Reno: One year view from a CA transplant (Sparks, Carson City: house, neighborhood)

[StraightEdge.73]

Bro, may I just say that you are doing the wrong thing for a living? That was a great piece-and informative in a quirky and intelligent manner. Can't wait to read the two year which would put it in about...five months from now.

[Chichappens]

Originally Posted by zod

reno is a trailer park with giant homes instead of trailers. Imagine a town built around a truck stop with a bunch of dead, dried up weeds and rocks for scenery and people of wal-mart type inhabitants. That's reno. It used to be the last place on earth i'd choose to live, but if you say upstate new york and philly are worse, then perhaps reno is now the third to last place. Good luck.

well said

[nea_prez]

Original poster is back! Still here, still lurking!

Perhaps it's time for an update:

First week of November 2010 and the first big chill of the season came in last weekend. The mountains got a dusting of snow back in mid-October, so my favorite time of year has finally arrived.

We've done a good job of finishing the backyard. It came as a 60'x60' dirt lot when the home was completed, and now we have a good 1/3rd of it covered in grass with drip irrigation. The rest of the lot is Xeriscape using native desert treatment that fits in with the local variety. One builder-installed tree croaked, and a little research showed that it wasn't a good fit for this zone. It's remains were easy to yank out by hand and it's absence made the yard easier to mow.

Since I last wrote, we acquired a dog. I hadn't owned a dog since I was 12, but now we have a peppy Maltese to join the two cats in our family. A warning goes out here to anyone who might be thinking of getting a Maltese: This breed is a handful and not recommended to anyone who cannot devote attention to it and potentially have this high-strung dog breed constantly connected to you like it's attached by an umbilical cord. Holy smokes, what a bother he's been. It's taken a lot of training to get him under control, but since we had a house, it only made sense that we likewise have a dog.

We're still making it by day-by-day. Only one neighbor on the street pulled up stakes and went back to Colorado, and one other neighbor is actively trying to sell their home and move back to Texas. I'll relate their stories here now:

1. The Coloradans had five children. *Five*. The husband worked in Las Vegas for a cement contractor and was rarely ever home. Maybe 3-4 days out of two weeks. When he was home, we rarely saw this couple. The wife was taking care of five kinds all alone with no support network outside of us neighbors who did what we could for her. She finally gave her husband an ultimatum and they decided to move back to Colorado and rent their house. Good luck with that, I think. Not too many people ready to pay $1800/mo to rent a place even if it does have four bedrooms.

2. The Texans are airline employees for a Texas-based airline and I think they want to stick with the company and advance their careers. Now, if they could ever find a way to sell their house and get home, they'd be set. Their kids are high performers in the local school system and exceed the other students by quite a bit. The district has taken notice, it appears, so I suppose there's one advantage to being an achiever in a school system that's ranked low in the United States: Big fish, small pond.

Still happy in Reno. We're so far South that pals from my work have to wonder if it's correct to even consider us Reno city residents. Any further down 395 and we'd be in Little Washoe Lake.

For those of appreciable means still reading this forum and thinking of making the move to the Reno/Tahoe area, the choicest living conditions have to be in the Galena Forest area up Mt. Rose Highway, and onwards into Incline Village for the swankiest lifestyle. I've been watching properties up there, and an estate can be had for what a San Francisco resident would pay to buy a two-bedroom shoebox in a graffiti'd-up demilitarized zone inside the city. If I had to do it over again, that's where I'd be looking to buy.

[Eurekabiker]

Thank you for such a thoughtful, intelligent post. My wife and I just started considering Reno as an option for Northern Cali. We live in Eureka.

Your insight has been very informative. I wish I would see more posts like this instead of clever quips.

[Jukesgrrl]

Wow, thanks. You just gave me about ten reasons to cross Reno off my list.

