Santa Rosa-Neighborhoods (Tracy, Gilroy, Sebastopol: crime rate, homes, to buy)

[kimod74]

Can someone please let me know about the different neighborhoods in Santa Rosa. Possibly relocating but I like living in more mature neighborhoods. I want to be within reasonable walking distance to shops, restaurants, etc. I was trying to look on realtor.com for different home prices but I don't know what areas of town they are in as to determine different home prices.
Any advice you can give on where to live in Santa Rosa would be wonderful!
How is traffic? The job situation? Etc., Etc.

[calif]

Montgomery Village area has mature neighborhoods, great shopping, great parks etc.

[calif]

Just wanted to add that this is in the San Fran section, don't know how many replies you will get with it here. I sure wish they would set up a Northern CA forum.

[Taboo2]

I think Santa Rose can be considered SF. If Tracy is and Gilroy is then why not SR?

[DjRey]

UHH.Tracy and Gilroy are like more than an hour from SF.

[calif]

So is Santa Rosa. It isn't in the same county. Marin is more likely to be considered SF than Santa Rosa.

[Taboo2]

OH wow I thought for sure it was Santa Rosa High..Drew was staying up there for the movie and it was orginallly titled scary movie.

[kevgopala]

Unfortunately I have little information to offer as we are also new to Santa Rosa. We did notice that the JR College / Safeway area on Mendocino seemed very creepy the other day when we shopped there.

Downtown seems nice and the Montgomery area someone up above recommended also seemed nice.

When asking about Santa Rosa in the past, we were told that we should avoid Santa Rosa South, its said to be the grimier part of town. But as we haven't been there ourselves, can't tell you if that's true or not. Someone also suggested that Coddingtown (north-west, near Coddingtown mall), is a little suspect after dark.

QUESTION:
We are looking to buy in Roseland (west side of Santa Rosa), near Sebastopol Rd, and are wondering whether its a nice area, and if it has much in the way of amenities.

Any advice welcome!

Thanks,

Kev

[smiles]

I would not invest in the Roseland area. Roseland has always been a more run down part of town. If you are looking at the newer homes down Sebastopol Rd. They may look nice and new, but some people living there are not law abiding citizens (higher crime rate in that area). There are quite a few gang members in the area. My son's teacher lives there and she said it is very hard to find a parking spot on the streets, because so many homes have multiple (extended) families. She does not feel safe there. I would not consider anything South of Hwy 12 (south Santa Rosa).

To the original poster:

Montgomery Village is a great older neighborhood. It is near many great shops. Proctor Terrace is nice also, but not close to shopping if you want to walk. Bennett Valley is not so bad, but again, not walkable for shopping.

If you are looking for a great area that is walkable and has older homes, look at the town of Sebastopol. It is 7 miles to the west of Santa Rosa.

[Taboo2]

Sebastopol is cute as is Cotati. We lived in Hessel and it was super nice.