‘Cowtown’ No More - Page 2

"Now there are a lot of Seattle people who are searching Sacramento because their prices are going up too," Streng noted of a West Coast city that, interestingly, also ranks among the most popular destinations for Bay Area refugees, along with Portland (where there are several hundred Eichler-like Rummer homes) and Southern California (a spread-out region that includes thousands of diverse mid-century moderns).

If you happen to agree with former hoops star Webber that Sacramento has little to offer, then maybe you just don't know enough about the city that was so well celebrated in 2018's Golden Globe-winning film 'Lady Bird.'

Do you know, for example, that it has the largest tree canopy of any U.S. city? Or that Time magazine once proclaimed it "America's Most Diverse City"?

In addition, Streng says, "There's a lot more to do in Sacramento than there used to be." He cited as evidence the new Golden 1 Center downtown and other new arenas nearby in Folsom and Davis. Additionally, he boasted of the relatively new Johnny Cash Trail along the American River, from Folsom Lake to Lake Natomas.

"That's huge. For people who are active, that's golden," said the realtor.

So, we've established that there are thousands of MCM homes in Sacramento, and more to do there than there once was. If you're considering a move to save money on housing, however, the natural question is, how much can be saved?

According to the real estate website Zillow.com, the median price for homes in San Francisco and Sacramento currently are $910,060 vs. $314,300, respectively. CoreLogic documents that the average home sale in San Francisco in February 2018 was $1.5 million, up 30 percent from February 2017.

As for other communities closer to the Bay Area than Sac, Streng says, "There are some modern homes in Fairfield and Vacaville, but not so much that fits the mid-century modern [category]."

While the median asking price for Bay Area Eichlers is about $1.3 million, Streng said Sacramento's South Land Park Eichlers "start in the high $400,000s on up to $600,000."

"One of the Eichlers I sold last year, a family from the Bay Area bought that," he remarked pointedly.

The realtor also noted that Sacramento has seen a bevy of modernist duplexes constructed in recent years that are 1,200 to 1,400 square feet per unit and costing between $270,000 and $325,000.

"We have another couple of those coming up [for sale] in the next couple weeks," he said of the "half-plexes."

"The jobs, they're not as [many] as the Bay Area, but it's certainly good," Streng said of the Sacramento job market, noting the multitude of public sector positions characteristic of a state capitol.

"It's becoming more of a go-to destination," he said proudly of the formerly alleged cowtown. "I think that's been a good thing."