Relocating to Sacramento Area

[johnnyz]

Another vote for Davis here...

[NinaN]

$700K will get you about 2000 sq ft home in Davis. I agree that if the house works for you, it's a great option!

[Mitter]

Originally Posted by sonnymac33

Good morning, First off, thank you to all that participate in these forums. I have found the information very useful. My family is considering a move to the area from NYC. My husband would be working in north Sacramento. I am a stay at home mom with a kindergartner and a toddler. We would like to rent for the first 6 months, ideally in the same school district/catchment that we would purchase in. Public school and commute time are our top priorities along with parks/community pool, family friendly and it would be nice if it had some sort of town center/high street. We would like to stay under 700K for a 4 bedroom home. Our top towns include Davis, Rocklin and Folsom. I would appreciate any insights on the areas or anywhere else we should consider. Thank you!

I am a native Sacramentan. I lived there up until 2.5 years ago. The very best public school district is the San Juan school district. The best high school is Rio Americano, followed by El Camino high school, where my son graduated. Very good school with lots of honors and advanced placement courses. However these school districts are not in the North Sacto area, which is a bad part of town. He went to University of Calif at Davis, just a few miles west of Sacramento.

Weather is all relative. I moved from Sacramento to Oakhurst Ca which is in the Sierra Nevada foothills just 13 south of Yosemite Natl Park. I wish I hadn't. Although Sacramento is hot in the summer, it doesn't reach high temps until the afternoon and cools off at night due to the delta breezes. In Oakhurst it reaches the same high temps, but is hot by mid to late morning.

Traffic is very bad in Sacto, even though there are several freeways. Sacramento is the crossroads of several major highways (Highway 5 is San Diego to Seattle, Interstate 80, Highway 50 (Sacramento to South Lake Tahoe) and traffic is bad.

Cost of housing is skyrocketing. I sold my 1840 sf townhouse in 2013 for $345k; it is now for sale at $439k. However, it is close to California State Univ, Sacramento and in a very nice part of town, east of Sacramento proper.

Sacto is close to a lot of recreation and the wine counties of the foothills plus Napa and Sonoma valleys. Folsom Lake for boating and kayaking. Lots of nightlife plus the home of the new Sacramento Kings basketball stadium downtown.