Moving To Sacramento-Help (San Francisco, Roseville, Napa: sales, real estate, rent)

[Patpic]

We will be moving to Sacramento next month, My Husband will be working near the State Capital. He doesn't want a long commute and I don't want to live in the city. I was hoping we could buy a home out in Roseville or Lincoln-and have him take the light rail. Can anyone tell me about the light rail? Also any other area of Sacramento we should look for a home. We are moving from Arizona so any help is much needed. Does anyone know about the area of Natomas? Thanks for all your help, I appreciate it.

[Guingirl]

Well...if you don't want a long commute, then Roseville/Lincoln is about 45 min each way to an hour during commute hours. The good thing is that it will be changing and hopefully lessoning sometime probably late next year, as they are working on widening out I-80 (it currently has a bottleneck which causes a lot fo problems and hadn't kept up with the growth).

Lincoln really only has SR-65 as an outlet and they have built a lot of new homes up there and I have seen the traffic coming down from Lincoln to get to 80 and it doesn't look fun.

We live in North Natomas and it would probably be about 15-20 min commute at the max. Natomas has a few master planned communities. I would look at Natomas Park and Westlake.

Natomas has put in a bunch of new shopping all over the area from I-80/Truxel to Del Paso/I-5. It is really building up nicely. There are a lot of restaurants going in from chains to Mom and Pop's. There are 4 Starbucks in the area and we have a new Costco going in. Grocery stores are plentiful and most all of the conveniences are about 10 mins max. It is a very comfortable place to live.

Natomas is more of a diverse neighborhood, so you will see a lot of Asian, Indian (mainly Sikh and Hindu), Ukrainian, Black and White. You really see everyone here rather than say Roseville/Lincoln.

[Patpic]

Thanks for the info, was also interested if there is any nice neighborhoods in West Sacramento. I believe that would be close to downtown for my husband to drive to work. Is West Sacramento in Yolo County?

[deuterdu]

Originally Posted by Patpic

We will be moving to Sacramento next month, My Husband will be working near the State Capital. He doesn't want a long commute and I don't want to live in the city. I was hoping we could buy a home out in Roseville or Lincoln-and have him take the light rail. Can anyone tell me about the light rail? Also any other area of Sacramento we should look for a home. We are moving from Arizona so any help is much needed. Does anyone know about the area of Natomas? Thanks for all your help, I appreciate it.

I just moved from Sac. Lived there since I was a kid. I also was a UPS driver for 15 years and have delivered every address in Sacramento at one time or another so I know it well. Sacramento is a hodge podge. You are in a nice area, drive 2 blocks and you are in a dangerous area. If you do not want a long commute from downtown and can afford around 500K I would look in University Park area near Sac state. It's about a 10 minute drive into downtown. If 500K is too much $$$ try West Sacramento. Again, 10 minutes. Lincoln, Rocklin, Roseville, Folsom (where I used to live) and Granite Bay in my opinion are the most desirable areas to live because you are above Folsom Dam. If that thing ever goes or the levees break during a heavy rain storm the devestation will be catastrophic. As it is the levees are eroding and California is having to shore them up constantly.
Those areas also have less crime and are closer to the mountains..but, be prepared to commute about 30-40 minutes into downtown.
Avoid South Sacramento even the pocket area (nice area) as it is below the river. If the levee goes it will be a lake. I know, I used to own a home there and we had a lot of rain that threatened our area. I promptly moved to higher ground! North Sac or Natomas I would also avoid. The congestion is awful. Folsom ranked as the #1 city to live in in California. Folsom also just got light rail so I would probably look to live there. Again, Folsom is not cheap. I would rent a place for the first 6 months until you get a feel for what you like and dislike before you purchase property. Consequently I am both a real estate agent and a loan officer in California. I choose to only work in finance but I have a strong background in area knowledge on homes. If you need a reputable real estate agent let me know and I will refer one to you. There are many less than desirable agents in California. Most of my agents have over 20 years experience. You may e-mail me if you like zuiax@yahoo.com.
You will love the fact that Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, Napa valley and Reno are all within 1 1/2 to 2 hours driving distance. Yosemite is about 3 to 3 1/2 hours. I also recommend you visit Mendocino. Mendocino is so beautiful they film many films there. Hope this helps.

