Goodbye Portland, Hello Santa Rosa?? (San Francisco, Oakland: rental, new house, safe area) - San Francisco - Oakland - California (CA) - City-Data Forum

Maybarry · 11-23-2010, 10:45 AM

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

santarosamom · 11-23-2010, 11:16 AM

Santa Rosa is a varied city with many different neighborhoods. Price does vary based on location for many factors including schools, park access, custom neighborhoods or tracts, flats or hills, close in town or country. There are some great flat country sites in the far west of town towards sebastopol, there are hilly large custom sites in fountain grove, bennett valley (SE), and Rincon Valley (NE). There are also many other options in those areas too. Unique and pricey areas close to town include procter terrace near the mcdonald mansion. Mongomergy village is full of small houses built in 50s and 60s that are close to town and shopping and is pretty cute too. It really depends on what you are looking for. Prices are great right now for buyers. For about $400k (I just bought a house for $436K) you could get in almost any area but the size of house and yard will vary greatly depending on your choice. A good neighborhood and house about 2000 sq ft with a decent yard is possible but rare so don't delay if you find exctly what you are looking for. Keep in mind it may need work at that price. Be prepared to spend more for the perfect house or go down in size or location.

Maybarry · 11-23-2010, 12:13 PM

Thanks santarosamom,
I don't need a lot of "square feet". If the price is right, don't mind a bit of upgrading. Pleasant, safe neighborhood is really important. I'm encouraged that I can look in almost any area and find a place in my price range. Anyone want to give me a reason to think twice about Santa Rosa as a new home?

bellalunatic · 11-23-2010, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maybarry

Anyone want to give me a reason to think twice about Santa Rosa as a new home?

Traffic Santa Rosa traffic, and the construction crap they are doing in RP on the 101 makes for driving south a byatch for the next couple of years.
SR is pretty well spread out so driving is pretty much a requirement.

Also, I don't know if it's an issue for you but the flights are cheaper and with a much more flexible schedule from Oakland to Portland on SW but then again you have to factor in travel time etc to Oakland.

I have a friend who has a great vacation rental in Petaluma is you ever want to check P-town out.

Maybarry · 11-23-2010, 04:01 PM

Thanks bella, I'm from So Cal so I know about traffic! I hope to find a place to live where I never have to leave town! When you talk about traffic are you referring to traffic in town or mainly on 101? Is it hard to drive around Santa Rosa?

sliverbox · 11-24-2010, 09:21 AM

I travel to Santa Rosa about every 2-3 weeks. I think its safe to say that Santa Rosa is most definitely NOT part of the Bay Area. Its simply too far from the East Bay and San Francisco. The commute to and from the Bay Area would be absolutely awful. Its pretty bad when I go on the weekends. Expect to spend at least an hour to an hour and a half commuting to the Bay Area.

Personally, I'm ok with Santa Rosa. Its definitely more laid back and full of more local, longtime residents. The downtown is sort of a mixed bag. The one half of town I go to is definitely more blue collar. Downtown is kind of smallish. The rest is sprawled out. Another thing- It gets HOT in Santa Rosa. You're just outside the insulating effect of the ocean so in the summer it can get a little brutal. That said... I grew up in a rural area myself and Santa Rosa is a lot less hoity-toity and yuppified than the Bay Area so I appreciate that.

As far as housing costs, well for maybe $450,000 you can get something halfway decent in a decent neighborhood in the immediate Bay Area. One house down the street from me in the East Bay neighborhood I live in is $400,000. It needs work but this would have been $600,000 4 years ago. $400,000 in Santa Rosa to me seems rather steep given that the local economy definitely doesn't support those prices.

Maybarry · 11-24-2010, 09:46 AM

silverbox, Thanks for the input. I'm definitely not looking for "city living" like Portland or LA and have no need to go to SF on any regular basis. Santa Rosa online looks like it has a small, easy to maneuver downtown, everything else is out a ways and sort of rural, which is OK with me. After living in So.Cal, slower and less upscale is ok too. 101 sounds like the same pattern I remember but hopefully the town it self doesn't have insane traffic. I'm hoping housing prices an hour out of SF are more reasonable. Am I correct in thinking that Santa Rosa has a "small town feel"? Or can anyone compare So. Cal cities that I might know that are similar?

sliverbox · 11-24-2010, 10:45 AM

While I don't live in Santa Rosa I do drive through it frequently. Its definitely not exactly quite traffic. There's pretty good microbrewery in downtown Santa Rosa and its almost always difficult to find a place to park it seems. So don't get me wrong- its not as bad as SF but there is definitely traffic.

My advice would be to rent there first and then decide if you want to live there and buy a house. Any given place is going to appeal differently to different people. To me personally Santa Rosa could be practically any other smaller suburban town across the country. Its ok but not remarkable. My Wife and I are actually planning on leaving California entirely within the next few years and probably to a smaller city- one that could wind up being like Santa Rosa with the exception that houses are more like $150,000 versus $400,000+.

If you absolutely must stay in the area you might want to check out Ukiah which is around an hour further up the freeway. Its smaller, less crowded but big enough to be practical. Its in Mendocino and within easy access to a lot of Wineries. Lots of stuff to do. Its a lot more rural and has that sort of country, laid-back mentality. Its a heck of a lot cheaper too. I'd move there myself except there's no jobs.

Otherwise I'd perhaps consider broadening your search and consider other states because there's some really nice small towns in the Carolinas, TN, GA, and parts of TX and these are all going to cost a fraction of what it would in Santa Rosa.

bellalunatic · 11-24-2010, 11:58 AM

I hate to be the barer of bad news there Maybarry, but SR does not have that "small town feel" that you say you are looking for.

To put it in perspective. SR has 10 exits spread up and down the 101! Lots of folks within SR use the 101 to get around SR because it's so spread out. It is not surrounded by pastureland per se. SR is pretty built out. The traffic I'm referring to is BOTH on the 101 and woth roads in SR proper.

SRosa pop. is about 165K. That's not small town no matter how you slice it.

And as for Silverbox's claim that that it's not part of the Bay Area...whatevs. I used to think that way too when I lived in the East Bay. It's a bit of an East Bay "thing", it's a weird trait.

Sonoma county is one of the nine counties of the Bay Area and SR is in it.

Truth be told eventhough I'm in Southern Sonoma County, I still think that SR is way out there if you are orienting yourself to SF, which is does not look like the case for Maybarry.

AS for the SoCal comparisons, I can't help you there the only town I'm familiar with however slightly is Pasadena. And SR is no Pasadena.

sliverbox · 11-24-2010, 12:10 PM

Quote:

And as for Silverbox's claim that that it's not part of the Bay Area...whatevs. I used to think that way too when I lived in the East Bay. It's a bit of an East Bay "thing", it's a weird trait.

I live in the East Bay and go to SR frequently. What I meant by it not really being "part of the Bay Area" is that its simply too far away as far as being a realistic commute in any shape or fashion. It takes me over an hour to drive there on weekends with little to no traffic from Oakland. It would be perhaps twice that if it were a working weekday. If SR is actually a part of the Bay Area then I suppose Stockton might as well be considered part of it as well because the commutable distance would be about the same.

I have lots of friends in SR as well. The area ( in my humble opinion) is very different from the immediate Bay Area. There's not nearly as many hoity-toity people and the level of economic disparity is way less noticeable. I consider that to be a good thing. That said, SR isn't dirt-cheap either. $400k buys you either a very nice historic old house in a very nice neighborhood or a HUGE new house just about anywhere else in the country. A $150k house in say- a small town outside of Austin would probably be a $500k home in SR.