Pasted from the Redfin listing (unedited):Looking for a perfdect home with great privacy? Here it is a Brand New Custom built home with a spectacular view. 7000 sq ft home on a 2.5 acre lot with a beautiful radius entry way with dual staircase leading to the second floor. 5 bedrooms 5baths. Master bedroom with a jacuzzi and leading out to 20x5 balcony. formal living room with a wet bar, formal dining room den, office and a theater room perfect for entertaining. Granite counter tops trough out the entire house. Custom home asking only $142.14sq ft.. Buyers have a choice of picking the interior paint and some allowable interior changes.
And where is this deal?
That's the California Aqueduct at the top and the Antelope Valley Freeway to the left. Here ate the directions:
Travelling 14N take Angeles Forest Hwy Exit Pearblowwom Hwy. Merge into Sierra Hwy stay straight go into Pear Blossom Hwy. Turn Rt. onto Small Rd. Turn Left Old Nadeau Rd. Turn Rt. onto Rolling Pines Rd. (portions unpaved) end at Jumping Cactus Trail.
43 comments:
You'd need to buy an SUV first?
It bugs me to see a beautiful house with a garage attached to it. It you want a walk-in garage at least put it off to the side or in the back. Making the garage a prominent feature of the front (often the most prominent) is definitely a west coast thing.
In lots of settings it works but it's blasphemy on a house of this stature.
Love the house otherwise though. The location, not so much.
You forgot to point out the location of the San Andreas fault, which is right where the 14 freeway and the aquaduct meet -- it is the straigt line that branches off the line of the dam that holds back Lake Palmdale -- less than one mile from this house along Bear Creek Road.
wagga,
Best first in a long while.
Anon,
So correct. I'd have turned the garage 90 degrees sunk them 1/2 a story into the ground. But let's face it. This is some spec contractor's idea of what is high end. In this climate they are insane not to have 5 ft overhangs and even better, wraparound verandas.
Lost Cause,
If I pointed out every aspect of every subject I post I'd never learn anything from the replies except that I'm a know-it-all. I appreciate all the contributions in the comments. You are correct. The surface eruption is as you describe. Remember also that it angles down and under this property. The mountains to the south and west are there because that visible fault goes under like a slippery rug.
"I'd have turned the garage 90 degrees sunk them 1/2 a story into the ground."
Yup, that would have been perfect and not really anymore involved. The garage doors on that otherwise impressive facade looks half-assed.
Those don't look like high-end, custom house spec garage doors either. The window layout on the left side of the house is weird.
The address is on "Jumping Cactus Trail." I have a feeling that the speculator who built this is trailing a Joshua Tree.
The classic Jumping Cactus is the Cholla. Hike within 1 foot or so & it will get you. Only takes a week to get all the spines out, though.
Can you imagine the energy bill on this beast.
Are you sure this house isn't located an hour Southeast of Mexicali? I think Jack Bauer was there in season 3.
closer look at that garage and it evident the designer had a 2 car garage and the builder slapped a double bay to the right of it to make it an ultra-luxury.
Those first two are under the upper bedrooms. Might as well wake the misses when getting home late at night in in H1.
In NE it would have been designed as a seperate 4 bay with arched tops on the door openings with a small mud room attachment to the main home. Perferably with a 30 degree angle to it.
Not too tacky by So Cal standards :<)
It is going to be 104 degrees there today. Can't you just feel the heat rising up from stone and twisting the green lumber inside the walls?
...and that shallow roof is not exactly going to vent out the heat pounding from above.
I stopped being impressed by these McMansions (or in this case Big MacMansion) when I saw some under construction. All plywood 2x4's and drywall covered up with stucco. They'll blow over in a breeze and go up like straw when the fires come. If I were rich I'd use reinforced concrete, build to commercial grade specs.
Somebody tell me why there isn't at least a full basement, poured floor and concrete tilt for the main body? Order panels from the factory and cut construction costs and HVAC in half. I could rant but this is a smart group.
