I've been there a few times, in fact I am going out there again for a week and a half starting next Tuesday. Timeshares there are absurdly cheap, but as far as real estate goes, I know it is a buyer's market there, but I'm really not all that knowledgeable as I generally don't pay any attention to prices.
Oddly enough, there isn't really much to do out there, unless you like golf - I'm not a golfer, but there are several PGA-grade courses in the area as well as dozens of other courses, most of them quite nice. Personally I do some hiking (nice hikes out in the desert and hills), hit the casinos, shop, and laze around in the sunshine by the pool. And, of course, I make at least two visits to the In'n'Out burger, but if you're coming from LA you may already have gotten your burger fix...
One odd "attraction" out on the way to the Salton Sea is Slab City, which is an old training base from WW2 that has been abandoned by the gov't, and people have moved in and put their trailers and motor homes on the leftover concrete slabs (presumably where temporary barracks were erected for the trainees). There are NO services - no electric, water, sewage - and it is in the middle of the desert with very little ground cover. Personally you couldn't pay me enough to live there, but for these people the fact that it is free to live there overrides any considerations of comfort, convenience, or sanity. It is interesting to go see it just to marvel at the $200 000 motorhome owned by the same guys who are apparently too cheap to pay $7 a day for hookups.
It is also an interesting area to drive around - the area supplies huge amounts of fresh vegetables and some fruit all over the US and Canada due to massive irrigation, fertile soil (at one time it was all seabed), and 3 growing seasons a year. The scenery is very different from Alberta, and if you just like going for a drive you will see some very strange juxtapositions of dry, plantless desert bordered by the lushest fields you're ever likely to see.
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