insider's view of Searles Valley
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6/27/2016
I have been here 6.5 years. refugee from Los Angeles County. the statistics on SV in this site are grossly inaccurate. SV actually comprises three towns, Argus, Trona and Pioneer Point. The US census was changed to include Red Mountain and Johannesburg, which are 35 miles away and have nothing to do with SV. this has skewed the census statistics even more. I refer to it all as Trona.
the town is dying and has been for a long time. The "housing stock" is all old, cheaply built and in poor condition. I estimate half the houses are abandoned. many of the abandoned houses are burned, but don't get demolished. recently there was an arson fire in which three abandoned houses in a row were burned.
The real estate market here is absurd. the county tax collector has houses in Trona which can't be sold even to cover back taxes. stupid greedy people buy RE here that they have never seen and think to make a profit on it. I know of two fools who bought houses here to live in, one for $30K and one for $60K, both grossly overpriced.
there is no culture or social life in Trona. there are few outsiders, although slowly the welfare trash seem to be creeping in. there is no employment here except for Searles Minerals, which offers mostly hard outdoor blue collar labor and hires a lot of grunts that can't work anyplace else. it would be nice for someone who wanted to retire in a remote scenic place in the desert IF a decent house could be found at a reasonable price (doubtful).
the scenery in the Searles Valley is classic desert valley- it's great. the weather is viciously hot in summer (it's 119 degrees as I write this on June 27th) but is quite pleasant the rest of the time, usually extremely dry. the winter days are wonderful, usually crystal clear, no wind and high in the upper 50's.
there is no shopping in Trona except a Family Dollar store, which is relatively new. Trona is in practice a "remote suburb" of Ridgecrest (population 27,000), which is 25 miles away with absolutely nothing in between. normal chain stores in Ridgecrest.
John | Searles Valley, CA