Vacaville, Brentwood or Fairfield? (Sacramento, Oakland: foreclosures, rentals, house)

[seoulgirl]

Out of these 3 cities, which would you recommend most for a family with children in the elementary, middle school and high school age? We looked at a wonderful "virtual city tour" of Brentwood and the area looks great, schools look ok to good and it appears there is a lot to do. It is difficult to compare cities, however, when you do not currently live in the area. Thanks for your input!

[clongirl]

I think if I had the choice, Vacaville would be the best bet. Many areas of Fairfield have gone downhill over the years, and many undesirable type people have moved over from the nearby city of Vallejo (which has/had the reputation as a "ghetto"). West Fairfield is nice however (an area known as Green Valley). It's beautiful out in this part and the schools are better but you'd still have to go into the city proper for shopping.

Vacaville has supposedly better schools overall and has a nicer, safer, "family" feel. It's a well established suburb and was always considered the more desirable than Fairfield.

I'm not very familiar with Brentwood, but it's one of those places that used to be small, rural, farmland that nobody heard of and then loads of new sprawling housing estates went up all at the same time. This is an area where they are having a lot of problems with foreclosures so you could probably pick up a house for relatively cheap or at least find plenty of choices for rentals. I can't imagine that there would be that much to do out that way, but I have a friend with children that says he likes it and says the schools are good. Hope this helps a bit.

[Lori1961]

You have to think about where you will be working and Brentwood is way out on Highway 4 which is a HUGE bottleneck during commute hours. Vacaville definitely has easier access.

[footballer0607]

Take it from me, I live reasonably close to Brentwood...there's very little to do out there. If I were you, I'd pick Fairfield, since it's more established than Brentwood and slightly closer to Oakland and SF than Vacaville. Of course, if you lived in Vacaville, then that would be closer to Sacramento.

[CUinTN]

A vote for Brentwood if you have kids. The schools are good. There is still a sense of community here. There is adequate shopping--ie all the big box stores, Trader Joe's, etc. plus a nice lively downtown with more boutique shopping. Also there's lot to do if you like picking your own fruit and living near the delta for water sports. And, I can tell you from experience that the commute down Hwy 4 is no worse than the commute along 80.

[aaronmh78]

I am probably late in my reply but I have lived in both Faifield and Vacaville and have worked near Brentwood and will move there in a couple of months (currently overseas). There is a major bottleneck when trying to commute to the city from Brentwood but you are closer than you would be living in Vacaville or Fairfield and you have a BART station in Bay Point. I like the brentwood area because you are closer to both concord and walnut creek which means better shopping and a more educated and cultured atmosphere of people. Brentwood homes are also much newer. A previous reply mentioned this but Fairfield has been going down hill lately. The city has been trying to clean it up a bit but it stills seems to be getting worse. Vacaville on the other hand is nicer than Fairfield but further from the metropolitan area of the bay which means no BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). I hope this helps those considering the area.

[prairie guy]

Original poster--you really need to let everybody know where/how far you are willing to commute to effectively counsel you...

As far as schools go, Fairfield (Fairfield-Suisun School District) is easily the worst. Vacaville is considered better, but any California school district that is not obviously "top notch" is going to have problems. Look over individual schools carefully. Or, live in the southern area of Vacaville and you might be in the Travis School District--the best reputation in the area, but be certain you live in Travis schools boundaries.

Brentwood, I don't know much about the schools there, but listen to the other posters--it will be a nightmare commute to most anyplace from Brentwood. But it can also be a nightmare commute from Fairfield/Vacaville--we need to know where you are working.

Seoulgirl, would you write back? Thanks and good luck.