Palomar Mountain News

Like to sit around a camp fire and sing?  Look what the State Park has for us!  A kid friendly event, each Saturday in June, from 7 to 7:45 pm:

From: Palomar Mountain State Park

Join us at the Campfire Center on Saturday evenings to sing classic campfire songs and classic rock songs. You’re sure to leave this program with a song in your heart!

“Buy land”, Mark Twain said, “they aren’t making any more of this stuff!”

After 18 years as a Realtor, I honestly don’t remember one time a client secured a loan for a purchase vacant land – until recently.  Vacant land had always been cash, or a rare, seller carry-back situation. Several clients have tried loan options, but I can’t think of any working out.

What a surprise when this new-to-me lender funded and closed!  The buyer actually had the contact for his lender.  I was very skeptical.  Vacant land, no well, no structures at all, nothing on the property but trees, a few deer and lots of birds.

Everything was so smooth for the transaction.  There were a few conditions that were surprisingly, very reasonable.  The lender was very responsive with frequent updates, so professional and a pleasure to deal with.

I can not keep him a secret and must share his contact info with all you!

Thinking of a re-fi? Give Matt a call.  Like to have a loan for a cabin, home or ranch anywhere in California, Oregon, Idaho and Washington? Matt is glad to assist.

Looking at vacant land? Here are the requirements:

25% cash down, 6 months reserves, Credit score of 680 or higher.  If no well, cert letter from a driller. No septic? perk test required.  If the land is off the grid, it would need 35% down.

Matt can get your questions answered for all things in the lending world:

Matt Towery, VP-California Regional Production Manager

951-400-2216   Email Matt    NMLS# 276667

And, I’m glad to get your questions answered for all things in the Real Estate world!

Let’s work together to make those dreams come true!

Thank you,

Bonnie Phelps

Hello Everyone,

Recently I completed a transaction with one of the more interesting and challenging title reports.  Thinking about it today, I thought I’d share a bit, since it might benefit some of you.

Years ago, I met with a property owner.  He was thinking about selling and we did a lot of talking that day.  He was very proud of a recent easement he had acquired through neighbor’s land, to get to the public road.

He went into quite a bit of detail about how great it was to have that easement and the work it took to get it.  It was so important since his property had been landlocked all those decades.  The building department requires a ‘legal, deeded, plotted road’ to pull a permit to build.  Even though he had driven to his land for years, he’d finally acquired the easement that added so much value.

Fast forward about 15 years or so…  His son contacted me as the family decided they were going to let the property go to a new owner.  I always immediately pull a title report with ‘all items and plotted easements’.   It takes time to get the report in, review and be ready to even market the property and then eventually, close the escrow.

I was so surprised the property showed up landlocked!  Dad is no longer with us to ask for more details.  Connecting with the heirs, we carefully walked through family files, looking for “The Easement”.  There were two old easements found, but not recorded properly and not what the dad had talked to me about. He had traded 5 acres of land for the easement.  The land was parceled off, but where was the easement in exchange? We pulled title with two other companies in an effort to locate the missing document.  I’d sold property along the area we drive past, so had a little working knowledge and researched those lots.  Finally consulted with a surveyor that got us some county documents to solve our mystery.

The seller and I talked about the fact that if I hadn’t met years ago with his dad, I wouldn’t have even had the knowledge an easement was missing.  The heirs only had a very casual knowledge and did not realize something much more beneficial was out there.

It was not until right before closing that everything finally came together.  It took several months of a lot of digging to get what was finally found.  It is correct and now recorded properly.

What happened?  The easement was approved by the county, as part of a large, neighboring subdivision map.  It was mentioned in the fine print, on that map, which directed us to the documents at the county.  Those documents had not been recorded with the subject property – until now.  This is just one example of many clouds on title I’ve worked on to clear.

How can this benefit YOU?  Many of you have easements or ownership changes that you are aware of, perhaps have had done, but maybe not recorded with your  property. I’m glad to help – whatever your property is .

Most of Crestline and Birch Hill are landlocked with all title companies. But the majority of the parcels have very clear, deeded easements that have been finalized, just not recorded, for about 95% of the properties. If you have property in those  areas, those easements belong to YOU.

Have you purchased in the past couple years? These new easements have all been recorded with my transactions. But if you haven’t purchased recently and live on Crestline or Birch Hill, there is a very good chance your property is landlocked on title.  It would be pretty much impossible to find and record this easement without these documents in my files.

I am glad to assist, at no charge, pointing you in the right direction to have a very clean title report.  We could check on your ownership and the rest of the report.  Then, I would provide the deeded easement documentation for title to add and record for your property.

The title company would have a charge for this service, but I don’t.  Just glad to help dust off some old reports and get those clouds to go away and add a lot more value to your real estate!

Simply email me your address or APN – Assessor Parcel Number (you can get that off your tax bill). I’ll copy you on a message to title to get this rolling.

Bonnie Phelps, Realtor

Let’s Connect!

See also Easement News – Map 9,   Birch Hill Easements and

Palomar Mountain Real Estate

Plan options for your trips up and down the mountain next Monday and Tuesday nights.  According to Caltrans, the road closure for June 18 and 19 is to be from 7 at night to 7 in the morning.

