patrick.net

I like the idea of flying in.

Well, 3-4 hrs, Tracy, Stockton, Gilroy or way south of there Fairfield, Napa, Patterson- a whole bunch of places.

It really depends . Someone I know bought a hosue during the last boom somewhere off 152 on the other side of 5 and their neighbours were all farm workers. They bought it for 150k back then, but are stuck. But 3-4 hrs and if you can come in say 11 am to work will open up a lot of places-even Pismo beach or San Luis Obispo/Morro Bay may be doable.

Believe it or not, Sacramento is a lot closer than most people think. Its all about traffic. If I get up early and drive to Sacramento on the weekends I can get there in about an hour plus 10-15 minutes. That said the traffic during the work week is probably a LOT worse. But if you were able to stomach the idea of leaving super early, well perhaps it could be doable...

Yeah in my younger days, when my standard speed was 95mph , I used to reach Sacramento on my way to Tahoe pretty quick when the freeways were free. Either zip up to 680 and join the 80 or take 580 and join 5 and then 80. Santa Clara might not be that bad, though the 580 inbound commute on weekdays is bad-but getting into SF through the bridge will be hell on weekdays. One of my friends used to commute from Vacaville and used to take the ferry to the city.

Only issue with Sacramento is that it get nightmarishly hot. I was there for a conference a few years ago which happened when the CalExpo state fair was going on. One day I went to that and it was 107 degrees. So hot that there were misters that were everywhere. The must pretty much evaporated before it hit the ground. I do like Sacramento's character though. Strikes me much more as an old west town than any of the coastal cities.

I'd go the other direction and do santa cruz county

Sacramento blows. Way too much pollution from farming and cars. My poor niece suffered until she turned 18 and could escape. A friend of mine adopted a kid and she is so allergic that she required injections. I wouldn't put anyone through that. It's also just too hot with so many extremely sketchy hoods.

Merced, CA. It is close to Yosemite and has great access to the Sierra. There is a good sized airport there, and if you are into aviation there is Castle Air Museum nearby.

You can live with your plane parked in your house. A pilots dream, you should check it out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Airpark

Buy one where the *potential* high speed rail may connect close to it. Sacrememto? Folsom?

APOCALYPSEFUCK is Shostakovich says

Set up a big cannon in the front yard and have spouse shoot you out of it on work days.

As is often the case, apoc wins the thread. Thanks for the laugh! :)

What's your budget and what do you want for it? Rancho Murieta looked like it might fit your needs. Big houses (cheap too by SFBA standards), a golf course and an airport as well.

rufita11 says

Sacramento blows. Way too much pollution from farming and cars. My poor niece suffered until she turned 18 and could escape. A friend of mine adopted a kid and she is so allergic that she required injections. I wouldn't put anyone through that. It's also just too hot with so many extremely sketchy hoods.

A common misconception.
Actually the bay blows; the valley sucks.

debtregret says

rufita11 says

Sacramento blows. Way too much pollution from farming and cars. My poor niece suffered until she turned 18 and could escape. A friend of mine adopted a kid and she is so allergic that she required injections. I wouldn't put anyone through that. It's also just too hot with so many extremely sketchy hoods.

A common misconception.

Actually the bay blows; the valley sucks.

And Socal swallows. ;)

rufita11 says

Sacramento blows. Way too much pollution from farming and cars. My poor niece suffered until she turned 18 and could escape. A friend of mine adopted a kid and she is so allergic that she required injections. I wouldn't put anyone through that. It's also just too hot with so many extremely sketchy hoods.

Still beats Stockton though.

I'd look at going north. Cloverdale, Hopland, Ukiah, Willits area. Never lived there but some parts seem kind of nice, if you're into more of a rural lifestyle.

APOCALYPSEFUCK is Shostakovich says

New Renter says

rufita11 says

Sacramento blows. Way too much pollution from farming and cars. My poor niece suffered until she turned 18 and could escape. A friend of mine adopted a kid and she is so allergic that she required injections. I wouldn't put anyone through that. It's also just too hot with so many extremely sketchy hoods.

Still beats Stockton though.

Having air power in a place like Stockton could be interesting. Imagine the advantages of having spousal rocking an AK from the navigator's seat while you're buzzing a race riot or a cannibal stampede on the way home from work.

Unfortunately that privilege is reserved for the oligarchs.

I would recommend the Santa Cruz mountains as well. Of course I'm biased :)

After living up here for the past 6 months, all I can really say you guys can keep the "RBA". It's a shit hole. :)

Uh, are you IFR rated as there will be days when VFR is no-go.

If not, seriously consider Garmin's 796/wx capability for when (not IF) wx turns down. http://youtu.be/JmiWC6H35sU

touch screen ops far better than the 696

Being newly minted, get some serious time as

SJ says

I can fly within 20 minutes

If you can afford a Citation I'd just buy place close to work!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Sky_Park_Airport

is in Fresno and is apparently hanging in there even tho there's infill all around it now (50 years ago there was nothing but fig trees for 5-10 miles round).

2.5hr commute to S.J. if 101 isn't packed up.

50 minutes in the air to SJC at 125kts, 119 statute miles.

Getting a Tesla sounds like a better deal. It could do the 150mi trip easily.
Leaf can't make it quite yet.

CrazyMan says

I would recommend the Santa Cruz mountains as well. Of course I'm biased :)

+1. That's where I want to end up. Friend has a place with horse-property neighbors. Looks like my idea of heaven, actually -- sandy horse corrals, pine trees, hills, ocean view, tons of sun, cool, clean ocean air, beach 15 minutes away.

