Looking for small CA town close to coast and family friendly. (Palm Springs: real estate, foreclosure)

[pmm72]

My family and I live in a very small town in MO (2,000) and like it but are looking to move to be close to the ocean. We would like a town like ours except with palm trees! Looking for a family community, low crime and affordable housing ($100,000 - $150,000). Would like 2 -3 hours away from the beach and no longer than a 30 minute commute to work. We would also be willing to live in a town that is slightly bigger than where we currently live, possibly 20,000 to 40,000 population. Any suggestions?? Any help would be great. We sooo want to do this!!

[bhcompy]

You could this in the Inland Empire, but work is going to be the big question. What is your profession?

[Count David]

Look into Ridgecrest, CA. It's about 3-4 hours to the coast though (but only like 1 hour to a nice lake).

The recession has pretty much passed over Ridgecrest, unemployment is low, non-luxury housing is uniformly sub $200K, it's a fairly isolated town with 30K people, there are some palm trees, it's very hot/dry in the summer and nice/mild the rest of the year.

Here's a thread I started about it 4 years ago: All you (n)ever wanted to know about Ridgecrest There's some good info in there.

Take the negative things I say in it with a grain of salt, I was a younger/jaded person who was happy to get out of there at the time. I would probably go back now, but it's too darn hot for me, not snowy enough, and there's a handful of people there I'd be fine never seeing/hearing from again.

[B97701]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

Look into Ridgecrest, CA. It's about 3-4 hours to the coast though (but only like 1 hour to a nice lake).

The recession has pretty much passed over Ridgecrest, unemployment is low, non-luxury housing is uniformly sub $200K, it's a fairly isolated town with 30K people, there are some palm trees, it's very hot/dry in the summer and nice/mild the rest of the year.

Here's a thread I started about it 4 years ago: All you (n)ever wanted to know about Ridgecrest There's some good info in there.

Take the negative things I say in it with a grain of salt, I was a younger/jaded person who was happy to get out of there at the time. I would probably go back now, but it's too darn hot for me, not snowy enough, and there's a handful of people there I'd be fine never seeing/hearing from again.

In what ways, specifically? How would you compare Ridgecrest to Bend, Oregon? Bend has very rude City employees, who send nasty emails when you ask them questions about land use and real estate. It is impossible to buy a piece of property in Bend and know what its value will be in 10 years due to mismanagement from the City and State. Therefore, the City Councilors and Planners are not willing to admit this, and choose to be rude to prospective newcomers instead.

In addition to Ridgecrest and Bend, are any other high desert towns this way in southern Cal such as Ridgecrest, Joshua Tree, Palm Springs, etc? Is the fiscal situation broken in the Cochella Valley and upper Yucca Valley / Morengo Valley areas? I will not move to a town with rude city employees who will not tell the real story of what's going on. I will move to Vermont if I have to get away from the foreclosure induced crime mess.

The other issue is eminent domain. I will not move to a town that practices this.

Thank you

[Count David]

Originally Posted by B97701

In what ways, specifically? How would you compare Ridgecrest to Bend, Oregon? Bend has very rude City employees, who send nasty emails when you ask them questions about land use and real estate. It is impossible to buy a piece of property in Bend and know what its value will be in 10 years due to mismanagement from the City and State. Therefore, the City Councilors and Planners are not willing to admit this, and choose to be rude to prospective newcomers instead.

In addition to Ridgecrest and Bend, are any other high desert towns this way in southern Cal such as Ridgecrest, Joshua Tree, Palm Springs, etc? Is the fiscal situation broken in the Cochella Valley and upper Yucca Valley / Morengo Valley areas? I will not move to a town with rude city employees who will not tell the real story of what's going on. I will move to Vermont if I have to get away from the foreclosure induced crime mess.

The other issue is eminent domain. I will not move to a town that practices this.

Thank you

In my experience, Ridgecrest folk are pretty blunt, in both good and bad ways.

Re: eminent domain, there was a huge case concerning it circa 2006-2007. There was a dilapidated gas station at the city's main crossroads, which sat vacant and crumbling for years.

