AboutTracy Chatters Expertise I can answer any questions relating to Sacramento travel, neighborhoods, things to do or attractions. I can also answer questions related to surrounding areas like the Gold Country, Sierra Foothills and more. I can also assist with itinerary planning, ideas for off the beaten path things to do etc.
Experience I was born and raised just outside of Sacramento and I currently reside in Sacramento. I've traveled extensively outside of California and the US and have returned to Sacramento because we love it here!
Education/Credentials BA in Foreign languages, CA secondary teaching authorization for Social Studies.
Expert: Tracy Chatters Date: 2/25/2008 Subject: Home near CSU
Question QUESTION: My husband has a new job in CSU, sacramento. We want to rent a house near
CSUS but in a safe area. We want a home in a nice suburb with restaurants,
some shops and a really walkable neighborhood. My friends have told us about a
lot of gang activities, drive-by shootings and ghetto areas near CSUS, so we
want to stay clear of those. Please advise...
ANSWER: Congratulations on the new job and welcome to the area! I strongly recommend you look into renting a house in the East Sacramento area. The neighborhood is close to CSUS but with lots of fabulous new restaurants, shopping and fun. It's not a suburb but many of the homes in the area sell for over $2 million so it's very nice and safe. My husband and I rented a house there that was built in 1912 and had all the adorable old world stylings. It will probably be smaller there than somewhere else but if you look at suburbs, you'll be at least 30 min drive from CSUS. Few of our suburbs here are really walkable.
As for the area right near CSUS, if you stay north of Fair Oaks Blvd you're in a generally safe area. The part people are probably telling you about is near the UC Davis medical center. This is in an area called Oak Park and is a notorious gang area. However, even Oak Park has gone through some major redevelopment and is now considered one of the "up and coming" neighborhoods in town.
I'd be happy to answer more questions if you'd like.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: We currently live in maine, so when we go house-hunting we will have only
about a week to look at houses. Are there any particular areas we should look
at?
Answer I'd suggest you specifically look at these neighborhoods:
East Sacramento
Arden Park
River Park
anything in the immediate CSUS area
Tahoe Park
Fair Oaks
Skip anything in:
Oak Park
Florin/Fruitridge
Valley Hi
Make sure you have a great real estate agent since you have such a short amount of time. Sacramento is pretty spread out and you don't want to waste a lot of it driving around.
