arden park area (Sacramento, Roseville, Elk Grove: middle-class, sales, crime)

[newsacguy]

how is the neighborhood surrounded by el camino (north), cottage way (south), eastern ave (west), and mission ave (east)? i believe there's a high school nearby. is it a nice area for young families? thanks in advance.

[cb73]

That's not anywhere near Arden Park, but it's a very nice family neighborhood. El Camino High School is there, although the elementary school closed and is now Choices Charter School. The corner of El Camino and Mission is a lot of empty stores now, even the grocery store closed.

I haven't heard of very much crime at all in that area, and the houses all look nice. I've only been to various yard sales in that neighborhood, but I thought it was very nice.

[newsacguy]

Originally Posted by cb73

That's not anywhere near Arden Park, but it's a very nice family neighborhood. El Camino High School is there, although the elementary school closed and is now Choices Charter School. The corner of El Camino and Mission is a lot of empty stores now, even the grocery store closed.

I haven't heard of very much crime at all in that area, and the houses all look nice. I've only been to various yard sales in that neighborhood, but I thought it was very nice.

do you know why the stores on the corner of el camino and mission are closing? due to the economy or do you think the neighborhood is on the descend?

[cb73]

First, the shopping complex is on the Carmichael side of the street, and a bit more part of the neighborhood between Mission and Walnut, which, although still nice, has smaller, lower-priced houses than the neighborhood you're talking about.

The grocery store blamed their demise on the opening of WalMart (corner of Watt and El Camino) without admitting their own issues--iffy freezing system (freezer-burned and frozen/thawed food) iffy dairy section (milk turning the day after purchase) and a produce section that used to be wonderful, but then...just wasn't. They lost more and more customers, and then closed early this year. Without an anchor store, it's probably been hard to attract new stores to the strip mall. Today, when driving by, I saw a lot of graffiti on the outside of the boarded up grocery store, which looked really bad.

I don't think the area is going down any more than Sacramento is in general--the recovery from the recession has been very slow, and I think unemployment is still higher for Sacramento than other parts of California, but I don't have the actual numbers.

[movetosacto]

My observation as a longtime Sacramento area resident has been that the northeast Sacramento County suburbs like the one you describe have fallen out of favor with the upper-middle-class families they used to attract. The older suburbs have to compete with new homes and schools being built in Rocklin, Folsom, Roseville, El Dorado Hills and Elk Grove. That stretch of northeast Sacramento County doesn't have the exclusivity of the Arden Park/Sierra Oaks/Wilhaggin neighborhoods near the river, and it is far enough from freeways that commutes can still be long.

[newsacguy]

Originally Posted by movetosacto

My observation as a longtime Sacramento area resident has been that the northeast Sacramento County suburbs like the one you describe have fallen out of favor with the upper-middle-class families they used to attract. The older suburbs have to compete with new homes and schools being built in Rocklin, Folsom, Roseville, El Dorado Hills and Elk Grove. That stretch of northeast Sacramento County doesn't have the exclusivity of the Arden Park/Sierra Oaks/Wilhaggin neighborhoods near the river, and it is far enough from freeways that commutes can still be long.

that's interesting. i'm in the market for a house right now, and after attending a number of open houses the more i'm attracted to older homes in established neighborhoods. newer homes built within the last ten years don't attract me and some seem a little depressing. i love trees and clean, vibrant neighborhoods, and i don't see these qualities in newer communities.

[movetosacto]

I agree - I too prefer older homes in established neighborhoods. But homes in some northeast Sacramento County suburbs get caught in the middle between the expensive older neighborhoods closer to downtown and the shiny new subdivisions.

In my view, you need to continue attracting a critical mass of middle-class buyers to maintain vibrancy. Parts of northeast Sacramento County built in the '60s, '70s and '80s have struggled with that, which is reflected in their lower home values compared to other older neighborhoods.

[newsacguy]

yup...i love arden park, especially houses bordered by arden way to the north and fair oaks to the south, and from watt eastward. big lots with big trees...unfortunately they're out of our price range these houses hold their value fairly well compared to new homes.