Moving from Philadelphia, so... sacramento vs. san diego - need specific help (San Francisco: houses, buy)

[lrottler]

Hi all: I've tried to read as many posts as possible before posting. Our situation - we're "young" 40 somethings, no children, 3 small dogs. We desire a change after going through a cancer diagnosis in 2005.

We're ready to go! Question is, where? We originally thought Portland, but hubby had a problem with all the rain. But, we thought we might match with the people. I've been from the East Coast (philly) all my life, hubby is a native of Germany. He's been here 8 yrs.

We'd like better weather than here. Doesn't need to be picture perfect.
We're looking to spend up to 365,000, would like it to be under if possible. We will not be able to deal with "cookie cutter" houses.

We envision ourselves with a little bit of land, feeling some freedom, better weather than here. Help with a freshness, sense of wellbeing. We will need a city within one hour driving distance for part-time office space. Our business are both very virtual, but we'll be opening an office on the west coast. Hubby will be driving in one or two days out of the week. The city does not have to be san fran or la. Although we loved san fran when we visited, we don't think we can afford something.

We have a realtor on advice of a friend who has been looking for us in the San Marcos, Vista area of CA outside of san diego. I've been hunting on the Internet farther north. Sacramento outlying towns.

Would walking distance to an in-town location be too much to ask? I've always dreamed of that. We'd also like a mountain view (to some degree).
We're fairly liberal, but extremely open-minded. We "play well with others." We'd like a good community (especially in case anything medical happens again we'd like to be able to get to know people).

Thanks for any and all help. We're looking to do this right away.

Please help about the differences based on our profile.

[nutleynut]

I'd pick SD but that's me.:-} for your requirements Sac or a suburb would fill all needs well. Look in Davis first as I would consider that the top choice. It isn't strictly speaking a suburb but it is close enough and has a great vibe to it. There is a medical school attached to UC Davis. You should be able to find all of what you need and a lot of good things you've never had or expected there.
As far as getting along just try not to compare or even mention anything about Phillie, go on about how wonderful everything Cali. is. It is but any mention of another place as being as good or having something better triggers some deep seated insecurity. That was my experience in the Bay Area, which is only an ours drive away. I'm from Jersey, and I spent lived and went to school in Trenton as a kid. Washington Elementary! on Emory Ave.
Good Luck, and take advantage of all the fresh veggies it will change how you feel completely. I never knew what health was until I lived in Ca.

[skywalker400]

Im not sure what $365k will get now a days, but if possible I'd look into Sonoma County up north of San francisco. It has numerous small towns, surrounded by a sorta rustic, rural environment. I think Forestville, Graton and Guerneville would all be nice.
EDIT: I guess I should add that flooding and power outages are a concern during rainstorms, particularly in Guerneville. Still its beautiful

[david55838]

I'm from Lower Merion originally. I'd recommend Davis outside Sacramento as well. I think it would give you most of what you're looking for. Not far from San Francisco or Napa.

San Diego has the most picture perfect weather, and had we been able to afford it, I think that's where we'd be...

Best of luck!

[wburg]

About Davis: the UC Davis Medical Center and medical school is not in Davis, it is in Sacramento.

It seems like you're very open-ended about what you want: something on a bit of land, but within walking distance of downtown? Something within an hour of a city, but not picky about which city? A high-quality place with a mountain view for under $365,000?

Freedom, freshness and well-being are a little more existential questions than we can answer here.

Sacramento gets very, very hot, although it's a dry sort of hot, but if the idea of long periods of summer with 90+ degree heat (and short periods of 100+ degree heat) scare you off, this is not the place to live. On the other hand, you don't have to shovel snow off your driveway.

Hubby has to drive into town once or twice a week--which town does he have to drive into, and for what?

The outskirts of cities is where you find the cookie-cutter houses, trying to find a suburb that isn't a suburb can be kind of a challenge.

You mentioned "opening on the west coast"...do you need to be actually on the coast? Sacramento is an hour or two inland.

[NewToCA]

Originally Posted by wburg

You mentioned "opening on the west coast"...do you need to be actually on the coast? Sacramento is an hour or two inland.

Well, in all fairness, when you've lived in Philly for an extended period, all of California, Oregon and Washington is considered the west coast.

[cedew]

If you decide to be near Sacramento, check out the Grass Valley/Nevada city area.

[lrottler]

Thank you all so much. Um, NewtoCA is right - I consider CA, WA and OR all the "West Coast!" You're right, I've been a bit to open-ended. I'll be more specific.

In order of preference:
a. climate (hot as long as it's dry is okay). Prefer this over extended periods of rain. light snow would be okay, but would need to be a very mild winter.
b. location - we'd prefer a fresh mountain feel (even if a bit rustic) if we had to choose that over being close to downtown. You're right 365,000 might be tough. Spoke with hubby tonight and we'd be willing to go to a bit over 400 if necessary.
c. We're closing in on west and north of san diego (in san diego county mostly) -- vista, san marcos, poway... and then potentially Davis, as well as Napa area, and then southern OR (although is sounds beautiful, it would be incredibly tough to get "anywhere.."

To answer your question, hubby has to drive into a location that sounds okay for a wc address. For instance, East coast office Philly, WC office, San Diego or Sacramento, or San Fran, or Portland.. etc. We basically just need a decent address to set up our wc office. He would only be actually going in to that location a few days a week, however, so that frees us up from needed to be very close to work. Sorry I was vague on that.

Any more comments would be appreciated. Thanks all!

[lrottler]

Originally Posted by cedew

If you decide to be near Sacramento, check out the Grass Valley/Nevada city area.

Can you tell me more about this area?

[wburg]

Originally Posted by NewToCA

Well, in all fairness, when you've lived in Philly for an extended period, all of California, Oregon and Washington is considered the west coast.

I see...I was asking if you specifically needed to be on the coast, since you mentioned it, figuring, hey, maybe he's a marine biologist or something.

Nevada City/Grass Valley are two small cities in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Both are former old mining towns. Nevada City is kind of a boutique/tourist-attracting town, more expensive and long on charm. One local cartoonist once wrote that there isn't a store in Nevada City where you can buy nails, except for the antique square kind that some novelty/antique shops sell as souvenirs. Grass Valley also has some charm and antique shops, but more practical stuff like a hardware store (where you can buy real nails) and supermarket etcetera. It snows a bit up there in winter, but not too bad. It's about an hour from Sacramento. If you're looking for someplace hilly and close to wild things but not too far from city amenities (although some would argue whether Sacramento count as "city amenities") you could do worse.

What's a "WC" address? Maybe I'm old fashioned, but to me "WC" means "water closet" (a polite way of saying toilet.)