An apology to Hemet and Desert Hot Springs

Reader Dean Gray writes that I owe an apology to Desert Hot Springs for my earlier snarky comment that it's impossible to sell a house out there right now. He's right, I do owe an apology.

I wrote, in a post about Ed McMahon's troubles, "If you want to sell a house ... and it is not located in Hemet or Desert Hot Springs, you can sell it." That was an unnecessary, and untrue, comment, and I apologize to both Desert Hot Springs and Hemet.

You all know the point I was trying to make -- some of the remote inland housing markets are really struggling right now. But every city or town has its attractions, whether it's family, a job, peace and quiet or the way the sun sets over the mountains.

Your thoughts? Comments? Feel free to attack the blogger, but let's lay off Hemet and Desert Hot Springs today, OK?

Photo: Submitted by cmsg to Your Scene at LATimes.com.

Comments

[J.W.]

I think you got it right the first time. Hemet & Desert Hot Springs are crap holes and it IS just about impossible to sell a house out there right now. There have been reports about this on other news-websites over the twelve months.

[MyLessThanPrimeBeef]

Yes, I couldn't agree more. I say unto people in Santa Monica, Malibu, Hemet and Desert Hot Springs, "It's more about loving what you have than having what you love."

Hold your heads high, all you Beverly Hillbillies. There is nothing wrong with you...really.

[Uncle Billy Climbs Mont Pelerin]

...so after Grandpa left Boyle Heights, the burgers and orange juice, and moved to Torrance where he ran a bar, he retired with Grandma to Desert Hot Springs, where they owned a couple of motels. According to legend, one of the motels had a gun turret on top because it had been a hideaway for Al Capone and his fun loving friends. We spent many a childhood weekend out there.

It was a dry heat.

Grandma would buy her mumu's at the Stater Brothers.

[CD]

Dean Gray
I Would not like to move to Desert Hot Springs which is where Riverside County deposits the overflow of parolees on a regular basis, 400 parolees, with a population of 16,000 that is one parolee for every 40 citizen. The Desert Hot Spring people are not happy about it as you know. I know, I know they have lovely hot springs and 1950 Motels,and a Neutra home all built so long ago in a lovelier time when the desert was the desert, not the (where do I dump the body desert)....... but AT NIGHT YOU CAN EAR GUN SHOTS and sirens, all night long......The retirees are very upset. Just Google it ,for more infos, it's a big problem .No apologies necessary here, it is what it is.
Check with the Desert Sun. The locals call DHS, Desperate Hot Springs. Right ?

[homeownerandhappy]

Your "watch out below" comment on Temecula seemed callous. You and most on this blog take pleasure in others misfortunes. You are so smart not to have bought in the last 8 years. Congratulations, good for you. You should write a book.

[Joker]

I always wondered where the term McMahon-shun came from ;)

[CD]

Homeownerandhappy

No one here take pleasure in other misfortunes, except sometime during Peter's Marie Antoinette news section. I plead Guilty to that ! To me it is a bit like Moliere's human comedy or a good tale by La Fontaine. DHS is not a good place and I do feel sorry for the retirees who drank the Kool-aid and bought there.I do not feel sorry for the Realtards who invested, tripled the price under some sort of " architecturally significant" banner.We all know who that is..... Home ownership does not necessarilly make you smarter, more sophisticated , wiser or a better person. Many of us here have owned many homes and find it refreshing these days to be renting until things settle down, way way DOWN.

[Hula Girl]

And be sure to apologize to San Bernardino, Fontana, Stockton, Santa Maria, Palmdale, Fresno, Merced and another other places it is "impossible to sell a house".

Jeezus. Truth obviously hurts.

Dean Gray: Please run to your mommy and have her kiss it all better.

[E]

It's not impossible to sell a house in Hemet, Desert Hot Springs or any of the other blistering hot So Cal desert locales out in the middle of nowhere.

You just have to price it right.

Sorry to say it but...right = low.

Really Really Low.

Firesale Low.

Still wouldn't make me want to spend my retirement there however.

Sorry.

Too Hot.

[peter m]

I know hemet and it is one of the IE wasted spots. Nothing there is worth $100,000 tops. Simply over built and oversold. Lots of suckers overpaid for housing there and it must be one of the foreclosure hot spots of the IE. Nothing out there in hemet-it is one of the most boring featureless pits in the entire IE.

I personally think that palmcaster, bad as it is , has more scenery than hemet .

[homeownerandhappy]

Did you really use the word snarky?

[Inland Empire]

And be sure to apologize to San Bernardino, Fontana, Stockton, Santa Maria, Palmdale, Fresno, Merced and another other places it is "impossible to sell a house".

Do your research before posting. If you check the Saturday edition of the San Bernardino Sun newspaper, you will see that Fontana and San Bernardino have quite a few houses sold each week. So its not "impossible" to sell a home in those areas. Its something that happens daily.

