sacramento for 20 years I would caution you about the air quality due to an inversion layer. The delta breezes, when they're in-coming, clean things up but they're not constant.

[2sleepy]

Those are the same areas my husband and I are looking in, along with parts of Arden Arcade. I don't know what your budget is but we have not found one Fair Oaks house under 350k that has a decent sized master bedroom, I think one builder must have built at least half of Fair Oaks. We just put in an offer on a MCM in Carmichael but it looks like there are several offers so it is very possible that we won't get it. Our house in Reno sold sooner than we thought it would so we are living in a motel with 2 dogs and 2 birds and spending just about every waking hour looking for a house, it's not much fun...

[caligirlz]

Originally Posted by cb73

I'm in Carmichael and my area seems a little on the downslide lately. I'd really suggest you look at Garden of the Gods (off Eastern) and Arden Park (off Watt)--both are really nice areas and very stable.

I like both of those neighborhoods too, but they are not considered Carmiacheal...at least not when I checked the map earlier today.

[caligirlz]

Originally Posted by LoriBee62

Would you live there? If not, why not? That sort of thing.

I looked at Carmichael a lot when I first moved to Sacto. I liked that it was centrally located & had an excellent reputation. However, after spending a lot of time in the area, it seemed to be on the tattered side, except for the wealthier areas along American River Drive & Fair Oaks Blvd.

After I weighed out all the plus & minuses, it just didn't work for me. That doesn't mean it isn't perfect for someone else. I'm not interested in a large lot or older house requiring lots of work. And I'm really not interested in living in a pocket of nice homes surrounded by neighborhoods going south...been there, done that. There are a couple of really nice parks, and Carmichael Park has an awesome Sunday morning farmers market. And bottom line, since I'm still working, access to the freeways is terrible. Sounds like from that aspect it would be perfect for retirees.

[LoriBee62]

I very much appreciate the opinions and suggestions!

CB73, thanks for the suggestion. I have seen those neighborhoods recommended in internet searches before but hadn't looked at them yet.

Honestly, we are pretty much open to anywhere in or around Sacramento. I'd just like an established neighborhood (I'm tired of waiting for trees to grow), single-story with a pool and some sort of charm. I would love to find in the price range of the high 200's, and are willing to do some updating of the home to get it. But really, we could go up to the low 400's if we had to.

2Sleepy, I feel for you and hope you find something soon! I will check out the Arden Arcade areas also.

I've got three coworkers who retired and moved to Lincoln and Roseville, new housing developments for both of them. They LOVE it, and I love the idea of warmer nights. But we've done new construction twice and would really love to try a lived-in shady neighborhood for a change. It's so much harder when you don't know the area though, even with the luxury of Google letting me "walk down streets" on my laptop, LOL

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by LoriBee62

2Sleepy, I feel for you and hope you find something soon! I will check out the Arden Arcade areas also.

I've got three coworkers who retired and moved to Lincoln and Roseville, new housing developments for both of them. They LOVE it, and I love the idea of warmer nights. But we've done new construction twice and would really love to try a lived-in shady neighborhood for a change. It's so much harder when you don't know the area though, even with the luxury of Google letting me "walk down streets" on my laptop, LOL

We have two dogs and decided no matter what else we do, we will find a place with a large yard for them, it seems that new homes in the Sacramento area come on postage stamp sized lots and lack privacy with neighbors windows directly across from yours. We find out Thursday morning if we got the Carmichael house we made the offer on, if not it's back to searching again but geez, we have looked at so many houses and really haven't found many we like. So many of the 350K and under older homes with large yards are just nasty inside and have had few or no renovations in the past 60 years or have insanely small master bedrooms. Then there is a large inventory of investor owned 'flips' most of which are just awful, super cheap materials and sloppy workmanship. If we don't get this house, I think we are going to look around South Land Park, it's about the same price range as Fair Oaks but there seems to be a larger variety of types of homes in that price range. If we can't find anything there and nothing new comes on the market in the other areas we are looking in, I have no idea what we will do..you have no idea how small a motel room seems after you have been in it for 2 weeks ugh.

It certainly has been a learning experience though, I found out that the parts of a house that are not photographed for the listing are usually so gross that if posted pictures no one would look at the house. "Add your own touches" means that the house will require at least as much $ in repairs as it costs, and "perfect for the first time homeowner" means it is either infested with fleas and roaches or it is practically falling off of it's foundation, and same owner for 40 plus years means that it has wallpaper, linoleum and the cupboards are falling off of the walls