[Salmanal]

It depends on your individual desires. I am retired, so jobs aren't terribly high on my list.
Want an under-performing city? Go to the South. My children attend university in Canada;
so, schools aren't important either. In my case, most is good, so far. Reno is very safe,
the residents seem to be intelligent; most of whom, are friendly. There is a Whole Foods,
and a TJ's in south Reno, making healthy food shopping easy. Because I lived in Mexico,
I shop King Ranch (central Reno) at times, I like it. I don't need an active night
scene, but the are events happening in the casinos all the time. I can't forget the
Truckee River, a few blocks south of downtown. The main library is decorated with lots
of foliage inside, its a jungle in there. Before my arrival, I visited Fresno and Sacramento, CA:
Fresno seemed relatively safe, but not too intelligent; Sac felt dangerous during the day,
but there was a definite difference between city and 'burbs;
I am a city lover, but desire safety in a city. Reno has both; safety, and the "perks" one
would expect to have in a city. I am an avid cyclist, Reno is pretty flat too.

[hankinsantabarbara]

Nea_prez
Thanks for the great overview on your situation and thoughts as an Ex-CA. I, too will be leaving CA in 3 years time. It's ashame, because I grew up in S CA in the 60's-70's in the South Bay of LA and it truly was the "Golden State", now it is in ruins; Sorry, I DO blame illegal immigration and the subidized taxpayer supported programs that fund this "immigration program" for alot of Cali's destruction-demise.
We are looking at Reno, Prescott, AZ and Boise, ID. My wife and I both embrace the outdoors and that is a big consideration. How do you feel about the Carson City area?
Thanks again for your insights, they are very helpful.

[BillyBobJoeBobWilly]

Thanks Nea_prez for your post. We've been in Reno for almost a month and have some positives and negatives to report.

First, the positives. We have a great selection of food choices here compared to where we came from (Central Florida). We have a great view at our apartments (Skyline Canyon, the scenery is beautiful) and we pretty much like the weather so far although it is a little dry.

The negatives. My son's teacher is not as warm and friendly as what we came from (he's in Elementary school in Caughlin Ranch). The people in our Apartment Complex do not seem that friendly except for management. The idiots who live above us have no concerns about stomping around like elephants humping all day long. The job I have in one of the Casinos is not what it was cooked up to be. The benefits are not that great and the work environment is so-so. However, have met some good people there.

We're still feeling it out and at the end of our 13 month lease we'll think about what we want to do. We have friends in Ashland OR which we're also going to check out. If my wife can get a job here then we'll seriously consider staying. We will see.


[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]

[nea_prez]

Originally Posted by hankinsantabarbara

Nea_prez
Thanks for the great overview on your situation and thoughts as an Ex-CA.

We are looking at Reno, Prescott, AZ and Boise, ID. My wife and I both embrace the outdoors and that is a big consideration. How do you feel about the Carson City area?
Thanks again for your insights, they are very helpful.

The areas I like near Carson are both a little further south. This is Minden and Gardnerville, along with Gardnerville Ranchos. Personally, I think that these two towns offer the nicest part of the state of Nevada to live, and I really like some of the properties that back up against the mountains in the Gardnerville Ranchos area. Homes there are listed from anywhere around $250k to several million dollars.

The towns Minden/Gardnerville are commutable to Carson City even in the winter. These towns have a very nice 'Main St. USA' feel to them mixed with the 'Western US mountain town' feel. Maybe I can describe this area better to some people -- particularly Californians -- reading this if I were to say that this area reminds me of how the remote suburbs of North Los Angeles (Pasadena, Woodland Hills, etc) used to seem in about the year 1951. Also similar to how the Pomona/Montclair/Highland region used to be in Southern California long before they became just another extension of the greater Los Angeles megalopolis.

There are also some interesting areas even further south down I-395 from Gardnerville Ranchos to Topaz Lake, but I think that might take a hardier sort of person to live there.

[nea_prez]

Originally Posted by Jukesgrrl

Wow, thanks. You just gave me about ten reasons to cross Reno off my list.

Yippee!