Which Sacramento suburb? (Folsom, Rocklin, Fair Oaks: homes, school rankings, living)

[psychomamma]

Hi everyone -- my husband may have a chance to get a position in the Sacramento area -- we live in the Bay Area now. He would be working out of Mather Air Force Base -- here is what we would be looking for:

1) Ideally not more than 1/2 hour commute

2) Excellent schools - bonus would be a K-8 or great charter school that you can actually get into! My kids are in 4th and K right now.

3) Our home budget would cap about $650,000. We don't like huge homes - a smaller home that is totally updated inside would be better - we like cozy. Also, I wouldn't mind a home that we could stay in initially in retirement, so something that feels quiet and calm, maybe a great view, not too busy?

4) a great non-denominational Christian church nearby would be a plus.

My thoughts are:
Rocklin? (my cousin lives here - great schools but too far?)
Granite Bay - great church here, too expensive?
Folsom?

Any thoughts? Specific schools/school district/church ideas would be great!!

[NewToCA]

If you found a great church in Granite Bay, I'd take a look at the American River Canyon area of Folsom.

It is just south of Granite Bay.

[NinaN]

There are plenty of homes available in that price range in all those cities. I can tell you that smaller, really nice inside, and 1-story (for retirement) is really, really hard to find. If you find something like that while you are looking, don't think about it too long as they go fast. My husband works at the old Mather base and we live in El Dorado Hills. It's about 25 minute drive to get there. Folsom is 5-10 minutes faster. We did not choose Granite Bay or Rocklin because you have to cross the river to get to work. There are limited roads with bridges, and traffic can get really horrible trying to get to the south side of 50.

Most the schools in Folsom and all the schools in El Dorado Hills are highly ranked. Just do a search on school rankings and you can see the official results. Good luck with your search.

[Dewzy916]

East side of Lincoln village by routier road has decent living and schools in the area plus it's close to Mather afb

[kb07]

on your budget you could find several homes in granite bay under 650,000! You would probably be happy with folsom too. You might want to check out El Dorado Hills and Cameron Park too.

[misc916]

I would agree to look along the Highway 50 corridor around Folsom . Also, consider Fair Oaks or even Gold River (although strict HOA). They are a bit closer to Mather than Folsom and still very nice areas. I have no idea about any area churches though. BTW, Mather is not an Air Force Base anymore. I think it' s now called Mather Air Field or Air Park...just being technical ;-)