THE DESERT HOMESTEAD SAGA
2015
One day in January on a blog I follow the blogger showed his finished little cabin in the desert. I saw it when he and his wife first bought the little shack and followed along with the few things they did in the meantime. I had been through the area before called Wonder Valley just below Joshua Tree National Park. Just out of curiosity I looked to see what land with desert shacks were going for. Most everything was in five-acre parcels the result from homesteading back in the 1950’s. Some lots were empty having never been developed, some had vandalized or weather ruined buildings, some livable shacks or trailers, and a few modest 1950’s style desert vacation homes. The real eye opener for me was seeing livable very rustic desert homes on five acres available for $25,000 give or take. Now I can swing that!...and the wheels got turning. A long time before I had to give up on my dream of living in Borrego Springs as it cost too much to buy a place there, unless it was just me alone. But this area east of Twentynine Palms was doable, much better than the Mojave/Barstow area or Blythe by the Colorado River. I would consider this purchase as a winter home, escaping the cold wet winters of Northern California.
(Two months later)
Sinbad and I left on a Monday at nine A.M. to go look at some prospects in Wonder Valley. I wasn’t looking forward to the six hundred mile drive but as I suspected, once into it I was okay, enjoying being on the road again. Especially once I cleared the Bay Area and hopped onto Interstate 5 I was soon into the groove. Since this was the road trip that it was and not like my usual road trips I thought I’d just go ahead and drive like bat-out-of hell everyone else and just see how it affected fuel mileage. Normally I putz along at fifty-seven mph but this time I pegged it at sixty-five for most of the time even though the interstate is mostly at seventy. In the end it worked out to sixteen point something so I only lost two miles per gallon. Interesting too was that the truckers all go sixty to sixty-five even though they are supposed to stick to fifty-five. Anyway I also thought I’d press it further for the first night’s rest, hopefully all the way to Amboy past Barstow on old Route 66. Usually I stop at the rest area between Mojave and Boron. Well five hundred fifty some-odd miles later I made it to Amboy just before the sun set. I still had it, long marathon drives, in me! Truth though I was tapped out and was in bed not too far past seven P.M. The next morning I was only forty-six miles from my possible future home site.
I had a dozen or so properties I had printed out to investigate. Seeing parcels in pictures online and then seeing them in real life, the reality of the situation really showed itself. Almost all of my interests were deplorable wrecks. Many had been victims of not only neglect but pillage and plundering and outright vandalism. I would stand there in the windblown desert desolation looking around and knew I’d be miserable living there. Even if the place was livable (and only a handful were) the location, flat and barren, with neighbors too close or simply just too much work involved were all deterrents. There was one, a stucco home, that was very nice but it was less than a hundred yards from Amboy Road and every once in awhile a car–vroom−would go by. I don’t want to hear to that. And then there was the neighboring meth lab just out the backdoor. I turned to go find my number one prospect on Encanto Road. Encanto is Spanish for Enchantment. I could only hope.
I did all my scouting before contacting Cindy the realtor. I just wanted to do some drive-by’s, looking on my own and weed out the ones that were no way I’d live here as I didn’t want to waste her time. I found Encanto Road easy enough and could see off in the distance there it is. A weather-worn dirty white clapboard home. I pulled in around the circular dirt driveway along a much needed in repair parched dry wood windbreak fencing and parked in front. The first thing I noticed was bits of wood and pieces of tar paper scattered all about in the dirt. What a mess! I walked up on the porch and peaked though the windows and saw drywall ripped off the walls and the floor stacked high with long two by six boards and sheets of plywood stacked high, not at all what I expected. I had pictures with me of what the inside was supposed to look like. Disappointment began to set in. Then I noticed all the nicely landscaped rock gardens with many different species of cacti and felt someone at one time cared for and maybe lived here full time possibly. Around back where the bathroom was I noticed the wall completely blown out. I peeked in the hole and the bathroom was literally destroyed. No ceiling, totally open to the sky...just devastated, and so was I. I drove all the way down here thinking this place was the most livable and it was far from it. I was so disappointed. Off to the side in back was a mountain of building debris. I climbed up on a table next to a wall to look at the roof of the rest of the house and it was all brand new corrugated tin roofing shining in the sun. Recalling the building materials inside I reasoned the owner was in the process of renovating the entire one bedroom home and I wondered why, since he was trying to sell it. The thought crossed my mind that since it had been on the market for nearly a year and hadn’t had any takers, maybe he was trying to make it more sellable? After touring the property I gave Cindy a call. I told her what I was seeing and she had no idea as she had just been out there in February to take the pictures I held in my hand. At any rate I told her there was no sense seeing inside as I had seen enough and we wouldn’t be meeting up as planned. She said she’d try to contact the owner and see what’s up. I told her about all the other places I looked at and how disappointing they were in real life. “Yes, I know what you mean. We call them ‘fantasy killers’. I thought that was a good term.
