North Fulton Ave - Wise or Unwise? (Sacramento, Bell: real estate, apartments)

[Sheryl_Jones]

I was going to ask, "good" or "bad" - but figured I'd ask if moving there is "wise" or "unwise" instead. I'm just trying to gauge opinion from anyone who may have lived there or still does, what he/she thinks of the neighborhood.

I have visited the neighborhood, in daylight only, driven up and down North Fulton Avenue, and was looking at some places near Fulton and Marconi, around the Town and Country Village.

I already know the traffic volume on Fulton is huge. That was obvious.

Traffic aside - I can deal with traffic - what about these other issues, if anyone has lived there:

-- Are airplanes from McClellan runway going to come straight down Fulton Avenue with jets barreling overhead loudly and shaking windows 24/7?

-- Would you consider it safe to walk alone at night along the stretch from Auburn/Edison to Town & Country Village at Marconi along Fulton Avenue?

-- Bohemian Park and Seely Park, are they nice during the day, considered safe?

-- Are the areas around the library and post office considered safe areas, have a good vibe to them?

-- What about car break-in's and burglaries, that kind of thing - a minor or major problem?

I already looked at all the demographics, the statistics, the crime maps, community websites, government websites and the flood maps - all of them.

I found out how the area is part of Sacramento County but City of Sacramento wants to incorporate it and some people want to incorporate into their own city, claiming that if Sacramento City takes it over they may reduce spending on services and it could become run down in a few more years time.

I already drove the area during daytime and looked at some places to live. I know there's grocery shopping and other stores.

I have mixed feelings - maps, statistics and driving around only tell half the story.

If anyone lives or lived in this area, please let me know any opinion you might have.

I am looking mainly just along North Fulton Avenue in that area between Edison to the north and Marconi to the south, which is near Town and Country Village.

Thanks for any opinions or personal stories about living there.

It's an important decision if I move there, it is most likely the last and permanent move of my life before growing old and dying.

[Phil Minor]

Auburn Blvd is the site of the former US 40. During the late 80's there was a bunch of run down hotels and the ladies of the night started plying their trade on Auburn Blvd between Marconi and Watt.

A bunch of redevelopment money went into Auburn Blvd, most of the hotels were bulldozed and replaced with car dealerships or assisted living facilities for old people. As a result the prositution moved elsewhere.

But during that time, the neighborhood lost a lot of its owner occupants, because few people at that time wanted to buy in a neighborhood where hookers were plying their trade. If you talk to people who have lived in Sacramento from a certain period, they would discourage you from living there.

But since that time, a couple of things have changed. First the hotels were plowed under and replaced with auto dealerships. There really isn't anywhere for the ladies of the night to do there business.

But the neighborhood also changed again since that time. During the real estate boom, a bunch of Russians went into that neighborhood and started fixing up the older houses. Additionally because a lot of people were priced out of the more expensive neighborhoods, a lot of people moved to that neighborhood because they were priced out of elsewhere. This is a neighborhood that is coming back. If you look at the area between Fulton and Howe (especially between Fulton and Bell) and between Marconi and El Camino that neighborhood has these huge 150 ft trees. That neighborhood is still probably mostly owner occupied. Additionally if you look at the area between Pope and Marconi and between Morse and Fulton, again the proximity to the Country Club and just the huge homes surrounding the Country Club has meant that neighborhood has remained mostly owner occupied.

Along Edison, and again off Lerwick, you have a tremendous number of apartments that probably still could use some fixing up. That area between Pope and Edison is a transition zone. The areas near the Country Club are nice, but as you get closer to Edison, the neighborhood loses some of its luster. Between Whitney and Pope and Watt and Morse, you can find some real cool houses for a steal.

The area around Bohemian Park is another transition area. The closer you are to the Arcade Library, the nicer it is. The park itself gets a lot of people from the apartments on Edison and isn't quite as nice.

As far as noise from McClellan, I doubt that will be much of an issue. When it was an active base, there were a lot of flights, but today while there is some Coast Guard flight operating out of the McClellan, there really aren't that many flights, additionally, you are fairly far from the runway, so in terms of noise, a lot of the planes have gained some altitude above you.

As to crime, you can look at the crime mapper here and I would compare it with any other neighborhoods in your price range that you are considering.

Online feature - Crimemapper - sacbee.com

Anywhere I lived in Sacramento, I would garage my car. I see no reason to invite trouble.

As I see it, this is a neighborhood thats on the way up, not on the way down. Because of the Country Club, because of the huge trees and because of the proximity to downtown, I think its a neighborhood that is probably just going to get better as memories of what happened in the late 80's fade away. If you look the shopping in the area has stayed pretty nice. You can find some wonderful little boutiques inside the Town and Country Village Plaza, it has a Trader Joes, its got some great Vietnamese restaurants and pretty cool microbrewery. In the Taylor Shopping Center, there is probably the coolest train shop in the entire Sacramento region and Goore's is another great place to find stuff for kids.

I suspect that if you don't buy in that neighborhood, you probably will regret it. This is a neighborhood that is probably just going to get more expensive going forward.

[Sheryl_Jones]

You gave a very good insider's view!

Thank you, very much!