College-Glen Real Estate Advice & Community Info
College-Glen Real Estate Advice & Community Info
Doug Reynolds - Living and working in College-Glen

About The College-Glen Neighborhood

College-Glen is a residential neighborhood in the east suburbs of Sacramento.  It’s location provides excellent access to many amenities for its residents. The northern border is the American River (and one of the area’s greatest assets). The eastern border is Watt Avenue, southern border is Folsom Boulevard and the western border is Howe Avenue. The neighborhood is physically divided in half by Highway 50 but the Occidental Drive Bridge goes over the highway to keep the neighborhood connected.

 

 
 

The neighborhood name, College-Glen, comes from the two subdivisions in the neighborhood.  The western half of the neighborhood is College Greens and the eastern half is Glenbrook.  Put the two together and you have “College-Glen.”  Many different buyers/sellers/homeowners will use all three of the neighborhood names interchangeably, but ultimately the area is taken care of by the “College-Glen Neighborhood Association.”  Electrical power lines run North-South through the middle of the neighborhood and serve as the physical divider between the subdivisions.  Both subdivisions were built from 1961 to 1973. Glenbrook had two infill projects to complete the neighborhood in 1979-80 and 2002. Most of the homes were built before Highway 50 even existed.  The freeway was completed around 1971 and was just a large dirt strip of land before that.

The original developers of the area started with a general plan in mind: the College Greens side will have a little larger homes (1,677 average square feet) and the Glenbrook side will be typically smaller homes (1,434 average square feet).  Just like any type of consumer product, this provided options for the original homeowners.  The Glenbrook homes were priced a little lower due to their size and the College Greens homes were a little more expensive.  The majority of the homes were originally built with wood shake roofs, a wooden back fence, no landscaping and Modesto Ash trees in each front yard.  Oki Park was completed first and then Glenbrook Park was later finished in the late 70’s and early 80’s.  Over the past 50+ years, the two subdivisions have completely blended into one and any appraiser will freely use both subdivisions (and either side of the freeway) for comparable properties.

 
 
 
 
 

 

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College-Glen has a total of 2,518 single-family homes.  The neighborhood has a high owner-occupied ratio of 83.6% of the homes and the remaining 16.4% are rental homes. There are 309 condos in the neighborhood. Those only have a 58.9% owner-occupied rate with 41.1% as rentals. And there are a total of 27 properties that are 2-4 units, nearly all of those being rental properties.

 

 

 
 
 

Due to the age of the homes in College-Glen (40 to 50+ years old), the homes throughout the neighborhood have an extremely wide range of condition. Some homes still have original owners and are in the original condition as the day the developer built them. Other owners have updated here and there throughout the years. And some have been completely gutted and remodeled with opened floor plans, brand new kitchens/baths and all new electrical. Also, because of the age of the homes, the lots in College-Glen are a pretty decent size compared to a home built in the last few years. The average lot size in College-Glen is .17 acres (7,329 square feet).

 

 

 
 
 

College-Glen is in an excellent location of Sacramento. Its residents experience easy freeway access to Highway 50, walking distance to the American River for swimming, fishing and boating, the 32-mile American River Bike Trail, Light Rail Station, grocery store/pharmacy, restaurants, two parks, a dog park, two elementary schools, a private swim/racquet club, a public pool, close proximity to Sac State, downtown, the state Capital, malls and gyms.

 

TOP REASONS COLLEGE-GLEN IS UNIQUE

 

The River is one of the main attractions for homeowners in College-Glen since Sacramento is so far away from a beach; the American River offers the next best thing. Many residents in College-Glen can walk to the river on a warm summer day. Perfect for swimming, barbecuing, fishing, taking your dog for a swim, rafting, stand-up paddle boarding, some boating, rope swings and more. The river is a great outdoor activity that many College-Glen residents take advantage of on a regular basis.

 
 
 
 

Along with the river comes 32 miles of American River Bike Trail. This trail is perfect for the many cyclist and outdoor enthusiasts in the neighborhood. A wonderfully scenic trail that provides paved lanes from Old Sacramento all the way to Folsom Lake. Along with bikes, runners/walkers and horse riders enjoy using this great resource that runs right past the north side of College-Glen.

Many homeowners/home buyers want a pool in their backyard while living in the Sacramento Area. However, a pool comes with more maintenance, higher insurance, higher liability, and typically a higher purchase price. College-Glen has one private and one public pool.  This is a huge benefit during the hot Sacramento summers. College Greens has a private swim club called the Cabana Club — College Greens swim and racquet club (http://www.collegegreens.net). The Cabana Club is a wonderful alternative to purchasing a home with a pool. Most homeowners in the neighborhood that have kids and do not have a pool are members and enjoy all the benefits of the clubhouse, the pools, the tennis courts, the social events, swim team and more. And for those who do not join the Cabana Club, Oki Park has a public pool that is open during the summer for a small fee with lifeguard’s onsite. 

