Question about El Dorado County (San Francisco, Sacramento: apartment, big home, living in)

[Busch Boy]

I'm not from California, but I've heard about its reputation as being a very expensive state. I know about living in expensive areas (I'm from the NYC metro area). I looked at homes in El Dorado County and the surrounding counties and I thought they were actually pretty affordable and nice. I saw a home in Coloma, Ca on five acres with a lake in the upper 200's! The area as a whole looks very nice. I was even more surprised when I saw how close Sacramento and San Francisco (I wouldn't mind driving 2.5 hours to spend a day in SF) are from this area. Does anyone familiar with the area have anything to say about it. Only a native can tell me what I don't see in the internet, LOL. I'm not planning to move anytime soon, I'm just very interested in this area.

Oh yeah, how is the weather in this area?

[NorCalMan]

California is expensive but for the price of an apartment in Manhattan you will get a big home in the Sacto area or a smaller home with land in the foothills.

Coloma is a place you would want live in if you are retired. The road out of the canyon that Coloma lies in is steep and winding and is driven by idiots-hill folk and city folk alike. FYI, Coloma is where gold was discovered in 1849 so this area is historically rich and the Marshall Gold Historic Park is a nice place to visit to get some education, but I still wouldn't want to live in Coloma. If you liked Coloma for its remoteness you can find many other out of the way places to live that would offer you better access to the freeway and shopping.

El Dorado county as a whole is very nice. It's a large county that stretches all the way from the Sacto county border to Lake Tahoe. There are lots of nice communities in El Do Co.

Our weather in Sacto is great if you like being outside year round. We get the heat in the summer-there are usually a few weeks of 105 plus-but we don't have the humidity like the east coast does so it's bearable. Our winters here are what spring is like back east. Skiing is 1.5 hours away, San Fran is 2 hours away, Folsom Lake is right around the corner, there's more hiking, biking, hunting and motorsports opportunities here than you can shake a stick at (whatever that means).

[woogexx]

el dorado is ok....in the middle of nowhere...gives me the whole dessert vibe. weather is good 80% of the year. its cold nov-march.....btw sf is bout 80mins away in moderate traffic not 2.5.

[humboldtrat]

El Dorado county, along with Amador and other counties in the Sierra foothills, is a nice rural area. Probably not much going on in the way of jobs unless you want to commute to the Sacramento area.

It's semi wooded and the weather is warm and dry during the summer and it rains during the winter months (snow if you're at a high enough elevation). There are some wineries in the area El Dorado Winery Association Amador Vintner's Association - Welcome Spring in Amador Wine Country!. It's about 2 hours or less to San Francisco or to Reno/Lake Tahoe to the east.