The Big Wait
It has been over a month since posting about our decision to relocate from central Oregon to Sacramento during which we have had plenty of time to have some fun backpacking down into the Grand Canyon and then get down to business researching details of the upcoming move. And when I say "upcoming" I mean in May of 2023, which is about five months from now.
Horse Boarding and Trail Riding
Given that horse care and accessible trail riding was what torpedoed our intended move to Portugal it earns the top spot in this discussion. We limited our search for a boarding stable to places that did not cater to the super wealthy competitive dressage community and either had trails on which we could ride directly from the facility or had trails a short trailer ride away.
We found more than half a dozen likely stables to the northeast of downtown, primarily near Folsom Lake. Most replied to our online queries and provided details on stalls, daily turnout, feeding, nearby riding and trailer storage that (mostly) met our needs.
We will use our week long trip to Sacramento in March to call these stables and then visit them in person. We can then make our decision on where to board Topaz and Taylor and reserve space in advance if needed.
I sold some Oracle stock and in early December used the proceeds to buy a replacement truck, a 2020 RAM 2500 with a long bed, tow package, a fifty gallon fuel tank and under 48,000 miles. The goose-neck hitch will be installed this week. A newer trailer will cost about the same as the truck and so we'll wait to buy it until after we sell our house or after August when I can sell more stock (as long term capital gains).
Neighborhoods and Housing
Map showing the location of boarding stables highlighted in orange and target communities in gray.
With our chosen set of stables to the northeast of downtown Sacramento I used various online resources to investigate the neighborhoods in the nearby region between I80 and US50. The communities of Carmichael, Fair Oaks, Citrus Heights and Orangevale all look nice with nice urban centers and access to local produce markets plus stores like New Seasons, Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. Also possible are Rancho Cordova and Gold River on the south side of the American River.
Housing prices are in line with what we can afford and although some neighborhoods are a little more suburban than we prefer they are livable, and those closer to I80 and US50 are walking distance to the light rail system that will take us downtown. We will definitely drive more than when we lived in Portland but less than here in central Oregon.
Some of the houses have lots with RV storage which would be ideal for keeping the LQ trailer. Otherwise we must rent space to store it, which is less convenient for using the trailer and is another monthly expense.
Expenses
Our moving expenses can be broken down into three major categories: buying a house, moving the horses and moving our household.
House
Purchasing a house requires selling our current home. We plan to put our home on the market soon after returning from our scouting trip in mid March. If we price our home carefully we should be able to sell it in about a month's time and then we'll need to add in another month for the closing process, which puts us at the end of April or early May.
Our budget for a new house is restricted, for the most part, by what we make on selling our current house (the sale price minus real estate fees and other sale related expenses -- fortunately we have no mortgage to pay off). And so that will be our budget for buying the new place. We only need a modest home in good shape -- 2+ bedrooms and 2 baths with a garage are the basic must haves -- and Zillow shows a large number of houses in our target communities that fit our budget and needs (and Google maps and street view shows most of them to be nice houses in pleasant areas).
Horses
We will move the horses down ourselves with the truck and trailer, and will also drive our car down at the same time. This keeps the cost to a few hundred dollars for fuel and maybe a place to stay overnight along the way.
Household
The site Move Budha shows an upper end estimate of $6,000 to move a two bedroom household from Prineville to Sacramento in early May (this includes packing, loading, and unloading). We could alternatively rent a truck and do the move ourselves for about 1/6 that amount, but at this stage of life I'd prefer to pay someone else to do the physical labor, and we'd also need to find a way to move the car (tow it?).
Cost of Living
"It will be expensive" and "The taxes are really high" are the two biggest concerns we've heard from friends about moving to Sacramento. Certainly parts of California are very expensive (we can't afford to move to the Bay Area, for example) and for people living in other states California taxes may seem high, but not when compared with Oregon.
According to Numbeo it currently costs on average 1% more to live in Sacramento than Portland, Oregon. This is not a problem.
The tax calculator from Smart Asset shows that at the high end of our expected retirement income range our income tax rate would be 6.0% in California compared to 8.75% in Oregon. At the low end of our income range our rate would be 4.0% in California and still 8.75% in Oregon. Surprised? You would have to make $350,000 to pay the same income tax in California as in Oregon.
California has a sales tax (Oregon does not) and in Sacramento the rate is high at 8.25%. But groceries, medicine, utilities, and home purchases are excluded, and other big ticket items are taxed at a lower rate. The vast bulk of our expenses are food and utilities, and so that big scary number isn't as alarming to us as it might be to others.
Sacramento property tax is at 0.81% while Portland is at 1.04%.
We will actually pay a little less in total taxes in Sacramento as we would in Portland.
The monthly per horse rate for boarding in the Sacramento area (for the stables we are looking at) ranges from $375 to $475 (this is less than similar places in the Portland area). We will budget $1,000 for both horses. Add $100 is we need to rent space for storing the LQ trailer (we hope to find a house where we can store it on site).
Health insurance and health care cost deserves its own dedicated blog entry, but with the federal subsidy we should be fine with $1,000 a month (for both the coverage premium and expenses, and paying up to the deductible). I'll save the rant for some other time.
Climate
Portland is better with less snow and fewer freezing days and less heat (usually) but there is a lot of rain in the winter and it can still get bitter cold for months on end.
Sacramento seldom gets below freezing. Period. It gets some rain and it is susceptible to persistent fog (tule fog) from November through March. In the summer it gets hot. It can be hot from June through September and it is not uncommon to have several weeks with day time highs above 100F.
I am completely done with the cold and snow and will happily trade the longer, hotter summers and the greater risk of fog for what we currently have. The accompanying photo shows this year's early December snow where the most recent storm dumped over 8 inches of heavy wet snow (with the accompanying power and Internet outages plus suspension of services like garbage pick up) on top of two inches of snow left over from November's storm.
The Wait
We will have to arrange for alternate health insurance when I retire at the end of January, and we've been working on a proposed budget to present to our financial advisor, but for the most part we are waiting until March before taking more actions. I am finding it incredibly hard and frustrating and can't wait to get this show on the road.
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