It was now lunchtime and I moved on to look at another place way on the other side of the Valley picking up a sandwich at Subway. This place was a converted trailer and I really didn’t want that but what the hell, I had nothing else to do now. I found it, drove by, turned around and parked when the neighbor dude across the road came over to his fence.
“Ya lost?”
“No, I found what I wanted. This place is for sale and I’m just looking around.”
He comes back with “Oh man, that place got ransacked a few weeks ago. I don’t even think she knows it. Yeah, go ahead and look. The door’s busted in and you can go right on in. Hey! I’m moving in a couple of weeks going back to Connecticut. The wife wants me back there. I’ve had enough of this anyway. Get my truck fixed and I am out of here. Yeah, I’ll rent this to you for $300 a month. Give me $3000 down and you can have the option to buy if you want or keep renting I don’t care. There’s ten acres, city water and free electricity–don’t ask. Ha!”
It seemed he had the town hook him up for electricity and he’d get a bill for four hundred dollars and he had hardly used any electrical device. He told them “Unhook me.” Well they did so, on paper, but no one ever came out to physically disconnect the power and he had been getting free juice all this time. He gave me the tour inside and I walked around his place taking pictures. Imagine a biker’s house, no furniture, motorcycle and tools in the living room, grease stained rug, fans blowing, mattress on the floor, clothes out in the open, guns, bow and arrows hanging on the wall...a true bachelor pad. It was all there and the most turn-key place I saw all day. He wrote down his phone number for me, the particulars on the place and it could all be mine for $14,900. I walked over to the lady’s trailer and it was sad for I had pictures of what it should have looked like. Now it was totally trashed.
While eating my Subway sandwich Cindy called. She was going to be tied up all day showing another client around and I said that was fine as there wasn’t anything we could do anyway. She suggested I drop in at this other realty in town (she worked out of her home) and talk with Larry and just see what else is out there. I said I would as I was going into town to investigate some things anyway. Larry was a really nice old guy and basically he said what I saw online is the same thing he sees there in his office. So we visited a little and I learned some things about the all important element–water. I left Larry’s and headed over to Walmart for the night and resigned myself to having nothing to look forward to. I left early the next morning, a different route going up into the high desert through Landers, Johnson Valley, Palmdale, Apple Valley, all good desert living areas but were up there in the two to three thousand foot elevation range where it is cooler and sometimes may snow in the winter. Ya think I would be happy in that?
I had been thinking all day during the long drive back home that the Encanto homestead was not all out of the question. Eventually it would get put back into shape and then maybe a deal could be struck. The more I thought about it the more I liked it. The location was ideal nestled in among those low hills, out of the wind with only three other neighbors in sight way further than I could shoot my BB gun. To the north over the hills was a Marine Corps Reservation and to the east the Cleghorn Wilderness, a BLM land space. In one of our phone conversations Cindy admitted that unattended places are prone to theft and pillaging but the Encanto Road location was so far out by itself few even knew it was there and your neighbors watch out for each other, although I did mention I spent an hour there wandering around and no one came by to question me. But she was right. It was safer and more secluded than most places by just simply being back out there in the outer limits of Twentynine Palms. That afternoon an e-mail came from Cindy. She had talked with the owner who I think from what she let slip lived in the San Francisco area. He said he’s working on getting the construction finished in a few weeks and was having a worker start on it “this week”. That was encouraging. She would go back there when it was all done and take pictures for me and “keep me informed”. I was now uplifted and remained hopeful and optimistic.
Water is a big issue in Wonder Valley and it has become so for the entire state of California as it was in the fourth year of draught. Cindy told me that the neighbor across the road in the “compound” (a term I applied to it for the home was surrounded by chain link fencing topped with razor wire) had a well and water from it goes up to the home I was interested in. That was nice for the current metal water tank on the property is rusted out and shot full of holes. Once back home I sent her an e-mail to find out just how this sharing of the well situation with the compound is actually worked out. I’d hate to be at the mercy of this guy having the freedom to turn a valve at his pump and shut off my supply. I still planned to have a thousand gallon holding tank installed. I was originally thinking a five hundred gallon but with the impending water shortage due to the draught which will ultimately lead to rioting and death in California in a very near short time to come, I wanted a good supply on hand. Electricity could be managed by having a solar system installed on the new roof and probably a back-up generator.
