Lake Arrowhead Raw Land (Cheap and Why?)

[Megan Chancellor]

Hello! 

I have been actively looking for land to buy so I can build a unique short term rental on it. I was looking at Lake Arrowhead and there is some land for sale around $3,000-$15,000. That seems very cheap considering the area. 

It does say in the description of the listing "For the time being the Arrowhead Villas Mutual Service Company (AVMSC) has a moratorium on new water meter shares, essentially making this lot un-developable." 

Now, with this being said since the land is so cheap, I don't mind purchasing and sitting on it until it's able to be developed on...

Does anyone know how long an area could be under "moratorium" for?  

Thank you! 

[Nathan Diones]

Having grown up in Lake Arrowhead I can share some facts with you.  One - Arrowhead Villas and San Bernardino County (unincorporated areas) require a minimum of 5,000 SF lot to build on. Many of these lots from Crestline to Arrowbear and everything in between, that are smaller than 5,000 SF were originally cut up to be camping lots years ago. Times have changed, some of the lots have been gifted to children, etc., and once after they figure out that building on these is nearly impossible to build unless you assemble a few lots together, they try to sell or eventually let the land go to a tax sale auction due to failure to pay the property tax. 

Then the circle continues at the auction with folks picking up the lots and trying to resell them on the open market for a profit.