Hesperia, Adelanto and Victorville, YOUR THOUGHTS? (Los Angeles, San Diego: foreclosures, gated, apartment)

[booz30]

I live in south adelanto with is very quite to me i live off of mojave drive walking distance from hwy 395 there is nothing wrong with part of town but watch out for the new housing tracts alot of renting but there just renting they will be gone soon,bradach school is rated 6of10 star rating which is pretty good for california, as seen on GreatSchools.net they are breaking ground on a lowes shopping center with family fitness,kfc,ralphs,juie it up,chevon,etc in one year they are breaking ground on the three super target center in california and that will be on 395and mojave then say bye bye to the renters and hello to high equity so now would be a perfect time to buy it will pay off in 2 years

[Thunderbird]

As far as crime, the only thing I have noticed a lot of recently since moving here in 79 is the graffiti. No talented pictures, just scribbles.
Matter of fact, just the other day someone used spray paint that matched the same cream colored paint as a store had on their building and sprayed all over someone elses blue scribbles. That was neat and I liked that. They did a great job - couldn't see see the blue scribbles anymore.
But then they had to go and spray scribbles all over a dumpster in the same cream color and a relatives business windows.
Took us a few hours to get the stuff off of the windows.

[sheri257]

Originally Posted by booz30

I live in south adelanto with is very quite to me i live off of mojave drive walking distance from hwy 395 there is nothing wrong with part of town but watch out for the new housing tracts alot of renting but there just renting they will be gone soon,bradach school is rated 6of10 star rating which is pretty good for california, as seen on GreatSchools.net they are breaking ground on a lowes shopping center with family fitness,kfc,ralphs,juie it up,chevon,etc in one year they are breaking ground on the three super target center in california and that will be on 395and mojave then say bye bye to the renters and hello to high equity so now would be a perfect time to buy it will pay off in 2 years

I have to admit ... Adelanto could very well be a good investment opportunity. The town that everybody loves to hate could be the next boom area with Target and Lowe's coming in.

With the bust, houses are getting awfully cheap there too. It could be a great buying opportunity.

But the big downside, IMO, is the 395. It's become the worst bottleneck ... with only two lanes in most areas and tons of trucks, that highway is already congested to the max. They've also got to get rid of that stop sign and put in a traffic light ... it's ridiculous to have a stop sign on a major highway that backs everything up.

However, traffic congestion never seemed to stop California growth before. On the other hand ... I don't think the housing market will start coming back in two years ... I think a turnaround will take more like five years.

[sue-z]

Crime rate alone doesn't tell the whole story of life in these high desert towns. It's a quality of life issue.
The deterioration of quality of life, across the board, is what makes life so miserable here now. I live in the Antelope Valley but am familiar with Adelanto and VV.
Many members of the prevalent low-life culture, don't make the official formal crime stats. They do make life unpleasant for "normal" people who wish to enjoy their homes and neighborhood. For example, in my neighborhood, on any given weekend we are treated to live and/or canned music blasting at all hours so loud the windows rattle, formerly nice houses looking like inner city, gunshots that never seem to result in a police response, assorted low-life roaming around and loitering in groups, pit bulls running wild, junker cars cruising by while the scruffy occupants scope out the nicer homes,trash all over, none of these things often end up as crime stats but still, to my way of thinking, seriously degrade life! Yes, some cities are "cracking down on section 8" but for every household that loses it's voucher for criminal activity, fraud etc.two more pop up..can hardly wait for the current wave of foreclosures to become the new HUD subdivisions...Bottom line is none of these high desert towns are very appealing these days, the drought and climate only make things worse. It isn't a nice place to live anymore, bearable if you cocoon inside your well-insulated house and only look straight ahead while driving...just my opinion. sue-Z

[booz30]

