Citrus Heights, OrangFlorence-Graham, Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova, Folsom, Carmichael, North Highlands, Laguna, Fair Oaks. (Los Angeles: best town, foreclosures)

[lujul]

My husband, daughter and I are looking to purchase a house in the Sacramento county area and would like everyones opionion on what is the best town in the county to move to. There are so many outlining towns and its hard to do the research on all of them, so we thought that maybe you could help by narrowing down our choices. We come from San Francisco and are looking for a place that is safe and open minded. We were thinking of Fairoaks or Orangevale.
Here is a list of the towns I got this info from metrolist, I dont know how correct it is:

Rio Linda, Citrus Heights, Orangevale, Florence-Graham, Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova, Folsom, Carmichael, North Highlands, Laguna, Fair Oaks, Florin, Sheldon, Wilton, Galt, Herald, hood, courtland, Walnut grove, Iseleton.

Thank you for your time

[mattinsac]

What is your budget? How big of home do need? Where will you be working. Will you have any school age children.

Employment in Sacramento is concentrate in three areas: downtown, along the highway 50 corridor and again out in Roseville.

Depending on where you will be working, not all places are equally good choices. For instance, you wouldn't want to live in Elk Grove and work in Roseville. But if you were working downtown, Elk Grove might not be a bad choice.

Your budget will also determine how strong of a neighborhood you can afford. If you have 500k to spend vs 200k to spend on a 2000 sq ft 3 bed 2 bath home, you have more and better options regarding what neighborhoods you can afford.

If you will have or plan to have child age children, you might prefer neighborhoods with better schools, if not, you might prefer locations closer to where you work.

[lujul]

Hi Mattinsac,

Thanks for the reply. My daughter is disabled and we will need to locate a special day program for her. Most of my time will be taken up taking care of her needs. My husband is retired so does not need to commute anywhere. Our price range for a 2-3 bedroom is 200,000 - 250,000. We do not need a large home (to much to clean) just a nice small place less than 2000 sq ft. My sister just recently moved to Orangevale and bought a 3 bedroom for 230,000 and loves it, and that is one of the reasons I am considering moving there. But before I jump in and buy a home in Orangevale just because my sister is there, I thought I would get the opinion of someone more knowledgeable

Thanks again for your time
lujul

[wburg]

What do you mean by "open-minded"?

Quite a variety there. Some of these places are unincorporated parts of the "uncity," the mass of approximately 500,000 people who live outside the city limits of Sacramento in suburban developments that are, for the most part, identical to suburban developments inside the city limits of Sacramento. Some have formed their own cities, others get basic services from the county. Some of the communities are more remote places, little Delta towns or remnants of Sacramento County's agricultural past. Some are brand-new subdivisions, many partially abandoned in the wake of the housing bubble's resounding pop. Others are postwar suburbs with ranch houses and strip malls. Still others are rural communities with century-plus-old farmhouses and no sidewalks.

I noticed you haven't looked at any neighborhoods within the city of Sacramento itself, but many of them are basically identical to the suburbs you are looking at outside the city of Sacramento--in fact, 95% of Sacramento is annexed suburbs.

Rio Linda is a little former farming community right outside the Sacramento city limits. It has a reputation as a rednecky, meth-using place but it has its own funky charm in my opinion.

Citrus Heights is a suburban edge city, based mostly around a mall. Nothing fancy but not bad either.

Orangevale is an unincorporated area to the southeast of Citrus Heights. Like Citrus Heights but without a city government or a mall.

Never heard of Florence-Graham. A Google search says it is near Los Angeles.

Elk Grove is another incorporated city. They had a population of 10,000 a decade ago, now it's closer to 100,000. Instant suburbs. They tried building a mall but it went into foreclosure before completion. Probably lots of cheap foreclosures, schools have a good reputation.

