Are there any safe/nice areas in Rancho Cordova? (Sacramento: appointed, apartment complexes)

[yamarranaz]

I live in Arizona and I've been looking for a house to buy in the Sac area with a focus on Roseville and immediate surrounding areas(orangeville, Carmichael, Citrus Heights)..I have heard not so nice things about Rancho Cordova..Are there any boundaries(please give street names so I can look on a map) that are the safer areas to live?? Thanks for all the advice!!

[shelato]

If I was working in Rancho Cordova and looking for a place to live nearby that is safe and has excellent schools, I would start with Gold River. You are going to have problems finding better schools in Roseville, Orangevale and Citrus Heights than in Gold River.

2008 Base API School Report - Gold River Discovery Center

2008 Base API School Report (CA Department of Education)

You can read more about Gold River here

Gold River Community Association - Welcome to Gold River Community Association

and here.

Gold River, California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you are really committed to living in Rancho Cordova, your best bets are probably Anatolia and Mather. Anatolia and Mather are newer neighborhoods that are south of the former Mather Air Force Base. The houses in these neighborhoods are pretty new. They still have mostly owner occupants and the schools are better than in Rancho Cordova.

The negative is that these neighborhoods are so new there isn't much shopping. For the most part not even grocery stores and fast food chains have showed up yet near Mather or Anatolia.

Homes in Anatolia, Rancho Cordova | Online Resources (http://www.anatolialive.com/ - broken link)

But what you haven't mentioned is your budget. Gold River while nice is going to be more expensive than Anatolia and Mather. Most people moving to Sacramento are coming from either the bay area or southern california. Compared to there previous locations, Sacramento is generally cheaper so they tend to trade up in neighborhoods when they move here. While I am sure there are some neighborhoods in Az that are more expensive than Sacramento, my general impression is that housing prices in Sacramento are generally more expensive than in Az, so you may find it more expensive in Sacramento to find a neighborhood that was equivalent to what you were giving up in Az - in short sticker shock may be working again you in Sacramento.

[webdev]

I actually grew up In Rancho Cordova years ago. I now live in Folsom. Rancho Cordova is not as bad as people make it out to be. There are bad areas of Rancho and there are newer areas that are pretty nice. The newer houses being built south of sunrise is not a bad area (Anatolia etc). They are nice house's for a good price. One of the few areas where you can still buy a new or pretty new house for a reasonable price. The school district there is actually Elk Grove not Rancho. The only occasional complaints I hear about the new homes south of sunrise is the lack of shopping because its a totally new area. Also some people have claimed there is a smell that comes froma rendering plant nearby or that there may be water issues since those homes are near the old Aero Jet location where they use to test rockets etc. Another thread discussing this area.

Gold River is very nice. It does have strict CCR's but thats why that area has not turned into a bunch of rentals. You get more bang for your buck with the houses south of sunrise, but Gold River is a good place if you can find a place for a good priceand you dont mind the HOA's

In Gold River they have a new condo's being built that are really nice. Granted they are condo's but these are not cheaply made. They are a bit pricey but these are large square footage condos right in the middle of Gold River. They had smaller units and they sold out immediately.
Stanford Court - New Condominiums in Gold River California

The other nice areas in Sac are Roseville, Folsom, Eldorado Hills. Fair Oaks isnt bad either although you will find mostly older homes in Fair Oaks.

[NorCal Dude]

Look towards the newer tract homes near the air field, or look towards gold river. Gold river if possible as the students get zoned to better schools.

[NewToCA]

I agree with the posters who mention Gold River, that would be my focus too.

