Moving to Rancho Cordovo...Any Thoughts? (Sacramento, Roseville: section 8, real estate market, apartments)

[Gary8061]

I am considering buying a home in a new development in Rancho Cordova, at the area of Douglas and Sunrise. Models open, homes are being built.
Having difficulty finding information on Rancho Cordova. Can anyone please tell me anything about the area?
Such as:
Crime Stats.?
Emergency Services (police & fire & paramedics)?
Medical services and distance to major hospitals?
General costs, ie: cable, gas & electric, etc.?
Year-round weather, summer and winter (is it humid)?
Potential for flooding?
Are there any bad areas? If so, where compared to new area?
Traffic conditions, to and from Sacramento and rush hour periods?
Home value potential, going up or going down?
General employment situation?
Is RC going to be a great place to live now, in 5+ years, in 20 years?
Any info about what the city has planned for years coming, especially in surrounding area around new project?

Any other information would be appreciated?

Moving from a rather rough area in southern Calif....sure don't want to jump out of the pan and into the fire. Therefore, I would like all the input anyone can offer, and on any topic pertaining to this area.
Thank you much.

[cw68]

I can't give you hard numbers on Rancho, but I wouldn't buy in the new development there. With the real estate market the way it is here -- not that it's HORRIBLE or anything as prices may be lowering but people still want to move here, unlike rust belt areas -- it will not be a good buy for a while. Rancho has higher crime that other areas on the 50 Corridor. They recently became their own city and things are improving, but it's going to take a while to really improve a lot. It's not like a rough area in SoCal, but I'd avoid it.

[Kingsnkali]

Rancho is a little risky but the rewards might be worth it. Good location. One of the most affective city governments around Sacramento in my opinion. I like the improvements to Folsom Blvd. Big Ukrainian population. It has light rail. Rancho never got anywhere near as bad as south Sacramento. That's the designated ghetto around here.

As the highway 50 eastern suburbs (Folsom, El Dorado Hills, etc.) build out it would be logical to assume back filling. Rancho Cordova would be the target for much of the new growth in housing and business expansion. Higher rents would shift what criminal element is there elsewhere. What Landlords were in Section 8 would drop out and renovate for higher market rents.

It might also be a case of a split personality in the future with west Rancho being completely different than the new east Rancho Cordova.

Good luck.

[NewToCA]

I moved to Rancho Cordova this past summer.

Can't go by much of the stats. The older established area is the Rancho Cordova school district, while the newer large developments south of Douglas are Elk Grove School District. Much is planned, I recommend you go to the city site, and take a special long look at Rio Del Oro, the major new development underway.

It is very inconvenient living in the new area at this time, and the commute down Sunrise is annoying at rush hour due to the expansion of Sunrise and laying of water and sewer pipes. This should be completed in next few months or so (it has been going on for over a year!) and then things should improve. Two shopping centers planned for opposite corners of Sunrise and Douglas, and a larger shopping center is planned (about 500,000 sq ft) about a 1/2 mile north on the east side of Sunrise. Lots of price cutting in the new homes, so you should be able to get a good deal.

Long term I think this will be fine, Rancho has a bit of a negative perception to overcome, but they are making great progress. I suggest you take a look around Zinfandel and White Rock areas to see all of the modern office parks which have and are still being built. Occupancy is not a problem. I would also suggest you drive on the main drag for old Rancho, Folsom Ave, and take a look at the work being done between Hazel Ave and Bradshaw Rd. Much more needs to be done, and significant improvements are needed, but they are aggressively addressing their issues.

