Affordable Places to Raise a Family in California. Any left? (San Jose: homes, dangerous)

[tennis368fan]

If you are thinking of working in the Tri-Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area (Dublin, Pleasanton, Livermore, San Ramon), you could buy a home in Mountain House for $300,000, easily. Its own K-8 school district is excellent and is in proximity to the tech companies of the Tri-Valley. Just take a commuter bus from within the community and you are there. Want to work in the Silicon Valley? Take ACE trains. Want to work in San Francisco or Oakland? Take BART after you get off the commuter bus. Though traffic has traditionally been bad on the Altamont Pass, new metering lights at on-ramps and an expansion project are helping to relieve congestion considerably. The Tri-Valley, with rapid growth in retail, commercial, and industry, supports and will continue to support high paying employment.

You can visit the Mountain House community website for more information. Google "Mountain House Villages" for MHVillages. Sorry, I am not allowed to make active links to other websites with forums, though the rest of the website itself is informational from the community's standpoint and the forum is only a component of the website. The forum is not its main feature.

[honeyrose78]

Chico area, Redding area, san luis obispo area, lompoc area, and way outside sf area are very reasonable. Victorville area too. These areas have decent schools too esp Chico is 5 star rated.

[60sfemi]

Originally Posted by Charles

Affordable is relative.

OK, Here are some places that are affordable:

Carmel
Watts
Malibu
Compton
Montecito
Reseda
Del Mar
Barstow
Bel-Air
Daggett

Seriously, you put Compton and Carmel on the same list? Malibu, del mar and Barstow on the same list. Maybe Compton and watts......have you ever been to,California?

[60sfemi]

Originally Posted by GVGal

I have been reading all the replies about the great Grass Valley, and want to give the outsiders a local's perspective. We moved to GV in 1985 to raise our kids and have a business, and back then it WAS a great place to raise a family. But with the closures of several large employers, many people with families have left our area, and the schools are actually experiencing a DECLINE in enrollment. Translation: fewer kids here. Who are moving here? Retirees. Translation: older community with lots of bucks from the cities. So, that means that what we have now, instead of before, is an increasingly older community with fewer jobs (just TRY to get one that pays well here!) and unaffordable housing prices for most families as the retirees drive up the prices. Also, there has always been a dearth of things to do for kids here, outside of organized sports and such, and that leads to problems (drugs ARE a problem here, believe it or not--just look up the stats). So, yes, it is a beautiful place, but my daughter and sons have moved away from GV to Rocklin and Roseville, where there are more kid-oriented activities and things for families to do, and more jobs.

Funny, we are moving back from texas when my husband retires, in the spring. My kids and grand kids live in Roseville and granite bay. We used to live there 25 years ago and also lived in placerville, but grass valley is closer for kids to visit. Texas has high property taxes, so we are going home. We were thinking lake wildwood, or lake of the pines areas but now we are used to having acreage, but might not find anything. Any good areas we might not know about? Other lakes? Don't want to go to far up the mountains, below snow line, and can't handle deep pine trees, fear of fires!

[threepounduniverse]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

Yes, I know what you mean. But some of these areas shouldn't be that difficult to find a job. Trust me I have thought about all these locations.

Ben Lomond for example is in commute distance to the Silicon Valley. So finding a job there shouldn't be a real problem.

Also Grass Valley is within commute distance to Sac. which has a lot of diverse job opportunities.

Now when I talk about reasonable commute distance I am talking about < 1 hour. Heck even out here in Colorado many people commute 1+ hours to work, especially going from CS to Denver.

Route 9 is a harsh mistress with all the extra traffic the years have induced... to get from Ben Lomond to 17 on the Scotts Valley 17N entrance ramp can be anywhere from 35-40 minutes, depending on where in the BL area you live... there are a few 'back ways' to 17 but once off Route 9 the BL area roads are tiny, slow and dominated by speeding locals. So there's that time to 17, a road that will make you miss Route 9.

Then there's 17 itself. Search this forum for the story on this meat grinder. You *can* go over the hill on route 9 via any of several other routes but this results in traveling on a hazardous and slow set of tiny, bumpy and serpentine roads only to the bottom of 17... with a lot of commuting to go.

The BL schools *suck*.. San Lorenzo Valley school system is infamous in the SC area as one of the worst in an area of almost uniformly mediocre schools.

The only set of 'back' roads I know of which makes sense to cross over the coastal range every day to Cupertino, etc. is San Gregorio>La Honda>Woodside>Cupertino... if you want to buy in a similarly-priced area to Ben Lomond, San Gregorio down the road from Half Moon Bay is it... a fun drive to and from work, very little traffic most of the way each way, not much different home prices, better schools and a do-able commute that's safer and faster to SV proper than BL>17>Campbell...

redfin/trulio/zillow doesn't have much there right now but for around 500k you can get a nicely livable home on actual acreage... the San Gregorio General Store has a nice 'close by' selection of stuff as do a few places in nearby Pescadero for nighttime runs for eats and supplies... State Parks and beaches galore... Half Moon Bay is not far up Route 1 for an intermediate step up and a few steps down from SV area shopping... wherever you decide to land, good luck!

