Any info on Napa and Vacaville

[fishstix3]

I agree that there are definitely areas of Vallejo that are enjoying a revitalization; however, it is fair to say that there are still areas of Vallejo that you would not want to choose. The area between Marine World and American Canyon comes to mind particularly. As in most other cities, you just have to be aware of the areas that you may want to steer clear of -- I am not willing to put my life savings into a home hoping that SOON there will be a resurgence! The areas near the water are ok, and home prices will certainly reflect that.
Good luck ~

[bellalunatic]

CHAZ LONGUE SAID:
"I'm not in Ca. I'm in VT. But my parents live in Santa Rosa. That's the biggest city between SF and the Northen border I'm told. It's in Sonoma County. My understanding is that it's less expensive and less developed. But I can tell you it has all the charm (wineries, scenery, etc) I associate with that part of the world. They seem to think it compares favorably with Napa County. And Santa Rosa itself impresses me. But as I said - I don't really know Ca"

Take heed from the poster from VT! Santa Rosa is actually being beseiged by major developments of all the wrong kinds in the past 8 years or so , has a massivve gang problem and is the biggest traffic nightmare in Sonoma County.
Yes there are nice and not so nice neighborhoods just like almost everywhere else, but frankly It's a poorly laid out place without much of the Wine Country ambiance...seriously. Oh yeah and the commute from SR to Napa is a big pain...unless you are an uber tolerant SoCal traffic person.

[christeen]

Not sure the OP hasn't already moved, but thought I'd add to the discussion . . .

We live in Napa and my husband commutes to Vacaville. It usually takes him less than 40 mins, but that can change anytime there's an accident on Hwy 12 or 80. Hwy 12 is a 2-lane windy road that's very dangerous and congested, esp on the opposite commute (ie, Vacaville to Napa in the mornings). There are plans to widen Hwy 12 starting late 2010 which would help the safety issue, but they haven't yet worked out how to improve the interchanges to reduce congestion/travel times. And when the construction actually begins, I imagine Hwy 12, plus alternate routes from Napa to Hwy 80 will be crazy congested.

We like Napa overall. It's mostly suburban next to rural areas, plus pockets of poorer more densely populated neighborhoods. The Napa Valley scenery is gorgeous, there's a cute downtown area along the river that's undergoing renovation/revitalization, shopping options are getting fancier with a new Whole Foods, Oxbow market etc, but there's still regular shopping like Target, WalMart, etc. Flooding seems to happen only in the downtown area next to the river (and not every year), and they're working to eliminate that issue. My biggest gripe is the city's not very diverse. There is a large latino population, but the city feels very segregated between richer/poor, and this seems to fall along racial lines.

If you have a family, there are lots of activities for kids, though not many family-friendly restaurants (our options are mainly fast food and super-nice expensive places). The elementary and middle schools seem pretty good, and the high schools average. There is a recent increase in gang activity which appears concentrated in the poorer areas, but that seems to be the case in all cities.


If commuting to Napa, I'd also look into Sonoma and Benicia. Benicia has excellent schools, is considered safe, perfect weather, and has a quaint downtown main street. The cons are the refineries and lack of diversity. I imagine the commute to Napa will get longer as American Canyon gets more congested, but it's usually about 30-35 mins. Sonoma also has a quaint downtown area, is in a beautiful setting about 20-30 mins to Napa, but on narrow winding roads. Again, lack of diversity and I don't know what the schools are like. American Canyon is more diverse, only 15-20 mins to Napa and is in the Napa school district. But it doesn't have much going on as far as a cute downtown etc, and it's divided right down the middle by Hwy 12 with no overpasses, just a series of traffic lights. It also abuts Vallejo, which has pockets of nice neighborhoods and some economic resurgence, but is still generally considered unsafe and the schools really bad. I find Santa Rosa is at least an hour from Napa, on mostly narrow, windy roads. HTH.

[tennis368fan]

Originally Posted by california_is_superior

Vacaville is really expensive (700 and up or a new home) its about a 30 minute to Sac ...nothing real special

False.

COUNTEREXAMPLES:

Vacaville Unified School District: Ashbourne Park by Richmond American Homes: 1950+ square feet single-family homes from $349,000.

Travis Unified School District: Encore by Meritage Homes: 2050+ square feet single-family homes from $486,990.

Existing homes are less expensive, as they begin in the $300,000 range. Below, you can view an example of an existing home in the Travis Unified School District, a district that performs at a level similar to the level of Benicia Unified.

755 CALICO TRAIL, VACAVILLE, CA 95687

List Price: $339,000
4 Bedrooms
3 Baths
2,278 Square Feet
MLS #:20737630 - Use this number to search on free home searching engines for more details.

Originally Posted by Viphya

...I would not even consider Vallejo, Benicia, Hercules, Pinole, Crockett, Martinez, or American Canyon if your worried about schools or safety at all. Vallejo is one of the worst areas for crime/gangs etc. in the Bay Area...

Benicia, Martinez, and American Canyon should be taken off that list. Those cities have good school systems, particularly Benicia and Martinez. American Canyon is zoned within the Napa Unified School District, which is not bad, but not the very best either. It certain beats going to Vallejo schools.

In fact, American Canyon Middle is the highest performing middle school of Napa Unified School District's non-chartered middle schools that are zoned to certain neighborhoods.

Try these links:

Napa County 2007 API Report by California Department of Education: County List of Schools

Napa County 2006 School Rankings Report (Scores out of 10) by California Department of Education: 2006 Base API County List of Schools - NAPA County

Solano County 2007 API Report by California Department of Education: County List of Schools

Solano County 2006 School Rankings Report (Scores out of 10) by California Department of Education: 2006 Base API County List of Schools - SOLANO County


GreatSchools.net - Lets parents read reviews of schools and view user-friendly information. It has a stricter scoring system, so for California schools, 8 out 10 means that the school is already very good.

Originally Posted by Viphya

...As far as floods, there were major floods there every single year I lived there. I lived on a mountain above the valley, so was never flooded, but every year I would get stranded up there because the roads in the valley were under water. People who lived on the floodplain would regularly get their houses flooded. I worked with people who tried to raise their house, or sandbag etc, but it never worked, and year after year, they would loose a bunch of stuff to water damage. I never understood why they stayed, but some people just love where they live I guess. The fact is that houses built on a flood plain are going to get flooded no matter what you do. The houses I'm talking about were right on the Napa River though, in the middle of the valley, so if your wise in picking your location, and if your looking south of the valley in Napa etc, it will be a lot easier to find places that are not in the floodplain...

Check out the FEMA flood maps:

FEMA (not as user-friendly, but very, very precise) : FEMA Map Service Center - FEMA Issued Flood Maps

ABAG FEMA map (more user-friendly, but still precise) : " + theTitle + "

Originally Posted by twinboysmomma

Benicia is a great town. Its nothing like Vallejo. Really, nothing like it at all.

Benicia is very small, with lots of upper middle class. It has VERY low crime (the lowest in the area and it feels very safe here), great schools, gorgeous parks everywhere, cute mom and pop restaurants, quaint downtown, and its a mostly white-collar area. We not are native Benicians, but we love it here.

Ditto. Benicia has refineries, though. Based on other threads, its seems as if residents are not bothered by its presence. Its presence is not visible or detectable by smell to many residents in Benicia. However, if you are still worried, Travis Unified School District's attendance area is a good alternative. Here's a link to the district's attendance area map: District Boundaries. That district does not require a heavy investment in homes and is much less expensive.