Olympic-size pool beyond the carpeted patio

“Welcome to Rancho Escondido Groves, your very own private 290.95-acre luxury mountain top estate.” So begins the sales pitch for the property at 1830 Rincon Avenue, in equal parts a development opportunity and potential paradise for those compelled to live off the grid.

The main house is rather pedestrian by “Unreal Estate” standards: a six-bedroom, four-bath ranch style built in 1977 with just under 2700 square feet of living space. There are some luxury appointments such as a freestanding tub and newer stone counters in the kitchen, along with a wraparound upper-level view deck partially surrounding the Olympic-size pool.

The value is in the land

The value, as agents promoting fixers from low-end to luxury markets are fond of saying, is in the land here. To a degree, it’s also in improvements away from the owners’ quarters.

The 290 acres are divided into 24 separate lots

For starters, the 290 acres are divided into 24 separately deeded lots, all of which are included in the sale but which could potentially be sold off individually, either before or after building new estate-caliber homes.

The grounds also include eight “multi-bedroom homes with amenities,” five self-contained electrified greenhouses fed with well water, five “large water storage facilities with transfer pumps and distribution infrastructure” that includes “massive infrastructure for agriculture,” plus all the “trucks, trailers, tractors, storage containers, and equipment to maintain and farm” the property, which contains a working farm “with crop yields and excellent tax shelter.”

Somewhere there's a helipad, on-site security, and farm staff

Security-wise, “multiple private eight-foot high electronic security gates” provide private access, the fact that there’s “only one way in and one way out” is pitched as an amenity. The listing also states that the owner has spent more than $2 million on concrete access roads throughout the property, which also includes a helipad, a web-linked infrared video security and surveillance system, 24-hour solar-powered LED lighting systems, and on-site security and farm staff who live in the aforementioned eight other homes on the ranch.

Taking offers between $29,900,000 and $34,900,000

Public records indicate ownership of Rancho Escondido Groves currently lies with Richard Saylor, a property manager and investor and onetime owner of a used-car dealership in National City. The tax parcel associated with the listing last sold in 2014 for a reported $950,000, though it includes only 33 of the reported 291 acres spread across the other 23 parcels and none of the nine residences. Saylor’s name appears as the owner of a total of 28 properties in San Diego, including several oceanfront lots in Encinitas.

The Rincon properties were first listed for sale in bulk in late 2016 with an asking price of $37,750,000. After a year they were pulled from the market and the main house alone was listed for $4,350,000. After a few months with no takers, that listing was taken down and in early February the property went back up as a bulk lot, with the asking price reduced to a range, with the seller seeking offers between $29,900,000 and $34,900,000 — the agent specifies several times throughout promotional materials that the seller is willing to accept Bitcoin.