I was just reading about this in The NY Times. Another billionaire pie-in-the-sky venture. Who benefits?

quote:

Originally posted by RealPlayer:
I was just reading about this in The NY Times. Another billionaire pie-in-the-sky venture. Who benefits?

Maybe the City of Fairfield, but not likely anyone else.

I’ve been up there. It’s pretty, but it’s nothing but vacant land and even that’s too poor for farming. Theres some grazing but it a long way from market. There’s little infrastructure, no work, no established recreational opportunities. The few locals are Trumpy as all hell. You have to wonder who they expect to move in to their town.

This leaves a couple of possible scenarios. The most likely would be some sort of tax dodge or pump-and-dump deal. Not impossible, but good luck getting the county to play - Solano county likely has trouble keeping the potholes filled.

The other might be the discovery of something like lithium on the property or a back room deal to put in a nuclear plant or some such.

There is ample precedent in CA. Google “California City”. I’d steer clear.

Meanwhile, Gates is rumored to have similar utopian plans some 40 miles west of Phoenix. That one seemed viable until the water dried up and it got really, really hot. There’s a reason why cheap land is cheap.

We shall see.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:

There is ample precedent in CA. Google “California City”. I’d steer clear.

my first assignment when I became a public accountant in 1974 was to work on the audit of California city. The main take away for me was that not all real estate is a good investment…

It must have been 1971 when my parents accepted an invitation to visit California City and listen to a pitch about buying property there. It was a memorable experience.

I remember miles and miles of graded lots and dirt streets with fire hydrants and utility stub ups but no houses. I remember a clubhouse with a big pool that was so warm no one wanted to swim in it. The luxury accommodation we were promised was a tired double wide with a swamp cooler. Did I mention the temp was 110 degrees?

My folks decided to skip the sales pitch and instead stayed inside. There was no traffic and they turned me loose in the station wagon to practice driving on the deserted dirt streets. They were cool like that. They later received several threatening phone promising to charge them for the luxury accommodation because they didn’t attend the sales pitch, but nothing came of it.

Many years later I went back to CA city on the way to ride dirt bikes near there. It hadn’t changed a bit - except the pool had been drained.

California City. Hope this doesn't give the newly retired Doug any bad flashbacks...

https://www.sfgate.com/travel/...placement=newsletter