Well, Rite Aid wanted to move from their big-box location next to a grocery store, to this lot where the crumbling gas station stood. However, their building plan included an adjoining lot which housed a Chinese/Thai restaurant (I actually knew and worked with the restaurant owner).

Well, Rite Aid got its hands on city council and the mayor, and the city of Ridgecrest waved its eminent domain wand over the lot, gave it to Rite Aid (I don't know what kind of compensation the restaurant, or the restaurant building's owner received), the Rite Aid was built, and the Chinese restaurant had to move to a less prime location a mile or so north of there.

Meanwhile, the old Rite Aid big-box building now sits vacant and crumbling (last I heard).

There is a way to get around city people though (when it comes to residential real estate at least): live in an unincorporated area (which is not hard to do in Ridgecrest at all). In my experience, in places like Inyokern, China Lake Acres, and unincorporated areas surrounding Ridgecrest, you can pretty much do whatever the heck you want.

[B97701]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

There is a way to get around city people though (when it comes to residential real estate at least): live in an unincorporated area (which is not hard to do in Ridgecrest at all). In my experience, in places like Inyokern, China Lake Acres, and unincorporated areas surrounding Ridgecrest, you can pretty much do whatever the heck you want.

To get around eminent domain - yes, unincorporated areas, or, move back east such as New England where there is more local control of land use policy. The Western US is authoritarian with land use just about everywhere.

Joshua Tree, California is unincorporated (as as Census Designated Place), any thoughts on that area?

[Count David]

Originally Posted by B97701

To get around eminent domain - yes, unincorporated areas, or, move back east such as New England where there is more local control of land use policy. The Western US is authoritarian with land use just about everywhere.

Joshua Tree, California is unincorporated (as as Census Designated Place), any thoughts on that area?

No, actually I've never even been there. My guess is that it's a lot like Ridgecrest (with the military influence), but with better access to a larger area (Palm Springs). I also assume it has Joshua Trees, which Ridgecrest does not (they are awesome/trippy trees).

Another place that comes to mind for you is Bonner County, ID (the area surrounding and including Sandpoint, about an hour north of Coeur d'Alene in North Idaho).

In that area, you could probably build a house out of toothpicks if you wanted to, but something about lots being a minimum of five acres is sticking out in my head for some reason. For more, head over to: The Idaho Forum.

[B97701]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

No, actually I've never even been there. My guess is that it's a lot like Ridgecrest (with the military influence), but with better access to a larger area (Palm Springs). I also assume it has Joshua Trees, which Ridgecrest does not (they are awesome/trippy trees).

Another place that comes to mind for you is Bonner County, ID (the area surrounding and including Sandpoint, about an hour north of Coeur d'Alene in North Idaho).

In that area, you could probably build a house out of toothpicks if you wanted to, but something about lots being a minimum of five acres is sticking out in my head for some reason. For more, head over to: The Idaho Forum.

too far north, and to my understanding, Sandpoint has a very controlling zoning, so one would have to be outside of town ...

[Count David]

Originally Posted by B97701

too far north, and to my understanding, Sandpoint has a very controlling zoning, so one would have to be outside of town ...

Yeah probably, granted the town is pretty small (prob 2 mi X 2 mi).

Re: the too far north, I just threw it out there because you said something about moving to Vermont (which is also north, and east!).

[katnip kid]

Oh, be very careful when saying New England regarding the eminant domain issue. New London, CT not long ago (2 or 3 years ago?) seized homes in an area on the water that was full of old (late 19th/early20th cent.) homes. It was not a wealthy area, but it was residential, some owned their homes for decades. I used to walk by the area daily. Not a bad area, but not the best, either. Anyway, a private developer wanted to put high-end condos by the water there. The company used ED to sieze it all, saying he was going to create jobs and such for the city. Many folks lost their homes as a result, and old homes were destroyed. For what? So someone could seize property 'cuz' they wanted it all. This made national news at one point.

I believe this set off legislation in the state of CT to limit ED, BUT I am not sure. The lesson here is to not assume that ED doesn't exist ANYWHERE. Do your homework, as I am sure you will.