Still within reach

By Ann Brenoff

July 31, 2005 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

The American dream of owning your own home seems to be morphing into owning two: Last year, one out of every three houses sold was a second or vacation home.

But with the real estate market being hot, hot, hot, the question on a lot of minds is: If you haven’t already jumped into the vacation-home lake, is it too late? Is it possible to find someplace you’d actually want to park your pillow -- campers, you may stop reading here -- that is still relatively affordable and within weekend-driving range of Los Angeles?

The short answer is yes. Typically, these aren’t fancy digs; they’re funky cabins in the mountains or small-ish condos near the beach. But they are not without their charms.

Like the 1932 mountain cabin in Green Valley Lake that has a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace and is surrounded by a national forest. Asking price, with furnishings: $229,500. OK, so the floor slopes and you might want to take down the mounted deer’s head and antlers. But it is unquestionably a suitable pied-a-terre for hunkering down with your sweetie while the snow piles up outside the door.

Or would you consider a mobile home? What if it came with a full-on, unobstructed ocean view, like the triple-wide in the spiffed-up mobile home park in Oxnard that recently sold for $525,000? Makes you wonder what else is flying below the radar, doesn’t it?

The Times visited three areas within about 100 miles of downtown Los Angeles and found vacation properties for sale in each for about $300,000. For fatter wallets, of course, the selection widens.

So, where were some of the best deals? At the beach, we liked up-and-coming Oxnard -- but its prices are up-and-going out of the affordability range. And in the mountains, the simplicity of Green Valley Lake -- and the number of properties in the $300,000s -- was pretty alluring. In the desert, the least expensive property listed was a condo in Palm Springs for $83,500 that might have suited some of those campers we dismissed earlier. But alas, even that just went into escrow.

The beach

Located on the coast midway between Malibu and Santa Barbara, Oxnard was, until recently, a place where time stood still. But shopping centers have sprouted where empty lots once stood and SUVs now appear to outnumber pickup trucks. There’s even a trendy new gym in the Harbor Landing shopping center.

Though the wide, sandy beaches of this city of 17,000 year-round residents may have been a secret even three years ago, current real estate prices suggest that the cat is out of the bag.

But don’t be scared. A marina-front, 670-square-foot, one-bedroom condo in Oxnard was recently listed for $335,000 in a complex with three pools, two tennis courts, a gym and a clubhouse.

The median price of a beach-area home in the 93035 ZIP Code is $580,000, up almost 150% from five years ago. In the neighborhoods popular for second homes -- those nestled between the beach and the harbor -- a two-bedroom condo with a sliver of a view is fetching almost $600,000.

But rising prices aside, water-seekers may find Oxnard and its neighbor Port Hueneme to be relative bargains compared with Los Angeles beach-area prices. In Port Hueneme, home to a military base and many American flags, a 988-square-foot condo with two bedrooms and an ocean view is listed for $439,000.

Oxnard prides itself on being unpretentious, a place where flip-flops are de rigueur at all times -- no small feat when there are $3-million listings on the sand that have neighbors a Grey Poupon reach away.

John Stuart, who calls himself a “Bakersfield refugee,” bought a 900-square-foot condo in Oxnard three years ago, thinking that his children and grandchildren “might want to come in out of the heat once in a while.” Come they did, and they often brought friends. After a year, Stuart and his wife sold that first condo and moved up to a newer, bigger one. Their four-story, 2,500-square-foot unit has been outfitted with enough sofa beds to sleep 14.

“Nobody said comfortably,” Stuart adds. But his “weekends” have now stretched from Thursday to Monday and he’s spending plenty of time with his grandchildren.

“We’re just laid-back, that’s what Oxnard is,” said Susan O’Brien, a real estate agent with Young Realtors. As she speaks, two bicyclists -- bikes are the transportation mode of choice here -- pass a cement mixer involved in transforming yet another beach shack into a castle.

Still, Oxnard’s allure is unmistakable. Maybe it’s the wind-swept sand that finds its way to the streets along Ocean Drive, frustrating even the most devoted gardeners and sending them to the cactus nursery in defeat. Or maybe it’s because an evening out means watching a seal chase its supper in the harbor. There is just something so un-L.A. about catching the sunset at the local watering hole, not knowing whether the guy on the stool next to you is a fisherman from town or a fancy lawyer from the city.

The desert

When people talk about “Arnold” here, they generally mean Palmer, not Schwarzenegger. For many, the Coachella Valley’s 120 golf courses are the draw. Others come for the arid beauty, good air quality and climate.

If melting in the desert heat with a golf club in your hand appeals, pick a persona, because each desert community seems to work hard at cultivating one. The martini-lunch-at-the-country-club crowd gravitates to Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells (which is a greener Rancho Mirage without the shopping). Palm Springs, of course, has the lock on history and the lure of dead celebrities’ homes.

Monte Stettin, who splits his time between homes in Beverly Hills and Palm Springs, is a desert convert. He reluctantly went to the desert six years ago to care for his ill life partner but quickly became smitten by the ease of life. He traded his career as a Hollywood screenwriter for one as a desert real estate developer.

“There is a magnetic stillness about these mountains,” Stettin said. “It’s hard to explain.”

Easier to explain is the lure of being able to move around on roads that aren’t gridlocked or catching an art-house movie without waiting in line.

