Long-vacant Citrus Heights home built in 1939 listed for sale

By Sara Beth Williams–
A boarded-up home on Watson Way in Citrus Heights has been listed for sale.

The prominent one-acre lot with its home shrouded by trees on the corner of Watson Way and Mariposa Avenue was listed for sale on April 14 for $595,000. As of May 3, the listing indicates that a sale is pending but has not yet closed.

The home is described as a “charming fixer-upper” with multiple possibilities, including subdivision. The two-story home has four bedrooms and one bath and includes a fireplace and bonus room, the listing shows.

The one-acre lot located at 7696 Watson Way has a spacious unpaved driveway area facing Watson Way, along with many trees, a detached garage, and a brick patio in the back of the home, according to photos from real estate site Zillow.

The property has been boarded up for years. The listing indicates the home was built in 1939.

Citrus Heights Historical Society President Larry Fritz said the property was owned by William Berry, who owned a 160-acre ranch in the 1880s. The ranch was bordered by Watson Way in the north, Auburn Boulevard to the west, and Mariposa Avenue on the east, which was then-known as Citrus Avenue, according to Fritz who cited a 1912 map of the area.

The home on Watson Way sits on the northeast corner of what was the Berry ranch, which was purchased by Walt Trainor, of the Trainor and Desmond Real Estate Company, in 1912. The real estate company subdivided the 160 acres into parcels of about 10 acres according to a 1912 map of the area. Trainor and Desmond are the ones who coined the name “Citrus Heights” for their developments, Fritz explained.

In all, they purchased about 20 large ranches, calling them all “Citrus Heights” followed by a numerical designation. Parcel #118 is the one that the home built in 1939 now sits on.

Another map from 1939 shows the same parcel was further subdivided, with a 2-acre lot belonging to James and Gertrude Millette. The home was built at that time and appears to have stayed in the Millette family for decades, Fritz said.

Real estate appraiser and housing analyst Ryan Lundquist confirmed that the property is in a trust and has no sales history before 1998, when MetroList was first implemented.