Windsor, California? A good place to live? (San Francisco, Santa Rosa: real estate, apartments)

[ChristieB]

My husband and I are thinking about moving to Windsor, California, have some questions, but don't see any posting about this place, so any help will be appreciated.
We don't need to worry about school or work, because our son is going to college and we work at home.
We are thinking about Windsor because it is not too far from SF, and Santa Rose is close by, so we can go to the city but don't need to worry about problems come with the city life, is this true?
Hows the weather? how hot and cold it gets in the summer and winter? are there problems with flooding? how safe is the place? are there plenty shopping choices such as supermarkets, health food store, Target? hows the health care? any major hospital? What is the Town Green and old downtown like? are there any areas are better and safer to live than others?
Thank you for your help.

[ChristieB]

Anybody knows anything about Windsor? any help will be appreciated.

[sonarrat]

I know nothing about it, other than it's a suburb of Santa Rosa in the Sonoma wine country, and about an hour and a half north of San Francisco. City-Data.com's fact pages can give you more detailed information about the crime rate (low), climate, and services.

[sliverbox]

I go up in that area around once a month. It's more like 2 hours from the Bay Area if you go home at rush hour. The area has no industry to speak of, but housing, just like the rest of the state is prohibitively expensive. It gets hot in the summer and a bit colder in the winter. 40-45 degrees isn't unusual for the area in January.

[Joe_Ryder]

Windsor is one of those places that suddenly appeared about 15 years ago. It's pretty much the typical suburb though it's a bit far out for a commute in my opinion. Just a few years ago, it was nothing more than an exit sign on the 101. You'd miss it if you blinked. Now it's a lot of beige and brown.

I can't really tell you too much about it other than that it looks like any other cookie-cutter burb. It's a convenient place to stop for gas. It seems brutally hot in summer but just about everything feels hot when you leave the cooling fog of SF.

I lived in Santa Rosa many years ago and the winters were pretty nice. A bit drier and warmer than the Bay Area though it could get to freezing or below some mornings. Frost is fairly common but it warms up a lot during the day.

[Linenoise]

I haven't been up there much, but it seems alright. They're attempting to create a downtown area, making a town green with shops/apartments surrounding it. I think the economy is starting to get them, though - last time we were up there, a LOT of the little stores had closed.

It's too far to commute to SF unless you hate yourself.

[SoCiEtY's ReBel]

small "town" north of Santa Rosa... They have a wal-mart although like most parts of California, it is not a Super Center. They have this fun little water slide park called Windsor Water Works but it is "little" Generally, warmer than SF in the summer and lower overnight lows in the winter high 20's low 30's for overnight lows in dec/jan is common. About an hour drive to SF @ 70+ MPH (with no traffic).

Santa Rosa has much more to offer... Its a city of just over 150,000 so it has a lot more in the way of jobs, etc. Most Windsor people probably have jobs in SR.

Rohnert Park is also a nice suburb which is to the south of Santa Rosa, so its closer to SF and its about 5 times bigger than Windsor and much closer to Santa Rosa!

[mariob]

Hi Christie, where is your family moving from? What made you pick Windsor out of curiousity? I am a Sonoma County native, specifically Santa Rosa but I have relatives and friends who live in Windsor. It has quite a few tract homes and has really grown fast over the past 10 years. In just the past few years they have added Wal Mart and Home Depot. The Town Green is really nice, in the summer time they play outdoor movies, there is the coolest candy shop there that makes me think of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. You asked about 2 opposite spectrums of shopping ( Target and health food stores) for both of these choices you will be heading to Santa Rosa. Santa Rosa has a wide range of health food stores, Whole Foods, Olivers, and smaller ones like Community Market downtown. If you work from home Windsor isn't too bad but if you were commuting I wouldn't recommend it because the traffic on 101 is horrible. Weather wise expect the summers to get in the low 100's if you like cooler weather, shorter commute to San Fran, big box store shopping in Santa Rosa, and quick access to health food stores or the beach, Sebastopol would be a better choice. I am a real estate broker so if you have any specific questions about housing, I would be happy to help.

Mario Bertacco

[ChristieB]

Hello All, thanks for all the helpful information, I think Windsor will be too hot for us, we are from southern California, and live not too far from the ocean, so hot weather will be a problem for us.
But we love Sonoma County. Is Sebastopol the only city that is cooler in summer and close enough to Santa Rosa, or are there other places we should consider?
How hot does it gets in the summer in Sebastopol? Also, does it rain a lot in the winter there? And what areas should be avoided due to flooding?

[Linenoise]

How hot is too hot?

Rohnert Park and Petaluma are (relatively) cool. I live in Rohnert Park and while it might get up in the 90's during the day, it's usually down to the 60's or 70's once the sun goes down. There's only about 3 days a year where we need to run the A/C at night. Petaluma tends to be a little cooler still.

It can rain alot around here, a little more than over in the valley. But, most of it comes Jan/Feb. Like most of this area of CA, you get virtually no rain from May to November. Check some of the weather sites for details.. weather.com has averages for each city for temps and precipitation, by month.

As for flooding, the only thing that comes to mind is around the Russian River, especially in Guerneville. Seems like I'm already reading about it flooding someone out.