ANTELOPE: Seems inexpensive...is it safe for children? (Sacramento, Orange: HOA fees, condo)

[Momandboys]

Hi Zen Klown,

I have found WONDERFUL areas in Lexington Kentucky, Indiana and by Austin. I agree with you on Texas!

But...the father has minimal contact with the boys...hence....Sacramento (2 hours away.)

Work: I desire to be a stay-at-home mother, especially with two little wild guys, so they don't end up in a gang! Which is why my cap is $160K...this will enable me to do some bookkeeping at home and mostly take care of them and still afford a simple life. (My ideal cap is $120K)

West Sac: What I do like about West Sac is that when my guys are older, they can ride bikes to downtown Sacramento Community College and maybe even go to SAC State. (There is a program where my boys can go to a Comm. College and earn an AA degree while in highschool,but they must be able to get their own transportation. This is a big headache if I am in a rural area.) Antelope also has this program. (The kids go to the American River Comm. College)

I also sense (from the forums) that West SAc might get "gentrified" especially if gas prices still go up and people want to live more urban. But the pictures of the gang members was unreal with all the tatoos and meth! (SAC BEE articles.) This is new to me...I have never been around gangs.

So, I will have to drive up and see it in person to judge better. Or...go out of state, but that may not be a possibility. Or...keep waiting like you suggested.
Zen Klown...thanks again for all your insight! This is my one shot at a good life for my boys, and I need to use my money wisely for a home.

[silencetheshadows]

Antelope is not a horrible area. Some places have problems, but just like every other neighborhood. I live in the good side of Antelope, by Roseville, but I have lived in Antelope my whole life. And I am still a teenager, 15 years old, so I would say it is not a bad area to raise kids. I have ridden my bike around Antelope before, walked around, no real trouble. Dry Creek school district is alright, i dont know about Center though. But yeah, it is definitely not a bad area, I am tired of people saying crime is on the rise and act like Antelope is the worst of worst. These people have probably never really visited or lived there. There are a few gang members and stuff, lots of Russians and Indians, sometimes the Russians can be a bit irritating. (No offense to race.)
But yeah its not that bad of a area, just take care like you would living anywhere else. And be careful at night of course, lol.
Now, I dont think North Highlands is the best area to raise a family, haha.

[zen_klown]

Have you thought about Yuba City/Marysville or Clearlake? Prices have already fallen pretty substantially in Yuba City and price never got that expensive in Clearlake. There are community colleges in both areas. For the price range you are looking at, you would buy into a much safer neighborhood in Yuba City/Marysville or Clearlake than you would in any of the suburbs of Sacramento. Moreover, you should be able to find bookkeeping work in either of those communities.

Here are the junior colleges.

Yuba College
Clear Lake Campus (http://www.yccd.edu/clearlake/index.html - broken link)

and this will give you an idea of the housing prices in Yuba City

yuba-sutter real estate - all classifieds - craigslist

and Clearlake as well.
classifieds - craigslist

As for the Sacramento suburbs, I would probably look more at Antelope especially the areas closer to Roseville over West Sac. The Southport region of West Sac is probably safe enough, but its also out of your price range. The parts of West Sac close enough to ride your bike to downtown are also still fairly seedy. West Capitol Blvd still has a problem with streetwalkers.

I would also look at some condos.

The elementary school in Gold River is really good and you are pretty close to in this complex. If your kids were willing to share a bedroom, you could get into the building for less than 120k.

MetroList MLS Services - sacbee.com

MetroList MLS Services - sacbee.com

This complex isn't too far from American River College and the neighborhood is also fairly safe.

MetroList MLS Services - sacbee.com

[Momandboys]

Hi Again!

Thanks again for all your information, both from Silence and AGAIN from Zen Klown!!

Yuba/Marysville: Yuba C.College was voted one of the best...However, I have heard that the area is filled with Meth. I also talked with someone who lived there and said "stay away from Marysville area, he told me Sac is better.

Condos: Hard with 2 boys: they bounce and annoy neighbors in their own innocent way. They really need a yard also, we have lived in an apt for 7 years..I promised them a dog and a yard Also...I really want to own my own home land, but I will keep condos as a possibility. It has been stated the best survivalists are those who are the most adaptable!