 

In my opinion, College-Glen provides an excellent location that has great proximity to nearly everything. If you need to get somewhere in town, you can be on the freeway within 5 minutes from anywhere in College-Glen. That is a huge plus for people who need to commute every day. Some communities in Carmichael can take 25 minutes to get to the nearest freeway.  Also, College-Glen is a suburban neighborhood that has a close proximity to all of the downtown attractions of Sacramento. Additionally, the light rail has a station in the neighborhood and provides inexpensive, fast access to downtown or all the way to Folsom. It’s a great secondary option for commuters needing to go either direction every day.

 

 

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SCHOOL SYSTEMS

There are physically two schools within the neighborhood of College-Glen.  Bancroft Elementary is the public school run by Sacramento City Unified School District. The other is Jefferson Elementary, which is currently being used by the California Montessori Project.

 

Hubert H. Bancroft Elementary School

2929 Belmar Street
Sacramento, CA 95826

hbancroft.scusd.edu
(916) 382-5940

 

Thomas Jefferson Elementary School/ California Montessori Project Capitol Campus

2635 Chestnut Hill Dr.

Sacramento, CA 95826

http://cap.cacmp.org

(916) 325-0910

Email - cmpcpoffice@cacmp.org

 

The middle school situation is a bit trickier. The neighborhood is assigned to Kit Carson Middle School. However, many parents use the open enrollment period of the school district to enter the lottery for Sutter Middle School first and then Albert Einstein Middle School second. There is a bus that comes into the neighborhood for those who get into Sutter Middle School.

 

Kit Carson Middle School

5301 N Street

Sacramento, CA 95819

http://kitcarson.scusd.edu/

(916) 277-6750

 

Sutter Middle School

3150 I Street

Sacramento, CA 95816

http://sutter.scusd.edu/

(916) 264-4150

 

Albert Einstein Middle School

9235 Mirandy Drive

Sacramento, CA 95826

http://www.einstein.scusd.edu/

(916) 228-5800

 

The assigned high school for the area is Rosemont High School. Most teenagers in the neighborhood go there, but there are also a number of schools that are attended by College-Glen residents either through open enrollment or private schools in the area. 

 

Rosemont High School (public SCUSD)

9594 Kiefer Blvd,

Sacramento, CA 95827

http://rosemonths.com/

(916) 228-5844

 

West Campus High School (public SCUSD)

5022 58th Street

Sacramento, CA 95820

http://westcampus.scusd.edu/

(916) 277-6400

 

Capital Christian High School (private school)

9470 Micron Avenue

Sacramento, CA 95827

http://www.ccscougars.org/

(916) 856-5611

 

COMMUNITY

 

College-Glen has a very high sense of community due to many longtime residents, a very high owner-occupied ratio and the neighborhood has a very involved, active homeowners association (http://collegeglen.org/). The association does not cost anything for the residents and runs on business sponsorships and resident-voluntary donations. The CGNA puts on many activities for the neighborhood: National Family Night Out, 4th of July BBQ with tons of activities and fireworks show, Father’s Day Jazz in the Park, Movie in the Park, town hall meetings and more. The CGNA also takes issues to the city hall to fight for its residents and issues affecting the neighborhood. It is a wonderful group that works together to better the neighborhood for everyone and keep property values strong.

 

College-Glen has 83.6% of homes occupied by its owners. That high ownership creates stability in the neighborhood with residents taking care of their homes and looking out for each other. Typically, a younger family will buy into the neighborhood with either kids on the way or some little ones already. The kids will grow up in the neighborhood and then move off to college or work and then the parents will retire and stay in the family home. Having many homeowners in the neighborhood like that creates a very strong community fabric. There is a steady cycle of new families moving into the neighborhood, so there are a wide variety of all ages throughout the area.

 
 
 

College-Glen is a very active community. Many of the residents use the easy access to the American River Bike Trail for exercise on road bikes or taking runs. Also, there are many people regularly walking their dogs around the streets and taking their pups to the dog park at Glenbrook Park. The Cabana Club provides an excellent location for friends, families and neighbors to meet up and swim, play tennis, hang out and have some food throughout the year.  Glenbrook Park also has tennis courts with lights for evening matches. The College-Glen Little League is extremely active in the community and provides a great source of exercise and entertainment for the kids throughout the year. And don’t forget the soccer leagues that take place at Oki Park and Glenbrook Park. This is one community that loves the outdoors and stays very active throughout the whole year.

 

The majority of the homes in College-Glen are ranch style homes consistent with the style of that era.  The exteriors range from stucco, brick, wood, vinyl, shingle or a combination.  The homes are also a variety of slab, raised foundation or many of the homes have a combination where there is a step down to slab foundation room and the rest of the house is raised.

 

ADDITIONAL LINKS

www.CollegeGlenRealEstate.com

www.collegeglen.org

www.facebook.com/CGNA1

www.collegegreens.net

www.collegeglenlittleleague.com

www.bacsoccer.org