[Anne1218]

I am wondering if you could find a fixer-upper cheaper with nothing too major. You could also buy land in an area you like and then build an alternative self-sustaining house or a tiny house and later add onto it. You can use salvaged parts and do a quite nice job. I have seen some really good books on doing these things. I would do a lot of good research in books first and then explore the areas you are looking into before making a permanent decision. Some things look good up front, but you want to look at the cons of living in a particular area as well as the pros. For example, I wanted to live in the mountains, but I had not thought about the cost of fuel in the wintertime or for that matter all year round as that town did not have gas lines, but everyone had propane and/or fireplaces. All of that can be expensive. You DO want your own land for sure and enough to perhaps raise your own crops for your vegetables and then perhaps some at least small animals (i.e. chicken, goats, rabbits, and perhaps some sheep). Then you need to really read up on animal husbandry so that you can be successful and not lose any of your creatures. If there is a lake not too distant, you might get fish too, at least some of the times. I like what my mom always told me, "Where there's a will, there is a way." If you are dedicated and willing to have a complete lifestyle change, but you will not know unless you do some experimentation.

If you have the land, you might be able to put a nice-size older mobile home that you can buy cheaply, and even if you don't do that, there are nice mobile homes on their own land in some parks. With a decent down-payment, you can have a nice home with several bedrooms and financing of a manufactured home vs. a mobile home means you can get financing. I was going to buy one with about $8,000 down and it would have included my taxes and also my insurance in the payment, which would have been around $320 - $350 a month for a two bedroom, 1-1/2 bath large home and my own land. We are not talking an acre, but what you do have is the safety of living in a nice park where people can look out for each other and your properties, and also a property that will maintain its saleability if you decide later on it is not right for you. I live in an area of California called Inland Empire, and what is good about this part of the country is that you can pick an area here where the climate is moderate to warm depending on your likes. If you want one in the snow part of the year, you will be paying about $200+ for utilities a month, and that is if you are conservative. So there are a lot of factors to consider, and I would make absolutely sure before you take the big jump that you will like it where you go for the long term. The availability of good doctors and hospitals, schools if you have children, grocery stores that are not too expensive or that you can get to easily even in bad weather, and be sure to look at the prices for gas for your car in the areas. It can be high if they have to come up into the mountains to get it to the stations. Also, how are the police in the area? What about plowing the roads in the wintertime and the ability for you to be able to get to work if you need to do that? That is why I say that reading a bunch of good books, and talking with your significant other to make sure that you have the type of personality that can take living in a wilderness area if that is what you decide to do. Then if you still feel strongly that it is what you want to do, I am sure you can make it. You just have to have different life values than everyone else. Other than the cold, I definitely have the personality for it; I just don't have a huge amount of money as I am now 76 and my significant other and I both need to be near doctors to help us stay healthy. But I can live in blue jeans and shirts and be perfectly happy. I can shop in thrift stores for everything I need, or use tailgate shopping (where you find things for free in bins or other free areas that don't require paying for them) I get a lot or most of our clothes that way, and I feel very good about upcycling. A little washing or cleaning and I have a bunch of home laundered. Good luck, and I think you will enjoy it very much overall if you build your own. There is something very good and very freeing about doing that. Peace and blessings, Anne

[SportyandMisty]

Originally Posted by etozion

OK, let's say income of $60K to $80K.
Houses from $250K to $400K.

Blythe, CA.

https://www.zillow.com/homes/3940-Co...,-CA-92225_rb/

[Brandon Graves]

Originally Posted by SportyandMisty

Blythe, CA.

https://www.zillow.com/homes/3940-Co...,-CA-92225_rb/

Those are some pretty great pics of Blythe, not gonna lie!

[tehsquishmeister]

Originally Posted by threepounduniverse

The BL schools *suck*.. San Lorenzo Valley school system is infamous in the SC area as one of the worst in an area of almost uniformly mediocre schools.

https://www.greatschools.org/califor...y-High-School/

Massively overstated. The roads aren't bad at all if you're not a terrible driver and it's beautiful up here.

There are only a handful of places in CA that offer as much as the SLV area. It has its drawbacks like anywhere else, but if you work in Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley, Cupertino, Campbell, Los Gatos, Santa Clara, or even Palo Alto, the commute is not *that* bad.

[Brandon Graves]

Has anyone here mentioned the Coachella Valley (Greater Palm Springs Area) yet?

Why not there? Sure, it will be baking HOT-HOT-HOT for about five months out of the year, but it's overall a pretty darn nice area of CA! Plus, it's still somewhat affordable for CA standards.

But, to look for higher affordability, you would have to look into areas like Cathedral City, Thousand Palms, Desert Hot Springs, Indio, Coachella, or even in the more outlying (and more rural) areas of the Valley such as Indio Hills, Sky Valley, Thermal, or even Mecca (if you want somewhere that's actually affordable, and there is a reason as to why they are cheaper, i.e., more distance to jobs, inclement weather, more isolated, etc.). There are several more of those areas in the Valley, as well, but I don't think they would be much worth of a look for you.

Other areas such as Palm Springs, Palm Desert, and La Quinta would probably be a quite a bit above your price range. But, if you're determined to look hard enough, you may be able to find somewhere you could afford in a city that you're interested in living (albeit in some cases, you may sometimes come across something that may be within a questionable area).