Stettin also prefers the historic feel of Palm Springs to its cousins up the road. Palm Springs, once synonymous with Hollywood royalty, is now a haven for gays and lesbians. It has an openly gay mayor and hosts the annual Easter weekend-long White Party fest and the Dinah Shore Weekend lesbian dance party.

Palm Springs has become known for art galleries, one-of-a-kind shops and midcentury homes. On the low end, a 589-square-foot condo near the laundry and with a view of the complex pool just listed at $139,000.

Ruth and Phil Elwell, who owned the popular King’s Head Pub in Santa Monica for three decades before selling it this month, bought their 3,100-square-foot Rancho Mirage home four years ago for about $360,000 -- now nicely appreciated to $800,000.

“I just love it,” said Ruth Elwell. “I find the tension lifts just as soon as we hit the windmills on the freeway.”

Rancho Mirage is known as the “playground to the presidents” because so many of them have had vacation homes here. Former President Ford still has an estate at the Thunderbird Country Club -- the same gated complex that inspired an auto executive to name a car after it.

The centerpiece of the “new” Rancho Mirage is the River, a 30-acre plot of upscale boutiques, galleries, theaters and restaurants. But just up the road stands the landmark Rancho Super Car Wash’s famous pink elephant, whose trunk “squirts” water in untrendy defiance.

Real estate agent Marilyn Bauer of Dyson & Dyson Real Estate Associates estimates that 80% of Rancho Mirage is made up of gated complexes. Prices of available units in this city of 15,500 range from a two-bedroom condo for $250,000 to an 8-acre estate listed at $8.9 million.

Neighboring Indian Wells prides itself on its greenness. Golf shares top billing here with tennis; the Pacific Life Open, one of the world’s most prestigious tennis events, is played in the 16,000-seat Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Recently listed in the Indian Wells Country Club was a 3,445-square-foot home with three bedrooms and three baths for $1.25 million. The home has a private pool, 14-foot ceilings and an open floor plan.

If your piggybank doesn’t have enough quarters, there’s also a 1,865-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath condo in the same gated complex listed for $499,000. The unit fronts a private courtyard and shares a pool with about a dozen other units. Residency buys you discounted play at two hotel golf courses in Indian Wells. Don’t forget to bring water.

The mountains

As Jerry Seinfeld might say, Green Valley Lake is about nothing. The bustle of Lake Arrowhead is a mountainous 30-minute drive away for shopping, dining out and movies. There isn’t even a gas station. Bring a book; it’s good for you.

Green Valley Lake is about four miles off Route 18 with one road in and out; the only things along the way are three church camps. To which solitude seekers will probably say, hallelujah.

There are a handful of businesses across from the lake and a few cabin rentals. Many homes back up to the pristine San Bernardino National Forest. Largely untouched by the bark beetle that infested much of the Lake Arrowhead area, the foresty smell of the tall pine and cedar trees permeates the area.

As the name suggests, there is a lake in which swimming, kayaking and fishing are allowed, but not motorized water sports. This is a “make your own fun” kind of place. That, or drive to it.

Moving a little closer to civilization is Lake Arrowhead and its environs, where prices are largely determined by whether a property has lake rights.

The lake in Lake Arrowhead is private and use is restricted to those whose properties provide access. Properties with access command higher prices and pay an annual fee, much like a homeowners’ association fee.

Realtor Andrea Lassak of Coldwell Banker Sky Ridge in Lake Arrowhead, who has been selling properties in the area for almost 25 years, says the first question she asks clients is: “Water, or not?”

“If they want lake rights” -- a boat dock, a beach, ability to water ski, fish -- “the prices are higher,” Lassak said. But if the lake doesn’t matter, a lot of people don’t want to pay for something they won’t be using.”

Farley Neun was one who didn’t care about the lake. He was pleased four months ago to find his two-story, 1,200-square-foot cabin with a view in Running Springs -- a mere 90-minute drive from his home in Echo Park. For $130,000, Neun said, “it felt like a steal, compared to L.A. prices.”

The cabin, without question a fixer-upper, is quiet and remote-feeling, but the small town of Running Springs is just a 10-minute walk away and the Snow Summit ski area a mere 17-mile drive. Many year-round residents who work in Lake Arrowhead live in Running Springs.

A recent check of properties found the least expensive unit without lake rights to be an A-frame with a floor-to-ceiling rock fireplace listed at $159,000, in Arrowbear. It’s on a small lot, has two bedrooms and a three-quarter bath.

By comparison, the least expensive home with lake rights was listed at $257,000. It has two bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths. There are about a dozen properties with lake rights under $300,000.

For the outdoorsy set, bliss may be found in the San Jacinto Mountains village of Idyllwild. Winter brings snow on the pine trees and cozy in-cabin time. A three-bedroom home with a rock fireplace and view from the loft was recently listed for $309,000.

There is fishing, biking and hundreds of miles of wilderness trails for hiking. Rock climbers are drawn to the legendary peaks of Suicide Rock and Deception Pillar with as much devotion as the mosquitoes are drawn to Idyllwild visitors.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Baby, you’re there

Second-home havens not far from L.A.

City: Oxnard

Median price*: $580,000

Ambience: Laid-back beach town becoming increasingly yuppified

What’s to do: Beach, boats, fishing; park the car and use a bike

City: Port Hueneme

Median price*: $394,500

Ambience: Strong military influence

What’s to do:

City: Palm Springs