Palomar Mountain News

Properties I’ve had the pleasure in selling since the beginning of the century have some stories to tell. Thought I might share a bit. Just thinking about a cabin that sold a few months back. It sold it for the fifth time and it has quite a fun history:

An old scrapbook was hidden away with the first page dated 1952. (No, I didn’t sell to them … that was the year I was born!!!) Click to see a sketch of their cabin, ‘Hutch’s Hideaway’ and read some delightful guest entries. I’m guessing they sold to a very nice couple I had the pleasure in meeting one day, Harold and Marie.

About 20 years ago on a Sunday afternoon, we’d just gotten home from church and I needed to run out to Birch Hill. Driving along, there was a little couple standing outside their cabin, holding hands. They looked like your favorite grandpa and grandma. We’d never met, so I pulled over to say hello. They hadn’t contacted me at all but were expecting me and introduced themselves as Harold and Marie Overgagg. “We knew you’d come, we’d like to have you sell our cabin”.

So sweet, they shared wonderful stories about how much they enjoyed their time on Palomar and all the friends they’d made over the years. Oh, their vintage furniture was so charming. The sofa and rocker were a split wagon-wheel style, covered in naugahyde. They were very proud to tell me that they purchased the set from ‘Sears and Roebucks’. It looked just like new.

Artist, Gail Rose was their buyer. She saw the potential to design the perfect places to show off her leaded glass windows, add beautiful hand-made tile and breathe in new life to this little gem she named ‘Mountain Rose’. Her next door neighbor and our Mountain Contractor, Tom Fortney, waved his magic hammer, doubling the size, and making the cabin a charming getaway.

Gail lived there about 10 years or so and moved out of state when she sold to Dick and Pat. After escrow closed, they told me they had a company do a feasibility study on vacant land across from their cabin. They wanted to buy the land and build out on the rim. The Rose was so close and they had such a great time walking back and forth, watching the construction. They also had fun updating the cabin with new flooring and some big picture windows to enjoy the views even more.

When Dick and Pat moved to their new home, their buyer, was so pleased to move to Palomar because of the ‘dark sky’ as he was a star enthusiast. However, his commute to work off the mountain, got a little much so he sold to John Washburn, the most recent seller. It had been 10 years since the remodel, so John had quite a bit of work done with repairs and new paint. One fun discovery with all the cleanup, was a pretty nice, vintage sidewalk and stone edging that saw the sun for the first time on my shift the past 22 years.

So, why did John want to move? He came over wanting to talk about ideas to add on to his house. He was dreaming of a garage, workshop, enlarging the kitchen and adding a master bedroom downstairs, too. He really appreciated the craftsmanship of his home so asked my opinion on having Tom take on his remodel. I said, “You should buy Tom’s place! He has been talking about selling for years! It has everything you have on your wish-list including a great garage and you wouldn’t have to live in a construction zone!”

Well John was curious about his idea so went ahead and had Tom take a look. They went over some options then Tom said, “You should buy my place instead!”

Now the rest is history. We sold John’s home to a nice young family (stay tuned!) and he packed up and moved next door!

Yes, Real Estate is always interesting on our favorite mountain. Ah, the adventures on Palomar!

Always glad to connect to do my part to help with the new chapter in your life.

Bonnie Phelps, Realtor and Storyteller