At $575,000, Fox Farm buys a 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom, 2,019 square foot home built in 1980 — with two separate primary suites, an updated kitchen, hardwood plank flooring throughout the main living areas, a detached two-car garage, two storage sheds, and multiple decks in excellent shape. That pencils out to roughly $285 per square foot, which is a strong number for one of the better full-time-living neighborhoods in Big Bear Lake. The tradeoffs are a 1980 build, a backyard that looks onto neighboring homes, and a handful of cosmetic items you'd want to price in.
By Rachael Smith | September 23, 2026
Most buyers shopping the $500,000s in Big Bear Lake are choosing between square footage and location. You usually get one.
This Fox Farm listing is one of the rare ones where you get a real argument for both — and it's worth understanding why before you write it off as "just another 1980s mountain house."
The headline feature is the floor plan.
This home has two separate primary suites — not a primary plus a guest room with an attached bath, but two genuine suites on opposite ends of the house. Watch me walk through both at 12:42.
The first sits off the main hallway with laminate hardwood floors, double mirrored sliding closet doors, a bay window behind the bed, and a pop-out sitting room that opens to the backyard. That pop-out would make a clean home office.
The second is down a few steps in its own wing, behind a door that can close the whole section off. King-size bed, high ceilings, built-in closet storage, its own wood stove, and a bathroom with two sinks, two mirrors, large-format tile, and a shower big enough that I called it a cavern on camera.
Here's my read on it: that lower suite used to be a garage. The wall lines and the grade give it away. Someone converted it, converted it well, and then built the detached two-car garage you see from the street. That's a theory, not a disclosure — but it explains the layout.
Why that matters practically: two primaries is the single most useful floor plan feature in a mountain market. It works for multigenerational families, it works for two couples splitting a second home, and it works for a short-term rental where you can charge for two king-and-queen setups instead of one.
The rest of the interior:
A lot of the furniture can come with the house. The home was a primary residence for years, not a rental, and it shows in the condition — the wraparound sofa in the living room looks close to new.
Want to see how Fox Farm stacks up against the rest of the market? I tour Big Bear homes at every price point and break down what the numbers actually mean every week on my YouTube channel. Subscribe here so the next neighborhood breakdown lands in your feed.
Location is doing real work in this price.
Fox Farm is one of the better neighborhoods in Big Bear Lake for primary living, and the reason is boring and important: the roads. There's very little high-elevation grade to fight in the winter. If you've ever tried to get up an icy Big Bear street in February, you understand why that's worth paying for.
From this house, as I lay out at 21:06:
The street itself sits near an intersection that runs toward the Moonridge area in one direction and deeper into Fox Farm, Big Bear City, or Big Bear Lake in the other. You're centrally placed without being on a through-road.
One thing Fox Farm gives you that most Big Bear neighborhoods don't: neighbors. Lot density here is higher than the rest of the market. For full-time residents that's a feature. If you came to the mountain for total isolation, it's a tradeoff — and it's the same tradeoff that shows up in the backyard.
Speaking of which, a practical winter note: don't plan on street parking. In summer you can get away with leaving a car partly in the road. In winter that's a problem. Pull fully into the driveway — it's tight but it works.
No house is clean across the board, and pretending otherwise doesn't help you make a decision.
Here's what I'd flag on this one:
None of that is a deal-killer. Together it's a cosmetic and diligence list, not a structural one — which is exactly the kind of list you want to find on a 1980 home, because it's the kind you can negotiate and then fix.
What you also get, and what buyers consistently undervalue: storage. Two sheds in the backyard, built-in storage through both primary suites, a pantry off the laundry room, extra storage in the mechanical room with the furnace and tankless water heater, and a detached two-car garage. In a mountain town where you accumulate snow gear, bikes, kayaks, and firewood, that adds up fast. The garage would also make a solid game room if you'd rather use it that way.
The clients I work with in this price band usually come in with one of three plans: full-time residence, weekend second home, or a short-term rental. This property is genuinely viable for all three, and that's uncommon.
For a primary residence, the winter-friendly roads and grocery proximity do the heavy lifting. For a second home, the two suites and the furniture package mean you could realistically be using it within weeks. For a rental, two primaries and a real kitchen let you compete above your square footage — though you'd want to run the numbers on Snow Summit-area demand before you commit to that path.
At roughly $285 per square foot in Fox Farm, the pricing is defensible. Whether it's the right house depends on how much the backyard privacy matters to you and how you feel about a 1980 build with good bones and a short punch list.
If you're working through that math — here or anywhere in Big Bear — the things nobody tells you before buying up here are worth reading before you start touring.
And if you want more walkthroughs like this one, with the honest flags included, that's what I publish every week. I tour the listings, I say what I'd check, and I show you what the price actually means in each neighborhood. Subscribe to the channel here — and if you want to see this Fox Farm home in person, call or text me at 909-744-2190.
This home is listed by Joe Pecoraro with RE/MAX Big Bear. Pricing and availability current as of September 23, 2026, and subject to change.
About Rachael Smith
Rachael Smith is a top-producing real estate agent with RE/MAX Big Bear, specializing in mountain homes, short-term rental investments, and luxury properties in Big Bear Lake and surrounding areas. With over a decade of experience and hundreds of homes sold, she helps buyers, sellers, and investors make smart, strategic real estate decisions. Through her strong online presence and data-driven approach, Rachael connects clients with opportunities both on and off the market.
Rachael Smith-Meadors | RE/MAX Big Bear | DRE #01923537 | 909-744-2190
