Best areas for family with teens to move to in Sacramento? (Roseville: foreclosures, rentals)

[calcalcal]

We will be moving from Boise, Idaho (which has been a wonderful place to raise children) in the upcoming months to the Sacramento community. Work will be based in the West Sac area. We have two teenage children (13-year-old seventh-grade daughter and 16-year-old tenth grade son) and a first grade son. Our number one priority is the best area to raise these children and second, as of right now, is commute time. We have heard great things about Roseville and Elk Grove. Which is less time in commute? Are there any recommendations on other areas? Thanks for the help.

[zen_klown]

Do you have a budget of what you are planning to spend?

In general, the schools are probably better in Roseville than Elk Grove, but housing prices are a lot more expensive in Roseville as well. If you have the money, Davis probably has better test scores than either Roseville or Elk Grove and might be closer to West Sac in terms of your commute. But housing prices in Davis are also more expensive than either Roseville or Elk Grove.

[bigdave01]

It depends on your budget. Unfortunately West Sac is a long commute from most of the suburbs. If you can afford it I think Davis would be a fabulous option. It is a college town, that is very family oriented with great schools and bike friendly. It is an awesome town, but very expensive.

If not areas such as Folsom, El Dorado Hills, Roseville, Rocklin, Granite Bay, Elk Grove are all nice areas.

[calcalcal]

Thank you for your responses. Davis will probably be too expensive. We should be able to afford most of the other areas. What are your thoughts regarding Natomas? Are there parts of town in Roseville or Elk Grove to stay away from? Thanks once again.

[wburg]

West Sacramento *is* a suburb. I'd take a look at schools in the newer parts of West Sacramento, like Southport, or across the river in Sacramento, in the Land Park or Pocket area.

Both Roseville and Elk Grove are long commutes with some fairly horrid traffic. Public transit options are very limited or nonexistent.

North Natomas is pretty much considered to be a disaster area waiting to happen. The city made all these great plans for the neighborhood, and then didn't make developers follow any of them. Many are facing foreclosure. A building moratorium goes into effect next year: nothing new can be built until the levees can be repaired to a 100 year level of flood protection (they were downgraded this year.)

[NikkiK]

I live in North Natomas and happen to really like it. Most of Sacramento is a flood plain, so the flooding issue is one you have to think about in most places. You do need flood insurance as of Dec. 2008 but I would not live in Sacramento without it anyway. There are some great deals right now in North Natomas and the people I know in the community are great. Lots of nice parks and they are currently building a library next to the high school near the regional park. I would suggest at least checking it out when you are looking at your other options. Just my thoughts. Good luck to you and welcome to California!

[edwardius]

I would rent in N. Natomas, but I wouldn't want to buy property in N. Natomas. This is a region that was hit particularly hard by foreclosures. Mostly it has been investors buying these homes to use as rentals. The results are that crime is up in the area and test scores are falling as the number of owner occupants in the area drops. If you shop around in the neighborhood, you can find some nicer pockets, but you can also find some sketchy parts which is a suprise given how recent the neighborhood was built out.

The schools started out stronger in Elk Grove than N. Natomas but Elk Grove seems to be getting hit pretty hard by the housing downturn as well. Again, some neighborhoods are holding better than others, but the overall direction of the community isn't good.

Roseville seems to be holding up much better. But Roseville is also more expensive than either Elk Grove or N. Natomas.

[CityGirl72]

I think that's the best advice to anyone moving anywhere - Rent First

Find our if you even like where you moved and figure out which neighborhood you like best - first

[LitoP916]

Originally Posted by CityGirl72

I think that's the best advice to anyone moving anywhere - Rent First

Find our if you even like where you moved and figure out which neighborhood you like best - first

Thats exactly the route we are taking...me moved from the Bay Area to North Natomas April of this year to a rental. I'm really glad we didn't purchase earlier this year as houses we were looking at the time have dropped 15 - 20% since. In addition some neighborhoods that seemed nice at the time have had issues with crime.

Renting gives you so much more flexibility when moving to a new city or area, especially in this down market. If the area is not to your liking after moving in, then breaking a lease is much more cheaper and less troublesome than trying to sell a house.