Best North Bay towns for middle aged couple

[Bluefox]

Originally Posted by davdaven

Are they hippies, yuppies, winos, or gun-toting conservatives? This will help determine a good fit! If hippies, try Sebastopol or maybe Cotati. If yuppies, try the west side of Petaluma. If gun-toting conservatives, they are probably SOL but could give Penngrove a try so they are at least far away from the neighbors. Sonoma is good if they like wine. (Sonoma also has more of a retiree vibe to it.)

There is rush hour into Santa Rosa in the morning, so they should be prepared for some traffic. Traffic south of Petaluma towards Marin County and SF is absolutely atrocious, so they should avoid going any further south than that. Have no fears, though, their budget will not allow that anyway.

Not sure if they like the suburbs or not, but towns like Rohnert Park and the east side of Petaluma are completely lacking in character. You know, the kind of places where you might accidentally drive home to your neighbor's house and not realize it. Best of luck...

Originally Posted by BurntCoffey

"Safe, clean, quaint is what they’re looking for."

If they can find a place in Healdsburg they like within their budget that would be my first suggestion. It has all of the those characteristics and arguably the best weather in Sonoma County, and property values should continue to appreciate given the high desirability and limited housing market. A better value would be northeast Windsor. Although it lacks the charm of Healdsburg it is still within a few miles of the downtown Healdsburg square. Finding a house in their price range would be no problem in that area and it is close to shopping, parks, and trails, with easy freeway access for the commute to Santa Rosa.

Haha. Fortunately, neither is a gun toting conservative. Both were definitely in the hippie scene in the 70s, and both could probably be classified as “winos” today, lol. Neither is young enough to be a yuppie. I’m not even sure I’m young enough to fit that classification :P

I talked with my mom earlier this week and I think they are zeroing in on Healdsburg. It’s definitely the most similar to where they are now, other than the obvious differences in climate and topography. It looks like a wonderful little town. But good to know about Windsor too. I’m a more cold-weather sort of person and I would definitely miss white Christmases, but overall, Healdsburg wouldn’t be the worst place in the world to visit