Best Place to live in grass valley? (Sacramento, Chico: how much, houses)

[NorCalMan]

I live in Folsom on the Sacramento/ El Dorado County border. I've lived in the Sacto area pretty much all my life. About five years ago we moved up to far northern Cali (Mt. Shasta) to escape city life and for a change of scenery. We liked it for a while, lots of quiet solitude. Some people were a little hick-ish and backwoods, while others were very educated and professional. This dichotomy was fine with us and wasn't what drove us back to Sacto. What made us come back was the poor schools and lack of job opportunities/low pay. For some reason Sacto has some of the best pay for medical professionals in the country, better than L.A. Funny you're in Co. We looked at Highlands Ranch/Littelton and were shocked and dismayed at the horribly pathetic pay for nurses and other medical jobs out there. It was half of what we made here. We love the mountains-skiing, hiking, biking- but there is no way we could afford to live in Co. with the lifestyle we have now, there's just too much of a pay difference. Maybe it's Colorado's way of keeping the population down.

While it's nice to make the money we make in Sacto. this isn't a place we want to stay forever. Personally (and I think you'll hear this from other people), Sacramento is one of the most intolerant cities I have ever been to/ lived in. Sacramento is unique in a negative way. I don't want to say that Sacramento is a desolate wasteland:we have the rivers, the American River Parkway, 32 miles of paved bike trail, hundreds of parks, lots of shopping (though it's all the same regardless of region), two lakes, and proximity to both Lake Tahoe and San Francisco (people joke that the best thing about Sacto is it's in between Tahoe and SF). But, again, in my own personal opinion, there is a large population of Sacramentans who are mean, rude, unpleasant, lazy, and apathetic. You will hear, if you haven't heard already, that Sacto has some horrible drivers and the terrible traffic to go with it. I personally feel (again, don't want to include everyone) that many Sacramentans-from customer service people to neighbors, are unhappy, vindictive people who seem stuck in a rut and are dismayed at their life.
In Mt. Shasta I helped care for quadrapilegics who were literally on deaths door. Some of these people had the happiest demeanor, especially considering their place. Here, (this happened last week) I can care for someone who has a cough and some green phlegm (the common cold) and they, of course, think the have the swine flu and are therefore entitled to prompt ER care ahead of everyone else that have been waiting. Demanding, incoherant, insolent, and vile are just a few words that describe these people. It's like there's something in the water here.
I digress.
Back to your issue.
Roseville and Lincoln are nice. At least most of Roseville and Lincoln are nice. Stay away from the areas of Roseville near the train tracks, and stay away from old town Lincoln. My brother in law and his family moved away from Lincoln for a while but missed it so much they moved back as soon as he could get a transfer. The schools are good-ish but like every other school in the Sacto area, there are waitlists for schools both great and poor. There are just so many kids and a terrible budget to boot.
Personally, if I didn't have to commute into downtown Sacto I would live in the Auburn area, maybe Rough and Ready, or Cool, not within the Auburn city limits. Or maybe the Placerville area like Coloma or Lotus, or further up in Camino. I ski, hike, backpack, and kayak so living in any of these foothill locations would be ideal for me. Plus, it would be nice to have some land to live on, be able to have a garden, some breathing room from the masses.
Grass Valley/ Nevada City area is nice. It gets a fair amount of tourist traffic but there's not lots of people. I like the Hwy 174 area but it's kinda out there. If you don't have to commute into Sacto then any of these foothill towns would be nice to live in. I guess the one good thing about the Sacto area is it's influence on these foothill towns..they're not so removed from society that you encounter Deliverance-like hill folk.

[HomeMama]

I have only drove through Sacramento years ago and so I really don't know what the enviornment is like, I am assuming a lot like L.A. I have been staying open about Oregon just because I think the enviornment with people may be nicer, but again I will have to search the forums on this and learn more about Oregon.

Colorado definetely is not as rough and rude as L.A., but it still isn't perfect either. I don't know too much about Denver since we lived in Colorado Springs and now out East of Colorado Springs. But the housing here is cheaper half that of L.A., that is why we came to buy our first house. But we can't deal with the winters. It does have sunshine but winter started in November and we still get snow even at the end of April. I could maybe handle 3 months of winter but not 6. This is just my experience and since I am from Southern California below freezing temps are not my cup of tea.

Now about the areas of Rough and Ready, Cool, Coloma or Lotus, or the Hwy 174 area, do you think they would have fast speed internet, and UPS service? I guess I could call a realtor that deals with those areas to find out. Well the research continues...thanks again.