I'm sure that Casey's getting to work, as we speak, adding it as the 37th property in his Portfolio of Doom™.
PM & RD,
I see that same problem with the McMansions that I have watched go up in my hood, on lots that had a smaller house scraped off. OSB over 2x4s with maybe some Tyvec is about it. These things are built strictly for appearance, not for longevity or real functionality.
Of course my neighborhood has a much milder climate than the misplaced manor depicted in this post, but I remember going into real (older) houses in the SM area and noticing how much cooler and more solid the place was compared to the new glitz shacks. And actual yard space, basements, attics, etc.
Of course, the older places in SM were built back before the area became a high-density wabbit warren for people who like sea air.
One thing you can say in favor of this Palmcaster Palace: it does sit on 10 acres of land. If the climate weren't so inhospitable there, at least you could grow a garden or have a horse or something. Those look like date palms in the picture - assuming they are not Photoshopped in, I wonder what it would take to keep them alive in the hot dry winds that blow through there?
sm_landlord,
You have got to stop by for a visit. You'd love my 1961 modest abode with 3ft overhangs and a huge thermal mass fireplace in the center. We run the single space heater 15-20 times a year for the full 2600sf and the radiant ceiling net maybe 5-8 times. I cannot hammer modern 8d nails into the studs and have to pre-drill. A real blast from a proud past.
I'll be by for an inspection before too long. :-)
re: predrilling for nails: I seem to recall a hard, light colored wood from that period (50s/early 60s) that was a bit knotty, it might have been some sort of pine - but not like anything you see today.
I hope to build a place with a really nice library before I retire, but I'm going to have to find someone who really knows wood to make the pieces. Some better woods may become available again now that construction has collapsed.
Have you ever seen Coco Lumber?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmwood
It might make a good material for a library, and those groves of date palms down by the Salton Sea should be nearing the end of their useful life...
Ironically, there has been a pretty big earthquake. I have not heard of any damage, but it is 5.0, centered in Lennox in South LA.
How anyone can buy or build a home that only meets code, which is a bare minimum standard, is way beyond me.
I just finished my country cottage, using 24 tons of steel for the frame/roof, 2x8's, (none load bearing), for the walls with foil-faced 1-1/2 foam board between the studs and sprayed-in foam under-walls-and roof, the roof is made of 12x14 beams every six feet, 1-1/2 type "B" roof decking with a standing seam steel roof on top of that. The pitch is 9/12 and the sides have a 4'-6" overhang and the ends have two foot.
In Summer, no sun enters the house after 10 AM until about 6:30.
The few extra thou I spent for the wall depth and insulation will be recovered in less than 3 years, I can heat the place with a candle.
(OK, I know it sounds like I'm bragging, but when I see the 2x4 McMansions going up in Alpine NJ, I have to just shake my head).
What a tragedy of a house. I'm with the others here--above a certain price point, you go with commercial spec. Unbelievable how many "high end" homes are built to tract home specs, with widely spaced 2x4s, paper-thin walls, and cheap stucco exterior. I've been in multi-million dollar homes where you would shut the front door and the whole house would shake. The homes built in recent years are going to age terribly, and I don't know what we're going to do with them, particularly the larger ones.
And to echo w's question, the heating bill on this place must be outrageous. Particularly awful is the lack of shading. One of the best reasons to buy an older house is the landscaping and the mature trees. Some of the older California homes have beautifully landscaped lots with plenty of shading for the home; can't do that with a newer home, particularly one with a high profile.
It's homes like these that illustrate just how much wisdom there was in the old California style; heavy adobe walls for insulation, whitewashed exterior to repel sunlight, built into the ground to reduce the profile, full basement as a cool refuge on the hottest days, plenty of vegetation to shade the property, etc. Not too many of those left, unfortunately, and precious few being built that way.
Does that house an automatic lift jacket that pops up to keep it from going underwater?
Ought to according to the WSJ.
http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/107041/House-Price-Drops-Leave-More-Underwater
Congratulations to Californina.
6 of the 10 most underwater cities.
