Retiring to Sacramento area -any suggestions? (Stockton, Orange: crime rates, how much, new house)

[2sleepy]

We didn't make it down we are stuck in the middle of getting some repairs done pursuant to the home inspection, just petty stuff but getting quotes, trying to find someone to do the work soon so we don't have to postpone closing, and then figuring out exactly what the inspector had in mind with his vague descriptions has kept us here. We still have some loose ends to tie up here so I don't think we will make it down this coming weekend either- we have a truck rented for the 23rd and will be moving all of our furniture and everything except a few suitcases into a storage locker in Sac, then we come back here sleep on a futon until the 28th when we will sign the papers and be out of here.

Our realtor went and looked at the place on Walnut and it would require a good deal of work just to make it reasonably livable, he did a good job taking pictures and explaining the issues and it would just be too much to take on right now so we are still looking. It seems the market has slowed down most of the houses that are on our 'list' to check out in person are still sitting there many of them with price reductions. I still haven't gotten him to go look at the 'noisy' house on Auburn, so I guess we will have to do that ourselves if it's still available when we get there. If you see anything that looks good, please let me know I don't think we want to live in a motel with our zoo any longer than is necessary =)

[caligirlz]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

It seems the market has slowed down most of the houses that are on our 'list' to check out in person are still sitting there many of them with price reductions.

Some of the local realtors are talking about this as well. Perhaps it's the tail end of the "buying/selling" season.

Sacramento Appraisal Blog
Housing Inventory Rises As Sales Cool

We'll keep an eye out for you.

[2sleepy]

The Sacramento Appraisal blog was very interesting, our real estate agent here in Reno was a math major and figures stuff out from a very analytic point of view. She said your asking price has to perfect in this market, that every week to 10 days your house is on the market you exponentially lose more and more potential buyers because they simply don't come back and look again when you drop the price. She said about 80% of house shopping is done on line and that almost everyone selects a low and high price range which are offered on all the RE sites, ie. zillow, movoto etc. Generally those are set up in 50 thousand dollar brackets, so if you have a house that you want to sell for around 350k and you set the price at 349k you catch all the people looking for a house < 350 but if you price it at 351K you only get people looking for a house at < 400k. She admits making mistakes in pricing homes but said she generally catches it within 3 or 4 days by watching the interest in the house and adjusts the price quickly. The agent we are working with here said that open houses a few months ago were drawing 40-50 people and lately that is down to about a dozen.

One thing that has always troubled me is the way RE commissions are set up, there is simply zero incentive for an agent to get the best price possible for a buyer. I'm not sure they are even conscious of that when they are working with a buyer but it's a fact just like it is in buying a car, commission based selling is not conducive to helping buyers save money

[DougStark]

2sleepy, just curious about your overall impressions of Reno area. You only mention that you don't want to shovel snow. But Reno's not even that snowy. There must be other reasons.

I know Sac is greener and prettier IMO than Reno, and its economy is not primarily tourism/gambling. Other than that, I don't know a whole lot about Reno overall. I live in Phoenix, so I appreciate shade and greenery.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by DougStark

2sleepy, just curious about your overall impressions of Reno area. You only mention that you don't want to shovel snow. But Reno's not even that snowy. There must be other reasons.

I know Sac is greener and prettier IMO than Reno, and its economy is not primarily tourism/gambling. Other than that, I don't know a whole lot about Reno overall. I live in Phoenix, so I appreciate shade and greenery.

I think you either love Reno or you hate it and I basically hate it. I find it boring, and kind of a sad town like many cities are that have a casino based economy. If you ski or participate in other winter sports it's great, if you like to fish there are great places to do that like the Truckee River or Pyramid lake. I don't do any of that stuff, I was raised in an urban area and this definitely does not in any way resemble one.

The school system is awful, my granddaughter from Northern California stayed here last year with her parents. She was enrolled in the highest rated elementary school in Reno and when she enrolled, they tested her she was a full grade level above the standards for Nevada Schools - and she was from a pretty crappy school in Northern California. This is just anecdotal, but when people argue with me that Nevada Schools aren't as bad as I claim I direct them to craigslist ads where they can find the most interesting and unique spelling variations, ie. "I'm sailing this fin Chivy Truck fer cheep"

One company owns all the movie theaters in the region and they all show the same movies, for example when Snowpiercer came out the closest theater playing it was Sacramento. Reno is not a City that is conducive to walking unless you live in the downtown core and want to walk around the Casinos there, depending on where you live public transportation is either excellent or non-existent. I have a car, but I really like public transportation, however the nearest bus stop from my house is 2 miles away.

