Florin/Rosemont/Ramona area??? good 2 move 2? (Sacramento, Citrus Heights: hardwood floors, for sale, real estate)

[Krezkay]

I just accepted an offer to work in the Sacto area, south of Granite Park, near the intersection of Power Inn Rd and Fruitridge. I will be moving to the area from PA with a pregnant wife and two dog's (a pitbull and a yorkie). Wife is from Scranton, PA, I am originally from NYC. So where do I need help? Any good areas within the vecinity? I would like to remain within a 15-30 minute drive of the intersection to be supportive and loving to my wife. Looking to purchase a home but dont need to, and feel free to enlighten me on the daycares/schools/hospitals in the area. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks and god bless!

[wburg]

Rosemont is all right, but it's outside of any city limits. You might consider Rancho Cordova or Folsom, they're fairly close. The old town of Florin is a little rural area. The portion of Sacramento just to the east, off Florin Road, has a very bad reputation.

[CityGirl72]

I have a family and I wouldn't put them anywhere near there!!!!

Try Folsom, Fair Oaks (across the RIver)

I also guess it depends on your budget

[Krezkay]

CityGirl72, thank you for the honesty! That is exactly the kind of stuff I want to hear.

[zen_klown]

If you were more specific, it would help narrow things down a little. For instance how much are you hoping to spend? Also do you have any preferences in the neighborhood? Do you want something brand new or are you looking for an established more walkable neighborhood?

I would start by looking at some maps. With these maps you should be able to see how good the schools are, how expensive the homes are in the areas with good schools and what type of people live in a neighborhood you are interested in.

This is a map of schools in the area by test scores. You will have to click on Sacramento.

California School Performance Maps

This is the craigslist classified displayed in map form. You can cross reference the two to see how much it costs roughly to get into a specific neighborhood. I like it because you can see how much it costs to buy or to rent in a specific neighborhood.

HousingMaps

and this is mls displayed in map form.

HotPads.com - Search for Real Estate, Homes for Sale, Apartments for Rent, Rental Houses, Sublets, and Roommates

This is map of educational attaiment in the Sacramento region. You can use the tab on the left to see a map of ethnicity and income as well.

STI: ERsys - Sacramento, CA (Education)

Lastly people in Sacramento will talk about various neighborhoods in Sacramento and you might not be sure where exactly those neighborhoods are. So if someone talks about Elmhurst and you want to know where Elmhurst is, you can look here. You will have to click on the map a couple of times to you can read the names of neighborhoods.

Sacramento Home Prices and Heat Map

After you have spent some time looking at these maps, come back to us and we will give you some more feedback on specific neighborhoods.

[Guevera]

Zen those are some great resources!
To the OP, of the areas you mentioned Rosemont is the only area I'd even look at for a family. Decent neighborhood but still affordable (by California standards anyway, which isn't actually the same thing)

[Krezkay]

Thank you all for your input. There has been some good information being shared. Zen_Clown thanks for the info, it looks like it took you a while to compile, but it is definitely helping me in selecting a home and neighborhood. I am looking at a home in a price range of $150-$230k, and a walkable neighborhood would be wanted. I would like to remain east of Howe Ave / Power Inn Road (Rancho Cordova to Folsom and up to Citrus Heights) I haven't homed in on a specific neighborhood, but once I get some time to review all the material shared above, it shouldn't be difficult. I will be reading this post, if others feel like sharing, go ahead. Thanks!

[BrianTerrill]

Those are good areas if you are hoping to get shot!

Try Antelope if location is important, but if you are smart look around Lomis, Lincoln, Rocklin or Roseville, those are places where you should look if you want to raise a family in a nice safe neighborhood. None of those are in Sacramento, but near enough to it.

[zen_klown]

I am assuming that you are working along the highway 50 corridor.

In general, its the older neighborhoods that were built out before cars were common place that are the most walkable. So if a walkable neighborhood is important to you, you would have a lot more options if you went west of howe avenue. At the price range you are talking about, you could buy into walkable home in Tahoe Park or possibly Elmhurst. That area is right off 65th street and wouldn't add that much to your commute on the 50 corridor.

If you don't know where those neighborhoods are click on the heatmap and zoom in a couple of times.

Sacramento Home Prices and Heat Map

The historic district of Folsom would also work in terms of walkability, but its probably out of your price range.

Beazer is opening up a new development that seems pretty walkable off of Zinfandel called Capitol Village that should be in your price range. I didn't really like the development much because they did silly things like putting the kitchen on the second floor in the townhomes (do you want to carry your groceries each week upstairs, do you want to move a refrigerator upstairs?). But if you like being packed into a neighborhood with almost no space between you and noisy neighbors you might like it. I thought the park was nice.

Beazer Homes: New Homes in Sacramento,*California

If you are real interested in walkable neighborhoods try to review addresses with this site.

Get Your Walk Score - A Walkability Score For Any Address

If you click on the advanced search screens here, you can look at the transit connections for neighborhoods in Sacramento. Generally the areas that are the most walkable also have pretty good transit connections.

Housing + Transportation : Center for Neighborhood Technology (http://htaindex.cnt.org/map_tool?region=Sacramento--Yolo,%20CA - broken link)

It for that reason I don't care much for those neighborhoods. In Sacramento, the group homes tend to be clustered in neighborhoods close to transit, so there clients who don't have cars can easily use mass transit. The light rail stations can be pretty sketchy after dark, especially when the commuters have stopped taking the train. It is for that reason, I would rather drive to a light rail station, than live near one.

[elyess77]

We currently live in the neighborhood Colonial Villiage - boundries are North of Fruitridge, West of Power Inn, South of 21st ave. and East of 65th expressway. So the neighborhood is RIGHT by where you would be working. The neighborhood is an intersting place - VERY diverse...which I really like. We are a family with two little girls. The homes were built in the 50's, most of them are 3 bedroom, 1 or 2 baths (about 1000-1200 sqft.), hardwood floors, and yards big enough for the kids to play in and to have a little garden. Pockets of the neighborhood are better than others. I feel safe in my neighborhood. I will not be sending my kids to the neighborhood school, unfortuanatly. And I don't like to take my kids to the park within walking distance. However, we are close enough to many other great parks that I don't mind. We bought our home as first time homebuyers...so although I love my home, like my neighborhood ok, I want to move in 3 years.

You could easily buy a home in this neighborhood for around 100K-150K.