Probably asked 1903847598234729384 times before (Sacramento, Orange: mortgage, loan, gated)

[boltthrower]

Ok so my GF's job is moving her to Sacramento her and I are looking for a house 215-240K range

Here's the thing though (even though it's a serious question i tried to add some humor to it)

1) I don't want to have to wear Kevlar or have to do some S.W.A.T. tactics to go get my mail from the mail box or to get the morning paper.

2) I don't wish for my vehicle to be moved without my permission in the middle of the night, and when I come out in the morning to go to work I don't need the extra air conditioning that comes with windows being busted out in it and for it not to be sitting on blocks cause that would make it really difficult to drive

3) I don't need extra visitors coming through my window in the middle of the night either

in other words what areas would you avoid living in at all costs...
thank you for your time in answering this

[Guingirl]

Good luck?? For the most part you might be able to get a condo or townhome. Honestly, when we bought two years ago, we couldn't find anything that you were looking at sub-350K. In 2000, you would have been able to find a lot. Unfortunately, there has been a huge influx of people into the area driving up housing costs.

You might be able to find a rehabbing area downtown. I know they are putting together some of those or you might try farther areas out such as Dixon, Yuba City.

Anyway, sorry for not giving you better news. But that doesn't mean that someone else on here might not know of a great deal that they will let you in on

Good luck sir!

[BigCheeze]

Just had to poke into the Sac forums... We moved out of Sac about 2 yrs ago because we didn't want to spend 350K+ on a 1/2 decent house in a decent area.

Best bet is either move out right next to the pyramids or find a older, small house in something like Fair Oaks, Orangevale, Citrus Heights, Carmichael, or possibly Rancho Cordova.

You're really going to have a hard time, however I do hear the market is starting to crash out there. But the Median price in the area is $375.4K.

[Need_affordable_home]

Unfortunately Sacramento's prices arent good. Comparable to Miami, FL in prices. Even vacent lots are in the 6 figures! You could get a 2/1 condo(900-1000 feet) for $199k. Is that big enough for you and your wonderful girlfriend to live together? The other option is buy vacent land in a different city and have a house built on the land, youll be near Sacramento and can visit her anytime. Some of the desirable lots near Sacramento are so cheap even I can afford it! Hope this helps, sir

[LRV476]

Ok, so here's the thing. My husb and I bought in '01 in Roseville for under $200K- single family, postage stamp lot, suburbliss. 1 1/2 years ago, we could have sold it for $440K+-, but we didn't. Now, the same model down the street from us is $399K, and it hasn't budged for 6 months (started out close to $440K). If you guys can stretch to where you're comfortable- it would be a good time to get into a house, with offers and counter-offers. (I know a mortgage loan consultant who is not shady who could maybe help.)
Otherwise, you'll have to go with a condo. Look at Roseville, near the Galleria (Gibson Drive). Safe, but suburban compared to Sac. I could be wrong, but I think they have condos for sub $200K, most are gated, also there are some off the Pleasant Grove exit (off 65). Townhomes/courtyard homes are still in the threes. (courtyard= shares a common "courtyard"/driveway, but houses are clustered in threes/fours) Lincoln, even more suburban, but filled to the brim with the new housing market, also have a lot of incentives to offer on their vacant but finished new homes/courtyards. You may just get a steal there. They may/not have condos. Oh, and there are new townhomes I just remembered in Rocklin, east of Roseville- I don't know much about them, though.
Hope that helps, if only a little.

[la quinta family]

Have you thought of renting instead for a little while? Prices are
coming down..... no one knows what's going to happen
in the next couple of years, but prices are not going to go up.
In the meantime you could rent something nice, in a good area
and decide what area you like and what area you want to live
in long term. These are desireabe area's in case you decide to
rent... Folsom, Rocklin, El Dorado Hills, Cameron Park..and Roseville
If you decide you do want to buy anyway, you might check out
Orangevale. It's got low crime but the houses will be older
in that price range and fairly small if you can find one.
It's more rural but still close to everything. you can check
out the prices on www.realtor.com or you can check
out rental prices by typing in search craigslist sacramento

Good luck

[LRV476]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHomes

There are currently more homes available with these builders that offer great promotions, I get them weekly. I would reccommend Natomas!

Please do your research if commiting to Natomas; the levees are under suspicion of being unstable, (my contact in erosion control concurs). Check out the Sac County website to find out if there are any projects to fix the current levee situation. (I admit I don't know what the plans are.)

Rainy Sacramento Winters just might put your great, new, affordable home under water!

[renngrrl]

NPR just did a piece on the levees. I've lived in Sacramento quite a while and I was here for our last few floods. Natomas will be our ninth ward. It's just a matter of when.

[cncsmomndad]

I'm not quite sure I'd agree with Natomas being 45 min to an hour from the Bay Area unless you are talking general, far outskirts of the "Bay Area".

Natomas is a major flood disaster waiting to happen. Shoring up levees for protection may be a nice thought, but does one really want to count on a wall of rock and mud to hold back water that could cause catastrophic damage?

[renngrrl]

45 to 1 hr away? Wow, I had to get to Concord on a Sat recently and it took me 1 and 15 min with decent traffic and I was coming from Davis. Natomas will set you back another 20 minsat least. The 80 can be a long bottleneck and the Yolo causeway is always bad during commuting hrs.

Also, the 80 can crawl on weekends with everyone from the BA heading to Tahoe. It's really gotten bad in the last 5 yrs.