Idyllwild Housing mid-Feb - May

Hey friends, I'll be (most likely) living in Idyllwild, CA from mid-Feb through the end of the May. If staying until the end of May is too long, I'd like to at least be there for Feb-March. I can tolerate car-living in April and May. 

I'm looking for some short term housing because living out of car during the winter in that area is going to be absolutely miserable, but I'm only going to be in Idy 3-4x a week and bumping around between San Diego, Sierras, or Joshua Tree the rest of the week.

The most ideal situation, would be if you were willing to trade me crashing at your place 3-4x days/week in exchange for housesitting, completing general house/yard work, or pet-sitting. I also like to think I'm a fantastic cook and would be willing to cook dinner for you the nights I'm there haha. I'm only really looking for a place to sleep inside.

Of course, if it's within my budget, I'm totally willing to simply rent out a room/bed/space for the duration.

A bit about me: I'm 29, female. I graduated with a biology PhD last year, made no use of my degree, took to the road have been traveling and climbing around the country the last year. The burnt-out academic to dirtbag pipeline is real. I'll be working at Nomads for PCT season. I love climbing and am getting into trail running. I'll be spending my spring in Idyllwild training for summer alpine mountaineering objectives in the Sierras and Cascades. Happy to rope up and clean out all the routes on Tahquitz with you.

Please DM me if you have any leads, I'm greatly appreciative of it. Thanks!

Gunna bump this up. Please don’t let me sleep in the snow hahahahaha

The snow comes and goes, you’ll be fine in a van but upon arrival I’ll bet you will be a gypsy or two with a spare room, just ask around.

Like many other destination towns, housing in Idyllwild is difficult. In the last few years, many homes that operated as long term rentals have converted to short term/AirBnB's, displacing longtime residents. The primary real estate presence in town has purchased many single family homes, and then chopped them up into 'apartments', with scant amenities, high density occupancy, and charging premium rents- not much of a 'solution' to the problem. The best housing options often come from word of mouth or personal connection- you may have better luck with this once you are in town and start to make connections. In the meantime, Julie or Brandon (at Nomad/Idy) may be your best starting point.

apogee wrote:

Like many other destination towns, housing in Idyllwild is difficult. In the last few years, many homes that operated as long term rentals have converted to short term/AirBnB's, displacing longtime residents. …

I definitely agree with this 10000%. I’ve seen it happen to all the small destination towns like Moab, North Conway, Mount Desert Island in Maine…and even places like Summerlin in Vegas seems to be filled with only Airbnbs purchased by people overseas. It’s absolutely infuriating.

It really feels like I, as a younger person, (even if I ended up using my degree and went into industry) will never be able to afford a single-family house in a desirable location.  

Brandon (from Nomads) and I had a long fury-inducing conversation about the housing crisis haha, and Julie and Brandon have both been kind enough to work with me on making a schedule where I don’t have to be around if a big storm/drop in temperature occurs. But I will definitely ask around more once I’m in the area.

I did know coming into this spring that reasonably priced housing in Idy would be damn near impossible, but I love the area and want to hang out and help for at least a few months. If only something were done about the current real estate market. It doesn’t really affect me much as I’m only here for a season, but it is definitely affecting the local residents. 

Don Frijoles wrote:

There are affordable options in nearby Hemet.

Hahahahahahaha. Hemet is full of surprises! Affordable housing in Hemet is like playing Russian roulette, except you always lose