tell me about Citrus Heights (state, golden)

[semispherical]

Originally Posted by NorCalMan

We have lived in Citrus Heights for the last five years...

Thank you for the very thoughtful reply, NorCalMan! Yes, the relatively larger lot sizes are what attracted me to Citrus Heights vs. Roseville. I am also concentrating on homes near the Placer Co line. Your points about the school system and Sunrise Mall echo everything I've seen on line. While I am not currently affected by the poor schools, it is something to factor in if I ever need to sell.

What I'm looking for, and not seeing in the Citrus Heights neighborhoods I've investigated, is more of a "small town" atmosphere. I'd like to be able to walk or cycle to get groceries, for example, but it looks as though most shopping in Citrus Heights is pushed out along the very busy major corridors.

I'd like to live in Loomis, but there is almost nothing on the market there in my price range. Hence the interest in Citrus Heights.

[semispherical]

Originally Posted by shelato

I think you are jumping the gun on buying in Citrus Heights for a couple of different reasons. First I just think we are at or near the peak of the current real estate cycle. Between the trade war with China and possibly starting a war with Iran. I think its pretty likely we might have a recession in the next several years....


If Citrus Heights had a better plan for how it was going to fix up the Sunrise Mall, I would be less bearish on Citrus Heights but I don't see it. Basically I think as the Sunrise Mall gets worse, which I think could happen if and when either JCP or Macy's pull out, I think the apartments and condos near the Mall are going to get much worse.

Thank you, Shelato! I very much agree with your assessment that the local housing boom seems to be peaking & may be flirting with a crash. I'm trying to be cautious, and at this point am just in the preliminary stages.

I've lived in the greater Sac area since the 1970s, and remember the showplace that Sunrise Mall was. It's amazing how retail has changed in 50 years! I would love it if the Mall could be replaced by a real "neighborhood" but probably won't see that in my lifetime, if ever.

[NorCalMan]

Originally Posted by semispherical

Thank you for the very thoughtful reply, NorCalMan! Yes, the relatively larger lot sizes are what attracted me to Citrus Heights vs. Roseville. I am also concentrating on homes near the Placer Co line. Your points about the school system and Sunrise Mall echo everything I've seen on line. While I am not currently affected by the poor schools, it is something to factor in if I ever need to sell.

What I'm looking for, and not seeing in the Citrus Heights neighborhoods I've investigated, is more of a "small town" atmosphere. I'd like to be able to walk or cycle to get groceries, for example, but it looks as though most shopping in Citrus Heights is pushed out along the very busy major corridors.

I'd like to live in Loomis, but there is almost nothing on the market there in my price range. Hence the interest in Citrus Heights.

Loomis, Newcastle, old Rocklin, and old Auburn used to be really great places until they either were over built like Auburn and Old Rocklin, or, became priced out, like Loomis, for most people. Newcastle still isn't outrageously expensive but it doesn't have a small town feel where you can walk to the grocery store.

Unfortunately most of the Suburban Sacramento area, including South Placer cities and Western El Dorado county, suffer from sprawl. We are very car dependent in this region. Rapid transit and Light Rail only serve small areas, so you either walk, ride a bike, or find the nearest bus stop. Even if we wanted to take a bus to the nearest grocery store, which for us is the Sprouts or Raley's on Douglas Boulevard, we wouldn't even be able to because the buses in Sacramento County where we live, even though we're right next to the Placer County Line, don't go into Placer County. So we have at least a mile walk to the closest bus stop and then we have to wait to get on the bus to go to the grocery store. Hence, we use our cars for everything.

Shopping in our area is limited to either Douglas Boulevard in Placer County, or along Sunrise Boulevard near the mall. But as we can see with the Sunrise Mall issue, the majority of decent shopping is being pushed out to Highway 65 through Roseville, and Rocklin and Lincoln. The Galleria mall area is kind of the center of shopping in this region now.