Antelope: Has an excellent program funded by Bill Gates where my boys can get an AA by the time they graduate highschool. (Silence...do you know about this? You may like it,or you may know about it)
West Sac has a Bill Gates funded school also, but it has not been completed (so far it only goes to 8th grade)

I LOVE all the advice...and I have been tracking housing and it truly appears Zen you are in agreement with what I read...Waiting for prices to drop further.

I did talk to a realtor today and he said South of Cap. Ave is okay, and I can get a tiny, very tiny house for 150K. And he also suggest the avenues (30th to 58th) right by Sac state IF the prices drop a lot more.

I am going to try to house exchange to view neighborhoods. It feels good that there is some possibility, and I think things will open up more as time goes on.

Did I mention about the levees? FEMA is remapping all of SAC on Dec 2 and it will almost all be flood zoned. This will cause more housing distress. However, this will also cause costs to go down, then I can negotiate a better price and simply budget in the (expensive) flood insurance. I like this idea. It would be fun to live in the 40's Avenues!

At any rate, a visit to SAC is in order.

Thanks again!! This is the biggest decision I will be making for my boys...I still haven't completely ruled out out-of-state, but it may not be possible.

[JenniferLynn]

If I were in your situation and wanted/needed to buy now I would probably buy the best condo in Rocklin that I could afford. I just saw a 3 bedroom here for $160,000. It is a MUCH safer place than Antelope or W Sac and we have a great community college in Rocklin, Sierra College. Your boys should be able to ride bikes anywhere in Rocklin without being bothered and I have not heard of any gang activity here.

If you still want to check out other areas like Antelope, do yourself a favor and rent for a while. That way you can get out quickly without having to sell a house which is a major headache these days.

I lived in Roseville while my daughter attended Sierra College and she used the Placer County Transit bus to get to and from school. Roseville is also a good place to live.

[silencetheshadows]

Originally Posted by Momandboys

Antelope: Has an excellent program funded by Bill Gates where my boys can get an AA by the time they graduate highschool. (Silence...do you know about this? You may like it,or you may know about it)
West Sac has a Bill Gates funded school also, but it has not been completed (so far it only goes to 8th grade)

I do not know about it. I will check it out though.

As someone said earlier, try renting a house in Antelope. You can probably find a house with lower rent than most that isnt bad. It would be worth it I think.

And by the way. May be out of the question, but as far as high school goes, they just built a brand new high school in Antelope, on Elverta Way, called Antelope High School. It is brand new, indoors, and seems like they are going to have a good sports program. They also are building an aquatic center there that will open for the public once it is done. I decided I wanted to stay at the current high school I go to, but I have many friends that are going there, excited because of all the stuff they will have there. Just letting folks know.

[Martic916]

Lots and lots of Russians collecting welfare over there. Not nice.

[kimberland]

[quote=zen_klown;4838397]For 160k, you probably could buy into a very safe neighborhood in Fort Worth, Dallas or Atlanta right now. If you need to buy now, I would probably be looking at any of those locations over Sacramento.

I live in an affluent area inbetween Dallas and Ft. Worth called Southlake. The median home price is $600,000. We are about to move to Cali and I can not help but laugh at how mistaken most people are about home prices in Texas.
Texas has cheaper groceries...that's it! Taxes are much higher and good schools are few and far between if you have less than $350K to spend.
House for house, California to Texas, what you get for the money is about the same.
Texas also has the same border issues as California, so renting in a "safe" place is extremely difficult. I would not advise anyone to move to Texas if they are trying to save money.

[zen_klown]

These are homes of similiar size built by Beazer in the Dallas and Sacramento regions respectively. They are about the same size and have about the same number of rooms.

In the Sacramento region, this home lists for $212,990.
Beazer Homes : Plan 1166

This home in the Dallas region lists for $127,990.
Beazer Homes : Fulton

More generally see the list prices for homes in Dallas
Beazer Homes: New Homes in Dallas,*Texas

and for Sacramento
Beazer Homes: New Homes in Sacramento,*California

In Sacramento the only brand new homes going for less than 160K are low income housing.

MetroList MLS Services - sacbee.com

Read what these projects are doing to the neighborhood here.

News - Natomas crime wave raises question about low-income housing - sacbee.com (http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1099213.html - broken link)

[kimberland]

There are homes available- but they are in very poor and high crime rate areas.