I also asked her to find out if everything I saw there goes with the property. In just that short time since she took the listing pictures to when I was actually there many features were no longer there. An outdoor burn barrel or stove with benches and chaise lounge chair, all were gone. Maybe it was in the trash heap. That too I wanted to know if it would remain for I could recycle the wood to fix up the wind break fence and any leftover unusable wood for all the ideas I had, I’d use for firewood. What appeared to be once a chicken coop was in good shape, usable as is, with a place for the chickens to nest, all enclosed and under shade. Yeah, I think I’d have a few for the fresh eggs each day. Why not? There were rabbit hutches but I’d not go that route for I’d get too attached to the little bunnies and couldn’t bring myself to snap their furry necks. I guess I could when I became hungry enough. There was a little house out in the back where an old piano sat, which was now used as a workshop. It held workbenches, shelves, lots of old cans, jars, junk and well just imagine an old workshop left abandoned as is and you have a good idea. There was no flooring, just dirt but it did at one time have a floor for there was a foundation with a big drop-off from the door sill down to dirt level.
So that was the status of the desert homestead when I returned home. I hoped the guy wouldn’t jack up his asking price to the out-of-the-question range after having all that work completed.
(A week or so later after returning home–first week of April)
An update as to the current state of the Desert Homestead. First and foremost is I was now full-on to buy my dream winter retreat cabin in the desert. I had time to think about it more and genuinely felt this was it and the right thing to do. My being slightly anxious had now morphed into excitement. I had a couple of messages from Cindy the realtor, nothing much more than before as about the guy bringing in someone to put the bathroom back in order and that it should be done in a couple of weeks where she would then go take new photos for me. Also she said there was a new neighbor from Orange County who wanted to drill a well and would like to go in on it with me, so that could be a good thing or not. It would be a matter of the costs and water rights arrangement. And too there was all the well-water information I learned while down there, how the County had a long list of requirements and certifications that a well must pass before it is considered usable. But if I did do this and was still connected to the compound across the road, then I’d have two water resources to work from−something to consider.
Meanwhile I had been collecting boxes. I wasn’t packing things, just collecting boxes to be ready. Worst case scenario was I’d have to give the boxes away or recycle them, but I didn’t think that was going to happen. I had been doing research trying to determine my needs living off the grid with solar power. There were charts one can figure this stuff out by online but they always ask you to refer to your current electric bills to see what your monthly kilowatt usage is. Well I had nothing to go by−one person living in the desert. I tried to figure it out by each appliance and amount of usage. Then with a total I referred to their charts and it said I needed a huge solar array so it was obvious I didn’t know what I was doing. I looked at our home usage. It averaged 380kwh a month or something like that. The main thing was right then I realized I would be well under hundred kilowatts and then finally I fell into the bottom slot of the chart at just a few thousand dollar system. Now I had to decide if I even want to be hooked up to the grid at all and just use it on demand or rely completely on the solar system. There was so much to learn and felt I should get a better handle on this along with the water problem when I go back down there, hopefully the first of May. Meanwhile each morning I’d look over the pictures I took and usually I would see something new I hadn’t noticed before. And I always wished I had taken more pictures but at the time I was very disappointed and figured this was a bust.
(Another week passed)
Although it had been only two weeks since the contractor was supposed to begin putting things back together down there, to me it had seemed much longer. I must be excited. Time seemed to be moving slow. I hadn’t heard anything from Cindy. I did send her an e-mail for the solar grid people got back to me. He basically said I’d be better off initially to hook back up to city power if the place ever had it and then proceed from there sometime in the future if I wished to go solar. I’d think they’d be eager for my business but then perhaps I should look at it as they are trying to do right by me which I could respect. He did give me a minimal set-up at probably around five thousand dollars which was kind of what I suspected and wanted to know for my budget figuring. He also did concur that a system left unattended out there for any length of time could very well “disappear before you know it”. In the end he said to call when I was settled and he’d come out to look over my situation and by then I would have an idea of my kilowatt usage on a monthly basis. Then I got to thinking as to just what kind of shape the wiring was is in (still 1950’s era electrical wiring?) out there and just when in time was it last hooked up and had juice running through it. That was to be my note to Cindy the next time she was in contact with the owner. I accepted the fact of having an electrician come out and look things over to make sure it is safe to fire up. And just what was the power company going to charge running power back to the site? I’d be finding that out the next time down there. Then I began wondering about just trying to live off a generator. That was going to require fuel and I didn’t want to be making weekly trips into town for that, plus the constant drone of a generator running disturbing my desert tranquility. Hmm... I really had to sit and think about just how many power requirements I would have. The whole idea was to live simply. This led me on to thinking about hot water. I didn't need much and began to look at do-it-yourself solar water heating systems online. In a short while I learned it can be easily and cheaply done on your own. Most used the tank from an old water heater, removed all the insulation, clean up, paint it black, build a box lined with a reflective material for the tank to lie in, then run cold water in at the bottom and the hot water came out the top. There were even plans using fifty-five gallon drums and even five gallon buckets. The five gallon bucket approach seemed the best for my needs and was very simple to set up. I was thinking being in a desert environment I’d not need the reflective material. There were cautions about the water getting too hot in most instances. In the winter I would need the reflective material I suspected though.
(Another week passes by)
Cindy replied back to me thinking the place may already be hooked up to power being as the worker is out there putting things back together but I suspected he was using a generator. But she said she would check this out with the owner. Meanwhile I’d been thinking about things and realized I really do not have to have everything functional and operating right away. One day it set in with me that I’ve lived out of the motor home for two months on the road so how would it be any different doing the same parked on the homestead? In fact it would be quite easy especially staying put in one place. I’d seen numerous people living as what they call “full timers” in small class C RVs and other on-the-road arrangements like huge motor home coaches down to a truck and camper full time, all year long, with no other home but that beneath them on four wheels. Once I thought about it some it opened up a whole new perspective on things. I had cooking and refrigeration plus forty gallons of water. So I could live on site in the RV for an extended period of time if need be. If I could locate the opening to the septic tank I could even run my waste water right on into that. Showers could be done using my solar shower. Even if I didn’t have the motor home, why couldn’t I live as if in a bug-out situation? After all, if in times of civil disorder one cannot live in bug-out mode how are they ever going to manage when everything goes to hell?
I planned on the first week of May I would go back down to Wonder Valley whether the construction was finished or not. There were several things I needed to check out in town not to mention I needed to spend more time at the place wandering around, exploring, measuring this and that, making notes of things that needed to be done and things I’d like to do and most importantly take a lot more pictures. I continued to look at the pictures I took last time and kept noticing things I hadn’t before so I needed to look around more with fresh, open eyes. I’d have Cindy come out so we can go inside in case the builder was not there and I am not able to go in on my own. Plus if the builder was there I could get his contact information in case I ever want something done that I am just not up to doing.
(After returning from the second trip down during first week of May)
Here’s the story: I pulled up to the homestead and straight away I could see the bathroom as before, well not quite. Now all the siding was off so all that stood were three naked walls of bare studs, nothing more, not even ceiling joist. After I returned home a month ago the owner had told Cindy that he was bringing in a contractor out that week and should have it finished in a couple of weeks. So I waited four weeks before going back down there thinking it would be finished. So what has he been doing all this time you might wonder? As I stood there looking at the bare bathroom floor with drain holes something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye that was different. The rear wall was yellow. They painted it? I didn’t recall it being yellow before. Not only that but that it looked very nice and then I saw the rear door. It was a brand new door! The yellow was all new prefinished siding screwed into place with square-head drywall screws. I walked around the side and it too was all new siding with brand new white metal framed sliding windows! I continued around front and the front door and door jamb had been replaced, all brand new and white with new silver hardware doorknob and deadbolt lock. The siding on the front porch area and on around the other side was still old with the old windows but no doubt it would all be renewed to match. The owner is pouring money into the place! I went into this going on what the listing stated–“Owner will not make repairs”. I wanted it like it was, old and funky looking.
I had sent off an e-mail to Cindy a couple days before leaving letting her know I was coming down and it wasn’t until I was in route she replied that she will be away that week but I could get another agent to show me around. I spent the better part of the day there looking all around some more, taking a lot more pictures, measuring out the house, windows, the shop, the place where I’d park the RV and more. Late that afternoon I drove on into Yucca Valley to Cindy’s real estate office to see another agent and find out what the hell was going on out there. No one in the office knew anything about it and I was directed over to Michelle and explained what all I had been going through that past month. She knew nothing and gave Cindy a call winding up having to leave a message. Within minutes Cindy returned her call while she was on the road. It was then she tells me that she thought she had told me that the owner was going to refurbish the place and raise the price to cover the costs. I was steamed! I kept my cool. I told her this was the first I’d heard of this and to look at our running line of e-mails back and forth–“They’re all there on the last one I sent when I said I was coming down this week.” She was very apologetic again saying she thought she had told me. Bullshit! I said I would not have made the trip down knowing the price was increased from what it originally was. She felt like crap. Good! I then said when I was down last month I was prepared to make an offer based on what I thought I was going to see only to find the bathroom destroyed. I had a month to think about it and came back prepared to give the seller his asking price considering I would be getting a new bathroom, although it wasn’t something really I wanted. “Now this!” She said she would get in contact with the owner again and relay my offer and would e-mail me right back. “Will you be somewhere where you can get e-mail tonight?” I said I would−Walmart. Sure enough, that evening I had an e-mail from her. I didn’t read it and went to bed instead. I’d read it the following morning. The owner said he was firm on his new price at $32,000 thinking it was fair in light of the reconstruction. Well I couldn’t argue with him on that point for it was indeed fair, especially if one looked at everything else in Wonder Valley at that price range. But it was more than I had to lay out considering what all I will needed to spend to get the place livable to meet my needs. I decided not to reply and just let her hang in limbo for a week. But there’s more.