Rancho Cordova: Recently incorporated, a 1950s suburb built to serve the nearby Air Force base and Aerojet facility. Had a semi-bad reputation in the 1980s (we called it "Rancho Cambodia") but seems to be up and coming. Light Rail access to downtown Sacramento.

Folsom: Relatively high-end incorporated city, historic "old town", expensive. Light Rail access to downtown Sacramento, but stops running at 7 PM.

Carmichael: Unincorporated area, postwar suburb, kind of showing its age but still kind of a nice area.

North Highlands: Built to service McClellan Air Force Base, has a reputation as a rough part of town, more so since the base shut down.

Laguna: Designed by urban planner Peter Calthorpe as "transit-oriented development" but built out without transit, so it's a car-centric suburb with almost no transit access. Calthorpe considers it an utter failure, it's basically another generic suburb.

Fair Oaks: Between Carmichael, Citrus Heights, Orangevale and Folsom, an unincorporated area. A nicer area, considered kind of "out in the country", has a cute little old-town area.

Florin: Another old farming area, home to the Frasinetti Winery and best-known for its strawberry farms and Japanese-American population. Fairly close to the Florin Road portion of the city of Sacramento, which has a bad reputation.

Sheldon and Wilton are little farm/ranch communities waaaaay out in the rural portion of Sacramento County.

Galt is an incorporated city of about 20,000. It, like Elk Grove, was an old farm town that has started to become a bedroom community of Sacramento, but experienced less explosive growth.

Hood, Courtland, Walnut Grove and Isleton are tiny little Delta towns--only Isleton is an incorporated city. They are charming, right by the river, based largely on agriculture and tourism. All are susceptible to floods in heavy rain years, as they are all located below the level of the river on land that is part of the Sacramento River delta.

[lujul]

HI Wburg,

Thank you for the great information. It is definitely a starting place.

Best regards,
lujul

[mattinsac]

You didn't specify the disability. But different districts have different programs and different levels of funds available to support those programs. Generally speaking, larger school districts have larger budgets and may provide more specialized programs. (So you might look into first what programs are available at the Elk Grove Unified School District, the San Juan Unified School District and the Sacramento City Unified School District.) I would start by researching the programs and then figuring out which neighborhoods you can afford closest to the best programs.

I would look for support groups in the Sacramento region for people with your daughter's disability. If you don't know where to begin, I would start by looking at the UC Davis Mind Institute resource center. Through them you may be able to find a support group for someone with your child's disability. The value of you to of support groups is you can find people in the region from a lot of different school districts in the area and they can give you feedback on how well the different school districts provide services to children with your child's disability.

Resource Center: UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute

If the mind institute doesn't provide links to programs for your daughters disability you also might look at the websites for some of the schools in the area that provide services for the disabled. They have links to resource pages that might find other support groups for people with your daughters disability.

http://www.sanjuan.edu/RalphRichardson.cfm

Laurel Ruff Center

Once you know where the best services are for your childs disability, then find a neighborhood in your price range closest to the best programs. That will dramatically reduce the number of neighborhoods and communities you need to look for homes in and probably result in better outcomes for your daughter.

[lujul]

Hi Mattinsac,

Thank you that is a great idea that I did not even think of. Sometimes the most easiest of answers are the ones that are as plain as day. I can also contact her Golden Gate Regional Center counselor, I am sure she has lots of info.

Best regards,
Lujul

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by lujul

Hi Mattinsac,

Thank you that is a great idea that I did not even think of. Sometimes the most easiest of answers are the ones that are as plain as day. I can also contact her Golden Gate Regional Center counselor, I am sure she has lots of info.

Best regards,
Lujul

Since your daughter is eligible for regional center services I think your best bet would be to contact Alta California Regional Center and find out what services are available where. That would be a good starting point.

Alta California Regional Center

[lujul]

Thanks again everyone for the great ideas and info.

Warm regards,
Lujul

[lujul]

Thanks again everyone for the great ideas and info.

Warm regards,
Lujul