Housing is cheaper than California but nothing else is, utilities are high, fees for almost everything are very high, and food is more expensive. Unless you have a lawn there is nothing green about Reno, it's high desert, and snow depends on where you live- I live about 500' above the city center and we shovel a great deal of snow in the winter, but when we drive downtown the snow usually melts quickly. I like to garden but it is very common for it to snow on June 1st and then again October 1st. Not much snow but enough to ruin your tomatoes. And where we live, the wind is just horrendous, it comes from the west with a vengeance. When we first moved in we put our lovely teak patio furniture on the deck along with an umbrella, we went out for a few hours and when we returned the umbrella was about 3 blocks away and all of the furniture was broken to pieces from getting continually slammed into the house and deck railing in 60mph wind. They even have a name for the wind here "the Washoe Zephyr"

Now to get the 'other side of the story' you might want to go to the Reno forum where Utsci and Willys will provide perfectly rational arguments to counter everything I just said here, they are both diehard Reno fans, so I guess it comes back to what I started this post with - you will either love it or hate it.

[Majin]

There is virtually no reason to actually live in Reno when you can visit it from Sacramento every now and then with only a ~2 hour car trip.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by Majin

There is virtually no reason to actually live in Reno when you can visit it from Sacramento every now and then with only a ~2 hour car trip.

very true

[redhead]

Originally Posted by semispherical

If you are willing to look outside Sacramento, Woodland still has good RE deals for less than $300K:

1025 Ashley Avenue, Woodland CA For Sale - Trulia

including quite a few short sales and foreclosures.

The nicer, non-cookie cutter areas are south of Main and west of College or in Beamer Park. There are newer, more uniform subdivisions along Road 102 near the Costco shopping center.

You might also look at areas................

heading northeast of sacto for buying a home is a much better investment then anything south of sacto imo. and woodland is not anywhere as nice as lincoln or auburn. and lincoln is connected to the rail from my understanding. so prices are still much more reasonable in lincoln and auburn over roseville. roseville will eventually become like antelope and north highlands, it's just a matter of time that those high crime areas will impact roseville. so for securing a more stable property value over the next 20 years it's wiser to get further northeast of sacto imo. and someone pointed out west sacto, and i agree that that will become a growth area, only because all the other areas have been used up, and the water ways throughout that area can be a selling feature for future upscale homes. plus it's so close to downtown!

[redhead]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

Another question... I found this house at 3021 Walnut Carmichael 3021 Walnut Avenue, Carmichael CA For Sale - Trulia But Trulia shows it as a high crime area, I didn't know there were high crime areas in Carmichael and the google street view makes it appear to be a serene country setting. With some money invested in it I think the house could be perfect for us and the dogs would love having 1/3 acre to romp in

carmichael is a high crime area!! so is cirtrius heights. but fair oaks and orangevale are much lower crime rate areas and yet not so much higher in prices for property. just check neighborhood scout dot com and you'll get the rates. also best places dot net or net can't remember which both have all the stats you need or relocating.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by redhead

heading northeast of sacto for buying a home is a much better investment then anything south of sacto imo. and woodland is not anywhere as nice as lincoln or auburn. and lincoln is connected to the rail from my understanding. so prices are still much more reasonable in lincoln and auburn over roseville. roseville will eventually become like antelope and north highlands, it's just a matter of time that those high crime areas will impact roseville. so for securing a more stable property value over the next 20 years it's wiser to get further northeast of sacto imo. and someone pointed out west sacto, and i agree that that will become a growth area, only because all the other areas have been used up, and the water ways throughout that area can be a selling feature for future upscale homes. plus it's so close to downtown!

I appreciate any/all suggestions but I don't like Woodland and never have liked it. I'm not convinced that Lincoln is cheaper than Roseville at least not anymore, Lincoln seems to have gotten real spendy over the past year, but even if it were cheaper I prefer Roseville.