Merced, California

So, here is how these are going to go.

 

I’ll list the town and state, but not the name of the school Patrick is looking at (just to protect from possible online searches during the recruiting process.)

 

Then I’ll state a series of fast facts, with ratings on a scale of 1(bad) to 10 (good) for (1) Campus Look – literally how it looks – new or well-maintained?  Aesthetically pleasing?  Well designed, with nice gathering places, good spots to take our kids to play ball or picnic, nice walks?  (2) Campus Feel – what kind of school is it?  Liberal, or with draconian rules?  Lots of arts and community gatherings?  A good community, or a commuter school?  Large, small, grad students or not, etc.  (3) Town – similar considerations to the campus – is it nice looking, well maintained, clean, relatively crime free?  Are there cool things to do – either a zoo or an aquarium or historical sites or a river side?  Is it within driving distance of anywhere cool?  Basically, do I think we’d be happy there, knowing what we like to do as a family and as individuals.

 

I am going to list the school size (# students), the student:faculty ratio, the number of faculty, and the price of a new 4 bedroom, 3 bath house, for comparison purposes.

 

Then I’ll write some comments.

 

Are you excited yet?  Woot woot, we’re (possibly) moving!

 

 

It is fortuitous that I did not get around to discussing this potential location for our relocation until now, because Patrick just handed me the Sunday Business section of the New York Times with a two page article, all about Merced.  And its decline. 

 

Merced, CA is a sort of nothing town, a little agricultural hamlet in the middle of the valley that isn’t near anything much (with one notable and exciting exception).  In looking at stuff online re:Merced, I got the impression that it was a nowheresville with nothing much to do, but with ridiculously cheap houses for California.  And then I thought – the new Uni there, opened in 2005, is going to make this place boom.  Or, maybe not boom, but grow slowly and healthfully.  So we could buy a large and comfortable house where our family could grow, see it appreciate bazillions of dollars, and be in on the birth of an exciting new town.  Unfortunately, according to this NY Times article, a lot of investors thought the same thing, and they swooped in, bought tons of half million dollar homes, spurring a spike in prices and development – and then, with the mortgage crisis, took off, leading to a precipitous decline that was arguably worse than anywhere else in the country.  They cut the legs off this little town, and I think it will grow new legs eventually, but it is going to take a long while.

 

So, the bad things about Merced, the things that make me think NO WAY IN HELL ARE WE MOVING THERE, are the wretched air quality (huge rates of asthma in the area’s children), the shuttered and empty businesses, and the half-finished, untended subdivisions.  It does have some positive aspects, though, including that we could get a half million dollar home for around $200,000, and that it will probably rise in price modestly over time, giving us a large ROI – that is, if we could sell it come time to move.  It’s only a couple of hours from some cool places, like San Francisco, the northern beaches, and – its biggest selling point – Yosemite National Park.  If we lived in Merced, we’d be at Yosemite like every single weekend.  I could even possibly work there.  That is an exciting prospect.

 

The campus is ok – small, growing, and sustainable (a plus).  The town would probably be a 1 if it weren’t for the nearby Yosemite.  To get in on the ground floor of this school, part of a very well-respected state system, would probably be a good career move, but I really think if we end up here, we will be seeing it as more of an investment in our future than as a great place to enjoy.  We’ll see – if he gets interviewed and it makes the short list, we’ll get some more details.  I won’t reject it out of hand, but it doesn’t make my heart beat faster to think of it.

 

Up next?  San Antonio, TX.