They said it couldn’t be done.
Last January friends shook their heads when Hubby and I drove off for a month of California real estate sleuthing, searching the west coast for that house in the sun with a water view for $150,000.
Starting south of Oregon, (too wet), we made our way to San Francisco, under black clouds and sprinkles of rain. There, $600,000 would buy us a modular home on a freeway. We skipped down to Santa Cruz, where homes three blocks from the ocean list at $500,000 minimum. There it really started raining, so we drove to Santa Barbara, where we could barely afford the RV park, and the next day smashed through torrents of water all the way into L.A. Santa Monica looked clean and neat and humble, so we called some realtors; the houses we thought were humble started at $800,000. We knew it would be cheaper further inland, but we still wanted a house near big water…
The rain and the terrifying forecast beat us out of L.A. Dodging the unseasonable winds and waves we headed east, still holding shreds of hope for that affordable home. We turned right at Palm Springs (too much golf) and ran ahead of the rain toward Mexico. At Salton Sea we stumbled into a startling thing; new homes that would cost $600,000 in Calgary were selling for $120,000. We checked out the area, lots of off-roading in the Anza Borrego State Park, but the sea is weird… Which led us to Borrego Springs, green and clean, and popular with golfing snowbirds. It’s a small and well kept town in the middle of the State Park, with affordable houses, a bit higher than our 150k budget, and not near water. They are close to the coast though, just over one mountain.
Research showed the San Andreas fault running right through the town, a clap of thunder cracked the sky, and we kept going, peering through flapping windshield wipers all the way to San Felipe on the Baja.
The rain stopped on our second day there, and the sun shone down on hugely overpriced and unfinished luxury developments. By then our eyes had been blighted enough by the prolific litter that lies in every corner and wraps around all posts of this hopeful Mexican hideaway.
We started limping home in defeat.
Just north of Palm Springs, hopes rose; the Morongo Valley is pretty, five hours from Malibu, and the hills are scattered with reasonable houses that were in our price range . We checked the fault line; yep, right there. We were beaten. It was time to go home.
We needed a place to leave the camper, we’d come back and get it in May, when the road conditions into Canada were better. The easiest route looked to be out of Las Vegas. The storage places in Vegas didn’t meet the needs of hubby for the care of his beloved retro truck. But there was a place in Bullhead City, one hour away.
Bullhead City sounded like hickville; it is close to a place called Needles, ouch, north of Lake Havasu city. Where do they get these names?
Well, those names turn out to be a deflective shield, cloaking this recreational corridor and keeping it secret for the six million visitors who come there each year to play on the wide Colorado river, swim in Lake Mojave, picnic in Topock Canyon, cruise the channel under the London Bridge in Lake Havasu, dune buggy in the Black Mountains, ride on the undulating Route 66.
Bullhead city is in the middle of all this.
Up the road and over the Bridge is the casino row of Laughlin, where the Bullhead locals go for movies and the river walk. The sun shone warmly for the first time all trip. We made a mental note, stored the camper, and went home.
Over the next four months we researched on the internet, learning a lot about that area. We kept coming back to the fact that it was fun, affordable, on the water, had perfect weather for nine months, and was close to L.A., Vegas, San Diego, and Sedona. We bought a dune buggy. Just in case.
We returned to Bullhead City in May to pick up the camper, determined to check out the fun, see if there was enough of it to be worth buying there. We accidentally bought a jet boat. The mansions on the river in Bullhead City and Needles make a riviera of private docks and luxury patios that frame the good times on the water, the marina entry to Topock Gorge makes a great snack stop, there’s a restaurant over the water, you can tie up and stretch your legs, quaff an ale. Secret inlets and coves along both lakes make great party headquarters for cliff jumping and swimming.
From Havasu one day we took Route 66 to Oatman, a gorgeous drive with hundreds of ATV roads leading off to old silver mines and canyons where the descendents of abandoned donkeys come scrounging for treats.
There just kept being more to do, more to experience, more to find out. The Mojave Community College actually offers courses in kayaking and rockhounding; they supply the equipment and take you there. The restaurants are fabulous and half the price we are used to. People are friendly and, when questioned about the place, say they love it there.
We needed a garage to store the toys, so we made an offer of $150,000 on a hacienda style house one block from the river, with three palm trees already gracing the front yard. It was accepted.
Mission accomplished.
C'mon down Canadians, the deals right now are astounding!
If you go:
Bullhead city is eclectic, with something for everyone. From $75,000 manufactured homes to million dollar palatial mansions, and everything in between, it isn't yet confined to the rich. One we looked at, gorgeous inside and beautifully furnished, on a million dollar corner with a view of the water inbetween the mansions on Riverfront drive, was listed for $129,000. (...yes, we should have, but it didn't have a garage.)
All the roads and parking lots are superwide, making towing the toys a breeze.
Infrastructure is booming, lots of new big stores, lots of new developments, good schools. The heat of the summer brings the Californians, the warmth of the winter brings the snowbirds.