Goodbye Portland, Hello Santa Rosa??

[isabella20]

I lived in Windsor for five years and worked in Santa Rosa, which was a 15 minute drive. I liked the small town atmosphere of Windsor. Santa Rosa seemed too big and spread out for my taste. I'm sure it's all relative to what you are used to. I've mostly lived in small beach towns, so Santa Rosa seems big to me.

I loved the weather in Windsor. Just enough seasonal changes and comfortable most of the summer. We only used our air conditioner a handful of days. There are plenty of nearby vineyards in Windsor and Healdsburg. We used to go for scenic drives on back roads. It's one of the most beautiful areas. Healdsburg has a cute downtown. You can also drive the back roads to Sebastopol. Around Halloween we would go to a really cute farm to choose a pumpkin. Half the fun was the drive there--it's so scenic.

What I didn't like in the Santa Rosa area was the traffic. It's just killer on 101 and the alternative routes back up like crazy, as well. What should be a 20 minute drive used to take us 1 1/2 hours if we hit it at the wrong time...and there were a lot of wrong times. If we wanted to go shopping in San Francisco we'd go on Sunday morning. The traffic was really good then and you could get there in about an hour.

Houses are now selling for $300K to $360K in our old neighborhood, which we really liked. There are some more expensive homes across from where we lived. We lived on Christopher Way and there are three housing tracks that are essentially on the same street, or an adjacent street. Some a bit bigger and newer than our home, but it was all really nice. So, you could easily get something nice for under $400K.

Sonoma County is one of my favorite places. I think you will like it.

[Maybarry]

thanks isabella20
I am coming to visit and will definitely check out Windsor when I'm there. the quiet back roads sound really appealing, too bad the traffic sounds really appalling!!! Did opening up the carpool lane help the traffic much?

[PeixeGato]

Originally Posted by Maybarry

Thanks for looking and offering any advice you have.

After 5 years of overcast and gray skies in Portland, I'm ready to return to Ca. but want to stay north. Santa Rosa on-line looks like it has the things I like: not too big or too small, direct flights to Portland to visit, more sun but some seasonal feel, lots of outdoor opportunities for walking and biking, parks , a nice downtown and proximity to San Francisco. I'll be making a trip down to look at areas and places but in the mean time, can you help me focus:

Want to stay $400k or under in safe area

Are there zip codes to avoid all together?
Or best zip codes to search in?
I've read other posters advice to avoid Roseland. Any other specific areas?

If you live in Santa Rosa, what do you like about it?

Working not an issue, prefer to drive less but great neighborhood is a trade off.

Thanks

Have you considered Petaluma? It has a decent downtown, is closer to SF (though the traffic bottles up pretty well in Petaluma, but you'd have to deal with that if you lived in SR), and is smaller than SR. I'm not sure what your needs are in terms of housing, but you should be able to find something in your stated budget.

[happehart]

Sorry I am bringing back an old thread but I wanted to hear what the OP thought of Santa Rosa after visiting. I am too gathering information about Santa Rosa and what is posted on this thread is very interesting.

[goin2carolina]

The thread is over a year old..you may have to direct message the OP to get your reply.
That said, we were visiting Santa Rosa 2xyr while we were on the west coast and I find the descriptions interesting.
Trying to put it in perspective for a Carolinian, it would be something like taking downtown Durham and sticking it about where Wilson is located. That's a bit of a stretch, but I think the town size/surroundings comparative works pretty well.
The "thing" about Santa Rosa to me is/was that it doesn't really have a great vibe...no "soul", if you will. You go there to do what you're gonna do, and you leave, period. I never had any desire to check out the area or hang around to get to know it better; to get interested. Now, the fact that we were there to visit wine country and explore that may have something to do with my impressions, but Sonoma (town) is way smaller and I would rather spend time getting to know it than Santa Rosa.
It may have to do with being the county seat of a VERY rural county, I don't know. It is super spread out with major highways all through it so its pretty cut up so perhaps that has something to do with it.
Again, we've only been there as visitors, so living there may be totally different, but if I were considering a move to the North Bay area, and "wine country" in particular, Santa Rosa wouldn't be my first choice.