By JULIO MORALES, Staff Writer, Copy Editor, IV Press
"Despite the El Centro home's rustic charm, and more than 100-year-old pedigree, attracting potential homebuyers was proving to be a tough sale for real estate broker Darian Chell.
A big part of the problem was that prospective homebuyers have quite a large inventory of newer-model homes to choose from, said Chell, owner of Gold Crown Realty Inc. in El Centro.
But his predicament was not without a potential solution.
"How do you market a 100-year-old home against newer model homes," Chell asked. "The only way is to see if there is an interesting owner in the past."
However, establishing a home's historical lineage can be no small task, and in case of the 15,000 square-foot El Centro home Chell was trying to sell, it proved to be a months-long endeavor that involved reviewing old title deeds stored on microfilm.
"It was extremely difficult to find the original owner," Chell said.
But with the helpful sleuthing of some colleagues, Chell was able to determine that the Desert Gardens Drive home he was trying to sell had once belonged to Nelson A. and Hettie A. Ross, one of the Valley's pioneering families.
It is believed the Rosses had originally come to the area with the passage of President Lincoln's Homestead Act of 1862, which granted settlers 160 acres of public land.
Based on the size of the home, Chell said he estimates it was built about 1906.
The home includes large windows to allow as much sunlight as possible to come into the home, also suggesting its origins date back to before the establishment of household electricity in the area.
The home is also one of three that had originally existed on the Ross homestead, and was referred to as the "Carriage House," because it is where carriages would park after dropping off passengers at the property's main house.
While the so-called carriage house is located on Desert Gardens Drive, the homestead's main house, now long gone, had faced Ross Avenue, Chell said.
"I believe they just named the roads after the people that occupied the original homesteads," he said.
On Wednesday, Chell and his wife and business co-owner, presented the home's new owner, Jessie Cruz, with a certificate recognizing the home as an Original Imperial Valley Historical Homestead.
Since moving in a couple of weeks ago, Cruz has done some minor remodeling work, but plans to preserve as much of the home's original look as possible.
"I like old stuff," Cruz said. "I want to keep everything that's old in there."
The home still has some of its original wooden flooring, and odd remnants of some of the home's previous amenities can be found as well, such as a closet that contains a soap dish and plumbing fixtures.
Since moving in, Cruz has been keeping busy decorating the home's interior with antique furniture and items that have a rustic feel and look to them.
He is also busy at the moment removing the linoleum from a room at the rear of the house that appeared to have been occupied by the previous owner's pets.
Future plans include taking a look inside the home's attic, in the hopes that some historical mementos can be found. He also has yet to make up his mind about what to do with the home's 500 square-foot basement.
"I don't have any plans for it, but maybe later on," Cruz said."
Staff Writer, Copy Editor Julio Morales can be reached at 760-337-3415 or at jmorales@ivpressonline.com