We salute you!
h.
h,
Hey at least we can count in California. And coming from our schools that is saying a lot.
Who would have thought New Orleans wouldn't be on that list.
Tune in tonight for another exciting episode of The Casey Serin Show.
5:30PM PST
http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=30589
5:30 PST? I think you mean PDT.
Possibly a dupe post, if so, sorry Dawg:
Precast tiltwall? Heck, you could do better that that crap with a CMU core.
At 11:21 AM, Rob Dawg said...
5:30 PST? I think you mean PDT.
My mistake...
5:30PM PDT
Rob, you are a DetailsGuy™.
I'd get rid of the fountain. Ruins an othewise perfectly good field of fire.
Guys, do you think Casey really smartened up? In that picture on his blog, he looks serious and nicely dressed. He also talks so seriously, and he got a job! I still have some doubts. What do you think?
Yeah bohica -- I have seen million dollar beachfront spec-tacular homes with cheap fiberglass roofing shingles, and I thought the same thing. Who wants to have every last penny extracted from them when they buy something like that?
Casey needs to be frog-prepped.
I just finished listening to the TalkShoe talkcast. BTC and whoever else that was with the creepy voice (miata guy?) hosting the show, please don't ever do a talkcast again. Just don't.
Seriously, that was sad. I hope you were embarassed. You should be. It was like listening to a couple of 12 year olds.
Casey and Angel made the effort at least. What a waste. It could have been epic. But it was an epic fail instead.
Seriously, that was the best you could do? WTF? Every talkcast with Casey for the past 2 years has sucked almost as bad because you guys have no communication skills. Stay off the phone! I'm tempted to host my own talkcast with them but you dorks probably ruined any chance of Casey and Angel giving it another shot.
To the last anon. So do it. Host a talkcast that you get Casey to participate in. Easy right? In the three year history of this saga, only three people have been able to accomplish that feat...one of them being the recent host you "discredited." I'm another one and CHJTS is the third.
Go ahead. We'll be listening...asshole.
uhhh - Angel Lynn, WoW! A new way of enticing people to look at houses in a down market!
He took down the post about giving her flowers, wonder if he is giving her the ol' bone? I guess the ring of hope is no more...
anon - I think that was We Want The Funk (WWTF) on the talkcast. I like that guy!
Remember to vote today. Remind others to vote as well. Low voter turnout is expected so your vote will count that much more.
If he is indeed sleeping with her, I would say that if he is to be involved in a relationship, a businesswoman is the kind of woman he needs. In his marriage, as nice as his wife was, it's precisely the fact that she did not understand his entrepreneurial spirit that was a serious problem. But then, if he's involved with his employer or he wants to be but that does not work out, he may lose both his job and his girlfriend at the same time.
Nigel, maybe I'll do that. In the past I've talked to Casey several times so he might be open to it, though after last night, I wouldn't count on it.
I had to laugh at the way Angel bailed the talkcast. It didn't take her long to realize what a joke it was.
To your credit Nigel, you did a half decent job on your talkcast. Those 2 guys last night? I would have rather listened to Tavington host the show. That's how bad it was.
"anon - I think that was We Want The Funk (WWTF) on the talkcast. I like that guy!"
He may be a likable guy, and his blog posts might be coherent, but please don't ever let that guy near a talkcast again.
Honestly, it was painful to listen to.
Never did the TalkCast thing, I found the few that I listened to to be incredibly boring. IAFF was amazingly entertaining in its day, but almost exclusively from the comments, and that just didn't translate over to an audio format.
For what it's worth, I think Casey's job is about right for him--I remember this being a topic back in the day, and I recall a general agreement that internet marketing is what he does best, if he can be said to do anything well at all. The trick is to keep him as far away from money, real property, and anything resembling responsibility as much as possible. Angel seems to have figured out his strong point; we'll see if she can keep him in his box so he doesn't ruin the rest of her operation.
btw Nigel, does she know you're posting here? If you didn't seek permission first you might be in big trouble if she finds out.
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