Neighborhoods: September 2008 Archives

This is part of a series on the neighborhoods of the area I primarily work, which includes La Mesa, San Carlos, El Cajon and Santee. For this one, we're in the central part of La Mesa, uphill from the Normal Avenue Neighborhood, while being south of Summit Hill. This neighborhood includes everything up on the hill south of Junior High Drive and Orien and east of Murray Hill Road, up to the intersection of Summit and Eastridge Drive.

Looking Down Eastridge Drive from Eastridge and Summit

Eastridge is a mostly a professional neighborhood, probably La Mesa's most expensive neighborhood after Mt. Helix. These lots are all high enough up the hill that if there's a property without a great view in the neighborhood, I don't know about it, and the ones near the top have panoramic views of the entire area, whether they're on the northwest side looking towards the ocean and Mt. Soledad or the southeast side looking towards the mountains, and a lucky few get both. There isn't a better view in east county, and there may not be a better one anywhere in San Diego.

Looking Down the hill on Cinnabar Drive

There are no commercial roads within the area. It's all residential, and I cannot name even an apartment building or duplex in the entire neighborhood. Single family detached housing, 100% of it. It's pretty trivial to get to the stores, but there is nothing commercial or multi-family within the neighborhood itself..

Looking up to Arrieta Circle:

Eastridge was built out in two stages: One in the late fifties and early sixties, and another very recently, as there had been some shenanigans with the land the newer part of the neighborhood sits on. The older part of the neighborhood does have the better views and sits on the higher, northeastern end, while the lower, southwestern end is where the newest housing sits. The older part of the neighborhood also does not have an HOA, while the newer part does. Physically, the first generation houses are mostly single story 3 bedroom or more, 2 bath or more houses from around 1800 square feet going up from there to well over 3000 square feet, sitting on lots of anywhere from 7000 square feet up to maybe 12000 or so in the older part of the neighborhood, while the recently built properties are mostly two story in the range of 2500 square feet and up, pretty uniformly sitting on lots of about 5000 square feet. Many of the lots have a heavy slope so less is usable than most people might expect. The houses in the older part of the neighborhood are pretty much all individual, the ones in the newer part are all cookie cutter tract housing. Pretty much all of them have concrete foundations. The ridge is essentially bedrock, so foundation issues and settling have always been rare.

A couple of houses at the top of the ridge, in the older part of the neighborhood:

Brooke Court, a cul-de-sac in the new area:

As of this writing, asking prices in the neighborhood start at about $500,000 and go up to over a million, with a typical property being somewhere in the 700s. This is down significantly from a couple of years ago, but activity is pretty consistent. The neighbors will be business people and professionals. People making San Diego Area Median Income need a down payment in the area of $200,000 or so to afford the Eastridge neighborhood. Even with the people who are in distress situations, there are a grand total of 11 properties for sale in the neighborhood. There generally is not a lot of turnover in this neighborhood.

Looking down to the Intersection of Sacramento Drive and Eastridge. As you can see, there's still an excellent view even though you're at maybe half the elevation of the other end of the ridge:

The neighborhood elementary school is La Mesa Dale. The Middle School is La Mesa Middle School (formerly La Mesa Junior High) an SDSU partnership school, and the high school is Helix Charter. Helix, in particular, has a long record of academic achievement. Here's the most recent account Helix Accountability Report Card

La Mesa Dale School

La Mesa Middle School, an SDSU partnership school

The closest community college is Grossmont, the closest four year college is San Diego State University, which is actually closer.

Looking west from Corolyn Drive. You can see where the two halves of the neighborhood meet:

The Eastridge neighborhood is a prestigious place to live, but it does have good transportation access. 94 can be accessed via Yale Avenue or Massachusetts, Spring Street goes to Interstate 8 and 125 as well - You should be on the freeway within five minutes of leaving your driveway. You have your choice of several major supermarkets within a mile or so. You can get to Mission Valley in fifteen minutes, downtown even quicker. The San Diego Trolley runs close to the neighborhood, although not within it - lots of people park in the lot at the Spring Street stop and ride it downtown. Major shopping centers are found at Grossmont Center (Target, Wal-Mart, Macy's, Theaters and dining), and College Grove (WalMart, Sam's Club), and there is La Mesa Springs Center just down hill from the neighborhood as well as all sort of other stores in many avenues nearby.

