Fountaingrove, Santa Rosa, CA

Fountaingrove is the affluent face of Santa Rosa's northeast hills, and it is impossible to talk about honestly without the 2017 Tubbs Fire. The firestorm tore through these ridges and leveled most of the upscale subdivisions up here, including the roughly 600 homes of Fountaingrove II despite a wide fire break. What you are looking at today is largely a rebuilt neighborhood: newer, larger, more current homes, with construction still wrapping up on some streets years later. The setting is why people keep choosing it. The hillside lots deliver long valley views, the Fountaingrove golf course and country club are right here, and you are minutes from downtown and the 101 despite feeling tucked into the hills. The new construction means a lot of the housing stock is among the most modern in the city. The tradeoff is named in the first paragraph. This is high wildfire-exposure terrain, insurance is a real line item, and a few lots still sit empty or mid-build. Buyers who do their homework on defensible space and coverage get newer homes and some of the best views in Santa Rosa in return.