A question regarding California rent....

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by greatbasinguide

Actually, extremely expensive, figure a rent on a room in a house will set you back at least $500 and up. A home? cheapest home for sale in Truckee is $300,000 960 square feet, no garage.

That is cheap compared to the Bay Area, lol... maybe it's changed since I lived there (1997-99), but I had a great 3 bedroom + loft house on the South Shore for $950. And to me, that's a terrific deal! Though you're right in that it's probably not the cheapest option - but better than the big cities, for sure.

[michaelwyeth]

Anywhere in California is expensive. However, Modoc county in the northeastern corner of the state is cheapest, followed by Kings County near Fresno. The cheapest place in Southern California is the Indio/Coachella area.

[Des_Demona]

Lone Pine is pretty cheap.... haha... my uncle moved there to "get away from it all" and I think his rent for a pretty good sized two bedroom house was $300 a month! Talk about isolation though... it's central California and the weather... unpleasant.

[MontyEX]

Ok, I've been thinking about moving to California(Specifically Central and Northern California) for quite some time now and let me tell you, I am totally dumbfounded and astounded at the incredibly expensive rents and housing values, it's really deterring me from moving there and that's rather unfortunate. That said, I've done some extensive research on where (if any) there are relatively inexpensive rents in the state since I'm looking to establish residency first and then later attend college elsewhere and qualify for in-state tuition.

So... Instead of relying on data or maps I went straight to Craigslist! I searched all the California regional Craigslist columns for a 1br apartment with free WiFi (a reasonable request) and then sorted them by lowest price. My results for the least expemsive regional cities in California were as follows:

Fresno!
Chico!
Sacramento!
Inland Empire!
Humboldt!
Sikiyou County!
Bakersfield!
Redding!

[zdg]

I don't know what the rule is, but after seven years you're probably allowed to start your own thread.

[ferretkona]

The results on craigslist should not really be considered a guide line. Craigs gets a lot of crap, a lot of bogus ads.
You will find a lot of crime I bet with any rents off craigs. You may find some winners but local newspapers will give more reliable ads.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Free wi-fi is not common. Only expensive apartments are going to offer it, or hotels/motels. So, I think you should do your search again leaving out the wi-fi requirement, and also look at the job market if you are going to have to work while you establish residency.

Why don't you start out at a community college paying out-of-state tuition? At least you can be going to school and you can get student loans. Just a thought. Even the poorer, cheaper areas usually have a community college. So, same student loan gets you more in rent, etc.

[gone down south]

2006, people.