House Hunters: Motherlode - Part 3

On our post-Christmas house hunting trip to Amador County, California, we've seen four houses. A dreary cookie cutter house in Jackson and three houses in Sutter Creek, including the one my wife was now anxious to buy.

We had two more houses to look at on this day and we were heading down the hill 11 miles to the little town of Ione to meet Tammy, our agent, at a house in downtown Ione.

We had driven by this house before and I'd researched it quite heavily online. Superficially a beautiful home but I'd found some issues with it that had me leery of it.

This 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1780 square foot home on an almost 8000 square foot lot looked stunning, inside and out BUT...there was an apartment building directly behind it. Most of the driveway was turned into a landscaped patio.  Nicely landscaped, but still taking away from a parking area.

There was a large area behind the house that would be big enough for an RV and boat but, because the patio had been placed in the way, I could find no way to access it without rebuilding that patio.

Still, it was a gorgeous house and it was on the way to a new housing development the agent wanted to show us so we decided to give it a closer look.

Since there were six steps to get in, Tim stayed in the van while we went in to look.

Immediately, when we walked into the front door, my wife's jaw dropped. A gorgeous living room with 10 foot ceilings and wide doorways to the dining room and bedrooms spread out before us. One of the four bedrooms had been turned into an office in the front of the house. Two bedrooms were just off a bathroom that could work for Tim with a little modification, with doors he could drive his chair through.

The biggest surprise was in the back, however. A 400 square foot master bedroom with a master bathroom including an antique, clawfoot tub.

It was indeed quite a stunning house but I still had my reservations.

"There's a large parking area in the back but I don't know how you use it," I told the agent.

She showed me a hidden entry around the corner on the side street with a gate that opened, giving us access.

"What about that apartment building?"

"I know the owner, he's very picky about who lives there. There's never been a problem."

The tiny driveway out front was negated when I found the side entrance.

We would need to build a ramp for Tim before he could even set foot in the place but the 43 inch height of the porch was not too high to overcome.

Forget the house in Sutter Creek, Letty had found her Nirvana.

Still, we had one more to check out...brand new houses still being constructed that could be customized to our needs before moving in. Heck, this house was a year shy of being a century old.

Outside of town, across from a state prison, is Castle Oaks...a new housing development built around the town's  golf course. Tammy took us to the model homes.

With floor plans ranging from 1600 to 2100 square feet, 3 to 4 bedrooms, 2 to 3 bathrooms, and sitting on small 4-5,000 square foot lots with backyards facing the course, these homes could indeed be customized with accessible bathrooms and other features for special needs but still seemed a bit tight in the hallways and doors.

Not to mention that it looked like any other generic, suburban development with cookie-cutter houses jammed in very close together.

While Letty was off looking into another room in the house, I saw the writing on the wall.

"Tammy, as nice as these are, I think I know which one we're going to want," I told our agent.

"The house downtown? Great, are you ready to put in an offer?"

When Letty came back in, the answer was an enthusiastic yes.

The century old house in downtown Ione was listed for $400,000. We offered $380,000.

"I'll put the offer together and give you a call later when the seller's respond," Tammy said.

We set off back towards Rancho Cordova while our agent went to work.

About halfway to the hotel, my phone rang.

"The sellers have countered. All the conditions are fine but they want $389,000"

"OK, I'm driving back to the hotel with my wife and Tim. Let me talk it over with them and I'll call you when we get there."

After hanging up, my wife said "take it!"

When we got to the hotel, I called her up, accepted the terms, and was told I need to get $4,000 to the escrow office the next day to seal the deal and to sign the contract.

That would be an adventure in itself. More on that, next time.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2019 - All Rights Reserved

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: Highway 395 Kicks it Into High Gear - The Northern Owens Valley

It's been 275 miles on the road, probably time to think about somewhere to lay our head. That would be the heart and soul of the Owens Valley, Bishop, California.


With a population of just under 4,000, Bishop is the big city of Owens Valley. It's here that you'll find the major services...stores, hospital, casino, fairgrounds, and lodging. You can get clean, comfortable rooms starting at around $60 at the peak season of summer, up to the $140 dollar rooms at the Best Western Creekside Inn, the prettiest and most expensive place in town.



It's your choice but we'll not spend too much here...Bishop is unpretentious and uncomplicated. We'll keep it simple and cheap.

In Bishop, travelers stock up for the trip ahead. Sporting good stores cater to fishermen and hunters who flock to the local lakes and forests. It's said that you can walk across Crowley Lake, just north of town, by stepping from boat to boat on opening day of trout season. Campers get groceries and road trippers top off the tanks and drain the bladders for the road ahead.


While many just stop for a minute and continue on, Bishop rewards those who linger a little longer.  

Schatz Bakery is the busiest place in town where you can get varieties of bread and baked goods that range from mediocre to delicious. Grab a lunch to go and cross the street to the pretty city park where you can picnic on the banks of the creek, watching ducklings trying to keep up with mom.


You can get cheap gas and gamble for awhile at the Indian casino at the north end of town.


As we leave Bishop on highway 395, we also say goodbye to the Owens Valley.  42 miles north, although it seems much closer, we come the next big attraction...and I mean BIG.


Local DWP hydrographer Dave McCoy set up a number of rope tows to facilitate his love of skiing in the winter. In 1942, he finally found a good, snowy spot and persuaded the forest service to give him a permit to open a ski area. Mammoth Mountain was born.

The name is apt, the mountain is huge and easily accommodates the thousands of skiers and snowboarders that crowd the town of Mammoth Lakes on winter weekends.

Snow can come down hard here...it's not uncommon to drive the streets of this town in winter with walls of snow ten feet high on either side.


Skiing ranges from the easy bunny slopes to the truly scary and expert slopes of the 11,000 foot cornice.


It's not cheap to ski here.  As of this writing, an adult full day lift ticket is $89.  Rooms average around $200 a night in season, although we once found a small basement room for around $90. The closer to the lifts, the more expensive they get...easily topping $500 a night for a room next to a lift.


For that price, you will get one of the world's great skiing experiences. Mammoth also operates an adaptive ski program run by Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra that runs around $150 for a full day of skiing and instruction, click on that link for more information.

Back on 395, heading north, we leave all traces of desert behind as we travel through the snowy Alpine forests of the Sierra, Mammoth, and June Lake.  Where we're going is not the sunny California that everybody is thinking of.


We'll be swinging through the Siberia of the west coast in the next leg of this trip.


-Darryl
Copyright 2012 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved