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| Rancho la Puerta in Tecate Mexico |
Seattle's overcast skys can really get to you after 25+ years, so my husband, Tom, and I started looking at vacation homes in warmer climates a few years ago. We have been vacationing at Rancho la Puerta (http://www.rancholapuerta.com/), a destination spa in Tecate Mexico, for years (about 50 minutes inland and south of San Diego, barely across the Mexican border). We enjoy RLP's mountain desert climate, the early morning hikes and beautiful grounds. So I started a web search for homes in inland San Diego, realizing the area was a "stretch" for us. Requirement was a house on a golf course with a pool. Did I mention the budget was "under $200,000"?
Using the web, we expanded our search outward until we discovered a "short sale" house northeast of San Diego in the town of Borrego Springs, an unincorporated area of San Diego County. Borrego Springs is a "donut hole" town carved out of the middle of the largest state park in California - the Anza Borrego Desert State Park. I convinced the husband to fly from our home in Seattle to Palm Springs, drive to Borrego Springs and stay a couple of nights. On that trip, we fell in love - with the house and with Borrego Springs. Six months later, through failed short sale offers, a bank foreclosure on the house and a few weeks of uncertainty, we owned the house. 
It's on the Deanza Country Club golf course (http://www.deanzacountryclub.com/) and has a 20' by 40' swimming pool. Purchase price: $195,000.
