Encanto — Spanish for “charm” — is a neighborhood of the City of San Diego, bordered by State Route 94 to the north and the city of Lemon Grove to the east. It was subdivided in 1907 and advertised for suburban homes and small farms, and it keeps some of that semi-rural character today. It also gives its name to the Encanto Neighborhoods community plan, adopted in 2015, which covers eight neighborhoods including Emerald Hills, Lincoln Park and Valencia Park.
The hills and canyons are the historic South Chollas Valley, where the Chollas Creek program is restoring open space and native plants. The Encanto/62nd Street trolley station on the Orange Line, open since 1989, has a park and ride, and schools are in the San Diego Unified School District.
Parts of Encanto and its neighbors still have vacant lots where new homes are going up. Buying land means checking the zoning, the slope, utilities and what the city will permit before anything else — and Edgard has sold residential land in southeastern San Diego.
Buying in Encanto: what people ask first.
What should I check before buying a lot in Encanto?
The zoning and what the City of San Diego will permit, the slope and any grading it needs, whether water, sewer and power reach the lot, and access. Those decide what you can build — and what it will cost — far more than the price of the land.
People looking at Encanto usually look at these too.
- City · East County Lemon Grove A small city on the Orange Line, next door to Encanto. Read the guide →
- City · South Bay National City Victorian homes, the trolley and the bay, next door to Chula Vista. Read the guide →
- City · East County La Mesa A walkable village downtown, the trolley and Lake Murray. Read the guide →
San Diego County looks like one market from a distance and it is not. East of the 805 in Chula Vista the houses are newer, the streets were planned, and the questions are about HOA dues, Mello-Roos and which school the address feeds. Out in El Cajon and Rancho San Diego the lots are bigger, the views run down the canyons, and the questions are about the roof, the solar, the slope and what it costs to insure. Buying the right house means asking the right questions for that side of the county — and selling one means answering them before a buyer has to ask.
Your partner in real estate, in the language you are most comfortable in.
Edgard Espinosa, Premier Properties