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Hello,
My SO and I are moving to Sac and need advice on where to buy a house! I couldn't find a good answer in old forums, and appreciate your input.
About us and our house desires: early 30s, partnered, no kids but want them at some point in the next few years. We are liberal, professional, enjoy interesting restaurants, running outside, going to the gym, the theater (musicals and plays), live local bands, museums, parks, art shows. We would enjoy being able to walk or bike to a small grocery stores and eateries. We like a community neighborhood feeling, where people keep their dogs inside and keep their yards trimmed, but also somewhat eclectic, somewhat granola, not too polished.
We are looking for a 3-4 bed/2 bath with 2 car off street parking. We have a large dog and need a yard for her. We plan to have out of town relatives visit so we would like off street parking for them and some extra room in the house. We want to stay under $550k to buy, but could push it to $650k for the right place. We love the craftsman look. We might move in a few years and are concerned about resale.
I'll work at the med center. Not sure where he is working yet, but it is more improtant we are close to my work than his given my hours. It might be nice to be close to rail for him. I will drive or bike to the med center.
We like the look and feel of Curtis park but wonder if it is too far from food places and UCDMC. Also, is there a big differnce bing in the center of Curtis Park vs along Frankin or on the side of the new development? We have heard the new development witll be "good for Curits Park" but it seems a bit generic commercial-housing complex to us.
We have heard good things about East Sac and its walkability. It is hard to find a home for sale there though! We also saw a house we liked in the Alhambra triangle but can't find much recent about the area.
We considered midtown but didn't find areas with as much of a community feel and I am concerned baout the care break ins I have read about on this site. It is also a bit farther from the med center.
If you found a place you like in Alhambra Triangle there is nothing wrong with that. Serra Way is nice little street that doesn't run through so it only get's local traffic.
There is a community feel in Midtown it just depends on where. If you are the only Single family home on a block of apartments, then that would be an issue. But there are blocks that are majority single family.
Thanks Mr. Ozo. Can you name some streets/neighborhoods in Midtwon that have a community feel? I prefer to be with people who own or rent long term so there is a less of a revolving door feeling, if possible. Of course I would love to be able to walk and bike to things as well!
I am doing all of this long distance so I can't drive around, but can use google street view! I have visited Sac twice, toured homes/neighborhoods once and we will make one more targeted shop-buy trip before we move.
You're speaking my language. It's no secret around these parts that I love living in Curtis Park. I think it's definitely the neighborhood you describe. It's an extremely pleasant neighborhood, and the prices do tend to reflect that, but it tends to be a little more diverse and less proper and polished than Land Park and East Sac. There's a diversity of housing options, which brings in a little more diversity of people (I mean, don't get me wrong, it's pretty white by Sacramento standards, but a good mix of families, old, young, etc). My own street has us, two 30-year old almost marrieds in an 1,100 sf bungalow, and two door down, a semi-retired surgeon and his wife in a much larger house who have lived there for a 35 years.
The parking thing could limit your options somewhat. Most garages are pretty small, many face alleys, and, this being California, most people don't use their garages for cars anyway. We don't have a garage at all. Most streets aren't bad about street parking, and you cruise around the neighborhood, you'll see some pretty fancy cars out on the street. If you live on a street with 2 hour parking (as we do, since we're pretty close to light rail), you get a free pass for each car registered to you and one guest pass. Weekends and after hours are free.
As for being close to "food places", it depends what you're looking for. I'm over by the 4th Ave light rail station, and I'm walking distance to a gourmet grocery store, a mini-mart, and a lot of great restaurants. I do wish I had a closer full-service grocery store (closest is about a mile), but Curtis Park Village (the new development you mention) will probably bring one. Over on the Franklin side, there's a nice coffee shop (Coffee garden), a high-end beer bar (Pangaea), and some restaurants and grocery stores on the south side of Sutterville, including a couple cool Mexican grocery stores. The bike ride over to UCMDC is pretty easy.
As to being close to Franklin, that section has a lot of nice houses and a lot that border Franklin, but that street does see quite a bit of traffic compared to most of the quiet residential streets in the area. Once they build out Curtis Park Village and put Freeport Blvd on a road diet, it will probably see a bit of increase during rush hour. You're also closer to Oak Park, which is not a particularly nice neighborhood, but has been the site of the most recent gentrification push, and most crime stays in that neighborhood, not in Curtis Park.
As for the new development. Well, it won't be Curtis Park, but I do think they're going to do the best they can with a blank canvas. The houses are supposed to be fairly unique (not cookie-cutter) but there haven't been any built yet. They haven't announced any tenants for the commercial section, but I'd expect a grocery store (probably Safeway) at the least. There's a park going in at some point. Overall, I'm optimistic about its overall impact on the neighborhood. Keep in mind though that if your house is too close, you might be impacted by construction noise. That will be mitigated by a bunch of easily annoyed neighbors who will gladly call the city about any violation of their noise and dust rules (which are pretty strict). Still, to state the obvious, being in the middle of an established street without much through traffic is going to be preferable to being near the construction zone or on a major thoroughfare. We're only a house away from being on 21st, which is convenient since it's a nice bike route and there are some great businesses on nearby Freeport, but we do hear the traffic from our otherwise oasis-like backyard.
If you're considering kids, you'll probably note that the elementary school doesn't have a stellar ranking. This is a reflection that the boundaries to the school include some poorer neighborhoods. Parents tend to give it good reviews though, and the principal is active on a local social networking site (on off-hours) and seems to really care about the place. If we have kids, we'll probably send them there, FWIW. The middle school and high school are good.
