Photo by FilterGrade on Unsplash
by Phillip B. Burum, DR Horton,
President, Building Industry Association (BIA) Baldy View Chapter
Thanksgiving is traditionally the gateway to the holiday season and many of our neighbors will begin their holiday season by festooning their homes with holiday lights and decorations in springlike weather while many others across America will be bracing for the first blasts of winter. However, here in San Bernardino County, we will be enjoying a far milder winter – one that prompted wealthy Americans in America’s heartland and eastern seaboard in the 19th and early 20th centuries to escape the harsh weather by ’wintering’ in our mild Mediterranean climate.
In addition to being thankful for our warmer winter weather, Southern Californians ended 2019 with good news for homeowners and home buyers. According to the latest reports, San Bernardino County still is the most affordable county in the most desired destination in America – Southern California. As of November, the leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider CoreLogic reported that the median (in which half are above and half are below) price for a home in San Bernardino County was $351,000 – less than half that of neighboring Orange County.
San Bernardino County the most affordable is due in large part to the county’s size. San Bernardino County covers over 20,000 square miles and is larger than many major industrialized nations such as Holland, Switzerland or Israel; and are larger than nine American states. While many of our neighboring counties have population densities measured in thousands per square mile, San Bernardino County’s population density is about 106 people per square mile. Thanks to our size and diversity of environments, our region’s natural wonders account for a half dozen of the nation’s best-known natural tourist attractions.
Because of our massive amount of space, San Bernardino offers three unique and distinct living environments: scenic valleys, towering mountain ranges and spacious deserts. Our valley regions have become some of the most desirable destinations for businesses and residents in the nation. Our desert regions such as the Victor and Morongo Valleys began as resort areas and our county is surrounded by some of the most famous mountain ranges in the nation with the San Gabriel Mountains beginning on our western side and the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountain ranges in the east. These natural wonders offer the widest possible range of outdoor activities in Southern California including the world-famous Mount Baldy skiing resort.
Our mix of mountains, deserts and valleys and proximity to Southern California beaches means San Bernardino County offers a host of year-round recreational opportunities all within a few hours’ drive. Because of proximity to adjacent eastern Los Angeles County, our region boasts one of the most impressive educational complexes in the nation with The University of Redlands, the Claremont Colleges (known as the “Harvard of the West”), Chaffey Community College and California State University San Bernardino.
Another advantage to living here is that most of the growth we have experienced in the region has occurred over the past few decades. That means most of the housing stock in our region has been built to the highest possible standards and today’s state-of-the-art new homes are the safest and most environmentally–friendly homes ever built.
Today, our region’s attributes all add up to the quality of life found in few other places for homeowners and homebuyers and makes the American Dream of Homeownership available to more Americans than any other place in Southern California.
The BIA Baldy View Chapter seeks to advance the opportunity to attain the American Dream of home ownership. For additional information on homebuying, home improvements or the benefits of homeownership, go to www.biabuild.com on the web.
Have a great holiday season.
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