MIDDLETOWN — A new housing development at Rim Rock Ranch adjacent to Hidden Valley Lake opened sales on the first round of its 25 parcels in August, with six parcels already in escrow. Real estate agent Victoria L. Gindele said the sales are positive but not surprising given the south county”s relative stability in the housing market that has seen sharp decline during a two year statewide slump.
“Right now with the slight downturn it”s taking a breather. Basically south Lake County will continue to grow, because around the Bay Area people are heading to the East Bay and north. This is the next natural place to grow,” Gindele said.
The ranch is 800 acres, with a 300-acre parcel and a vineyard in the center being retained by the developers, Chris and Patrick Taylor of Napa County, who live on the ranch half time. The 25 parcels are 20 acres each and circle the center vineyard, where grapes are sold to Hess Winery in Napa. It is the largest subdivision, based on acreage and infrastructure in the county in the past 40 years, according to the Lake County Planning Division.
Chris Taylor said she and her husband found out about the property when living in nearby Pope Valley in Napa County. “When it came up for sale we thought it was gorgeous and decided to subdivide it, keeping the main acreage in the core with a 27-acre vineyards.”
Gindele, who is managing the sales, said if the market were a little stronger, she suspects they would have sold more of the parcels. “We”re in the last stages of getting our final approval from the county, then we”ll be able to close escrow. Buyers aren”t looking at these parcels the same way they would if they were buying a house. We have people interested who are buying for a second home and one buyer is an investor,” Gindele said.
She noted south Lake County is becoming ever more a “bedroom community”?or, a place where commuters spend their nights while they work in neighboring counties. But that may change. “I think it used to be that businesses here would say there isn”t a good pool of workers, now we do have people who are qualified. I don”t know why we couldn”t have more businesses here that are more oriented toward telecommunications, manufacturing or high tech research. I think that would be neat.”
The estate properties will require a home with a minimum square footage of 2,200. The community will be gated, and homes will have to meet CC&R (covenants, conditions and restrictions) standards that require homes and structures to go before a design review committee, Gindele said.
“The idea is that the homes fit in to the landscape. It doesn”t matter the particular style, you just can”t do a box on top of the hill; it has to stay below the highest part of the property, so the neighbor isn”t looking into your kitchen window,” Gindele said.
She added that once the market rebounds, the homes at Rim Rock will sell “well over $1 million,” noting a similar 20-acre property with a house over 4,000-square-feet in Middletown recently sold for just over $1 million.
Contact Elizabeth Wilson at ewilson@record-bee.com. To comment on this story or others go to www.record-bee.com.
