Building My Home - 9 Acres In Anza, CA

   / Building My Home - 9 Acres In Anza, CA #1  

sikmusicfreak8

Silver Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2016
Messages
216
Location
Anza, CA
Tractor
2005 Branson 4720, 8620 Backhoe
Hello everyone,

I thought I would share my journey of buying land and building my homestead with everybody. I always found it interesting to read others experiences doing the same to gain knowledge, ideas, costs, and plus its just fun.

This thread will contain most everything pertaining to my property and everything going into/being used for it.

Little background on myself, I am 31 years old, grew up in Anza all my life, moved down to the city when I was 21, and have always wanted to move back up. I cant stand the city life, tract homes, etc. I am a medium voltage electrician, and my job requires a lot of my time and usually a ton of travelling. Ive lived and worked in Hawaii, Denver, Midland TX, Norfolk VA, El Paso TX, Reno NV, and all over California. So finding time has always been tough to get projects done, but its looking like Ill be home for awhile.

I ride motocross, have a Suzuki Samurai rock crawler, also a Can-Am Maverick Turbo, and going out to the desert is what I work hard to be able to do every season. We ride Glamis, Ocotillo Wells, Truck Haven, etc. I enjoy welding and fabrication, and wrenching on all of my own equipment. I like learning new things, and taking on new challenges.

So onto the property... I have been waiting for the local tax auction for over a year to buy the 5 acre parcel next door to my folks that was tax defaulted. Fast forward to the end of this May and the auction finally took place. Long story short, I opted to instead purchase a 9 acre parcel with a small house (1918) and secured it for just over $35,000. There are two wells drilled on the property, but both are shallow and dry. New well will be drilled in February. Here are the plans:

- Repair existing home.
- 60x40x16 red beam shop.
- Large pond right below main home, windmill for air pump.
- Paved driveways to the shop and house.
- Solar array.
- Rain catchment for pond.
- Lot more trees.


I made my tractor purchase just prior to the auction, and finally settled on a 2005 Branson 4720 after many months of searching. My original plan was to buy an older fullsize 2wd skip loader, then started looking at compacts, priced ones out around the 30hp range, until a Branson became available. I knew I wanted a backhoe, so bought it with an 8620 backhoe, have since added a 12" and 36" bucket to the 18" it came with. Bought a 6' box blade, 6' landscape rake, 60HP post hole digger, and a set of 42" pallet forks. I gave a little under $22,000 for the tractor with backhoe shipped from Texas.

Here are a few random pictures of my stuff, thanks for checking out my thread and I will keep it updated regularly!

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   / Building My Home - 9 Acres In Anza, CA
  • Thread Starter
#2  
Here are some pics of the property when I first purchased it. Everything was horribly overgrown, the original house on the property probably hasn't been lived in for decades and need extensive work. I will be fixing it up for a place to stay on the weekends until the main home is built. Plus, with this house being livable, I will be able to get power to the property and pull permits for other things in the meantime, such as the shop. And, its never bad to have a guest home on the property.

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   / Building My Home - 9 Acres In Anza, CA
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Some photos of discing and raking the property, there is a lot to clean up!

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Here is the house pad where the new house will be built:

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   / Building My Home - 9 Acres In Anza, CA #5  
Congratulations on getting your land. I'm looking forward to following your progress. I was stationed at Camp Pendleton in the early 80's and was all over your area off roading and watching a few off road races. I've never been back, but did enjoy it when I was there.
 
   / Building My Home - 9 Acres In Anza, CA
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Congratulations on getting your land. I'm looking forward to following your progress. I was stationed at Camp Pendleton in the early 80's and was all over your area off roading and watching a few off road races. I've never been back, but did enjoy it when I was there.

I work a LOT on Camp Pendleton, Coronado, and right now I am working at 29 Palms. A lot of my work is military infrastructure.
 
   / Building My Home - 9 Acres In Anza, CA #7  
Good times. I wouldn't know my way around the base anymore. I was at the Wing and did the NBC training for awhile. Once a week we would set up the gas chamber and run everyone through it that was due for their yearly torture session. Man, that was fun!!!!!
 
   / Building My Home - 9 Acres In Anza, CA #8  
Eddie, I remember the gas chamber run (Ft Dix, NJ 1975) and don't want to do that again
 
   / Building My Home - 9 Acres In Anza, CA #9  
I've been all over that area. Also raced the desert at the same places & more, Motocross in the winter & team scrambles.
Never was very good but had a lot of fun. Only 2 broken bones. :laughing:
Jim
 
   / Building My Home - 9 Acres In Anza, CA #10  
Jason,
How is your backhoe handling the 36 inch bucket? Seems a little big for it. Bradco states biggest my 511 backhoe can handle is a 30 cleanout bucket.
hugs, Brandi
 

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