Desert dream deferred?

On Saturday we piled into the car to head out to the high desert - Wonder Valley, to be more specific. We looked at four properties, which all happened to be within blocks of each other. Most did not have any kind of driveway or access so we had to just leave the car running on the (rough, sandy) street while we poked around. 

Here’s my opinion, having now seen what these places are like, and what the area is like - it’s too flat. Basically, there is a house on every five acre plot, and five acres is not as big as it looks. You can’t tell from these pictures but there were houses on either side of each place we saw - some just a few feet away. The plots are long and narrow, so although you get a nice distance behind the house, you have people very close on either side. Which is not at all the sense of seclusion I want - it would be basically like going to vacation in a really shitty neighborhood. Yeah...no. 

The BF says we really need answers as far as what we can do with the space - can we build, can we get water and / or electric, can we get septic? And so far answers to these questions seem hard to come by. Nobody knows anything about these old places. He also let me know he would never have time to work on the place, as much as he’d like to. Everything would involve paid labor. Which I pretty much figured.

So, what now? I went back to my real estate app and looked outside of my comfort zone a bit as far as price and options. There are two properties in Joshua Tree itself that are a little too pricey, but have been online for a while so might be open to a low ball cash deal? One in particular, while small, is very well put together and is just blocks away from the first place we visited there, so I know the area, and it’s very nice and private. I’m very interested in that place - I’m going to try to see it while we’re out there next weekend. There’s another similar one, also, but it needs a lot more work. Both have water meters which is a huge plus. 

Other than that - I guess just keep an eye on the listings and see if anything good pops up. I feel a sense of urgency because prices are going up and up, and I could kick myself for not having bought a cabin up in Big Bear 25 years ago like I wanted; back then you could get a tiny place for $30,000; now they’re $300,000 and up. They will never be affordable again. I feel like the desert is headed in the same direction. I just want to get in there before the chance slips through my fingers. But I also don’t want to make a rash decision that could deprive me of much needed funds as this pandemic drags on and on and it’s at least ten months until I can have any kind of income again. It’s a real nail biter. But in the meantime we can check out the new places this weekend and see what’s what.