Is Oak Park area a moderately safe one? (Stockton, Davis: foreclosed, to rent)

[RFoster]

Thinking about buying in the Oak Park area-very affordable, but is it high crime, low crime, middle-of-the-road, what?

There are some "older" and sort of run-down looking cars on the street I am looking at...but that doesn't automatically mean high crime to me.

I like the small, affordable, vintage homes there. Cute kitchens, unless remodeled to look "new." Hate those stainless steel sinks and painted particle board cabinets! bleh...

Would really appreciate a comment from anyone in the know! Thanks!

[wburg]

Make no mistake, it is a high crime area. However, that might not necessarily deter you. I am in Oak Park right now, hanging out with friends at a backyard barbecue. Some of my friends live here, for the most part they like it fine. There is an active neighborhood association and the neighborhood is nowhere near as bad as it used to be 15-20 years ago, but it is still a high-crime area. A lot of hipsters and college students have been moving in over the past couple of years as they are getting priced out of Midtown, and they are traditionally the first wave of neighborhood gentrification. If you are willing to put up with a certain level of weirdness and risk, buying and fixing up a house in Oak Park could pay off handsomely in 10-15 years when it's the new hip neighborhood.

[caliswangin916]

if you want to name some specific streets, i can give you an opinion. look for streets with less traffic and specifically foot traffic. there are some very decent areas in oak park and there are some spots that would make you want to scream. some streets have few cars on them while others are loaded. i recomend that beofre you buy any house whether in oak park or not, to visit it during different times of the day and maybe different days as well. i've seen some great deals that have been had out that way.

[mattinsac]

Oak Park is incredibly hit or miss. A lot of Oak Park is really dangerous so it really is worth your while to spend some time playing around with the crime mapper here. You can find drug dealing, prostitution, and gang activity. Especially in the summer time in the evening you will notice the street walker walking up and down Broadway and Stockton Blvd. But you can find them at other times of the day and other times of the year. You also have a lot of empty foreclosed homes that are causing neighborhood problems. In this neighborhood some of the empty homes are being used as shooting galleries for drug users.

Online feature - Crimemapper - sacbee.com

What I am saying is that Oak Park isn't for everyone and for a lot of people its a really bad choice.

That said some of Oak Park is better than other parts of it. Between the Coca-cola bottling plant and Sac high, you have some urban pioneers and you are starting to see a concentration of owner occupants. In general the closer you get to UCD medical Center/Coke Bottling plant the better.

You can also find pockets on 11th avenue between 33rd street and 99 that are kind of nice or closer to McGeorge off 34th street. But its a block by block thing in Oak Park. It takes a while for neighborhoods to be improved and that effort can be turned around quickly because of one really bad property owner. So there is some real risk there even in the better parts of Oak Park.

I also think it probably takes a certain type of person to move into Oak Park. You probably should be prepared to act as neighborhood activitist. If you move into the neighborhood, you will probably have to try to spend time setting up or working with your neighbors to try to fix things up or to try to get problems addressed in the neighborhood. If you are the type of person who gets annoyed about having to report an abandoned car abandoned tires in an alley to the city, Oak Park probably isn't a good choice. If you are willing to put some time in trying to make the place better, it might be a better choice.

Oak Park isn't for everyone. For a lot of people, its a really bad choice. But for some people, you might be able to afford the type of home you like for a price you could afford if you were willing to make the effort to help improve the neighborhood.

[dldavis]

I have lived there but that was 15 years ago and it was scary. they have black and asian gangs that are ruthless.

the best thing to do is contact the local police agency or stop a cop and he will tell you where he is called out to most.

di

[d_deathrage]

The people considering buying a home in Oak Park probably don't have the option of living in Davis or Granite Bay. If your best option is a house selling for under say 100k, I think Oak Park is probably one of your better choices. Its closer to downtown than Del Paso Heights or Meadowview. It probably isn't significantly worse than the Bryte or Brodrick. It probably has more charm then the condos you might be looking at in Foothill farms.

If your budget is less than 100k, right now its probably cheaper to buy than to rent. Of the available options in this price range, I think Oak Park is probably one of the better ones.

Does the neighborhood have lots of problems? Yes. But if your budget is in this price range, almost all of these neighborhoods will have problems. I might look at that area off Del Paso Blvd between Arden and El Camino as well because that neighborhood seems further around in turning itself around compared to Oak Park and it has much better transit connections via light rail. But outside of that I probably would be looking most at Oak Park.

[RobSac]

Originally Posted by dldavis

I have lived there but that was 15 years ago and it was scary. they have black and asian gangs that are ruthless.

Ruthless?

Whoa....

the best thing to do is contact the local police agency or stop a cop and he will tell you where he is called out to most.

Stop a cop... LOL.

[x15]

If you are interested in Oak Park, spend some time here.

Online feature - Crimemapper - sacbee.com

You can look up what crimes are happening in your neighborhood and figure out your tolerance for chaos.