That's my treatise on Curtis Park. Midtown is a great place to live too, but likely a little more limited in terms of what you're looking for, since many of the houses have been converted into duplexes, and the lots are generally small compared to the surrounding neighborhoods. Keep an eye out though, particularly the "Newton Booth" and "Boulevard Park" areas, which tend to have more single family housing. Midtown's crime rate is mostly a function of concentration--more people hang out there, more people park them, more criminals are attracted to it. You'll probably have an occasional car break-in, but most break-ins are associated with people leaving valuables in plain sight.
Thanks Mr. Ozo. Can you name some streets/neighborhoods in Midtwon that have a community feel? I prefer to be with people who own or rent long term so there is a less of a revolving door feeling, if possible. Of course I would love to be able to walk and bike to things as well!
I am doing all of this long distance so I can't drive around, but can use google street view! I have visited Sac twice, toured homes/neighborhoods once and we will make one more targeted shop-buy trip before we move.
I mentioned Blvd Park and Newton Booth. Here's a nice cheat sheet for neighborhood names, in case those don't make sense to you. http://www.cityofsacramento.org/gis/...borhoods_E.pdf People use "Midtown" very generically to mean everything "in the grid" (hemmed in by the freeways) that's east of 16th St, but as you can see, the smaller neighborhoods also have "technical" names.
Which reminds me, you might check out Elmhurst too if you haven't already, which is super close to the Med Center and close to light rail. It also holds the prestige of having Ted Chaough from Mad Men as one of its residents. (His wife works for UCDMC.)
All of those are great places. You can't go wrong.
As for midtown, it's got a fantastic community feel, very much a small town feel, but some of it will be neighborhood by neighborhood. The population is a little more transient than Curtis Park/East Sac (renters who move elsewhere when they buy houses/have kids) but we also have lots of families that have lived here since the 1940s.
Car break-ins: I have lived in midtown since 1992. During that time my car was stolen twice (both times in 1995, and I was in a sketchier part of town) and we've had maybe half a dozen car break-ins, most of those prior to 2005. We have never had off-street parking. I would note that this is the only crime we've ever experienced here.
I'm in New Era Park, which is on the edge of midtown near East Sac -- it's very quiet over here, a little removed from some of the bar scene, with a lot of long-term residents and not much crime. It's a GREAT place for kids.
Good luck and welcome to town. You've chosen great neighborhoods, I think you'll be happy wherever you wind up.
3-4 bed/2 bath is a tall order in the older neighborhoods but they can be found. Elmhurst would be very close to UCDMC and relatively close to the amenities of East Sacramento and Midtown, but more like bikeable distance or a long walk in those cases. The Alhambra Triangle is a good middle ground but proximity to Business 80 and Highway 50 can make it a little loud due to constant traffic noise.
Newton Booth is 90% rental, which is about average for the central city grid, but it's also a good choice in that it's close to UCDMC, Midtown, East Sacramento and Broadway/Curtis Park amenities. You can catch light rail at 23rd or 29th for an easy ride to the 39th Street light rail station which is just behind UCDMC. New Era Park has the highest rate of homeownership in the central city at 75% rental/25% owner occupied, but is a bit farther from UCDMC and there isn't an easy transit route. (County average for homeownership is more like 55%.) By comparison, home ownership in the Alhambra Triangle and North Oak Park is around 40%, the northern part of Curtis Park is 53%, 85% for the southern half of Curtis Park, and around 75% for East Sacramento.
3-4 bed/2 bath is a tall order in the older neighborhoods but they can be found. Elmhurst would be very close to UCDMC and relatively close to the amenities of East Sacramento and Midtown, but more like bikeable distance or a long walk in those cases. The Alhambra Triangle is a good middle ground but proximity to Business 80 and Highway 50 can make it a little loud due to constant traffic noise.
Newton Booth is 90% rental, which is about average for the central city grid, but it's also a good choice in that it's close to UCDMC, Midtown, East Sacramento and Broadway/Curtis Park amenities. You can catch light rail at 23rd or 29th for an easy ride to the 39th Street light rail station which is just behind UCDMC. New Era Park has the highest rate of homeownership in the central city at 75% rental/25% owner occupied, but is a bit farther from UCDMC and there isn't an easy transit route. (County average for homeownership is more like 55%.) By comparison, home ownership in the Alhambra Triangle and North Oak Park is around 40%, the northern part of Curtis Park is 53%, 85% for the southern half of Curtis Park, and around 75% for East Sacramento.
Yes, its going to be hard to find 4-3/2 but not undoable. There are a lot of those houses in your price range along the T Street Boulevard in Elmhurst as is pointed out. The Victorians in Midtown are going to push your price range unless you want to do a renovation. Parking will be a much bigger issue in Midtown - most places don't have large lots.
Also take a look at Land Park. Its near Curtis Park and I think you might find more housing type options. All of these areas are bikeable to the Grid/Midtown and each other and there's decent transit options - either light rail (I won't ride it though - dirty, unreliable, too many transients and gang bangers on there)... RT buses are fine, its a lot harder for the scum to hop on the bus than light rail. You are better off riding a bike or taking your car than using transit in Sacramento.
Which reminds me, you might check out Elmhurst too if you haven't already, which is super close to the Med Center and close to light rail. It also holds the prestige of having Ted Chaough from Mad Men as one of its residents. (His wife works for UCDMC.)
opps. I confused you with another poster. Nice neighborhood, beautiful trees, great places to walk and I believe they still have a Christmas Tree lane down the main drag.
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