We are moving to Reno...my wife and I have no children so the school system will not come into play.  we are looking around the Golden Valley and Spanish Springs area. Can anyone give us some strong pointers on these areas? Love the high elevation!  Shopping? we love Costco,whole foods, Total Wine, Guitar Center... along with some cool little happy hour places. Our big concern is Sun Valley!  ...which looks pretty scary!  Do you think their would be any real problems with being so close?  ....any other suggestions would be so appreciated !  We really like Damonte Ranch as well ...but worry a bit about the moisture marshland situation. Would commuting to our favorite stores from these areas ....be easy to get to?  Thanks for All Your Help!

We live in Wingfield Springs, in Spanish springs, lots of shopping areas and still close to downtown reno

Wingfield is very safe and quiet, they have a community patrol

I personally moved here from San Diego in 2000 and you will LOVE it here - huge slow down pace from SoCal but hey you can always go back down to visit but we have Tahoe and Cali close by. Great music venues as I peeked at your 2 websites and you'll find from Reno, Tahoe, Sacramento to San Francisco we have plenty of venues from local bands to the big ones and oldies around Hot August Nights (saw you like Herman & the Hermits - my father opened for them back in the day) As far as the areas you & your wife are looking at Spanish Springs & Golden Vally like Peter K said solid areas like atypical of upscale Thousand Oaks or Ventura if memory serves me well (my sis is Coldwell Bam

Oops - my sis is Coldwell Banker broker in Beverly Hills

Anywho don't let Sun Valley scare you it's just a neighborhood and looks like you won't be living there - HAPPY HOME SHOPPING and Welcome to Nevada!

I'll send you some GREAT happy hour places but maybe give us an idea of what your looking for  =)

Bistro Napa
Atlantis Casino Resort Spa
3800 S Virginia St
Reno, NV 89502
(775) 335-4539

yelp.com/biz/bistro-napa…

Hi Jimmy,
Welcome to Reno. Overall, it is a pretty good place to live. North Valleys, Spanish Springs, Del Monte Ranch, it is all good. I live Downtown, Midtown is really cool. There really are very few neighborhoods that are terrible and commuting here is a breeze. Our Yelp community is very supportive and we have a lot going on here. Let us know what your preferences are. Costco, Guitar Center, Total Wine, Whole Foods are all south. LOTS of cool happy hour places Downtown and midtown - pretty much everywhere.

I'm not sure what you mean by moisture. One potential flooding problem in Spanish Springs: Washoe County allowed a lot of home building and other construction in the unincorporated area. This disrupted natural and man-made flood control measures so a few years ago during an especially heavy thunderstorm water ran from the unincorporated area and flooded parts of Sparks in Spanish Springs. They were supposed to fix that. I don't know how far along they are.
Flooding concerns in the south Reno area are legitimate. In January 1997 we had a flood in the area and I saw homes in the Rosewood Lakes area with water up to their eaves. That will probably happen again. I don't know far south the flood plain extends. Flooding is a risk when you build in marsh land. There was a reason it was a marsh in the first place.

Peter, you're not far from us. We're near the raley's. We just moved here earlier this month but this part of town seems pretty quiet but alot of places aren't very far away.

I don't live in Damonte, but I personally think the "moisture marshland situation" (which I assume you mean the highly managed remnant wetlands of what was once a large area of natural habitat) is a pretty cool asset of that part of Reno. Now's a great time to be without kids in Reno; the school district funding is at a crisis levels and will convert to double sessions and multi-track schedules if a sales tax isn't implemented. Assuming you drive, I'd just watch out for traffic wherever you end up living in town. Reno PD is spread thin and drunk/impaired driving is off the hook here these days.

There's a big hill that separates Sun Valley and Spanish Springs.  Of course with Walmart - you can guess the traffic patterns coming through the hills.

Of course in Nevada, the way we deal with riff raff is by being well armed.  Caveat Emptor, welcome to the wild west.  Make sure you knock on my door before entering.  :)

rgj.com/story/news/crime…

nydailynews.com/news/nat…

Spanish Springs has changed.  What used to be the "hey let's go ride our ATV's or horses" area has now turned into Urban Sprawl Central.  Costco, Petsmart, every corporate fast food chain - and little if any independent businesses.  

Fortunately Denny's and Chili's did swift exits - as did Circuit City and a few of the other corporate drivel names.

The county and city of Sparks (and controllers of unincorporated areas) sold their flood plain to developers around 2003/2004 to facilitate this urban sprawl, and then started extorting "sewer fees" - from everyone - including those that have NO SEWER HOOKUP (yeah, me - and they can KMA if they think I'll ever pay it).  

It used to be rural, open space, not a lot of noise and dark enough to see the stars at night.  It's now turned into common suburbia with tract homes as far as the eye can see,  McMansions, and looks like any other suburban metropolis.

There's still a lot of large older homes on acreage in the area, but they are starting to ramp up in price again.  And of course Pyramid Highway is now FREAKING CLOGGED BEYOND BELIEF - thanks to the "Lack Of" Urban Planning commission.  Let's build 10,000 homes and not analyze commute traffic through the only corridor!  (Big duh!)

Be careful of city lines and incorporated areas, as you have a lot less freedom and control over your own home depending on where you move to in the area.

Since you are calling out poster child urban sprawl names, I'm guessing you don't want anything near the rural area.  There are plenty of stucco-tract homes around monolithic shopping centers.  

It used to be a great horse and open area where we all knew our neighbors...  Not so much anymore.

The DA in the Burgarello case needs an ass kicking for taking that senior citizen to court for defending his home and life when the law in Nevada is clear. Shoot a trespasser or carjacker and you get to sleep in your own bed the same night.

The guy who was shot and killed didn't know he was trespassing. He got invited there to party. He thought the woman lived there.

Too bad for him, the standard for stand your ground here in Nevada is fear. regardless of whether he was angry or vengeful only Burgarello knows if he was fearful when he pulled the trigger and that is reasonable doubt no matter how you cut it. In his own house he had no duty to warn or call the police on the intruder prior to firing. I don't even know honestly if Burgarello had to be in fear of the guy or not, maybe he was afraid of having to fix doors and windows, repair holes punched into the walls, feces on the stairs and sink, repair or replace stolen or vandalized appliances, frankly I could care less. This had been going on for years with no help and little empathy from the pigs in their clown uniforms. In the end he ends up behind bars fighting for his rights when no one cared about his.

I highly recommend the Damonte Ranch area! Have lived all around Reno and South Reno is easily the safest area, not to suggest any of reno is really un-safe.

Buy desert land in the seven Troughs area. Cheapest land in the United States. 80 acres for around 20k. There is no electric or water of course. If you contract a drill rig there is a 50% chance it will hit water at around the 700 foot mark and the drill rig only costs about 10k a day.

I would say the only thing to keep in mind about living up north is that the traffic can get really backed up commuting south via 395 in the morning and back up north in the afternoon.

The OP is from Gardena... it is in LA- you think having to slow down to 35mph for 7 minutes on 80 or 395 is going to really mean anything to them ?

From everything you're mentioning, you'll want to move to South Reno. Lucky for you, there's plenty of homes, apartments and condos being built. Most won't be ready till late fall though.

I appreciate all of you for taking the time with help and advise  on our re-location ....Will perhaps have to have a wine tasting party
when we get moved?  ...anyone up for that?

I heartily welcome anyone to Reno and Sparks who is willing to throw a wine party when they get here!

once again, south reno for wine too lol

Wine party - hubby & I are in!

Definitely a wine party. We will even help you create a UYE! (unofficial Yelp event).