Looking to possibly move to Sacramento from Oakland (San Francisco, Fairfield: house, neighborhood)

[xeney]

It depends on the school. If you're a renter it's probably a good idea to get to know your principal -- at our school most of the kids I know who've been in this position have been allowed to stay. If you are in via open enrollment you get to stay regardless of where you move.

I keep hearing that everybody moves to the suburbs for high school but I do not actually know anyone who has done that. I know a few people who drive their kids to the suburbs for high school, and quite a few who moved right after having kids, but nobody who actually sent their kid to K-8 in the city and then fled to the suburbs for high school. There are options and people manage to find them.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by xeney

It depends on the school. If you're a renter it's probably a good idea to get to know your principal -- at our school most of the kids I know who've been in this position have been allowed to stay. If you are in via open enrollment you get to stay regardless of where you move.

Wow..that's interesting that the principal can allow them to stay, I bet that's not San Juan Unified - they are not very helpful here with situations like that, it's happened to people who have moved into this neighborhood and they were only able to get a waiver through the end of the school year. And you're right about staying in an open enrollment school- unless you move out of the district.

[ecsdude]

Originally Posted by pinksaffron

After 22 years of living in the Bay Area (the last 11 in Oakland), we want to leave as it's just no longer affordable. We have thought about Colorado, but we have family here so want to stay somewhat local. Some friends recently moved to Sacramento and love it, and just bought a house for $325k. We know nothing about Sac besides driving through it on the way to Tahoe, and it has never appealed to me (always thought it was TOO HOT).

Can anyone give insight on the best, low-crime, family-friendly neighborhoods with good schools (we have a 7yo and 4yo), and house prices for around $400k? I have read about Roseville and Rocklin, but are the people mostly conservative? I will admit I like living in my progressive, liberal bubble, especially during current times. Fair Oaks looks nice and seems to have some good schools (and non-tract/cookie-cutter homes on larger lots). What about Citrus Heights?

What about the heat? Is it unbearable and can kids play sports outside in the summer or is it all water play during those months?

Thanks so much in advance!

I lived in Oakland in the 80s-90s, then San Pablo/Richmond for another 10 years.

I miss the fresher air, nice breezes, overall better air quality and less allergies. Also miss the spectacular views of the Bay. BART is nice to have and while there is light rail in Sacramento, it is not the same.

I don't miss the bumper to bumper traffic, sometimes even at 10pm at night going to/from East Bay to SF and vice versa. That said, Sacramento has its share of traffic hour backups at certain stretches. Also, it seems based on limited exposure that they've made some improvements to alleviate some of the backups in the SF Bay Area. So I'm not sure if it's considered a wash when comparing the two, but it may be.

Roads are generally newer and in better condition in Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado counties, but as time goes on I think that advantage is narrowing. There was more graffiti in the SF Bay Area but they've been doing some work on covering some of it up.. some of the freeway on/off ramps don't get much attention and have stuff growing along the curb side. Sacramento generally kept things in better shape so far.

I hear about some crazy, sometimes violent crimes, where people will go into restaurants near freeways and rob customers, or do home invasions. There's some of the latter in Sacramento, too.

You can get fairly nice houses in Rocklin/Roseville (two decent areas) for the $400k range. You can get less house in Folsom for that price, but it's considered by some to be a step above in quality of life and overall desirability. El Dorado Hills if you like a smaller town type of feel with new home construction that is basically zero lot. Elk Grove is still a fairly family oriented, bedroom community (many residents drive outside of Elk Grove for work), and you can still find some decent houses in the $300-400K range, but prices have been going up there and everywhere.

I used to miss all of the great food in the SF Bay Area, but Sacramento has been holding its own. You can get pretty good food here and for less money.

If you want snow or the beauty of Lake Tahoe, it's only about 2 hours drive away. If you miss the SF Bay Area, it's also about 2 hours drive away, so you can always visit on weekends and have the best of all worlds.

Folsom, Roseville, Rocklin, (I'll even throw Elk Grove in there, but it's so close to South Sac that it makes that area more iffy) are nice towns to raise a family, have good access to the American River, bike trails, good schools, fairly affordable houses and good quality of life compared to the SF Bay Area. If you want to live a slower paced life style than in the SF Bay Area, it may be worth considering.

Temperatures get to be over 100 degrees at times, but it's a dry heat, which is better than humidity that can wear you down faster. You kind of get used to the heat in the summer and stay out of it when needed (turning the AC on).

There's enough to find to do in the Sacramento area to not feel too deprived compared to the SF Bay Area.

More people are moving from the SF Bay Area to Sacramento all the time. It's driving home prices up

In a way it's good for current home owners but also makes buying the next home a bit more challenging.

[pistola916]

Better make your move before its no longer affordable -- at least compared to the Bay

San Franciscans Fleeing Pricey Housing Fuel Boom to the East


https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...llo-sacramento

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Are you going to commute to the SF Bay Area? If so, check into Fairfield. I have good friends there and they live in a great neighborhood and like the schools for their kids - 7 and 9 years old. They commute to Martinez every day. They drive, but you could also take the Amtrak Corridor train from Suisun.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

Are you going to commute to the SF Bay Area? If so, check into Fairfield. I have good friends there and they live in a great neighborhood and like the schools for their kids - 7 and 9 years old. They commute to Martinez every day. They drive, but you could also take the Amtrak Corridor train from Suisun.

There are only two parts of Fairfield where you will find a "great neighborhood" North in the newer housing between FF and Vacaville, or West of 80. The rest of it is pretty nasty.

[pinksaffron]

Okay we have spent a few days there over the last couple of weeks and Oak Park is a possibility, although definitely still transitional (you can see how much it's changing by the hipster shops on Broadway). I didn't like the Pocket/Greenhaven, and South Land Park seems to vary a lot from block to block. Loved Land Park/Curtis Park/East Sac of course but we are priced out of those areas.

We seem to be more attracted to a slightly more suburban area, but do not want to go as far as Roseville, etc. Can someone tell me thoughts on Arden-Arcade or Carmichael? A friend said that Arden-Arcade is either super fancy/expensive or ghetto. But we saw a few houses we really liked in that area that was $450kish range and the area was very family-friendly, neither fancy nor ghetto. I like the slightly bigger lots and 1950's, ranch-style homes vs. the newer tract homes w/ tiny yards in areas like Natomas. We haven't checked out Carmichael yet but someone was saying it's pretty wealthy, although there seem to be some affordable homes there, and a lot of inventory (which maybe isn't a good sign?).

NoMoreSnowForMe, my husband has his own company and can work from anywhere, although he will be finishing some contracting work for a client until January and will have to commute to Oakland 2x week (he plans on taking the train when possible). I also work from home so no commuting for me.

This would have to happen this summer before school starts, so we are working on getting pre-approved for a loan now.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by pinksaffron

Okay we have spent a few days there over the last couple of weeks and Oak Park is a possibility, although definitely still transitional (you can see how much it's changing by the hipster shops on Broadway). I didn't like the Pocket/Greenhaven, and South Land Park seems to vary a lot from block to block. Loved Land Park/Curtis Park/East Sac of course but we are priced out of those areas.

We seem to be more attracted to a slightly more suburban area, but do not want to go as far as Roseville, etc. Can someone tell me thoughts on Arden-Arcade or Carmichael? A friend said that Arden-Arcade is either super fancy/expensive or ghetto. But we saw a few houses we really liked in that area that was $450kish range and the area was very family-friendly, neither fancy nor ghetto. I like the slightly bigger lots and 1950's, ranch-style homes vs. the newer tract homes w/ tiny yards in areas like Natomas. We haven't checked out Carmichael yet but someone was saying it's pretty wealthy, although there seem to be some affordable homes there, and a lot of inventory (which maybe isn't a good sign?).

NoMoreSnowForMe, my husband has his own company and can work from anywhere, although he will be finishing some contracting work for a client until January and will have to commute to Oakland 2x week (he plans on taking the train when possible). I also work from home so no commuting for me.

This would have to happen this summer before school starts, so we are working on getting pre-approved for a loan now.

You might look at Orangevale, there are some very good schools there, and when we were house shopping we found a number of reasonably priced homes there on large lots. Here's one for $389,000 looks like it's been remodeled. It's a pretty nondescript subdivision house on 1/4 acre, but it's not bad and the assigned school is Trajan which is a pretty good school Trajan Elementary School - Orangevale, California - CA | GreatSchools

When we were looking at houses we really wanted to live in East Sac, South Land Park or Little Pocket, but for what we wanted to spend we would have ended up with a 1,000 sq ft house on a 5k sq foot lot. I'm not criticizing people who make choices other than the one we did, but our goals were to have chickens, fruit trees, a large vegetable garden and room for our two dogs to run around - and a house that would at least accommodate our adult kids if they wanted to visit for a few days.

[pinksaffron]

Thank you 2sleepy, I will check that place out. I also am eyeing this home: https://www.redfin.com/CA/Orangevale.../home/19019346

So many trees!

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by pinksaffron

Thank you 2sleepy, I will check that place out. I also am eyeing this home: https://www.redfin.com/CA/Orangevale.../home/19019346

So many trees!

oh I like that one better! The lot is a little smaller but it's still almost 9k sq feet and the elementary school is an 8, Pershing

San Juan Unified School District covers Citrus Heights, Antelope, Carmichael, Orangevale, Arden-Arcade and Fair Oaks. Here's a database you can use to enter an address and find out what the local schools are:
Our Schools / School Boundaries For other areas, like Sacramento, Elk Grove, etc there are different school districts so if the address doesn't show up in that link the address is probably in another district. Once you determine the schools you can use great schools or school digger to find out about the school's performance.