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Old 12-11-2013, 04:35 PM
 
2 posts, read 8,658 times
Reputation: 10

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Hi folks!

Hoping y'all could help...

My wife and I want to move to Sonoma to settle down and hopefully scout some land to build a home.
We've both dreamed of living there but could use some help and advise with locations we may not know about.

Looking for: 10+ acres of land with trees & rolling hills / mountains (?)



We are early 40's, no kids (schools not important), quiet & peaceful, love to cook. Wife is a licensed clinical addiction therapist and I "flip" homes. She will be targeting Santa Rosa for work and I, San Rafael. Since we currently live in the rather congested Virginia suburbs of Washington D.C., we are accustomed to 1-1.5 hour commute times each way. We feel that living within an hour+ drive of San Rafael would be an acceptable sacrifice for having our dream of a country home.

Thanks to all the good folks on citi-data.com, I've read and found areas such as Guerneville , Healdsburg, Occidental , and Sebastopol. Are there any other areas to consider? Does one area have better/worse features than the others?


Also, does anyone know why house-plan websites estimate 50%-70% more for California Sonoma construction than the rest of the country? Does a wood 2x4 cost 50% more in California than in Alabama? Or is this just the premium builders in Northern California charge? Wonder if it would be cheaper to bring in a build team or go modular.... hmmm....

Any ideas or insight?

Thanks!

Rodney
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Old 12-11-2013, 08:49 PM
 
1,312 posts, read 6,470,137 times
Reputation: 2036
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chef-Rodney View Post
Looking for: 10+ acres of land with trees & rolling hills / mountains (?)
That will run you over $2 million easily...even for an unimproved parcel. Remember that all of Sonoma County is prime wine-grape growing country. You will have to pay the going rate for valuable vineyard acreage if you want to let it sit and just graze goats on it. Lot and lots of competition from well-moneyed land investors. Be suspicious of any acreage that seems much cheaper than what is typical. There are probably zoning restrictions, access problems, or failed perc test issues that would prevent you from putting a house on it.
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Old 12-12-2013, 01:10 AM
 
Location: KKKalfornia
493 posts, read 783,510 times
Reputation: 277
Rio Nido, Guerneville or Monte Rio
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Old 12-12-2013, 03:24 PM
 
Location: Pahrump, NV
2,851 posts, read 4,522,770 times
Reputation: 2797
i'm not sure that living in rio nido area would be 1.5hr drive to san rafael. i think it'd be closer to 2hrs ?
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Old 12-12-2013, 04:24 PM
 
581 posts, read 921,144 times
Reputation: 506
My wife and I just looked at 2 1/2 acres just off 7th street listed $2.2M. No improvements.
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Old 12-13-2013, 11:08 AM
 
2 posts, read 8,658 times
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"That will run you over $2 million easily...even for an unimproved parcel."

Steve97145, good heads up! I certainly see your point and going back and reviewing some of the parcels I've seen on Zillow - many of them do not disclose if they are buildable or have major issues with building. Will keep a more keen eye out as a result - Thanks! Might have to scale back our expectations to smaller acerage. Can't help but wonder tho if the difference between an accessible lot and a undeveloped hard accessible lot is $500k+, then how much would it cost to put in a road? Less than $500k? Just thinkin out loud...


"Rio Nido, Guerneville or Monte Rio"

CousinMaynard - YES! YES! Took a look at a random street using GoogleMaps "streetview" (love that feature) in those areas -- BEAUTIFUL! Added the "Terrain" feature to find out where the unbuildable mountains are, and couldn't help but wonder about flash floods, with so little land between some pretty steep mountains...


"i'm not sure that living in rio nido area would be 1.5hr drive to san rafael. i think it'd be closer to 2hrs ?"

cre8lite - GoogleMaps has it at about 1 hour but I'm sure in traffic it can be a lot more. I know that actual ground travel can vary compared to google's drive estimates. Some cities they are pretty accurate tho.



"My wife and I just looked at 2 1/2 acres just off 7th street listed $2.2M. No improvements."

murfslaw - Wow! From all my searching yours seems like a premium lot. What qualities did that lot have over all the others? Or is the seller just shooting for the moon?


---

Oh, does anyone happen to know the difficulty of dealing with the county for building in Sonoma? Would it be a concern to clear trees for a driveway, building lot, and views? Still wanting to preserve as many as I could tho.

Reason? I read an article in the SF Chronicle about folks in Marin fighting over a large oak(?) tree by the side of the road. The county wanted to knock down the tree to expand the road, folks fought for the tree, and the county backed down after spending $1.5 mil on the proposal. -- whew, what an expensive battle.

Rodney
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Old 12-13-2013, 03:31 PM
 
Location: Pahrump, NV
2,851 posts, read 4,522,770 times
Reputation: 2797
i know the county of sonoma (maybe all of california in general?) wants you to purchase a permit for just about anything. change your hot water heater? permit build a pergola not attached to the house? permit

so i'm sure you will need to fork out some $ for just about everything you do.....
Online Permits and Permit Information - Permit & Resource Management Department - County of Sonoma, California
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Old 12-13-2013, 04:11 PM
 
Location: Boulder Creek, CA
9,197 posts, read 16,845,334 times
Reputation: 6373
Quote:
Originally Posted by cre8lite View Post
i know the county of sonoma (maybe all of california in general?) wants you to purchase a permit for just about anything. change your hot water heater? permit build a pergola not attached to the house? permit

so i'm sure you will need to fork out some $ for just about everything you do.....
Online Permits and Permit Information - Permit & Resource Management Department - County of Sonoma, California
Then one might opt for Sebastopol. Everything might get a bit more relaxed with the entrance of the new mayor:
Quote:
Left-leaning Sebastopol has elected Green Party candidates to the City Council, fought PG&E SmartMeters and declared itself a nuclear-free zone.
Now the city is the first in the nation to select a mayor with a background in the medical marijuana industry.
First-year councilman Robert Jacob, founder and executive director of marijuana dispensary Peace in Medicine, was unanimously chosen last week for the role by his peers on the City Council.

Sebastopol's new mayor puts city on medical marijuana map | The Press Democrat
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Old 12-14-2013, 12:47 PM
 
Location: Eureka CA
9,519 posts, read 14,748,538 times
Reputation: 15068
Healdsburg is VERY expensive.
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Old 12-14-2013, 02:32 PM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,211 posts, read 107,931,771 times
Reputation: 116160
Be careful to buy on higher ground in the Russian River area. It floods annually. Mold problems are endemic.
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