Email Elizabetheast sacramento realtor
The Skinny on the McKinley Village Housing Development in East Sacramento
We are selling homes in McKinley Village. The Elizabeth Weintraub Team represented a home buyer for a roof-top patio plan with a first-floor bedroom in the mid-500’s. I should say that whenever I receive calls about homes in East Sacramento, some of the questions that invariably pop up are about the McKinley Village housing development, which is why we are becoming experts on this development, spearheaded by developer Phil Angelides.
Angelides has faced a long battle to bring the McKinley Village housing development to fruition. For a while there, all the main thoroughfares in East Sacramento featured lawn signs against McKinley Village. Some, not all, of the objections are based on NIMBY. Which is also interesting because there is another project clearing ground in Upper Land Park for new housing on 5th Street, called The Mill at Broadway, and nobody in Upper Land Park seems to carry on with much public opposition, even though it will bring more traffic and air pollution to this densely populated area. Upper Land Park residents seem to be of the mindset, yay, get rid of that eyesore and bring in a community. East Sacramento residents appear the opposite.
An issue with the McKinley Village housing development has been access to the 49-acre site. First, I hate to say this, but please let me point out that this development lies between the Business 80 freeway and the Union Pacific railroad tracks. It’s not exactly your premier location, following the adage of location, location, location in real estate. 52 trains a day go by. Who wakes up one morning to declare, Holy Toledo, Henry, you know let’s move out of this dump and take up residence in a new area sandwiched between the freeway and rail tracks. Doesn’t that sound lovely? Not to mention, the site of the former city landfill, but what the hey. The tradeoff is it will be brand new housing. Plus, a 10-minute commute to downtown Sacramento.
Construction begins summer of 2015 on a tunnel that will provide the main point of entry into the development. It will cost around $10 million and take a year-and-a-half to complete. The spot of entry is between 40th Street and Tivoli from C Street. The secondary location will be to improve the existing overcrossing from 28th Street. My real estate office, Lyon, is located just a few blocks away down 28th Street on the corner of J Street, and while I almost get killed now trying to pull out from the garage alley onto 28th Street, I imagine the traffic will pick up. Which means Lyon Real Estate has a great spot for visibility, and we’ll probably get more phone calls about the McKinley Village development than any other real estate office in Sacramento.
The tunnel is slated for completion around April of 2016 and construction should begin on the model homes next October. These are ultimately 60 different styles of homes in the works, ranging from 1,200 to 3,000 square feet, offering 312 single family homes and 4 six-plex condo buildings. The six-plex condo buildings lie in the center of the property, most likely will have the least amount of exterior noise, and the top units have an elevator. How cool is that? We have all the floor plans and model names.
If you’re interested in buying a home in East Sacramento close to the development at today’s affordable prices I suggest you take a look at my listing on #1 Declan Court in Sacramento. These are a group of brand new homes on the former site of 6014 T Street, 3 master suites, solar and priced at $449K with all upgrades. Call or text your East Sacramento Realtor, Elizabeth Weintraub, Lyon RE, at 916.233.6759, for more information. Of course, we’re also happy to show you homes in McKinley Village.
Remember, once you step on a builder’s property without a REALTOR, your agent might not be able represent you if you are not registered with the builder through your agent. But call us, we can work around it if you’ve already been there. Sure, call the top producing Elizabeth Weintraub Team today at 916.233.6759. Get your own buyer’s agent, like us. It’s the smart thing to do.
Listings in East Sacramento and Glucose Curves for a Cat
Pica the Ocicat in 2013
For a federal holiday on Monday, President’s Day, the real estate business in Sacramento was pretty active. We enjoyed beautiful weather, which tends to put people in a good mood, so maybe many were out wandering about and noticing For Sale signs, hard to say. Some guy called, insisting that I have a listing in East Sacramento on T Street, and for the life of me I could not figure out what he was talking about. I felt like I was on Saturday Night Live’s Celebrity Jeopardy. What is the name of the street you are on? Doesn’t know. What is the cross street? Doesn’t know. What color is the house? Doesn’t know. Are you outside right now?
He became a bit agitated, too, because he could not believe that I did not recognize my listing. It’s amazing how some people can’t see beyond the end of their nose. They can’t possibly be wrong, it must be you. No wonder, because turns out he was in Elmhurst, yet inquiring about a pending listing in East Sacramento off of Folsom. But we try to help all people who call, even the challenging, so I referred him to a Team Weintraub agent for assistance.
I also ran over to East Sacramento in the afternoon to check out two houses on a lot that I am listing. Although I sell in 4 counties, I am an experienced East Sacramento agent. Plus, my entire office on 28th & J supports East Sacramento, Midtown and downtown. This listing will be on the market the last Friday of this month. Just needs a little sprucing up. The income on that unit is about $2,000 a month, so it would make a nice investment for somebody. I try to imagine what kind of buyer is best suited for each of my listings when I take them. It helps me to target that buyer with my marketing.
The buyer for this will probably be a single, urban professional who longs to live within walking distance of Midtown for the restaurants, bars and nightlife but doesn’t want to live in a condo and can’t afford a big house. That type of person could buy this listing, live in the front house and keep the tenant in the back house. The income from the studio house is about $700 a month, which would help to offset the buyer’s mortgage payment, plus the back tenant can keep an eye on the front house when the buyer is traveling. There is an enormous updated kitchen, featuring granite and ceramic, and the bedrooms are separated in the front house so the buyer could even take on a roommate to help make ends stretch a bit further.
Throughout the day, my husband and I also used this time to perform blood glucose curves on our diabetic cat, Pica. He has been horribly stressed going to the vet for this procedure, so we decided to perform the testing at home, regardless of our own queasiness. Glucose curve testing involves sticking a needle into his paw pad. At first, we tried to prick it slightly and then squeeze out a droplet of blood. We ended up wasting a lot of test strips, and those suckers are expensive, like a dollar each. My husband tried holding Pica while I poked him, and then we’d trade an hour later, and I held him as my husband stuck him. We squeezed and petted and squeezed, and poor Pica yelped.
We obtained 8 results over 8 hours, one an hour.
By the late afternoon, all of my cautiousness, anxiety and trepidation about the procedure was gone. Vanished. It was like, gimme that damn paw pad. Poke, blood, test strip, done. I just jabbed it. I was ruthless. It’s amazing, the transformation that can come over you when you realize there is no way out and you just have to do it. Yes, I could eat a raw bird if lost at sea.
To celebrate our victories of the day, we went to Ella Dining Room and Bar for oysters, drinks and dinner. Toasted to our incredible success with the blood glucose curves . . . and the guy who called on the pending listing in East Sacramento — maybe he’ll be a buyer for the two houses on a lot in a few weeks? Never know. Can’t judge people. The oddest things can happen in Sacramento real estate.