In that e-mail she finally informed me that the place had never been hooked up to the grid. The two previous owners had used generators. Damn! This was something I asked about weeks ago, which honestly I really suspected all along, but still. So on the way home I had lots of time to think and wondered just what I could do without if the place wasn’t hooked up to the grid. Well pretty much nothing was all that demanding. Lights? Well I had my oil lamps and it wasn’t like I went around with a bunch of lights on all the time. There never were any real plans for a water heater, no TV, radio or internet. I could do without a microwave. The stove I assumed was electric. I was thinking of a hot plate so that and a refrigerator would be to the two big issues for power needs. Did I want to try to exist without fresh foods? Not really. I could have a small generator for power tools and on demand items but did I want a monster unit humming away all the time supplying juice throughout the house to keep a refrigerator going? No! The demand for fuel would be relentless and I didn’t want to be making weekly trips into town for fuel. That’s not why I wanted to live there, just to be driving into town all the time. I wasn’t about having a big fuel tank installed either. I could just imagine defending that from the SHTF hoard escaping Los Angeles. So what about solar grids? Well the bare minimum just to get started would be between five and six thousand dollars but that wouldn’t meet the requirement of a fulltime refrigerator or the drain from a stove. I suspected I’d have to step up to a full-on solar system and I was looking at ten grand at least for that. I didn’t have that kind of money left over to squander. Maybe I could get by but I’d be left living on stems and seeds. Not the kind of live style I envisioned, especially it being self-imposed.
So the Desert Homestead Dream had pretty much vaporized. When I responded to Cindy I told her my original offer of meeting that original listing price still stood. “When the owner decides to accept it months from now, let me know and then I’ll see where I stand on this. Meanwhile you can send me pictures of the finished insides–it was at this time still all bare studded walls−as I’m not driving down there anymore.” I honestly thought this guy was going to have a hard time selling the place. He’d been trying for over a year now and no doubt figured a little remodel might help and he’s probably right. The reality was there were not that many people in this world who would want to live out there in such harsh conditions having so little. Good luck buddy. I didn’t even want to imagine what it would cost for the town to run power to that place. The nearest hook-up was at the compound down the slope over a quarter of a mile away. They’d have to sink what, a dozen poles to run line in on? Then install a meter. Then deem the wiring in the house is even safe to be connected to. If it was a simple deal I’d think previous owners would have done just that years ago.
(First week of June)
Cindy sent an e-mail notifying me another person was interested in the homestead and planned to make an offer and wanted me to know. I wrote back saying that my offer at his original asking price−$25,000−still stood and when I get pictures of the finished upgrades I would decide then as what I would do. A few days later she e-mailed me saying the buyer accepted this other offer−$3,500 over the original $25,000 figure, $3500 less than his new asking price–and was stopping construction. So it seemed this buyer was prepared to do the work himself or perhaps have it done and would pay for the work from here on out. At any rate it left me out. If I were younger I would be up for the challenge to finish the work myself. If I had more money available, I would be willing to go that route as this buyer is. But neither option was available to me so this was the end result of the desert homestead.
Over the next few weeks I had come to grip with the fact I would not be getting the place and was okay with that feeling for there was a reason, an unknown reason, that was in my best interest. Still that day, knowing the finality of it all, I felt a bit let down. I tried to think it was meant to be. Maybe it was just that at this stage of my life it would have proven pretty difficult to live in the desert under those conditions with no prior experience. Anyway it was fun to get excited about and have all those hopes and dreams but now it was time to move on. I still looked for places in the desert but none shown the promise as did the one on Encanto Road, that provided the remoteness and seclusion as it did, that was in such good condition and had a price I could meet.
This was fine example of why I don’t like to say anything to anyone about some pipe dream I have or something I am going to do.
Shit happens.