[erwinrfletcher]

Hi yamarranaz, I moved up from Phoenix to the Sacramento area (Rancho Cordova, in fact!) a couple of years ago. While there are some not-so nice areas in Rancho (anything on/near Folsom Blvd and/or Highway 50), as others have said, Gold River is a nice, upscale enclave (but pricey, and as mentioned, strict CCRs and expensive HOA fees), and the newer developments further south (Anatolia) and the Mather area are also nice, but have some drawbacks, depending on your perspective. Gold River is east of Sunrise Blvd and south of the American River. The Anatolia development is several miles south of Highway 50 to the east of Sunrise Blvd. As others noted, Anatolia (and the surrounding/nearby newer communities) are in the Elk Grove school district which is better than many in the area, but you pay much higher property tax/Mello-Roos fees in that development, the rendering plant is nearby, the groundwater in the area is contaminated, and there is some noise from cargo/commercial flights in/out of nearby Mather Airfield (a former Air Force base, now decommissioned). And, if you are as tired of cookie-cutter houses with tan stucco and tile roofs with no mature trees or shade (definition of the Phoenix 'burbs) as I was living in Phoenix, then Anatolia is not for you. I came here to get reacquanited with mature trees and greenery, which I could not find in the Phoenix area except in Arcadia, PV, and south Tempe (none of which I could afford).

My wife and I moved into a townhome near Coloma and Sunrise in Rancho, not far from the American River, and found that area to be quite nice and safe. There is a nice kind of hidden community of single-family homes tucked in the area known as SunRiver. We ended up buying a home last summer in Citrus Heights for not much more than would have cost us for same home in a decent part of Tempe/Mesa/Chandler/Gilbert and love it.

Hope some of this helps!

[ElectroPlumber]

The only safe place to rent an apartment in Rancho is a few of the apartment complexes over off of Data Drive like Capitol Reserve.

Stay away from any and all complexes on or around Coloma.

Gold River is zoned to Rio Americano High School. It is not anywhere close to Rancho Cordova. Gold River residents try to keep themselves totally apart from Rancho, which explains why they somehow were able to get their kids zoned to Rio Americano. The rest of the real city of Rancho Cordova goes to Cordova High School.

Cordova High has it's pluses and minuses. I had two kids there that did ok, but you have to get your kids into the AP classes or it's not so good.

Rancho Cordova also has its very own Superfund clean-up site courtesy of Aerojet's rocket fuel operations from the 1950's through the 1970's. Here is one link: Aerojet-General Corporation Superfund Site, Rancho Cordova - Public Health Activities There are many other sources on the internet about it. The main problem is ground water contamination. Anyone thinking about living here should be aware of this problem.

Many areas in "Old Rancho" are downright seedy. The areas around the light rail stations at Mather and Zinfadel attract a not so upstanding clientele. I also would not live anywhere around the White Rock Park residential area. Some streets to avoid: Mills Station, Birmingham Way, Portsmouth Dr., that section of White Rock, etc.

Many times when I drive down Folsom and get to look at the boarded up trashy looking buildings, I have to remind myself that Rancho is a trade-off and is conveniently located for my work. I also have to remind myself that the almost total lack of decent stores and restaurants is offset by my house which is nice and affordable.

All that said, I like my house in Rancho and I'm grateful to be able to own a house here considering my salary. I wouldn't be able to buy anywhere else that was half-way decent..

[u225615]

I live in Anatolia which is convenient if you work in El Dorado Hills, Folsom and, of course, Rancho Cordova. If you have employment in Roseville I would suggest buying a house in Roseville or Rocklin. The commute in Sacramento, while not as agonizingly slow as other metropolitan areas, can nevertheless be unpleasant. Pros of buying in Anatolia are: 1) among the lowest price per square footage for newer, well appointed homes; 2) solid performing Elk Grove School District; 3) one of the few communities in Sacramento with a resort style clubhouse including pools , party rooms , health club quality exercise room;4) neighborhood parks and walking trails. The downside is the lack of retail/commercial centers nearby, high Mello Roos fees, and lack of housing appreciation (realistically housing will not appreciate until conveniences are built close by and the nation recovers from this economic meltdown). The groundwater is contaminated which is why water is supplied to the community from outside of Anatolia. Hope this helps.