What’s it Like to Live in University Heights
If you’re looking for Spanish-style and craftsman-style homes look no further than University Heights. I am helping people buy and sell homes here in San Diego. I’m a third generation San Diegan. I know all about all the neighborhoods here in San Diego. If you’re looking for a place to buy, let’s deep dive into all the different neighborhoods and what it’s like to live here in San Diego. Let’s get into everything you need to know about University Heights.
University Heights is home to so many Craftsman-style and Spanish-style homes. First let’s talk about where is University Heights located. University Heights is located in Central San Diego, in the neighborhood of the uptown neighborhood. Uptown comprises a number of neighborhoods that includes the University Heights, Normal Heights, Kensington, North park, South Park, Golden Hill, Hillcrest and Mission Hills. And specifically, it’s in the 92116 zip code, which comprises University Heights, Normal Heights and Kensington.
It’s bordered by El Cajon Boulevard to the south, Texas Street to the east and the 163 freeway to the west, and then Mission Valley to the North. The homes that border the Mission Valley have incredible views and are a little bit more expensive, but they have awesome views that are definitely worth checking out. El Cajon Boulevard is definitely the main drag through this neighborhood and essentially divides University Heights from North Park. A lot of people really think of University Heights as part of North park, but it actually is its own separate community.
A little bit of history here about University Heights is that it was originally named University Heights cause this was the original location for San Diego State University. However, it never actually moved in here, but the name stuck. Then the other main thoroughfare through University Heights is Park Boulevard. It is just a two-lane street, but this is where all the shops and restaurants are located in University Heights.
Walkable and Bikeable
University Heights is also super walkable and bikeable. It’s very flat for the most part, just a couple of little hills there in University Heights. But if you’re close to the Park Boulevard and where the shops and restaurants are, you can walk there very quickly. My preferred method in University Heights is actually to bike; that gets you around the University Heights, Normal Heights, North Park very, very quickly and much more efficiently.
And they’ve actually installed a lot of bike lanes in University Heights. In fact, there’s actually a bike corridor now on Meade Avenue, they’ve installed a series of roundabouts to slow traffic and there’s dedicated bike lanes and the bikes can actually share the entire road on Meade so that gives you that east to west corridor as well to help you get through San Diego in that uptown area much quicker.
As I mentioned, University Heights is located right next to North Park, which a few years ago was named a 3rd Most Hipster Town in America. If you’re not super into that, then maybe this isn’t the right town for you. But honestly, it’s really not that hipster as there are some hipster elements to it. I actually used to live right next to University Heights in North Park just a couple blocks away. I’m not that hipster, I’ll be honest, but I absolutely loved living there. And I really enjoyed my time, lived there for about 8 years.
Trolley Barn Park
University Heights has a really fantastic park right in the heart of it called Trolley Barn Park. There are summer concerts here, so people will come and lay out on their picnic blankets or bring their chairs and listen to some amazing music during our wonderful summer weather.
Also a huge grassy fields there and a wonderful playground for the kids. University Heights has so many great restaurants as well.
Breweries, Restaurants, Coffee Shops
University heights is home to several breweries, and lots of great restaurants, bars and coffee shops. One of my favorite breweries is SD TapRoom. It’s actually located right on El Cajon Blvd. It has amazing American pub food and absolutely incredible craft beer brewed right on site; award-winning craft beer. It’s definitely worth checking out, grab a brewski with your family or your friends and enjoy that great food as well. Most of the restaurants are actually located on Park Boulevard. Like I said, this is the main drag through University Heights.
You’re going to have Kairoa Brewing, which has pretty good beer, not quite as good as SD TapRoom, but really good beer. And it has New Zealand-style pub fare as well, which is really great. It has a huge outdoor patio on the top deck, which is definitely worth checking out, some really great views as well. There’s a few other restaurants there. Park & Rec is a really great restaurant; great cocktails. It actually serves food from next door, Madison on Park, but it’s actually a music venue as well. So definitely worth checking that one out. And then also checking out Parkhouse Eatery. It has a huge outdoor patio, fantastic brunch, but they’re also open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
There’s also a few coffee shops. When I mentioned Kairoa, there’s a coffee shop located right in Kairoa called Yipao. It is owned by a Colombian couple and it specializes in Colombian coffee. I absolutely love this coffee shop, it has fantastic coffee, specialty drinks. And then there’s Lestat’s and Twiggs, which are kind of more your classic coffee shops and go in, sit down, have a pastry and enjoy your cup of coffee there. No music at this Lestat’s, there is a Lestat’s in Normal Heights that is a music venue as well.
Types of Homes
Let’s talk about the types of homes that you’re going to find here in University Heights. Right now, the median price for the 92116 zip code is $1.4 million. University Heights is going to be a little less expensive than Kensington, which is also in the zip code. They’re going to be on the little bit lower end of that price range compared to Kensington.
