Jan Skrentny

Every Thursday morning hundreds of real estate agents in the Lake Arrowhead area get up early to ready themselves for the rigors of…”Touring” otherside known as “Agent’s Tour Day.”

This is the day we go out to see new listings. Often times the listing agent will serve food or have a drawing for dinner, bottles of wine, Angels tickets in an effort to attract agents to see their listing. Why would they do that?

Well, you see, usually, agents sell you your home. You give them the criteria: number of bedrooms, garage or not, on the lake and they make the choices of what you’ll see or not see. Some of the big companies prefer to show you just their listings – they’re big, have big overhead and you get the picture.

Smaller agencies are inclined to show you everyone’s listings. Agents are your gate-keepers of information. And in real estate – information is power.

On Friday mornings some of us tour Crestline listings – that is a neighboring community. There are not as many of us because Crestline prices aren’t as high and therefore neither are commissions. You get the picture again, I’ll bet.

The motto of one agent from a big company is: “I’ll drive anywhere.” And she does. She’s a very good agent. You really want a very good agent to represent you – it’s just finding her or him that’s the trick.

…it’s hard to find these days; nearly impossible in the cities or suburbs.

Maybe you have the special sound-proof room or you just put on the noise canceling earphones and sleeping mask and imagine you’re in Montana.

Well, I can get it for you and it’s much closer. Two hours from Los Angeles, or Palm Springs, or Newport in the Crestline, Lake Arrowhead area, in the San Bernardino Mountains, at the end of a narrow two lane paved road vast vistas of Lake Silverwood, across a stream, onto a dirt road, at the very end is a magnificent home/estate – just under 6,000 square feet with a 1,300 garage on five acres – what started our being a moderate cabin has been tastefully expanded into a rustic estate dedicated to solitude.

You can even walk around in it. Feel the Blue Jays and Chickadees, the squirrels and coyotes gazing quizzically at you like, “what are you doing out here?”  You’ll make the most noise you’ll hear. And when the wind blows through your valley and the oaks, cedars, pines and fruit trees rustle strongly, even your sounds will be lost to the solitude.

Not for everyone, just for the lucky, just under $700,000.

I was playing tennis with some friends at Lake Arrowhead Country Club this morning, about as pretty a tennis setting as you can imagine, surrounded by mountains and towering trees, blue sky… the usual beautiful stuff. It was sunny and warm with a cool breeze and it felt just like summer in Maine. That sometimes happens here in summer, it happens all the time in the fall. Our Indian Summers are sensational even without indians.