Looking north on Cinthia from the top:

If you'd like to talk more about Eastridge or any other neighborhood of La Mesa, Contact me. I will be happy to discuss which neighborhoods might be right for you, or the marketing of your current property for an advantageous sale.

Caveat Emptor

This is part of a series on the neighborhoods of the area I primarily work, which includes La Mesa, San Carlos, El Cajon and Santee. For this one, we're in the central part of La Mesa, just uphill from and wedged between The Village (aka Downtown La Mesa) and the Normal Avenue Neighborhood. I've heard this area called Windsor Hill and Pasadena Hill as well, but I'm going to use the name I learned growing up near there. Some people think it's even part of the Village, but it is a distinct neighborhood, and property values are mostly higher than The Village.

Something Unique: The public staircases for pedestrians, so they're not limited to the street routes:

The opposite end of that one:

Another one down the west side (there are five)

Summit Hill is mostly a professional neighborhood, and is bounded by Normal Avenue on the west, Fairview Avenue, all the houses above Acacia Avenue, and a line running up the hill to the Intersection of Summit Drive and Eastridge, and thence back down to Normal Avenue at the Windsor and Avon intersections. I understand that this neighborhood was the original area for La Mesa's well-to do. Most of the houses were built in the 1940s and before. They are built high enough up the hill that if there's a property without a great view in the neighborhood, I don't know about it, and the ones near the top have panoramic views of the entire area, whether they're on the western side looking towards the ocean and Mt. Soledad or the eastern side looking towards the mountains, and a lucky few get both. There isn't a better view in east county, and there may not be a better one anywhere in San Diego.

This is from about halfway up, on Pasadena looking west. I could see Mt. Soledad, but it didn't come out in the picture.

From across the street from that spot, a view of the higher parts of the hill

There are no commercial roads within the area. It's all residential, and with the exception of a few two unit places on Fairview, they are are single family dwellings. There are commercial areas all around, but nothing within the neighborhood itself.

House on Pasadena

House on Summit

Physically, the houses are mostly single story 3 bedroom or more, 2 bath or more houses from around 1500 square feet going from there on up to maybe 2500, sitting on lots of anywhere from 7000 square feet up to maybe 12000 or so, with a very few smaller than that added as fill in after most of the neighborhood. The houses are pretty much all individual. Most use the older pier support, but you there are concrete foundations in a few. The hill is essentially bedrock, so foundation issues and settling were rare in former times, and those that existed should have long since been dealt with. As of this writing, asking prices start at about 400,000, but three of the five properties for sale are asking over $600,000 and one is over $900,000. It's usually tough to find a property for sale on Summit Hill, and people earning San Diego Area Median are going to need a six-figure down payment or a major fixer (extremely rare).

There are lots of cul-de-sacs like this one, roughly 2/3 of the way up

This picture was taken by turning 180 degrees in that same exact spot. It was still a little misty, or visibility would have been better

The neighborhood elementary school is La Mesa Dale. The Middle School is La Mesa Middle School (formerly La Mesa Junior High) an SDSU partnership school, and the high school is Helix Charter. Helix, in particular, has a long record of academic achievement. Here's the most recent account Helix Accountability Report Card

La Mesa Dale School

La Mesa Middle School, an SDSU partnership school

The closest community college is Grossmont, the closest four year college is San Diego State University, which is actually closer.

view east from top of Beverly Drive (about 3/4 of the way up)

Internal view on Vista Drive (about 2/3 of the way up)

The Summit Hill neighborhood is a prestigious place to live, but it does have good transportation access. 94 can be accessed via Yale Avenue or Massachusetts, Spring Street goes to Interstate 8 and 125 as well - You should be on the freeway within five minutes of leaving your driveway. You have your choice of several major supermarkets within a mile or so. You can get to Mission Valley in fifteen minutes, downtown even quicker. The San Diego Trolley runs close to the neighborhood, although not within it - lots of people park in the lot at the Spring Street stop and ride it downtown. Major shopping centers are found at Grossmont Center (Target, Wal-Mart, Macy's, Theaters and dining), and College Grove (WalMart, Sam's Club), and there is La Mesa Springs Center just down hill from the neighborhood as well as all sort of other stores in many avenues nearby.

