Palm Springs Real Estate Blog

Modern Furniture

If you stumbled into town these days without having read or heard about the resurgence of Modernism as an architectural and interior trend, you might think Palm Springs had fashioned itself as a sort-of theme park. Along the line of say … Leavenworth, Washington or other Bavarian-themed towns, only with a twist.

Of course the village area remains mostly Spanish-Mediterranean in flavor, but nearly every residential neighborhood has dozens, even hundreds, of spectacular examples of the clean and stark modernism that was so favored from about 1950 to 1970.

But it wasn’t theme park economics that created this situation. On the contrary, it was economic decline. These aren’t faux Vegas-style structures (although that is happening more now, well after the fact) but rather original buildings remaining from the memorable rat-pack era in our history, simply because the town slumped into a tremendous depression for nearly 30 years, as development and progress moved further down valley.

As the cities of Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage and La Quinta blossomed, Palm Springs wilted, like an aging desert beauty who’d had her day and perhaps spent too much of it in the sun. Indeed, by the turn-around, in about 1998, gorgeous mid-century homes, not necessarily even in disrepair, were going for as low as $40-50,000.

That’s laughable now of course. With the real estate boom of the early 2000s

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Here is a great site to search for Real Estate Blogs around the United States and Canada.

Real Estate Blogs Directory
- Directory of real estate blogs and blogs of industries affiliated with and
serving the real estate industry.

Desert Oasis
Palm Springs, CA

Metaphorically, the word Oasis is often over-used these days. I hear it frequently in every regard, from when a friend enters an air-conditioned car, to somebody describing their church or a library. These are all quite relevant descriptions of course, for the term signifies a welcome change in an otherwise bleak or banal situation, but while I do not mean to disparage the beauty that the desert itself carries, let’s face it. After hours crosing a mostly sand-colored expanse it does seem like you’ve encountered a real oasis coming into the Coachella Valley. Especially from the east or south.

Today I dropped into the valley from Hwy. 74, a twisted two-lane road which winds into the hills to the south of Palm Desert, and I was dumbstruck by the sea of green before me.

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There’s a special place on the southern edge of Palm Springs called Indian Canyons where surprisingly few people visit when in the desert. These gorgeous Palm-lined canyons are where the ancient Agua Caliente Band of the Cahuilla Indians summered. I’ve taken clients and friends up just to see their faces as they take in the massive groves of Washingtonian Palms, the only-native grown Palms in North America.

In the Spring, with the rain and snow run-off from the San Jacintos, the setting is even more magnificent, as cascading waterfalls and swimming holes (more…)

Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you with that. But it’s true that this exclamation is making the rounds today in discussions about Palm Springs and The Coachella Valley. I’m not going to disrespect Phoenix, for its setting is lovely and some of the nicest people I know live there or in the surrounding communities. But it’s not blasphemy to acknowledge that in many ways it has become another Los Angeles.

The sprawl is endless, the air often murky with dust, urban ills of every kind dominate their news on many days. Will this happen here? Not likely.

Oh sure, of course we already have our own growth issues. If you’ll excuse the dated cliche, years ago we stopped being “God’s waiting room” and became a year-round full-fledged city (or combination of several litle cities, if you will). The place where one once came to replace a hip became hip! (more…)

During the recent Palm Springs Real Estate Market surge many people found themselves with their dream vacation or retirement homes. Today some folks use these homes regularly, some offer them up to friends or business associates as getaways, and still others moved to the desert much earlier than they’d planned!

But a whole lot of folks found themselves with mortgages and upkeep on a desert Pied-à-terre they rarely use. Gardens go untended, dust gathers in the foyers, windows become silty. And aside from the obvious monetary concerns, these are often gorgeous homes sitting idle waiting to be loved.

Okay, I’m getting carried away, we’re not talking about abused puppies here. But still, what might be a solution? The market isn’t a sellers’ market right now, and besides, many people look forward to the day when they actually can utilize their dreamspace more often. (more…)