Tell me about Natomas (Los Angeles, Sacramento: short sales, real estate, apartments)

[faiths13]

The newer part of Natomas - with all the houses going into foreclosure or short sale how will that affect the neighborhood? Is it still a nice neighborhood? Is it still a good place to buy?

[shelato]

There are plenty of threads about Natomas in the archives and plenty of discussions about what foreclosures have done to the neighborhood.

As to whether its a good place to buy, a lot depends on your other available options. Most of the neighborhoods at the same price point as Natomas have a lot of the same problems as Natomas. I mean if I had to choose between buying a home built about the same time in Natomas or in West Sacramento I personally don't see a whole lot of difference, both areas offer newer homes with questionable schools but are fairly close to downtown Sacramento. As these neighborhoods age I pretty much expect them to turn into something that looks and feels at best something a lot like Rancho Cordova.

[u225615]

Originally Posted by faiths13

The newer part of Natomas - with all the houses going into foreclosure or short sale how will that affect the neighborhood? Is it still a nice neighborhood? Is it still a good place to buy?

with all the houses going into foreclosure or short sale how will that affect the neighborhood?

It depends on who are the homebuyers of those foreclosures/short sales...

Investors to use as rentals?
or
homebuyers for use as the primary residence

If it's the latter group I believe that would stabilize the community

Is it still a nice neighborhood?

The below link offers a clue as to what current and former residents believe

Some in Sacramento underwater homes are resolved to stay - Real Estate - The Sacramento Bee


Is it still a good place to buy?

Depends on the buyers priorities and risk aversion since there are a variety of factors that are considered when buying a home including but not limited to:

Schools
Retail
Crime
Commute
minimum square footage needed
budget

As far as schools here's a useful link to determine school rankings:

California Schools Guide - Los Angeles Times

For crime look here:

Neighborhood-Specific Crime & Maps - Sacramento Police Department


As noted by one poster...

shelato As these neighborhoods age I pretty much expect them to turn into something that looks and feels at best something a lot like Rancho Cordova.

Although newer areas in the Sacramento region like North Natomas and the newer areas of Rancho Cordova were built just before the housing collapse the outcome has been very different for some communities despite the downturn in housing.

Here's the link

Rancho Cordova subdivision has high rate of underwater loans - Real Estate - The Sacramento Bee

I think one factor that has been overlooked in these newer areas affected by the downturn is ongoing new home construction. If builders are still building then I believe that would be a sign of confidence in that community and is especially meaningful in this tough market.

[hydro]

It's redeeming quality is its proximity to downtown.

Originally Posted by faiths13

The newer part of Natomas - with all the houses going into foreclosure or short sale how will that affect the neighborhood? Is it still a nice neighborhood? Is it still a good place to buy?

[caligirlz]

but a negative is living in the flood plain

[NewToCA]

I'd say that Natomas gives you a lot of house for the money and a neighborhood pretty close to downtown and very convenient to the airport.

However, I have some concerns that it won't be an area that will recover price too well.

If looking for a bargain recently built home, with a better chance of decent price recovery, I'd probably look at Elk Grove and Lincoln before considering Natomas.

[shelato]

Agreed, N. Natomas has changed as a lot of the formerly owner occupied foreclosures were turned into rentals. On the hand, I imagine that Elmhurst and N. Natomas probably have similar levels of owner occupants, when it was originally built out N. Natomas was mostly owner occupied whereas Elmhurst always had a large number of rental units, now the the neighborhoods are probably fairly similar in that regard.

[wburg]

Elmhurst was originally built out as an exclusive single-family subdivision, with a very limited number of apartments.

[shelato]

I realize this is dated information based on the 2000 census, but as of then, Elmhurst despite having lots of single family homes was mostly renter occupied. Again a Realtor should have access to more up to date information, but I suspect that big change in the number of owner occupants probably occurred in Natomas where a lot of the formerly owner occupied single family homes have been foreclosed and resurfaced as rental units. If there was a more up to date map, I suspect that N. Natomas and Elmhurst would probably have fairly similar shades on a new map. In general, the closer you get to downtown the less owner occupied properties there are. There are some exceptions like parts of East Sac and Land Park, but Elmhurst in the past wasn't one of these exceptions.

http://www.ersys.com/usa/06/0664000/housing.htm

[wburg]

In the central city there are a lot of rental units, about 85%, but about 85% of the housing in the central city is multi-unit housing rather than single-family homes. Elmhurst's proximity to UCDMC means a lot of intern/resident medical staff who value proximity to work and nice neighborhoods but often rent rather than buy because they may move on once they finish their residency. So it's a nice neighborhood with a lot of rentals--and as UCDMC has expanded, the neighborhood on the other side of Stockton Boulevard has gone from being "North Oak Park" to being the "Med Center" neighborhood. I suppose I interpreted your statement that Elmhurst had always been rentals to mean when it was built out (circa 1910) when that wasn't true at all--the shift to rentals happened as the county hospital became a teaching hospital and started expanding into the old State Fairgrounds. Data from the 2000 census applies to that decade, but doesn't imply that it was a neighborhood of single-family homes built as rentals.

Finding inexpensive four-unit houses in older neighborhoods will be a challenge--older houses tended to have fewer bedrooms except for the very fancy ones, and often even the fancy places only had one bathroom.