Moving from Nebraska to Elk Grove / Rancho Cordova?? (San Francisco, Sacramento: cheap apartments, rental)

[Jono2614]

Hey guys - I am considering a move from Nebraska to the Elk Grove or Rancho Cordova area.. I am looking for insight into what I could expect? Can anyone shed light on if these are nice areas to live for a young adult couple? My girlfriend and I like to go out on the town, good night life is important, restaurants, entertainment.. etc. Also, big outdoors person so would like easy access to anything related to hiking, mountains, lakes, rivers.. Do not want to pay outrageous amounts to rent, but curious what a nice two bedroom place might run or what areas are nicest to look into?What about the traffic? Is it possible to make a day trip to San Francisco? How are the people? I have also heard that it possibly smells bad in the Sacramento area.. any truth to that? Any info from people that live in the area would be great to help me make the decision!Thanks!

[NewToCA]

Originally Posted by Jono2614

Hey guys - I am considering a move from Nebraska to the Elk Grove or Rancho Cordova area.. I am looking for insight into what I could expect? Can anyone shed light on if these are nice areas to live for a young adult couple? My girlfriend and I like to go out on the town, good night life is important, restaurants, entertainment.. etc. Also, big outdoors person so would like easy access to anything related to hiking, mountains, lakes, rivers.. Do not want to pay outrageous amounts to rent, but curious what a nice two bedroom place might run or what areas are nicest to look into?What about the traffic? Is it possible to make a day trip to San Francisco? How are the people? I have also heard that it possibly smells bad in the Sacramento area.. any truth to that? Any info from people that live in the area would be great to help me make the decision!Thanks!

Can't give you too much insight on the daily living there, but neither is really considered a prime area to reside. At this time, I'd say Elk Grove is probably a better option over Rancho Cordova. A two bedroom apartment in either place would likely run about $900-$1100 depending upon the quality of the development.

Day trips to San Francisco are possible, but plan on 4-5 hours for the round trip drive. Traffic is pretty bad in Elk Grove, but I believe Rancho Cordova development was pretty badly damaged by the economic downturn a few years ago, before it got much traction. I would think local traffic would still be pretty reasonable.

Smells is a tough issue, but I don't think either area has a particular problem here.

[DontKnowIfImComingOrGoing]

As I said earlier. Elk Grove is a big wide suburb.

The west part (Laguna xxxx) is expensive. A 2Br 1200 sq ft Apartment is $1400
But these are really swank complexes with nice pools, Jacuzzis,
washer dryer in your home, gated entrances. The commute is also very
good. You can get from Elk grove to mid town in 15 minutes if you use
I5.However, if your on the east side, you have to use I99 and that's
horrible, horrible. Going in can be 30-40 minutes and coming out 40-50 minutes.

However, judging from what you said you wanted (nightlife, restaurants)
I would suggest midtown. A 1100 sq ft 2Br Apartment there is
about $1500 + $100 for a car spot. I lived at the Fremont building
which was okay. You'll then be in the thick of things, restaurants,
art galleries, museums, bars, micro-breweries etc.

Here in Sacramento, your always close to nature. But midtown has
the added advantage of only being a few miles away from the American
River.

Good luck!

[volleyballer]

Since you're coming from Nebraska, are you ready for the price shock of an apartment? Perhaps you should let us know about how much you can budget for a rental per month, and maybe we could help you a bit more.

[wburg]

If you're looking for nightlife and entertainment, the highest concentration of both is in Sacramento but there are options throughout the region. Check out the Sacramento News & Review at Sacramento, Chico and Reno News & Review: source for local news and events to get an idea of some of the local nightlife options. Elk Grove and Rancho Cordova are bedroom communities without a "downtown" to speak of other than strip malls (Elk Grove was a small farming community until about 20-30 years ago, Rancho Cordova was built in the 1950s to serve a nearby Air Force base and Aerojet rocket plant.)

