Moving to Sacto from Hawaii - Need some advice (Los Angeles: for sale, real estate)

[schnieds]

Howzit everyone...

My wife & I have lived in Hawaii for the past six years and are now headed to the Sacramento area. My wife grew up in the area and most of her family still lives there. I personally grew up in the San Diego area, so I don't have much experience with Sacramento other than our trips there.

Before anyone replies with "why in the world are you leaving Hawaii" let me answer that question. Hawaii is awesome & awful all at the same time. Awesome: the island is beautiful, we have wonderful local friends & I get to surf every weekend in world class waves. Awful: cost of living, career opportunities, cost of travel to mainland to visit family; school are terrible; no good mexican food. With our second child on the way, financial stability & family now out weigh the benefits of island living.

I already have a job lined up where I will be tele-commuting for a company in Santa Barbara. We will be able to stay with my in-laws for as long as we need to find a house in the area.

So here are my questions:

- What area would you recommend to buy a home right now?
(I have narrowed the list down to Folsom, Roseville or possibly Rocklin - my wife prefers Folsom)
- Is there a good real estate web site specific to Sacramento?
- How far is it to the mountains in Tahoe? (I want to learn to snowboard)
- Anyone in the area take a trip over to the ocean to surf once a month or so?

And here is additional information about what we are looking for:

- House in the $250 - $325K range
- Newer construction the better (I suck at fixing stuff)
- Would like something in the 2000 sq. ft. range
- Priorities: Family friendly, safe neighborhood; Good schools; Scenic over shopping
- Future resale value is important (5+ years)
- Near mass transit would be nice just in case I need to get a local job in the future

Thanks for the info - mucho mahalo.

[CityGirl72]

I prefer Folsom too (I have two small kids) but your price range for the size home you want is too low - our price is about 400K and we still aren't finding what we need. - not to say there aren't some deals in your price range - but beware they might be foreclosures or short sales (which are a headache)

I'm from Sac and we live in Seattle - moving back to Sac.

In the 10 year I lived in Sac I never drove out to the Ocean (originally from Los Angeles and never was a beach person)

Tahoe will be a 90 minute drive about - but there is skiing closer then Tahoe.

I use Sac bee and ZipRealty to do my house window shopping - sometimes find private sellers on Craigslist

Mass Transit is kind of a joke in the Sac area. THere is a light rail and I hear because of gas prices people use it more - but you'd want to live in Folsom cuz that's the only place it runs to out of your list.

There is a bus system in place but it's not very reliable and not many lines to use. I'd say 85% of people drive/ commute. Sacramento is a commuter city.

[CMKM-Miller]

I live in Sac. A house in that price range should not be a problem at all in the Roseville/Rocklin area. Folsom - not too sure about. The real estate bust hasn't seemed to effect Folsom as much as Roseville/Rocklin. Sac is a commuter city. The Light Rail (RT) does go out to Folsom and it takes roughly 1 HR by RT to get from Folsom to Downtown Sac. Tickets are $2.00 but threatening to rise. If your preference is scenic over shopping, I would look to Folsom as well. They do have the outlets there, but not nearly as much traffic as Roseville because that's where the Galleria and everything else is. The real estate sites listed above are perfect. Traveling to the ocean takes about 3 hours to get to the Sonoma Coast (Bodega Bay) and traffic is horrid on I-80 and Highway 101. I have family in Santa Rosa and dread traveling there because traffic is so bad. Hope this helps some.

[romanceisdead]

Try Metrolist.com
I like it the best. And if you wait, you may be able to get Folsom. But Roseville and Rocklin also have good schools.

[schnieds]

Wow, thank you all for the great information. I hadn't found ZipRealty before; that is an AWESOME site!!!

Traffic sounds like it is a problem whether we end up in Folsom or Roseville. In my job research it looks like there are more tech jobs (I am a software engineer) in the Roseville area.

Folsom does seem to carry a premium price. It seems that you can get a nicer, bigger, newer home in Roseville for significantly less than what you can get in Folsom. Any idea why Folsom is retaining more value?

CityGirl72: I am curious. What is it about the Sacramento area that you love so much? Since I have never lived there I am still trying to figure out what to expect.

Mahalo!

Schnieds

[CityGirl72]

Roseville has the Galleria and gets a lot of retail traffic - less people go to Folsom so it's more secluded and cleaner and very low crime...thus is a bit pricer.

[romanceisdead]

Folsom also has Intel Corps. leargest campus. That is worth looking into, for your job. Although, my husband works for Intel, and we are still looking into Roseville or Rocklin for a home, because of the price. He will just make the little drive-- lots of people do it to Intel.

What CityGirl said was true. And what I like so much about Folsom. It is much more secluded, on the edge of all the Sac sprawl, still feels like a small town, etc. And investers are keeping the prices up, because it is known to be a good location, they keep buying at the askig prices. Sucks for us normal people who want to buy here.

[zen_klown]

Originally Posted by schnieds

And here is additional information about what we are looking for:

- House in the $250 - $325K range
- Newer construction the better (I suck at fixing stuff)
- Would like something in the 2000 sq. ft. range
- Priorities: Family friendly, safe neighborhood; Good schools; Scenic over shopping
- Future resale value is important (5+ years)
- Near mass transit would be nice just in case I need to get a local job in the future

Thanks for the info - mucho mahalo.

I agree with citygirl, I think you might have some problems finding a newer home in the neighborhoods you are looking in your price range. In general newer homes tend to sell at premium over older homes because everything is up to date. So in a given zip code, they will be higher than the older homes in the zip code.

DQNews - Sacramento Bee Zip Code Chart

(250,000/2000=125 sq/ft 325,000/2000=162.5sq/ft)

If you are willing to go with an older house or a smaller house in those neighborhoods you can probably do it, otherwise you might want to look elsewhere. If you are looking for a place where you should be able to find a new home with the parameters you mentioned, I would look at either Elk Grove or Lincoln.

Things you might find useful.

California School Performance Maps You will need to click on this a few times to find stuff regarding the Sacramento area, but this is a map of schools by test score.

California School Performance Maps This is a similiar map, but it maps out the craigslist classified listings (again you will have to click on it a few times). Its a good way to figure out if you can afford to buy into the neighborhood surrounding the school you are interested in.

Housing + Transportation : Center for Neighborhood Technology This is also a clickable map. On the advanced search function of this map, you can see how good the transit connections are in a given neighborhood and you can also see average incomes by neighborhood.

Lastly here is an ethnicity map for the Sacramento region. I am not sure if you are looking for ethnic foods, but the two largest concentrations of Filipinos would be in Antelope and in South Sac and I imagine they would be your best bet to find Hawaiian foods.

STI: ERsys - Sacramento, CA (Ethnicity)

[zen_klown]

Slight correction

http://www.housingmaps.com/This (broken link) is similiar to the school performance map, but it maps out the craigslist classified listings (again you will have to click on it a few times). Its a good way to figure out if you can afford to buy into the neighborhood surrounding the school you are interested in.

HotPads - Map Search for Real Estate, Apartments & Houses for Rent, Foreclosures and Homes for Sale Lastly this is the mls in map form.