Country (Los Angeles, Santa Clarita, San Fernando: bank owned, sale, custom home)

[CaseyLF]

What part of LA would you recommened if you want some land? I know that there are ranches in the Valley and Aqua Dulce. But do you have to be a millionarie to afford it?

[LaoTzuMindFu]

It depends on what you want the land for. There are many zoning laws here that you'll need to understand first before just going all willy-nilly and buying land. Do you plan on having livestock? Horses? Farming? Developing into multi unit housing?

Land is at a premium in LA so depending on the area, you can expect to pay a pretty penny. You can buy lots in some areas for relatively cheap prices, but all the work, permitting, zoning, etc that has to be done in order to build would make it not very cost effective.

[Winston Smith]

My guess would be the Inland Empire or high desert. Anything along the coast would cost a fortune and involve strict rules for use by the Coastal Commission. Land in the metro Los Angeles area, if any exists, I imagine it would be a both complicated and expensive matter to acquire.

[CaseyLF]

Thats what I thought. I'm not talking 1000's of acres. Just somewhere your not hearing your neighbors.

[Fontucky]

My sister bought some horse property earlier this year, a nice custom home on a hill, corrals, ring, National Forest frontage, fruit trees, totally fenced, over 5 acres, high sevens. Bank sale. No close neighbors.

This is in the foothills above Murietta, in an area called La Cresta. The IE.

[jdavid93225]

There are outlying areas that have relatively inexpensive acreage, but anything close to Metro L.A. will cost a lot. In the San Fernando Valley, you can check the areas of Shadow Hills and Chatsworth. Horse property in either area will probably start around the 700,000 mark, and go up (quite a bit) from there, unless you are able to find a repo/bank owned property in a distress sale, which might be a little cheaper. Further out, you have Agua Dulce, Acton, Green Valley, Val Verde, and Leona Valley surrounding the Santa Clarita Valley, which are probably going to be a little cheaper. North of those areas are the Antelope Valley and Lebec/Frazier Park areas, which are generally even less expensive. These are the areas north of Los Angeles, and there are similar areas to the east, though I'm not as familiar with those. In my area (Frazier Park) there are horse properties starting in the low 300,000 range, with the occasional distress sale being even cheaper. In this price range, you would probably find a 3/2 home (~1600 to 2000 S.F.) on about 2.5 acres. For more land or a larger home, it would go up from there. This area is about an hour north of the San Fernando Valley, and about another half-hour north of Downtown L.A. on a good commute. During a bad commute, it can take twice that, or longer.