There is a rendering plant near a recently built Rancho Cordova community called "Anatolia" that has resulted in some complaints about smell. Other than that, the only smell-related thing I can think of is that sometimes in a bad fire years the entire Sacramento Valley smells like a campfire from all the smoke.

San Francisco is within day-trip distance, 90 minutes-2 hours driving if traffic isn't too bad, about 2-2.5 hours on the train from Sacramento. It's a little better as an overnight trip.

[DontKnowIfImComingOrGoing]

Look at midtown, it's what you want based on what you wrote.
Elk Grove is better than Rancho Cordova when it comes to
restaurants, but midtown has bars, a few jazz clubs as well.

If you want a cheaper apartment in downtown then look at Welcome to CADA! for
cheap apartments. However, bear in mind that part of cada's mission is to
serve the downtrodden, so some of those complexes house some scary
people.One I looked at had quite a few sex offenders.
If you qualify for being labeled "economically disadvantaged" then there
are special cada rates as well.

Good luck!

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Jono2614

Hey guys - I am considering a move from Nebraska to the Elk Grove or Rancho Cordova area.. I am looking for insight into what I could expect? Can anyone shed light on if these are nice areas to live for a young adult couple? My girlfriend and I like to go out on the town, good night life is important, restaurants, entertainment.. etc. Also, big outdoors person so would like easy access to anything related to hiking, mountains, lakes, rivers.. Do not want to pay outrageous amounts to rent, but curious what a nice two bedroom place might run or what areas are nicest to look into?What about the traffic? Is it possible to make a day trip to San Francisco? How are the people? I have also heard that it possibly smells bad in the Sacramento area.. any truth to that? Any info from people that live in the area would be great to help me make the decision!Thanks!

Of course I will ask the question most ask, what are you and your girlfriend going to do for a living? What are you prepared to pay for rent? Why are you looking at the Sacramento area?

Now, yes, you can easily do San Francisco in a day trip, you may want to do 2 or 3 of them as there is so much to see and do in the bay area.

Yes, there is night life, mainly in Sac. and yes, there is plenty of nature. You are only a few hours from Lake Tahoe, there are two rivers right in Sacramento and lots of lakes.

I would prefer living in Elk Grove, but that is just a personal choice. I probably wouldn't choose either town to be truthful, I would look into midtown Sacramento if I were 20 something with no family.

Nita

[Jono2614]

Thanks everybody.. Next questions.. My girlfriend will be working in Rancho and I in Elk Grove.. we can afford in the neighborhood of $1000-1200 max for an apartment..

I am curious if the commute to the city of Davis is even possible if we worked in those areas.. or if we could afford to live there?

Are there nicer areas that are a do-able commute to Elk/Rancho?

We are attempting to get out to the San Francisco area however at this time, our jobs can only take us to the Sac area.. We also have 3 little dogs, so I'm wondering if an area such as Midtown wouldn't be a little too difficult to have pets. I'm not really hearing much good from the Elk/Rancho areas and don't want to get killed on gas costs for a super long commute but I dont see many options if we would like a nice place. I would really like to be on the west side closer to San Fran if possible. Any recommendations based on this information?

[wburg]

Living in Davis means higher rent and a longer commute--the Yolo Causeway between Davis and Sacramento is always a choke point. There are a lot of small dogs in the central city, at that price point it's possible to rent a place that will take dogs near the central city. Sacramento is located kind of in between Elk Grove and Rancho Cordova, so you will have roughly equivalent levels of inconvenience, and for the most part you'll be going in the opposite direction of most traffic (more people live in Elk Grove/Rancho and commute into downtown Sacramento than vice versa.)

Sacramento's central city is on the far western edge of town, about ten miles closer to San Francisco than the eastern edge of town, and it's a fairly straight shot onto I-80 to the Bay Area, although there are also things to do in Sacramento if you want to save some gas and bridge toll.

[Jono2614]

How is the crime in Midtown? Can you walk the streets at night?