I live in an area on the outskirts of yuba city that was just annexed into YC. Wife has a house in Marysville. I used to live in El Dorado Hills for 7 years and down in the south SF bay for 3.
YC/Marysville is still something like the 3rd biggest welfare town. Plenty of "unsavory" looking folks around. No more or less "trouble" than I had in EDH but shopping and eating out puts you with a sub working class crowd. Frankly doesnt bother me. I'm 30 minutes down route 65 or 99 to Roseville or Sacramento. There are some really nice middle class developments here and there where the living is similar to what you'd find in a typical Folsom neighborhood.
There are a number of new home construction developments being put up in older neighborhoods and a lot of old homes being knocked down in favor of new homes.
Prices have gone up a bit up here, and I'm not sure its commensurate with how far we are from the urban sprawl wave. My house would have sold for $175k 2 years ago, sold to me for $250 a year ago. Thats for a 6 year old 1900 sq. foot stucco house on a quarter acre in a cul de sac in a very nice neighborhood. There are a couple of similar properties listed for $300k today. The homes right behind me which are 1400 sq foot, about 15 years old, on .18 lots and on a main road that takes just a small amount of traffic run for about $200k. My wifes house will end up for sale sometime soon. 1500 sq ft 50 year old house, completely renovated, on a third of an acre. Somewhat crappy neighborhood thats starting to turn around. We'll get $170-180k for it. A new stucco house on a .15 lot in one of the new builders developments run about $300-350k for 1800-2500 sq ft homes, sort of like the Folsom Broadstone development.
Not cheap, but a lot less than Excramento for the same thing. In many ways it reminds me of what Folsom was like 8 years ago when I first moved there.
Food, restaurants and utilities are cheaper here.
For any listings anywhere, go to
www.realtor.com for homes for sale. To see recent home sale transactions register at
www.domania.com and do a search.
One other thought: I like my neighbors here a lot better than the ones I had in my old mcmansion neighborhood. I used to have overprivileged kids driving their bmw's through stop signs at twice the speed limit while chatting on their cell phones, and their hoighty-toighty parents who thought their money entitled them to do as they pleased without regard to their neighbors.
A fine example was the neighbor who had the dogs that barked 24x7, and the other one who was replacing some grass with a concrete pad - so his kid drove his pickup into the dirt and kicked it all over the place, then drove around the neighborhood leaving dirt clods everywhere.
In my new neighborhood I get bags of garden produce left on my doorstep, people stop by and apologize if they made a little too much noise or made a mess, and then clean it up. A couple of months ago my next door neighbors tree blew down in a storm and everyone in the cul de sac went out and helped him cut it up and haul it off.
Sometimes living with the rich and famous isnt as wholesome an experience as you might think. I'm considering my new neighbors and their kids a much better environment for my kids to grow up in than my old one. Of course, your mileage may vary...
. Quebec with their massive hydroelectric dams still have overhead and minimum charges? Maybe I'm not reading you right? I know CA has much higher rates than ON........and I conserve too, but $4?? :