Three pictures of the view from Summit and Eastridge, near the top. This one looks directly west, and would include an ocean view if the mist had burned all the way off

This one is looking north from the same spot. The hill in the near right is Del Cerro Heights.

This one is looking east from the same spot on the street level. You can see Mt Helix and Grossmont, but the mist was limiting visibility. When it's good, you can see Cuyamaca Mountain.

If you'd like to talk more about Summit Hill or any other neighborhood of La Mesa, Contact me. I will be happy to discuss which neighborhoods might be right for you, or the marketing of your current property for an advantageous sale.

Caveat Emptor

This is part of a series on the neighborhoods of the area I primarily work, which includes La Mesa, San Carlos, El Cajon and Santee. For this one, we're in the southerly part of La Mesa: Normal Avenue

Normal Avenue is mostly a working class neighborhood, and is bounded by Yale Avenue on the west, University Avenue on the north, La Mesa Boulevard on the east, and Normal Avenue on the south. Normal Avenue itself curves sharply to the north to meet La Mesa Boulevard, so if you were looking down from an airplane, it would not appear to be a rectangle. The area south of University is broadly similar, and some pricier homes are found at the edges of the Normal Avenue neighborhood, as well as uphill from it.

View from Yale and Orien (looking north)

The only real commercial road serving the area is University Avenue. The views vary from basically flat to to excellent, looking mostly looking north and west, with properties near the tops of Orien, Yale, and Normal Avenues having the best views.

Yale and University

Physically, the houses are mostly single story 3 and 4 bedroom, 2 bath houses from around 1200 square feet to around 1600, sitting on lots of about 7000 to 8000 square feet. Some lots are as big as 12000 square feet or so, a few may be as small as 5500. Many have been added onto, and they've pretty much all got individual character. Most were built before tract housing became popular in the 1950s, but a few were built as fill in or replacement later on. Many use the older pier support, but you will find concrete foundations in maybe 20% of the houses. Foundation issues and settling were not rare in former times, but those that existed have mostly long since been dealt with. The vast majority of the neighborhood is single family detached housing, but there are some apartments and condominiums along Lowell, the western end of Normal, and also Parks between the elementary school and middle school. As of this writing, asking prices start at about $260,000 and go up to $550,000 for detached properties, but there are only seven detached properties and six condominiums and townhomes for sale in the neighborhood.

A house in the neighborhood

The neighborhood elementary school is La Mesa Dale. The Middle School is La Mesa Middle School (formerly La Mesa Junior High) a SDSU partnership school, and the high school is Helix Charter. Helix, in particular, has a long record of academic achievement. Here's the most recent account Helix Accountability Report Card

La Mesa Dale School

La Mesa Middle School

The closest community college is Grossmont, the closest four year college is San Diego State University, which is actually closer.

The Normal Avenue neighborhood is a good place to live, with good transportation access. Yale Avenue goes over the hill and down to 94 West. It's five minutes to Interstate 8. You have your choice of several major supermarkets within a mile or so. You can get to Mission Valley in fifteen minutes, downtown even quicker. Two lines of the San Diego Trolley run close to the neighborhood, although not within it. University Avenue is a major bus route. Major shopping centers are found at Grossmont Center (Target, Wal-Mart, Macy's, Theaters and dining), and College Grove (WalMart, Sam's Club), and there is La Mesa Springs Center at the east end of the neighborhood as well as all sort of other stores in many avenues nearby.

Looking west on Normal Avenue towards Helix Charter

Looking north on Maple Avenue, towards University

If you'd like to talk more about Normal Avenue or any other neighborhood of La Mesa, Contact me. I will be happy to discuss which neighborhoods might be right for you, or the marketing of your current property for an advantageous sale.