Road closures at Hwy 76 “Stage Stop” Roundabout.  Apparently one lane will be open Monday night (with maybe an hour delay) but a FULL closure is planned for Tuesday night.

I’m guessing there might be quite a parade of folks enjoying the beautiful views from the Nate Harrison Grade the first of the week.

It won’t be long now and the Roundabout will be open to all!

Roundabout to open Wednesday, June 20th

Click for some history:  Stage Stop Roundabout

Wow, just picked up a message that the dumpster filled up by about 11 am.  That is terrific.  Apparently another dumpster is on it’s way next month.

The next best deal in the county is the Pala Transfer Station.   Very reasonable, and we  have several guys who do hauling up here.  Glad to connect you.

Happy Spring Cleanup!

Summer is around the corner, so the Palomar Mountain Kids Club is celebrating with a Sun Day! Solar oven cooking, home-made ice cream sundaes, telescope viewing of the sun, and sun art!! The party will be on June 12th, 10am at the Observatory Outreach Center on Canfield Road.  (Storytime with Stacy for the littles will immediately precede it from 9:30-10am.)

Bring a solar oven to cook your lunch in! Here are instructions to make one type: https://www.homesciencetools.com/a/build-a-solar-oven-project , but there are all different kinds to make.  Does anyone have a solar oven?  It would be great if you could bring it to show the kids!  Also bring your own food to bake in the oven. Cheese is easy to melt. Suggested: pizzas on english muffins, cheese nachos, quesadillas. There are some recipes for other items at website above as well.

We’ll be making ice cream for sundaes. Eat a sundae on our Sun Day! Yay! Everyone needs to bring both a gallon and a quart zip lock bag, as well as a topping for the sundaes to share — just no nuts, please! (We have a child with severe nut allergies.)

We’ll do cyanotype paper art, so bring things for exposing! Start thinking about what objects your kids would like to put in a cyanotype print. Just do a google on it — there are tons of ideas. Fun!!

Nothing needed for sun viewing, except a big thanks to Steve Flanders.

The Palomar Mountain Kids Club meets every Tuesday morning at various locations on Palomar. For more information, email PalomarMtnKids@gmail.com or call 0214.

Come play with us!

Palomar Mountain Fire Safe Council will be providing a large dumpster at the Fire Department for Defensible Space Inspection cleanup.

Getting rid of all that combustible stuff around your house will help protect your property and your neighbor’s in the event of wildfire. Dumpster will be open 9 am Sat until 5 PM or until it’s full.

Please no tires, paint, HAZMAT, e-waste, or large appliances.

Cecelia Borland

Finally joined the Fitbit crowd so today is the perfect day to get tracking!  Steering myself to the direction of a new listing for photos and checking on properties for the next showings. So, please stay tuned… and have a wonderful day!

Bonnie Phelps, Realtor

Many of you have met our son, Nathan.  We were having breakfast together last week and he presented us a challenge that I thought some of you might be interested in, too.

Nate reminded us that his 40th birthday is coming up in about 40 days so he challenged us to 40 Days of a Healthy Living Lifestyle:

Healthier choices in what we eat to get more fit

Moving around more with on-purpose exercise

Reaching out to friends and neighbors for casual get-togethers

We were both impressed to have his dad say he was going to accept the challenge.  (Don’t try to feed that ‘ole cowboy much sugar or carbs because he is serious-as-a-heart-attack to get back into some smaller ridin’ jeans).

We’ve mentioned this to several mountain friends who are on board.  It has been pretty interesting to see the response. They’re in!  Who else wants to join in the fun?

We met up with cabin owners Jim and Teresa McCarthy for a fun bike ride.  She shared this on her Facebook:

“Love this challenge. Our friend Nathan who is turning 40 has challenged us to a 40 day healthy living challenge. Jim and I have been making major lifestyle changes. One of the big ones is cutting out ice cream 😂. Seriously though, we have cut out so many bad eating habits. We’re ready to take another step. 10,000+ steps everyday for 40 days. Who wants to join us?”

Neighbors on Bailey Road, Ken and Lynda Ruth had already showed off their Fitbits set at 10,000 steps per day.  So, I just ordered one but now understand there are also free activity tracker aps.

What you choose to do or not do, is up to you.  However, you may see more folks out walking this beautiful mountain and having fun in the summer sun! Just know, you are welcome to join us anytime!

Happy Summer to all and look forward to seeing you soon!

Bonnie Phelps

Tuesday is the best day of the week if you’re a kid on Palomar – or love these kids on Palomar!  Such a great time this week with lunch, pool fun and a planting party at the camp!  Thank you Palomar Christian Conference Center!

Look what is coming up this week:

From Stacy Eriksen:

Sidewalk chalk art & photos at Melanie’s at the Camp, on Tuesday at 9:30. Bring your chalk if you’ve got some. Check out these fun photo ideas!! Will also have the bubble machine and a parachute out for the littles.

Please bring snacks to share (no nuts) and let’s have fun.

Directions?  Click to reply and we’ll head them your way.