Happy New year to all you Realtors who have been hanging on through 2007. We have had a return to normal sales here in the Lake Isabella/Kern River Valley area. A few of our agents have had the best years of their careers in 2007 which just goes to show that persistence and good marketing pay off in all real estate markets.
The Kern River Valley is primarily a secondary home and investment property market. I have heard stories that there are over 30,000 land phone lines installed throughout the valley and county estimates of permanent population is about 18,000. With an average of two people per household, that accounts for 9000 of those land lines (you don't even want to get into cell phones), leaving over 20,000 homes that are secondary, vacation or income producing properties. We have several people who live here during one season and live in a warmer climate in the winter or cooler climate in the summer. Since we have great extremes in the valley no season is predominate for living here. The population of the valley swells to well over 40,000 people during peak weekends of the summer though. There are those who love the summer heat and sports here and vacation elsewhere in the winter. The skiing at the local slope and the winter fishing with lower temps attract the other folks.
The Kern River is a destination for travellers from all over the world. The silver medalist in kayaking during the 2004 Olympics lives here with her husband (also an Olympic athlete) and they owna quaint micro-brewery in Kernville. She trained on the upper Kern to achieve her silver medal. There are several local companies that host river tours from May through September (depending on the water levels) on both the upper and lower river. The two sections of the Kern offer different types of rapids and white water. Generally the lower Kern has longer runs of peaceful water while the upper Kern offers lots of white water with shorter calm runs. Both will have class 1 through class 5 rapids available depending on the year and snow pack around Mount Whitney. The Kern and the American Rivers are always number 1 & 2 white water destinations each summer. You can always catch the annual kayaking finals on the upper and lower river and sometimes watch or participate in Olympic trials just prior to the next Olympics. The "Killer Kern" has claimed many lives over the past decades. People don't think this small of a river can be as treacherous as it is and don't follow good safety rules. When using the local tours, they will educate you on the use of the safety equipment every time.
The trout fishery on the Kern is one of the best in the world. Our local guide service in Kernville has three guides taking people from all over the world to the upper and lower lower Kern rivers, to the Forks of the Kern, to the Golden Trout Wilderness. They will take you in vehicles, on foot or on horseback. Unlike many other rivers in the state, the Kern is open for fishing year-round. The stories of the Kern River Rainbows are legend. The pictures of Edison employees in our local museum with several of these Kern River trout will blow your mind. They look like lake trout but have a color garnered from the Golden Trout located above the valley in the Golden Trout Wilderness. There is a hatchery located above Kernville that stocks large and small rainbows in the upper and lower portion of the river. Fifteen miles above Kernville is the Johnsondale Bridge which starts the wild trout fishery that is open only a few months of the year for barbless hooks on artificial lures. We have noticed that many of the wild trout are moving down river the last few years and are breeding lower than before. The three local fly fishing clubs, The Kern River Fly Fishers (Bakersfield), The Agua Bonitas (Ridgecrest), and the Southern Sierra Fly Fishers (Kern River Valley) have succeeded in receiving funds from Southern California Edison to increase wells, holding capacity and breeding capability of the hatchery and that project is starting this year. In addition, the University of California/Davis has received substantial funds from Edison for the genetic research to resurrect the legendary Kern River Rainbow. Estimates are that this project will start supplying the new fish within five years. Genetic sampling has been going on for years thanks to biologists from the California Fish and Game, other state agencies and independent biologists who worked on this project decades ago.
Have I got your attention yet? What does all this have to do with real estate? The reason we moved here and many of our friends camehere is that once you experience the Kern River in all of its modes and seasons, Lake Isabella for fishing and water craft play, and the peace and quiet of the local towns, you will want to come back more and more often. That's what got me here! My son and I were looking for a new place to fish close to our home in Ventura County. We opened a map and stuck a finger down and it landed on the Johnsondale bridge. We came here the next weekend; my daughter came with us two weekends later; my wife and other kids the next month. Five years later we bought a 'vacation home' here as we were racking up costs at motels and camp sites. Two years later we moved here full time.
Most of my sales in real estate are to people just like us. They come for a vacation; to fish; to river raft; to ski and wind up buying a place to stay where you don't need to make reservations. The population of the valley continues to increase year by year but I'll never live to see Highway 178 have a traffic jam! The prices of property here climbed unrealistically from 2004 through 2006 as it did in most of California. We have seen a drop of about 10% per year since. But all indications are that we are at the bottom of our bell-curve. The prices are stabilizing, buyer activity has suddenly increased, and properties are starting to turn that have been on the market for over a year. There are still large tracts of land from 40 acre sections to over 300 acres for sale. There are smaller parcels, lots and old mobiles with utilities just waiting to be purchased, torn down and replaced with new homes.
I must warn the inexperienced buyer though: find a Realtor to work with that has experience! In urban areas, we have taken zoning and utilities like water and power for granted. When purchasing properties in arural area like the Kern River Valley, you have to be guided by a professional, one with experience in the problems that you won't know about until you want to develop or change your property. We don't have sewers here - we have septic systems and there are issues when trying to develop a residential property in an area with a high water table because you can pay more for the septic system than the land. The same is true if there isn't power nearby. Edison charges anywhere from $25 to $45 a linear foot to run electricity. Multiply that times 1/4 mile and see what the answer is! Water can be the same problem depending on where you buy. The Kern River Valley has historically had water even through the worst drought years in California but depending on the size of the parcel and depth of water there, it can get costly if there isn't a supplier willing to share water. When we bought we made mistakes but were very lucky because we followed the advice of our Realtor.
There are plenty of homes, old and new; vacant lots for you speculators out there; and large vacant parcels for the developers. Call me for information. I can send anything you need to see via mail & fax (old school), emails or text messaging. I can even post items on my personal website http://www.robbinsmith.com/ for you to download. See you on the river one day!
Robbin Smith - GRI
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