[deuterdu]

Originally Posted by Patpic

Thanks for the info, was also interested if there is any nice neighborhoods in West Sacramento. I believe that would be close to downtown for my husband to drive to work. Is West Sacramento in Yolo County?

YEs. West Sacramento is in Yolo county and it NOW has many nice areas. It used to be rural and let's say...not very desirable. I bought a house and lived there for 2 years. I enjoyed the area and have many friends and clients who live there also. You may e-mail me and I will share with you all that I know. UPS is in West Sacramento so again, I know the area well.

[dusesean1986]

Originally Posted by Guingirl

Well...if you don't want a long commute, then Roseville/Lincoln is about 45 min each way to an hour during commute hours. The good thing is that it will be changing and hopefully lessoning sometime probably late next year, as they are working on widening out I-80 (it currently has a bottleneck which causes a lot fo problems and hadn't kept up with the growth).

Isn't that the freeway with eight lanes through Sacramento? How much wider can it get?

[deuterdu]

Originally Posted by Guingirl

Well...if you don't want a long commute, then Roseville/Lincoln is about 45 min each way to an hour during commute hours. The good thing is that it will be changing and hopefully lessoning sometime probably late next year, as they are working on widening out I-80 (it currently has a bottleneck which causes a lot fo problems and hadn't kept up with the growth).

Lincoln really only has SR-65 as an outlet and they have built a lot of new homes up there and I have seen the traffic coming down from Lincoln to get to 80 and it doesn't look fun.

We live in North Natomas and it would probably be about 15-20 min commute at the max. Natomas has a few master planned communities. I would look at Natomas Park and Westlake.

Natomas has put in a bunch of new shopping all over the area from I-80/Truxel to Del Paso/I-5. It is really building up nicely. There are a lot of restaurants going in from chains to Mom and Pop's. There are 4 Starbucks in the area and we have a new Costco going in. Grocery stores are plentiful and most all of the conveniences are about 10 mins max. It is a very comfortable place to live.

Natomas is more of a diverse neighborhood, so you will see a lot of Asian, Indian (mainly Sikh and Hindu), Ukrainian, Black and White. You really see everyone here rather than say Roseville/Lincoln.

No offense on Natomas but the traffic stinks! Getting in and out of the mall area is a nightmare. Whoever designed that mall should be sacked. Many lenders are now requiring that people in Natomas carry flood insurance even though they were originally told they did not have to. I know this because I have to break the bad news when people want to refinance or purchase property there. However the diversity is a plus. Many different races living together and getting along just fine.

[Guingirl]

Originally Posted by deuterdu

No offense on Natomas but the traffic stinks! Getting in and out of the mall area is a nightmare. Whoever designed that mall should be sacked. Many lenders are now requiring that people in Natomas carry flood insurance even though they were originally told they did not have to. I know this because I have to break the bad news when people want to refinance or purchase property there. However the diversity is a plus. Many different races living together and getting along just fine.

No offense taken and that is one of the little areas of shopping now. It used to be the only thing out here. They are working on fixing the congestion.

Natomas has ALWAYS been in the flood plain all the way back to before it was developed. We secured our flood insurance before lenders were mandating it after the USGS rescinded their letter. Because we did it before it was "mandated" we have more protection for the money.

I would honestly say that North Natomas definately feels the same in how Stanford Ranch was developed in the 80-90s. We lived up there in Rocklin when the only thing there was was the AM/PM and my Dad's family had a huge ranch up in Loomis. It has definately changed..for sure!!

[Guingirl]

Originally Posted by dusesean1986

Isn't that the freeway with eight lanes through Sacramento? How much wider can it get?

Not sure if I made any sense, but there is a bottleneck going in and out of Roseville where it goes from 10 lanes down to 6. Placer County just got funds for the project to widen that portion of I-80.

[Guingirl]

Originally Posted by Patpic

Thanks for the info, was also interested if there is any nice neighborhoods in West Sacramento. I believe that would be close to downtown for my husband to drive to work. Is West Sacramento in Yolo County?

As in a previous post, I mention that West Sacramento is particularly industrial in nature. It had (I haven't been in outside sales in a year so it might have changed) some rather undesireable areas, that I wouldn't live in.

Also not sure about freeway access from all the housing they have built.

The houses out there are very reasonable for what you get, but then again, that is a rehabbing area so it may be worth just checking out when you visit.