[NorCalMan]

Don't know about high speed internet or UPS service for those out of the way towns. Auburn, GV, and Placerville will have both. You can search UPS's website for the nearest dropoff locations.

[anniejmoosecountry]

Grass Valley and Nevada City are expensive areas....there IS snow in the winter. I lived there 15 years and we would get at least a foot of snow overnight each year. Usually just once, but it does snow!!

[Dean Trails]

[quote=NorCalMan;8690086]


Personally, if I didn't have to commute into downtown Sacto I would live in the Auburn area, maybe Rough and Ready, or Cool, not within the Auburn city limits. Or maybe the Placerville area like Coloma or Lotus, or further up in Camino. I ski, hike, backpack, and kayak so living in any of these foothill locations would be ideal for me.

You are very knowledgeable about the area. I too have been looking in the Auburn area as have heard some nice things about it. I am getting into kayaking and was wondering if there are areas close by. I want to look into gold panning as a hobby also.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet, is health care in the area. With six kids the original poster should be aware of convenient facilities.

It is too bad, you couldn't make a go of Mt. Shasta city. It is a great place. I visit at least once a year and enjoy the 4th of July activities they have.

[lindylou821]

Hi

I just returned from Grass Valley ( my brother lives there) I love this town! I looked at several homes as I do want to move there (Auburn is nice also). I am currently looking

at the "Stone House" up on the state highway. My brother has lived there over 20 years and loves the area.

Aloha

Anyone want to buy a house on the Big Island Of Hawaii so I can move to be closer to my family?

[cedew]

I saw the title and had to poke my head in here! There are no bad parts of town in Grass Valley. The most you will find is an individual you might not want to live next to, just like anywhere else. You'll have to go visit, it's a great area.

[Tiger Beer]

How far is Grass Valley from downtown Sacramento?

[Fiddlehead]

Hi TB,

According to mapquest, it's just over an hour to Sac from Grass Valley. Totally different feel though. Sacramento is a valley and river town, Grass Valley is a foothill town. I recall that Grass Valley and Nevada City, both very nice little towns, had a huge run up in the housing bubble. I think they are very much like Ashland, Oregon. Scenic, historic foothill towns. I would expect prices have dropped quite a bit, but I would suspect that they did not drop as much as Sac.

On another board you were comparing Sac. vs. Seattle. Sacramento has crashed so hard because many people from the Bay Area invested in second investment homes during the bubble, then cashed in their chips all at once. I think the thinking was that people would commute two hours to the Bay Area each way. That obviously did not happen.
Grass Valley is a different dynamic, retirees and telecommuters living the good life with bubble money. Nice, but not worth it, I would say. Not that you asked.....

[x15]

Grass Valley is about 60 miles from downtown Sac, about 45 miles to Roseville about 30 miles to Beale AFB/Yuba City.

You don't find a lot of people commuting to downtown Sac from Grass Valley. Its not just distance, but you also start battling traffic. Instead its more people working in say Auburn, Newcastle, Loomis, or Rocklin.

There is also a fair amount of high paying jobs in the Nevada City/Grass Valley area itself. Back in the 1970's the Grass Valley Group was one of the first companies to do video special effects for television stations. The fades between the sports segment and the weather segment or just all of the graphics shown behind the weather babe while she is discussing her forecast generally were done by the Grass Valley Group. They sold this stuff to television stations and television networks worldwide. Ultimately, they were bought by big French consumer electronics company Thompson Electronics who by all accounts did a horrible job running the company. Because people were frustrated a lot of people quit and started a bunch of start up video companies again the Grass Valley/Nevada City area. As a result even though the Grass Valley Group is no longer what they once were, the area itself is still pretty much the center for this very specialized type of work.

Usually, small towns have higher unemployment rates than the bigger cities nearby (for example the economy in Yuba City is usually in the toilet). But that isn't true for Nevada County. Right now unemployment is lower in Nevada County 10.9% than in Sacramento County 12.2%. That isn't a statistical anomaly either. Unemployment has been lower all this year in Nevada County and it was lower in the year ago numbers as well.

http://www.calmis.ca.gov/file/lfmonth/nevadpds.pdf

http://www.calmis.ca.gov/file/lfmonth/sacr$pds.pdf

Grass Valley and Nevada City seem to be in a rural location, but economically they function like Placer and El Dorado Counties, places that do pretty well because they attract smart people doing knowledge work.