There is a plus side though to living where we live and having to drive to these centers of Commerce, and that is it's very quiet where we live. We value our privacy and quiet above just about everything else. And we have it here. We have a big lot, we have good neighbors on a good Street, and we have a decent-sized house that will return a decent investment when we decide to move eventually. You take the good with the bad and I guess that's just life.

[shelato]

I think people like sprawl, I know I do, they just don't like living near poor people and the drug dealing, crime and lousy schools that they bring. Roseville, Rocklin, Folsom and Granite Bay are really nice places to live.

Think about how badly mass transit really sucks in this area. This is the new RT schedule that they are rolling out next week. Pick a bus line and look at the frequency of service. What I mostly saw was bus lines that ran once or twice an hour. How many people really want to deal with that? If your bus runs once an hour and you miss it, you are an hour later.

https://www.sacrt.com/forward/


I am not blaming RT here, because of what we pay in sales taxes that is diverted to Transit, Rt probably gets more money for transit than most of the rest of the other transit agencies in the country. The issue is geometry. You are probably going to have to triple or quadruple the density of the area before you can start running transit at a frequency of say 1 every 10 minutes where transit doesn't seem like a complete time blackhole. But to do that, you are probably going to have to up zone a bunch of single family homes to apartments and apartments suck. You have thin walls, you have landlords telling what you can do. How many people actually want to live like that? What I am getting at is that the transition to densifying an existing residential neighborhoods is a hell worse than sprawl. Which is why I don't think its going to happen.

[BryCal]

I am considering a move to the Sacramento area. I certainly hope that this is reflective of the overall culture of the area:

"they just don't like living near poor people and the drug dealing, crime and lousy schools that they bring"

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by shelato

If Citrus Heights had a better plan for how it was going to fix up the Sunrise Mall, I would be less bearish on Citrus Heights but I don't see it. Basically I think as the Sunrise Mall gets worse, which I think could happen if and when either JCP or Macy's pull out, I think the apartments and condos near the Mall are going to get much worse.

I agree, and the new owners of that mall have a very bad track record with properties they acquire. They buy malls cheap and then do nothing to them, they just collect revenues until the entire mall goes belly up.

A source with direct knowledge of Mason and Namdar’s strategy said the funds invest as little as possible on many of their properties, adding the aim is to hold the assets, not redevelop them.

Namdar and Mason typically spend 20 to 50 cents per square foot on maintenance. This compares to an average of about 60 cents per square foot that U.S. mall owners spent on mall upkeep in the first quarter of 2018 among malls that reported square feet for the period, according to National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries.

Namdar and Mason have spent so little on the malls they have acquired, they often yield a 10 to 16 percent capitalization rate, a gauge of the investment’s rate of return, according to real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield’s head of capital markets Mark Gilbert
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKBN1JM17V

And the bigger question is, if that mall fails, what will replace it that will provide enough revenue for Citrus Heights to continue funding its own Police Department and other City services? I'd be careful about moving there Roseville, even the 'not so great' parts of Roseville seems like a safer bet.

[justread]

I’ve lived in Citrus Heights for 8 years, just to the east of San Juan Park. My immediate neighborhood is low crime with great neighbors. It is largely retired couples, though, and starting to turn over a bit. That area is close to Target, Trader Joe’s, Starbucks, etc. CH has some restaurants that seem to be doing well, like El Tapatio (I love their bean dip and margaritas). There’s a bunch of new development happening just outside of the Mall area. I feel like it has potential. All that said, we just sold our house and are moving to be in a batter school district, as my little is starting Kindergarten.

[Newloom]

Citrus Heights isn’t as developed as some of its neighboring communities. Not a lot to do, and you need to commute everywhere.

[Newloom]

Avoid Citrus Heights. It’s an older part of the greater Sac area with older homes and some people are a bit... sketchy, to put it kindly.

[FiestaRed]

I've lived in Citrus Heights for 18 years. Please don't move here. It's already too crowded, expensive and Sacramento overall is a dirty litter box.