What are these areas like?? (Sacramento, Oakland: foreclosure, lease, crime rate)

[fairytalelover]

When I look up house listings in the Sac area most homes are falling in these areas for really cheap. What are these areas like? Are they bad?

Sacramento Elder Creek/Fruitridge

Sacramento Florin & Vicinity

Sacto Franklin/Freeport/Vicinity

Sacto South Land Park/Greenhaven

[CityGirl72]

I wouldn't live in any of those areas except for Greenhaven Pocket area - and even that is too close for my comfort to Florin Road or Meadowview (very gang related)

[fairytalelover]

Yuck. Ok. Thanks for the advice. Looks like we are going to stick to Roseville.

[misterdammit]

How about First Avenue? Any thoughts on that one?

[CityGirl72]

I ping'ed you direct MRDAMMIT, but that is Oak Park and a rough tough neighborhood. It has seen some people put money into the houses but still is being pulled under from the crime & violence that comes from South Sac via Stockon Ave

It's an okay place if you have no kids, and are looking for a started home and do not mind a rougher neighborhood though...

[wburg]

Out of curiosity, my wife used the local police website to track crimes in our neighborhood vs. Oak Park. While we found there were more total crimes in our neighborhood, they tended to be relatively minor--mostly property crimes, vandalism, public intoxication (we're near a lot of bars) etcetera. While there were maybe 3/4 as many crimes in a similar-sized area in Oak Park, there were a lot more serious crimes: drug dealing, prostitution, crimes of violence including murder.

You'd probably be better off buying in a better neighborhood in Stockton than in Oak Park, misterdammit.

[misterdammit]

Thanks for the replies. Just so you know, I'm looking to rent, not buy. Not that it really matters...I still don't want to live in crime-land. :-)

How about Rosemont?

[misterdammit]

Oh yeah, and how about Arden-Arcade? Natomas? North Natomas is supposed to be good, right?

I am planning on looking at some places in Sac on Saturday and don't want to waste my time looking in bad areas. I do have a question though. Do the "bad" areas of Sac actually LOOK bad? Will I be able to tell by looking whether it's a bad neighborhood?

[wburg]

North Natomas: Not necessarily Crimeland, but quite possibly Floodland. Their levees were de-certified. They're also a foreclosure hotspot, and the rapid decline in home values doesn't look like it's going to reverse anytime soon. Even before the crash, Natomas was already the target for criticism due to its badly designed neighborhoods. Also, Natomas is on the far north end of Sacramento, an extra 10-15 miles from your s.o.'s job in Stockton--with downtown Sacramento, the worst traffic knot in the region, in between. Same with Arden-Arcade.

Overall, Sacramento has a relatively high crime rate. We have a higher crime rate than most cities, and in terms of major cities in California, the only one with a higher crime rate is Oakland. Our crime is marginally less bad than Stockton. You have asked about all these neighborhoods waiting for the crime-free and inexpensive one, but there really isn't one.

Certainly not one that justifies an hour-long commute. Take the extra $100-200 a week you'll save by not having to commute, and go check out the safest neighborhoods in Stockton, which probably are about as safe as the middling-fair neighborhoods in Sacramento.

[misterdammit]

Thanks for the reply, wburg. I'm not expecting a miracle neighborhood, I just want to make sure I won't hate the place we end up. :-)

The thing about Stockton is that we really don't like it, not just that it's a high-crime place. I know there are decent neighborhoods there...but we both like Sac. There's more to do, and it's just prettier in my opinion. In fact, our friends in Stockton told us not to move there, lol! If I'm going to live in a crime filled city, I'd rather at least have it be a city with more fun stuff to do.

On the bright side, after my fiance works at his new job for awhile, he will have opportunities to transfer (to any number of cities, including Sac). So the commute will likely not be forever. I imagine he'll get tired of the commute fairly quickly, at least if gas prices continue to rise! I'm hoping we can get a place with a month to month lease, so we can move if we have to.