Lemon Grove Property

Early on, even while we were living in a rented apartment in El Cajon in 1974, we had been married for two years and I was beginning to feel the desire of home ownership. 

By this time I was working at Wimsatt Carpet, becoming a tradesman, learning to install carpet.

I remembered that my parents owned some vacant land in Lemon Grove.  After they had moved to San Diego, the Tanners and they went together in the purchase of about four acres in Lemon Grove, a part of San Diego County, just outside San Diego City limits.  They each ended up with a two acre parcel.  The Tanners went ahead and began building a two story home, but moved in after the first story was complete, and never completed the second floor.  Years later, the County of San Diego acquired a strip out of the middle of their property through eminent domain, with the plan of extending College Avenue up to the intersection of 69th Street and Mt. Vernon.  This also took out the Tanner home, which was demolished, leaving only the concrete foundation.

After the section was taken for College Avenue, my parents were left with two irregularly shaped parcels, one on each side of the phantom road.

The community rose up in objection and eventually caused the demise of the road extension project.  Of course the acquired land remained in the name of the County of San Diego.

So in 1974, as a young married couple eager to get started in life, we made an offer to buy one of the lots from my parents.  Wishing to be fair to all their children, they contacted each of them to see if anyone else was interested in buying the land, before accepting our offer of $5,000.00 for the lot that was .59 acre, on the west side of the never-to-be-completed College Avenue extension.  We made payments of $50 per month until it was paid off.

During 1975 & 1976 Kathy and I completed our bachelor degrees at Brigham Young University, and graduated.  Then we went to Inglewood, CA where I earned my MBA and we had the remodeling experience at 515 N. Main Street.

In 1977 Lemon Grove became incorporated as a city.

Late in the summer of 1979 we purchased a 4 Bedroom, 2 Bathroom home in Spring Valley.  I set up the front bedroom/den as a home office.  But I built some shelf units which we used as partitions to divide the room in half, to provide a "play room" for the children.

We rented a small store in El Cajon, where we established our "family owned" business.  My parents were anxious to see us succeed, and provided a lot of assistance.  My mom tended the "showroom" while I would be out doing estimates or installation.  Having lived in the area for so many years, they had lots of contacts, which provided some initial sales to get things rolling.  Eventually I hired someone to take mom's place, as her other interests demanded her time.

In addition to building the business, we still kept alive our interest in developing the property in Lemon Grove.  Initially we looked into building a "CAPP Home", which was package home that sold pre-cut pieces of lumber, materials, and supplies.  (Think of it as a huge Lincoln Log kit).  The main advantage would have been the financing they could have provided.  I don't remember why that never materialized.  Maybe I didn't qualify for their financing plan.

One day I saw an ad in the paper by a contractor lady who offered to build a home for what seemed a very reasonable price. We contacted her, and even got as far along as having the southwest corner of the property staked by a surveyor.  But as the negotiations proceeded, this fell through when we learned that FHA would not finance a home on a dirt road.  This all took place in the early 1980's.