Best Places To Rent in Sacramento/Davis Area? (San Francisco, Vacaville: apartment, rental)

[tammay]

Hi Everyone,

Right now I'm living in Texas but I've wanted to move back to CA for some time. Unfortunately, right now, my financial situation isn't the greatest and I would only be able to move to an area that is less expensive than the San Francisco (where I lived for 9 years).

I did some preliminary searching and pulled a list of cities around the Davis/Sacramento area (where I think I would enjoy living). I know absolutely nothing about these cities in terms of whether they are desirable areas to live, what the cost of a rental might be (I would be looking for a studio/1 bedroom apartment/house type rental), what the crime rate is, and what the area might be like.

My list includes the following cities:
Roseville
Citrus Hieghts
Auburn
Yuba City
Marysville
Grass Valley
Oroville
Willows
Chico
Paradise
Redding
Weaverville
Dunsmuir
Weed
Red Bluff

As I mentioned, I wouldn't be able to pay much in terms of rent (preferably about $600-$700/month, which I know won't go far in CA, but no more than $800). I would be looking to move for a few years, as I will hopefully have an opportunity to move to San Francisco and pay part of an apartment there with family and own the property eventually (but only when the market gets better ).

Any advice or suggestions about where to start with these towns and experiences from those living in the area for some time I would be looking to move this summer, if possible.

Thank you!

Tam

[zen_klown]

I don't know what type of skills you have, but generally the unemployment rate tends to be much higher in the smaller towns. The unemployment rate is probably much higher right now in most of California than in comparable parts of Texas.

see county information here

County Labor Force-Unemploy, California LaborMarketInfo

and msa information here.

MSA Industry Emp-Unemploy, California LaborMarketInfo

If it were me and I was looking for a place to find a job and save up money, right now, I think Texas is probably a better choice than California. Rents are cheaper in Tx and the local economy in Texas is probably stronger than in the areas of California you are considering.

[volleyballer]

How close do you consider close to Sac/Davis? Weed, Dunsmuir, Redding, and Weaverville are all at least 3 hours away from Sac/Davis. I grew up next door to Weed and Dunsmuir, and depending on what you want, you might love those little towns or hate them. There's a lot of snow in the winter, and it gets pretty chilly there. Not Midwest chilly, though.

They're tiny towns, and like Zen said, there are not many jobs, thus rents are low. Both Weed and Dunsmuir have a drug issue, but so do many other places on your list. Everywhere has drugs, we know, but you can see the effects of the massive use in these two little, beautiful towns.

Won't you let us know what kind of job you are looking for? Or are you looking for one at all? I agree with Zen that you might want to stay in Texas until things look a little more promising in CA. It's not the time to pick up and move with no job, unfortunately. But I hope you end up where you want.

[tammay]

Zen and Volley, thanks so much for your responses! I should have mentioned about the job situation with me - I'm an online instructor and work from home, so employment wouldn't be an issue.

Sorry for the confusion on the distances of these towns - I basically pulled the names out of an online map and I'm terrible trying to figure out distances .

I guess what I'm looking for is somewhere in Northern CA that fits into the rent budget I specified and is a nice place to live and safe (I'm a single woman living alone, so that's an issue for me). I don't have a problem with small towns as long as they're friendly and safe. I do have a car but I prefer to be able to walk to do errands if possible. I would love to know if the area closer to Davis/Sac has some midsized towns that would fit the bill.

Sorry to be so vague, but I really don't have much of a clue where to start my search! I know the Bay Area pretty well but not further up north .

Tam

[tammay]

Hi All,
Trying to "bump" this up a little because I'm still researching this. I'm actually going to be in the SF Bay Area visiting family in the first few weeks of May and part of the trip includes a road trip from SF to Reno. So It should be a good opportunity for me to search these smaller towns/areas in Northern CA that I'm thinking of moving (in a few years, when the housing market, we pray, will be more reasonable!) just to get a feel for the towns. I might be in a position by then to actually buy a house (small one) somewhere, around 150-175K worth.

So again if anyone can give me more feedback on my list of towns, plus any other towns that might be worth buying a home in in a few years (although nobody knows at this point!), I would really appreciate it. My goal is to come up with a list of towns that I can see on my way to Reno.

Tam

[Mr. Ozo]

Well your list is all over the map. Weaverville is a 3000 person town in the mountains, miles from anywhere. Oroville is a boring farming town, no real reason to move there unless you had to. Same with Yuba city, marysville and willows. I think if you are looking for a nice smaller town then Chico would fit the bill. You can walk around the central area and there are still things to do. Roseville is a big suburb of Sacramento that has developed into a decent city in it's own right, the downtown area is somewhat walkable and pretty afordable. You should also check out midtown Sacramento. I'll throw Walnut Grove out there, as it's my home town. It's nice 1000 person town on the delta, that still has quite a few restaurants and basic services. I can tell you more if you want to know.

[tizzy3]

It sounds like you want to live in Davis but don't have the budget for it. You can try Dixon, cheaper but not as nice, also Vacaville is nice but will be a bit pricey. If you're willing to have college aged roommates Davis may be the ticket. It definitely has the atmosphere you want where people walk, or bike, everywhere. The people here are nice, I should know I live in Davis, and the crime rate is low. There are always rooms for rent. you can rent a master bedroom in a nice part of town for about 5-600. Good luck!

[tammay]

Thank you so much for these recent replies! I know I was all over the map - I literally pulled up an internet map of Sacramento and just started writing down cities that were "in the area" - that's how clueless I am . These are great suggestions. I've actually been to Vacaville a few times, mainly to the shopping outlets, so I've never actually seen the surrounding area :lol: .

Any more takers? I'm really looking for as many ideas as I can get.

Mr Ozo, Walnut Grove sounds pleasant and I would like to know more, especially how you think it might work out for a single person. I'm not looking necessarily for an active social life - I'm pretty quiet and keep to myself - but I do like to have areas where I can go to a cafe and do some work or writing and some shops and things around.

Again, if anyone has more ideas, that would be great!

Tam