[CityGirl72]

I worked around there for years, and I bet that new development is going to be great as long as you stay out of the regular Rancho area - because even though it's become a city incorporated it's still quite trashy and will take some amount of years to clean itself up

Crime Stats.? LOTS of crime
Emergency Services (police & fire & paramedics)?
Medical services and distance to major hospitals? There is Kaiser South
General costs, ie: cable, gas & electric, etc.? Average - depends on the size of your house I supposeY
ear-round weather, summer and winter (is it humid)? Winter is mild and refreshing, summer is HOT HOT HOT - over 100 for months but ZERO humidity. I love it
Potential for flooding? Flooding is more of a myth then a problem
Are there any bad areas? If so, where compared to new area? Original Ranch Cordova is a bad area - but is close by some good areas
Traffic conditions, to and from Sacramento and rush hour periods? HORRIBLE - you are right by Sunrise and that's just hell, expect allot of traffic and delays
Home value potential, going up or going down? Probably going down in the next couple of years - I've seen lots of places going for 50K less then 6 months ago
General employment situation? Lots of employment around depending on your industry - un emply rate is 5.3% right now
Is RC going to be a great place to live now, in 5+ years, in 20 years? As long as they keep putting money in and as long as they try and fix the school system it might get better - but it will never be as nice as Folsom, Roseville, or Eldorado Hills

[NewToCA]

Rancho is certainly behind those areas at this time, but I don't know that they will never be able to be a peer. The other areas had/have issues which also provide drawbacks.

Folsom is home to a large prison, El Dorado Hills is located in an area with naturally occurring asbestos and Roseville has huge traffic problems, exacerbated by the rapid expansion of Lincoln to their north.

If you are interested, you can research the asbestos issue under the topic of serpentine rock (proper rock name serpentinite):

http://www.epa.gov/region09/toxic/noa/

This specific asbestos issue is why we eliminated looking in the foothills area, a visually attractive environment.

[Inthesierras]

Rancho has had a bad rep for a long time. I hope with the new city being formed, they can clean it up. But that is going to take decades. Some parts have been run down for so long, they just needed to be totally demolished. The Folsom-Cordvoa district from what I have read, it s great district. DH and I did some research a few years back when we were planning to move back to Sacramento. I felt that district had great scores, services our kids needed, etc. When I talked to school district staff, they suggested we not to live in Rancho, to live in Folsom.

I guess you have to think a little long term. THe new developements are great, but it might turn into the Elk Grove issue in the future. Elk Grove is so close to the old run-down neighborhoods, that the crime has really spread to them. In the 90s, I knew tons of people who moved there for a safer area, schools, etc. Now most of them want to get out because of the crime.

If you have never been to the area, you should check it out for yourself. Friday and Saturday nights will give you the best idea of what is happening.

[daffodil]

We lived in Rancho for 22 years and left in the early 1980's as it was just starting to become run down. It's gotten a lot worse since then, and has a long way to go to come back to being a really nice place to live.

Part of the reason for it's decline is that a lot of apartments went in and people would rent for a short time and leave, so they didn't put down roots and work to improve their community. Now don't flame me for saying that, because I know that most renters are good people. It's just that many don't stay long enough to make a positive impact.

Our local newspaper, The Sacramento Bee, had an article about Rancho last week that said more than 60% of the residences are not lived in by the person who owns them. You can probably find the article on the Bee's website which is "www.sacbee.com". You may have to register to see it , but registration is free. Then just use the search function and type in "Rancho Cordova".

The new subdivisions that are going in are going to be nice but as a prior poster said, there's still a lot of not-so-nice places that will need to be fixed up before the inner city of Rancho is where it should be. There is also a lot more gang and drug activity in Rancho and South Sacramento than in other areas. We're glad we left when we did, got our son out of Cordova high in his junion year, and we wouldn't even consider going back.

[NewToCA]

A major change though was the closing of the large Mather Air Force Base in the mid-1990's. A huge number of homes have been built over the past three years, with over 3,000 in the area south of Douglas and east of Sunrise. The change is huge, and the developments, in conjuction with the massive office park around White Rock and Zinfandel is remolding Rancho Cordova. About 5,000 homes have gone in south of White Rock (a large development by Elliott Homes west of Sunrise and north of Douglas along with the south of Douglas stuff), and this is rapidly changing the face of Rancho.

[KidBlue]

My brother lives in a development (for about 5 years) very near where you are considering. He is very happy there. The area you are looking at is pretty safe (versus the older part of Rancho). They are building lots of new stores and adding new services rapidly in the area. It's currently a good buy. I wouldn't be afraid to buy a home in that area. Where you are looking is still considered close to Rancho but may be in the town of Mather (used to be the air force base and is now a town).