California City, CA any info (Los Angeles, San Diego: section 8, sales, real estate)

[0down]

Anyone bought property in this desert area?
Price is cheap for speculation, what is this area like any info helpfull

Thanxz

[AV Native]

Originally Posted by 0down

Anyone bought property in this desert area?
Price is cheap for speculation, what is this area like any info helpfull

Thanxz

Uh. . . California City is cheap primarily due to its geographic location vis a vis job creating areas of the Southland, and due to being (historically speaking) outside of the commuting zone for that 800 pound "gorilla," Los Angeles.

Are you a speculator/"flipper," 0down? Or looking to buy for the long term?

California City, incorporated as a city in 1965 and founded at the same time, is that rare Mojave Desert locality: a planned community. Cal City was planned for golf courses from the beginning, for example. Its original target market the original developers sought were retirees. These days developers market to pretty much anyone.

Current population these days is around 10,000, low by California coastal standards, but significant by inland Mojave Desert standards. As a result, Cal City has the flavor of small town living which was the hallmark of certain localities in the southern part of the Antelope Valley until their building boom started in earnest in 1983. Actually, pretty much all of the northern Antelope Valley localities are small town living. . . some very small. Rosamond is getting to be the exception to that rule these days (it's on the verge of incorporating as a city) but Tehachapi, Cantil, Mojave, North Edwards, and Boron (OK, throw in Randsburg and Johannesburg if you wish) are places where Sheriff Andy Taylor and Deputy Barney Fife would fit right in.

So who lives in California City? Folks who commute to jobs at Edwards Air Force Base, Mojave, Tehachapi, and the south valley. . . where the younger set cannot afford to live, but provides them employment. A distinct minority of folks commute to Los Angeles metro via vanpool/carpool. You have to admire that kind of dedication and tenacity by those folks. Some others commute to Bakersfield metro for work.

Anyone work in Cal City? Sure! There's a private prison there which employs quite a few people and pays well. There's talk of the private corporation which runs that prison expanding to get built/run a second prison. Hyundai recently opened up their test track and proving grounds to the south of town, and that employs around 100 people. Nearby in Mojave, a significant number of people work at the Mojave Airport/Spaceport. Always boneyard work to do with the large fleet of grounded and/or obsolete airplanes, as well as other aerospace design and development work (can you say Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites? I knew you could!) and other high tech employment not directly tied to aerospace.

Lots of land in Cal City. . . a very spread out place. Not compact at all. You drive to everywhere you go. In the hill country nearby are areas where plenty of Southlanders come to go offroading. The desert tortoise calls California City home, and has for millenia. . . this may cause problems when there is large scale development planned. Just ask Hyundai how they got through the governmental environmental review process gauntlet. They did it, but it wasn't as easy as they had planned.

In sum, California City is welcoming new residents and new business. . . with open arms. It's what Hawthorne in the South Bay was like circa 1940. . . a place with lots of opportunity. Will Cal City become as built up as Hawthorne is now? That's where you decide!

s/AV Native

[0down]

Thanks AV Native


I am looking for long long term or a wintering place from my north Canadian home in BC, I dont need to work and commute during rush hour times so this may be what I am looking for.

Thanks for all the good info It is hard to find good stats on this town
Any suggestions as far as future long term bets.I travel a few times a year to California and have for the last 15 years and cannot believe how far the cities are spreading following the freeways.My last trip I really noticed the spread of homes and development heading out on the some of the freeways.

any ideas on areas such as Twentynine Palms,Desert Hot Springs,Barstow or towns close to Palm Springs.

I have weard of a Casino going in close to Barstow would this town be a fair place to invest or a dog.


Thanks

[AV Native]

Glad to help out, 0down.

OK, you are looking for a "snowbird" spot for long term use. That helps me direct my suggestions better. Thanks!

If I were you living in northern British Columbia (I've visited Vancouver and Victoria before, lovely places there), wanting to "snowbird" here, I would:

• Consider your own words about the metropolitan growth along the freeways. The first rule of Real Estate is location, location, location, right? In the case of the Antelope Valley, if you check, you'll notice that the closer one lives to Los Angeles, the more expensive the housing will be. Palmdale costs $100,000 to $200,000 more than California City. There's a reason. . . and it's called location.
  
  Our location rule applies universally, btw. So going out Interstate 10 from Los Angeles to Palm Springs/Coachella Valley, you will find, upon research, that housing costs more in, say, Montclair than the Coachella Valley in general. The days when PS and environs would command a premium due to its relative isolation and movie star cachet are over (except for the true mansion estates out there). It's location, location, location.
  
  Same thing happens when going out north on Interstate 15 away from San Diego and San Bernardino. Ontario (SoCal city) costs more to buy than Victorville, and Victorville costs more than Barstow.
  
  Special rule for Barstow: since Barstow is halfway from Los Angeles and Las Vegas, it will always be more affordable than any other spot along Interstate 15 in California. (Las Vegas, Nevada is now getting expensive as it continues to grow. . .and their smog is appalling, btw.)
  
  Very special rule for Barstow: all bets are off regarding housing values and any proposed casino nearby. Wait until the deals are done and the casino opens - if it opens - before you make any decisions. You could get royally burned. The situation is a roiling backstabbing political drama still ongoing. You have been warned.

Future long term outlook/my take: if you are looking for long term appreciation, California City would be great. It is in the path of Los Angelesopolis, and, very importantly, is close to aqueduct water from northern parts of the state. That may end up being a factor. It is still affordable by California standards as well.

If you are looking for just cheap, may I suggest Ridgecrest (Mojave Desert/high desert) and Twentynine Palms (Colorado Desert/low desert). Both are military towns (Navy/Marines, respectively) and are away from the main roads and Interstates. 29 Palms will be hotter year round by an average of 10 degrees Fahrenheit, so if you have trouble taking summer heat, choose Ridgecrest between the two.

If you are looking for social status, choose Palm Springs area. Nothing cheap there anymore, though. It used to be cheap once upon a time. And remember. . . it's hot in PS!

Hope all this helped.

s/AV Native

[0down]

Thanks again for your insight, it really helps for someone not raised in CA

By the way I am in Van BC and it is great here but the short summers and rain do get tiring.

Hey do you know one rule that is greater than location?

Timing.

At least this applies in BC property Values have escalted and almost doubled in the last 4 years in almost every lower mainland community
doesnt matter where you bought as long as you bought you probably made a minimum of 100,000.

Thks

0down.

[AV Native]

Ahhhh, yes! Timing is everything. . . Not everyone has the gift of good timing, though.

The same thing happened here in Southern California. . . in the last 5 plus years housing here not only doubled in value, but tripled. I was being mailed/telephoned/visited at my front door by frantic buyers/real estate agents on a continual basis for years during this most recent boom.

Now for the last several months the market regionally and statewide - and I think in the entire US as well - has undergone a correction period, with cooling sales. More of a buyer's market now. More product on the market, but with a bit higher interest rates. Less speculation in general, and more rational sellers and buyers.

That said, California still is suffering from a severe housing shortage. Lots of families and individuals would like to buy property to live in, but the affordability issues are keeping people where they are. So they make do living in their parents' house, for example, or live in an apartment when they would rather buy a house. Lots of pent up unmet demand that may never be sated for decades, as California continues to have a population growth rate that outstrips the real estate housing construction rate.

It's great to live in a state as fabled as California. . . God isn't making any more real estate here, and the price will in the long term generally keep going up. (Law of supply and demand, you know. . . Thank You Hollywood entertainment industry!) When the market here bottomed out 12 years ago, houses were selling for a song. . . $50,000 (and the sellers were desperate to unload). Practically a give away price. That same kind of house today is now selling for $300,000 to $350,000. Now you know how I got where I am, eh?

BTW, the best shrimp I ever ate were in Vancouver. Plumper and tastier than even the best of San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf or Monterey Bay or even SoCal's Gladstone's 4 Fish in fabled Malibu. . . and I oughta know. I've eaten at all of them more than once. But I know where you are coming from on the rain and fog score. Come on down and visit the clear blue skies here soon, ya hear?

s/AV Native

[DeserTBoB]

Originally Posted by 0down

Thanks again for your insight, it really helps for someone not raised in CA

First of all, you got hoodwinked by someone who shills the Antelope Valley shamelessly. I just got out of there with my skin, so perhaps you need to hear more of a realistic assessment.

California City was a real estate fraud perpetrated in the '60s and '70s. I remember the pyramid scheme to sell lots and houses there in the mid-'70s, and, like Lake Los Angeles, many people lost their savings and shirts. It is now a depressed community with very few services, and its city charter was threatened to be removed by Kern County two years ago due to always-impending bankruptcy.

Investing there are a snowbird? (Actually, "rainbird," since you're from Hongcouver, eh?) There has been a lot of appreciation in homes there due to the tripling of real estate prices further south. However, realize this...there is NO improvement in the local situation, the place is, like the rest of Antelope Valley, full of Section 8 recipients (housing welfare) and has a generally decrepit appearance. Invest there now? NO way.

Barstow would be a better choice, although it, too, is a very depressed economy since Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and Yellow Freight both shut down large operations there. Unemployment runs around 45% there. However, property is dirt cheap. Stay WAY away from the western side of town...that's the site of Hinckley, where PG&E poisoned the groundwater with chomium-6 for decades with discarded/poorly contained chromium-6-laced cooling water for the large piston engines that ran the old 1956 gas main, which was finally deactivated a couple of years ago. Think "Erin Brockovich"...it's a true story, and the abandoned houses and ghost town appearance of that area tell the tale.

Don't take all your advice from the first shill who comes along. Generally, they have a vested interest in getting new "suckers" to bring their money into a declined area.

[jlr2]

BNSF hasn't shut down
and its only like 10-15% unemployment....

[calinvester]

I would like to add an unbias opinion to California City land investing.

I am a private, independent investor who has purchased a few city lots there about three or four years ago, when not much growth was going on at that time. I could see the city was posed for some future growth eventually. Nearby Palmdale and Lancaster had already expoded with growth because it was affordable. Not so much today! I still remember back in 1985, certain land companies selling city lots in Palmdale for $500.00! Palmdale was a city in the desert and nobody could vision the growth of Los Angeles ever extending in that direction. But it did. I believe the same senario is true for California City. Hundreds of new homes have been built there in the last year and a half. My property value has jumped four time's it original value from when I purchased it, and is still very affordable compared to Palmdale and other desert cities closer to Los Angeles. The time is now to invest in this city if you are looking to make a real investment. The city is now posed for more growth and has seen more people from Los Angeles move into the area looking for affordable homes. If you still do not believe what I say, do a simple search of how many legetimate Real Estate companies now reside in Cal City. You will be amazed. If that still doesn't convince you, then trying visiting the Coldwell Banker Real Estate Office in Cal City on the weekend. Everytime time I've stopped by to get a sales list from them, they have been jammed with potential buyers. I kid you not. Now is the time to invest. Good Luck to you.

[LivingLikeAGradStudent]

California City was said to be the next thing 30 years ago, and it remains a series of unconnected roads and below-average housing stock. Barstow and Ridgecrest are also isolated desert towns, but they have military and transportation presences to smooth the admittedly rough edges.