Sacramento Home Loan

The Native Americans inhabited the Sacramento area for thousands of years before the first European settlers arrived. A Spanish explorer discovered and named the Sacramento Valley and the Sacramento River around 1806. John Sutter and other settlers established a trading colony and Sutter's Fort in 1839. The population boomed with the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, approximately 50 miles northeast of Fort Sutter. Sacramento adopted a city charter in 1849, which was accepted by the California State Legislature in 1850, making Sacramento the oldest incorporated city in California.

Sacramento is the capital of the State of California and is the fifth largest city in the state. According to U.S. Census data, as of 2004 the Sacramento metropolitan area was the 26th largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States with a population of slightly over 2 million people.

Sacramento is located in north/central California, approximately an hour and a half north east of Oakland and San Francisco.

Sacramento is ranked as the 23rd "Most Fun U.S City" in a survey conducted in 2003 by Cranium Inc. Factors taken into account in the ranking include: the number of sports teams, restaurants, dance performances, toy stores, the amount of a city's budget that is spent on recreation, and other factors. Sacramento was also a finalist in the National Civic Leagues prestigious "All-America City Award".

Sacramento has a Mediterranean climate characterized by mild winters and dry summers. Snow does occur in Sacramento in the winter, but it is a rare occurrence, with the record snowfall being only 3.5 inches over 100 years ago.

Sacramento is also only an hour and a half away form both Oakland and San Francisco, and their many professional sports teams.

Sacramento is a city that is bounded by two rivers, the American and the Sacramento. There are 1000 miles of waterways around Sacramento, as well as nearby Folsom Lake and Lake Natoma. As one would expect, water sports are at the top of the list for outdoor activities, including boating, salmon and steelhead fishing, river rafting, sailing, windsurfing, and more. Sacramento also has 540 acres of municipal golf courses and more than 120 city parks encompassing over 2,000 acres. Further east, the Lake Tahoe area is home to a number of world famous ski areas.

Sacramento also plays host to numerous outdoor festivals and fairs including the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, the California State Fair, the CA International Marathon, Summerfest, and more. There are also many wineries in the area surrounding Sacramento that are open to the public.