I'm driving from the valley to Santa Cruz tomorrow actually. I have two hour+ podcasts that I want to listen to so the time in the car is rather irrelevant, I'd be sitting here at home if I wasn't on the road, so no big diff.

Wouldn't want to make the drive every day, but with an EV I could easily do it weekly. ($4/gallon gas makes 300 mile round-trips not as fun as they used to be)

I am looking at homes in Pine Mountain Lake, Cameron Park and down on the coast. My goal is within a year to buy a nice place within a 3 hour drive or 30 minute flight in my plane outside the RBA.

CrazyMan says

I would recommend the Santa Cruz mountains as well. Of course I'm biased :)

After living up here for the past 6 months, all I can really say you guys can keep the "RBA". It's a shit hole. :)

Damn straight! Some nice places up there - nice and secluded for alternative sources of income.

Just be careful of the areas vulnerable to landslides and earthquakes.

Only thing wrong with the Santa Cruz mountains are the cannibal hippies, plan on electrified barbed wire.

Apparently, the meth freaks stay up all night cutting down trees and running amok.

Grow a little pot, start a little meth lab, sell organic yams and a bit of mary jane and crystal, collect welfare or disability, life can be sweet.

Ceffer says

Only thing wrong with the Santa Cruz mountains are the cannibal hippies, plan on electrified barbed wire.

Apparently, the meth freaks stay up all night cutting down trees and running amok.

Grow a little pot, start a little meth lab, sell organic yams and a bit of mary jane and crystal, collect welfare or disability, life can be sweet.

Sounds like an AF inspired paradise

Considering the OP is coming from Berkley/Oakland he should already be well versed in cannibal hippie neighborhood survival methods.

What a co-incident! I had the same idea when I first start to look for house in 2006. RBA is so expensive and the rate is at 6.75% for 30 year fix.

BTW, for a 20 minute flight time, how far can you travel?

foothills of the sierras

New Renter says

Still beats Stockton though.

Without a doubt.

CrazyMan says

I would recommend the Santa Cruz mountains as well. Of course I'm biased :)

After living up here for the past 6 months, all I can really say you guys can keep the "RBA". It's a shit hole. :)

I've been looking in SCM for years. It's not easy finding the perfect secluded spot with cable internet. I couldn't offer on a sweet spot off of Vine Hill for that reason alone.

You have to be careful in places like Boulder Tweek though. My brothers were looking at a piece of property when a guy appeared out of the forest with an automatic weapon. He didn't own the property, but must have been guarding a grow.

Only problem with Santa Cruz is no airpark or airport close by. Salinas and Half Moon Bay have small airports. I'm thinking of Cameron Park, Pine Mountain Lake and few other places so I can taxi and fly from my hangar home into work a couple times a week.

SJ says

Only problem with Santa Cruz is no airpark or airport close by. Salinas and Half Moon Bay have small airports. I'm thinking of Cameron Park, Pine Mountain Lake and few other places so I can taxi and fly from my hangar home into work a couple times a week.

Watsonville has a pretty nice airport.

I'm a middle aged life-long SC Valley resident, a tech worker, and used to be a private pilot with instrument rating and commercial certificate. So I comment on this thread from multiple perspectives: this is not a practical idea for all kinds of reasons too numerous and too long to write about here.

Come to think of it, the idea is so impractical that I wonder if its made in jest.

rufita11 says

I've been looking in SCM for years. It's not easy finding the perfect secluded spot with cable internet.

What about satellite, e.g. HughesNet?

B.A.C.A.H. says

I'm a middle aged life-long SC Valley resident, a tech worker, and used to be a private pilot with instrument rating and commercial certificate. So I comment on this thread from multiple perspectives: this is not a practical idea for all kinds of reasons too numerous and too long to write about here

Say more please. I don't fly, but many of my techie friends here do. I have thought that it might be a feasible way to deal with the cost of housing here. the thing for them is that most of them just own houses here. Can you say more to me as a novice about what you think this is so unworkable?

I did not write it's "so unworkable".

I wrote that it's not a practical idea.

Nothing's "unworkable" if you throw enough resources (time, money) at it. Doesn't make it practical, though.

Too much to discuss about it here, you or SJ want me to say more, we can meet up at City Lights Expresso or some Starbucks some time (I work not too far from SJC airport).

@BACAH sure lets chat. I ran the numbers and why pay 5 million for a shitbox in the bay when Sacramento sells homes for 200k and plane costs 50k and few grand a year on maintenance?

If you fly 1 hour once a week to bay area fuel would cost 50-100 a week.

Plane costs 50-100k
Home: 200k
Aircraft Maintenance: 5-10k a year on plane

Bay area home: too much $$$$$$

SJ, sorry I don't have the mojo, nor the time, to go into detail here. If you wanna meet up to discuss we can do that some time.

Like you, over the years I've known lotsa tech worker pilots, including my own self at one time. I even knew one who used his Mooney plane to commute in. Till he died when it crashed. But his fate is not even part of my impractical discussion. (For him, it WAS practical. Till it killed him).

It's all the other what-iffs.

SJ says

Only problem with Santa Cruz is no airpark or airport close by. Salinas and Half Moon Bay have small airports. I'm thinking of Cameron Park, Pine Mountain Lake and few other places so I can taxi and fly from my hangar home into work a couple times a week.

Bonny Doon has an airport.