[yours truly, Johnny Dollar]

Don't apologize to Desert Hot Springs; just last week
there was a Wild Wild West shoot-out between the
Riverside County Sheriff's deputies and three "suspects"
while racing in their cars through downtown DHS.
Two "suspects" were wounded; the third was captured.
Desert Hot Springs will soon be annexed by the Riverside County landfill on Edom Hill.
And yes, Al Capone did have a "hide-out" where
Two Bunch Palms "resort" is today.

[Dean Gray]

Publishing a lie does not make it true. There county does not "dump" parolees anywhere. I am not retired, most in DHS are working people and no one here drank cool-aid. It is not impossible to sell a house here. I have never called the city anything but Desert Hot Springs. Desperate people live in LA. The occasional siren is no more frequent than any other city. Gun shots are not heard every night - that is in LA. My eyes are wide open, the city has problems, what city doesn't? Yet the majority of comments here are not from residents, running off with half-truths and googled stories, and that's a problem. Yes, it's hot a few months of the year. We like it that way.

[HulaGirl]

Inland Empire says, "Do your research before posting. If you check the Saturday edition of the San Bernardino Sun newspaper, you will see that Fontana and San Bernardino have quite a few houses sold each week. So its not "impossible" to sell a home in those areas. Its something that happens daily.

IE: How many of those houses sold were REOs, short-sales, foreclosures and "give-aways"?

I'm not saying things are "impossible to sell". Anything will sell at the right price. And how many "solds" are on the market compared to "for sales"? I don't need to "do my homework" to know that answer, but feel free to do it for me.

[Mark]

Just more snobbish, ignorant comments from people who live in the ghettos of L.A. and have deluded themselves to believe that L.A. is the "best place in the world".

And while I'm on this kick, I must say that there must be more weather-wimps per capita in L.A. than in any other part of the world. Anything east of downtown L.A. is "too hot" while anything north of Santa Clarita is "too cold". WUSSES.

[Boo-Hoo]

Bunch of Rush Limbaugh listening hicks getting upset because we don't like their town.

Demanding an apology from a blog.

Pathetic.

[toby]

It's a sad world if you have to apologize for telling the truth.

[Inland Empire]

E: How many of those houses sold were REOs, short-sales, foreclosures and "give-aways"?

I'm not saying things are "impossible to sell".

You did state that things are "impossible to sell" in your original post. "Impossible" means that its something that cannot happen. Evidently it is possible. I am sure some are short sales, REOs etc. But some of the prices indicated would lead one to think they are regular sales.

As for Rush LImbaugh, someone should flush him.

[Rich]

6 months ago when I began reading this blog to see what the heck was going on on your side of the country that should bring the real estate market crashing down on my side, there were a lot of comments from ex-Californians and out-of-staters telling Californians to consider moving out of state from your vastly overpriced market. Predictably and understandably, a number of Californians boldly declared that the reason housing was so overpriced in your market was that California was a paradise, and that prices would inevitably recover and always be high in relation to the rest of the country because of that.

Since then, it seems like you Californians have declared every town and neighborhood in California to be a cesspool, while simultaneously declaring the rest of the states of the union as backward and beneath your contempt. You've declared your hate for every ethnic and racial group living in your neighborhoods, identified every neighborhood in your metro areas as crime-ridden, and rooted for the ruin of every struggling homeowner (your neighbors) in your state. You've demolished the stereotype of your state as a sunny land of relaxed, laid-back people with your high-strung, irrational anger at every aspect of your life.

So my question is: if housing prices come down, are you going to take back all your meanness? Are you going to be nice to your neighbors who got hurt by the downturn? Are you going to stop being racist twits to all your non-white fellow citizens? Remind us again why you thought California was a paradise? Maybe it would be if you could only subtract the Californians already living in it?

You guys have let anger completely carry you away and you may never fix what you're breaking here...

[HulaGirl]

IE: I didn't say that things "were impossible to sell".

I quoted Peter Viles who apologized for his, "earlier snarky comment that it's impossible to sell a house out there right now."

If you look at my post, you'll see that I put the offending "impossible to sell" in quotes.

Anything is possible - even in the Inland Empire.

[Blogs are supposed to be humorous.]

So why do you keep coming back Rich?

Everything sucks! Eh-ver-eee-thing!

My state.

Your state.

My neighborhood.

Your neighborhood.

I suck.

You suck.

Everything has it's special level of suck.

Glad to see we could get you so worked up about it.

NEXT!

[Not Tom Vu]

Well said, Rich. I lived in Los Angeles, moved away, and came back because I missed its richness of diversity, its progressive politics, its youthfulness, its endless leisure opportunities, its gorgoeus weather, its (relatively) robust economy, and much more. Don't let the few angry posters fool you. It's a great place to live.

[MyLessThanPrimeBeef]

Rich, rich people are just like you and me. If they make $1 million and spend $2 million, they will lose their house. See Ed McMahon, Michale Jackson, et al.

Also, Rich, Califonrians are just like everyone else. Don't put us on a pedestal. We are mean, angry just like everyone else in the world.

[farinhite_451]

Pete,

I find it a little disingenous to post an apology for an offensive remark and then allow a string of unedited responses full of offensive remarks about Desert Hot Springs. What's the point of apologizing in the first place? Any regular reader could have predicted the comments above.