However, that being said, your 2 bedroom, 1 bath homes, they’re going to be about $900,000 – $1.1 Million. They’re going to be about 750 to 1,000 square feet. Your 3 bedroom, 1 bath or 3 bedroom, 2 baths homes, those are going to be anywhere from about $1.1 – $1.4 Million. And these are going to range from about 900 to 1,400 square feet. Then you get into your 4 bedroom homes and these are going to be about $1.4 – $1.8 Million. And they’ll be around 1,200 up to about 2,000 square feet, potentially a little bit larger, but those are kind of your ranges.
Now, as you look at homes that are on the Canyon Rim, looking over that Mission Valley, some of them have ocean views, absolutely incredible views. These are certainly going to bethe higher priced homes in University Heights, pretty much starting around $1.5 million, kind of going up to there into the $2.5 Million range.
Now you will find some condos in University Heights as well, certainly be a little bit more affordable. They’re going to range right around the $600 – $700,000 price point. You’re mostly going to be finding 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom condos. So that $600,000 to $700,000 price range is going to pretty much buy you a 2 bedroom, 1 bath or 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo. Most of these condos were built in the 1970s. And the complexes tend to be a little bit on the smaller side, anywhere from 4 units up to about 30 units. Not going to have a whole lot of amenities in these condos, but they’re certainly nice affordable condos you can find right in the heart of the city.
No matter what you’re buying in University Heights, whether that’s a single-family home or a condo, you certainly want to make sure that you have off street parking. Parking comes at a premium in University Heights, very hard to find at night when everyone home from work. So you certainly want to make sure that you have off street parking at least 1, but preferably at least 2 off street parking spots, but it makes it a lot easier when you’re coming home from work and want to just drive up to your home and head in instead of having to circle and find parking for awhile.
Age of Homes – Get your Inspection Done!
Something to keep in mind with these homes, because they’re older, you definitely want to do a home inspection on these types of homes, because there are things that can come up that you want to be aware of and it’s best to know going into it now, when you’re looking to purchase what these things are going to be, so you’re not surprised. So these things are going to be a few different factors. Number one is going to be foundations. Because these homes are about 100 years old, the foundations are old and they’re going to be unreinforced. So what that means is they don’t have rebar running through the concrete. They may not have the post and peers strapped to the house. So you definitely want to have a home inspection done and then possibly a foundation inspection and be prepared to potentially spend some money fixing those foundations.
Now, if it’s as simple as strapping, the post and peers, that’s not too bad, a few thousand dollars, you’ll be set. If it’s much more extensive, there’s actually damage that has occurred to the house because of settling. You could be in for $60,000 – $100,000 to do repairs on these homes. So when you’re looking at homes, you want to make sure that either of those repairs have already been done by one of the prior homeowners or that there are no major repairs needed. Or if there are major foundation issues, be prepared to spend that order of magnitude of cost to fix the foundations.
The other thing that you’ll run across in these homes is cast iron piping. So these definitely corrode over time because they rust out. You also have old piping in the house as well. So these are a couple of things that hopefully they’ve been replaced by a prior owner, but potentially they have not so you might have to be prepared to come up with significant amount of money to replace these scenes. Sewer lines, these can run anywhere from $8,000 – $12,000 to $20,000 depending on how long the line is and what’s needed to do. You can’t oftentimes realign the sewer line with an Epoxy filler that coats the interior of the pipe and that can be a cheaper option as well. And then these older homes, because they have old pipes sometimes in the house itself, sometimes they need to be replaced. Do you want to replace those either with copper piping or with a pex plastic style piping as well?
The other thing is the electrical on these homes. Sometimes these homes have old Knob-and-tube wiring. So if they have that, that’s definitely something you’re going to want to get upgraded soon to the traditional electrical panel with circuit breakers. Also, something to look for on these homes is going to be the roof. Sometimes it’s not readily apparent when you see it, but this will come up in a home inspection. Sometimes the roofs can be rather old as well. They’re not going to be a 100 years old of course, they just want to check the age of the roof and make sure there’s still useful life or potentially you may need to do some repairs on the roof as well.
These are just things to look out for. Sometimes these homes have been completely upgraded and they’re ready to go, but other times you’re gonna need some of these repairs done well.
That is a complete overview of University Heights. If I can help you buy or sell a home in University Heights or any of the surrounding areas here in San Diego, I would love that opportunity to help you. Please reach out to me via phone, text, or email, and let’s have a conversation about that. I have proven strategies to get your offer accepted as quickly as possible. So we don’t waste a lot of time looking for homes and making offers and not getting into a home. And you miss out on a great opportunity here in San Diego. So reach out, let’s talk and let’s have a conversation about how I can help you find a home. I would love that opportunity.
Curtis Chism, Realtor
858-281-2568 | Mobile
mailto:info@sandiegohomes.io
Chism Team | DRE #02105113
brokered by eXp Realty | DRE #01878277
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