Originally Posted by sue-z

Crime rate alone doesn't tell the whole story of life in these high desert towns. It's a quality of life issue.
The deterioration of quality of life, across the board, is what makes life so miserable here now. I live in the Antelope Valley but am familiar with Adelanto and VV.
Many members of the prevalent low-life culture, don't make the official formal crime stats. They do make life unpleasant for "normal" people who wish to enjoy their homes and neighborhood. For example, in my neighborhood, on any given weekend we are treated to live and/or canned music blasting at all hours so loud the windows rattle, formerly nice houses looking like inner city, gunshots that never seem to result in a police response, assorted low-life roaming around and loitering in groups, pit bulls running wild, junker cars cruising by while the scruffy occupants scope out the nicer homes,trash all over, none of these things often end up as crime stats but still, to my way of thinking, seriously degrade life! Yes, some cities are "cracking down on section 8" but for every household that loses it's voucher for criminal activity, fraud etc.two more pop up..can hardly wait for the current wave of foreclosures to become the new HUD subdivisions...Bottom line is none of these high desert towns are very appealing these days, the drought and climate only make things worse. It isn't a nice place to live anymore, bearable if you cocoon inside your well-insulated house and only look straight ahead while driving...just my opinion. sue-Z

well you have to choose if you can live like that or move to another state that has tornadoes,hurricanes,storms,hail,or freezing weather all year

[sheri257]

The high desert is what it is ... I'm not going to argue otherwise. But, I'm always surprized by people who claim it was some kind of utopia before people started moving out there in larger numbers.

I find it hard to believe that supposedly better quality people were to be found when houses only sold for $60-80K 10-20 years ago. I could be wrong but it seems to me you'd probably have more Section 8 type situations with cheaper prices than when prices got up to $300K just recently.

That is, afterall ... how the desert got the meth lab reputation in the first place. The remote location attracted those who wanted to build those labs with little chance of detection from law enforcement. Well ... the desert cities aren't so remote anymore. You probably need to go out to places like Lucerne Valley, etc. if you want to escape law enforcement scrutiny today.

As far as crime rates ... there are some differences between Antelope Valley and Victor Valley. Victorville does have above average crime rates similar to Lancaster and Palmdale but, the surrounding cities ... Hesperia, Apple Velley and, even Adelanto (despite it's reputation) are actually below average.

[Thunderbird]

There use to be a lot of military and their families way back when GAFB was active and had enlisted military.
As far as drugs, well, it did use to be a home to Charlies Manson and his family.
The secluded desert life brought in all kinds no doubt about it.

When my parents sold their home in Pomona back in the 70's and bought one out here, the house wasn't so great in compared, but they got acreage and a great view without the Pomona smog, far less traffic and less crime. It was great and still great in comparison.

[Christy Marie]

I used to live in Hesperia the schools there basically are awful imo,it is hotter than hades there,windy,in summer you have to worry about fires threatning your home,jobs are slim pickens there, it used to be a good place to find low rents but not anymore and there isn't a whole lot to do there except sweat crime is up. They do have some new homes built I hear the ones at Oak Hills are very nice there are also some beautiful homes near the I-15 south of Main Street not sure what the school district that area belongs to, there is a lot of new construction in that are so that might be good area of Hesperia

Also Do Not Buy Any House That Heating /Cooling is Electric It Will Cost You A Small Fortune To Heat Or Cool Your House

If you think Hesperia is bad Adelanto is at least 10 times worse the mayor and his wife were recently charged with stealing from little league they have new prison my former landlord was being shaken down by some of Adelantos police force ...that was a few years ago but from what i've read things haven't changed much there is gangs run amok there THERE IS NOTHING GOOD ABOUT ADELANTO.

Victorville has it's good and bad areas stay away from any homes behind Victor Valley Mall or anywhere near downtown Victorville

Sorry to be bearer of bad news

[Thunderbird]

We have an all electric home and well water that supplies water to 2 homes and a small orchard - no lawn. No water bill or propane bill. We buy firewood and occasional use electrical heaters during the winter and a swamp cooler and fans during the summer.
Our electric bill averages around $225 or less a month during the summer and about $175 no more than $200 during the winter.
We get no discount on our electric, but there is one for seniors.

[Blockheadofaknew]

I drove through V V while visiting a friend, looks okay to me (I'm from Lancaster) Did a job interview in Adlanto (that is a creepy place, couldn't drive fast enough back to Lancaster to get the heck out of there.