New&Confused, Moving to CA (Sacramento, Riverside: apartment complexes, renters, crime)

[katastrophe]

Hello everyone,
I'm sure you see lots of people questioning the best places in Sacramento in order to decided where to move, and I'm no different. Me and my boyfriend are planning to move in the fall with another couple. We're all in our twenties, looking for a progressive area but we're somewhat passed the crazy college years. We'd like to find a nice 2bed, 2bath apartment/home in a nice area. We're trying to stay away from areas that may not be safe for people who just moved and aren't sure about where they are. I'm interested in living somewhat near the college, since I plan on going there and I also have a dog that loves to swim, so being near water would be a plus.

Anyone have any ideas?

My top concerns are:
1) Budget (we can go as high as 950 or 1000/month but would like to stay within 900 or less)
2) Four people living in one place, must be big enough where we dont sit on each other
3) Pet friendly to a small lab and a cat
4) Near water
5) Oppurtunities for jobs
6) Safety - Is the area big with crime?
7) Surrounding attractions/shops/everyday life

I hope that's enough info! Thanks for everyone's help ahead of time.
It's getting crazy trying to think about all the things I have to get together for even THINKING about moving to CA. We're excited though!

[CityGirl72]

I thin your biggest obstacle will be housing - you need to go over $1000 for a 2 bedroom at least maybe $1200 or $1300 if you want space, and definately 1K+ if you want the safer cleaner areas (which are not around Sac State)

Your next obstacle will be the dog, it's hard to rent with big dogs (a small lab is a big dog to rentals) plus you will have to pay pet deposits on your pets.

So are you saying that 4 people are pooling their money together for $900 or less a month? Are all of you working?

[katastrophe]

Yeah, four people. There's two couples involved with the expenses. All of us will be looking/have jobs when we get there. We're all aiming to have jobs by the time we get there so we can start out making money. I've fonud a lot of places that are renting 850 or so for 2bedroom, 2 bath apartment/townhomes. It hasn't seemed too hard with craigslist for expense way, i hope I'm not being naive in thinking it can be that low. That was just rent, with pet deposits it tends to go around 1000. Its beneficial that all four of us will aim to contribute and split the expenses.

Do you think it's impossible to look for housing less than 1000 for four people? Like I said, I've seen a lot of ads on craigslist for places that seemed average aroudn 700-900/month.

Also about the pets, this lab is very well trained and housebroken. She loves the water and we feel that it's impossible to NOT take her. She's our dog. She's about 55 lbs in the winter, lol. She's very active so she would probably gain weight living in Sacramento at first.

What places should we look for pet friendly accomidations? What properties are near the water? Are they nice places?

Thank you so much!

[CityGirl72]

Sacramento is a really big place - WHERE are the $850 apartments located?? Got an address?

There are some dangerous areas - I'd like to check to make sure that's not where these apartments are

My Studio apartment in Midtown now goes for $610 per month, when I rented my 2 bedroom apartment it was $1250 (and that's 4 years ago)

[katastrophe]

Well, that's really discouraging.. We've been going by craigslist mainly, finding the apartments on there. I listed four or five with all their info and the highest estimated cost was 1000. The average was 8-9 hundred.
I tried to look up information on the areas but it's so hard to get good answers.

The places are:

Woodlake Village on Bicentenial
Arbor Point on Old Placerville Rd
Riverfront Apartments on Riverside Blvd.
Silverado Creek Apartments on Bruceville Road
River Park Vista on Newman Court @ H and Carlson
La Riviera Apartments/Houses on La Riveira

Some info about these places would be great!

[shoog89]

Come on! You can find 1BRs in the 6 to 700 range in safe neighborhoods. And the Sac State area is safe.

[B to the T]

Originally Posted by katastrophe

Well, that's really discouraging.. We've been going by craigslist mainly, finding the apartments on there. I listed four or five with all their info and the highest estimated cost was 1000. The average was 8-9 hundred.
I tried to look up information on the areas but it's so hard to get good answers.

The places are:

Woodlake Village on Bicentenial
Arbor Point on Old Placerville Rd
Riverfront Apartments on Riverside Blvd.
Silverado Creek Apartments on Bruceville Road
River Park Vista on Newman Court @ H and Carlson
La Riviera Apartments/Houses on La Riveira

Some info about these places would be great!

You can check on crime by going here... just punch in the address...

KCRA.com - KCRA 3 Crime Tracker

GL...

[MidwestToSac]

I've found Sacramento Apartments for Rent with Ratings & Reviews by Sacramento Renters at ApartmentRatings.com to be very helpful regarding various apartment complexes located in and around Sacramento. So if you're looking for info on the places you mentioned, this is definitely a good place to start.

[katastrophe]

I have looked up info on the apartment sites, but does anyone know first hand about any of those areas?

[CityGirl72]

Each of those streets have okay spots and then some rough spots - I need actual addresses to figure out it.

Like on Bruceville - is it part of south sac or the part in Elk Grove - that makes a BIG difference