Palm Springs Real Estate Blog

Due to the strong real estate values in Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, Rancho Mirage and La Quinta, the housing authority and local governments of the Coachella Valley are working hard to find affordable housing in nearby areas such as Thousand Palms, Indio, Desert Hot Springs and in unincorporated areas.

Recently, there was a meeting of the minds in the Coachella Valley to determine how best to address this need. You see, the current average median housing price in many of the more elite cities such as Palm Desert, La Quinta and Indian Wells was approaching $400,000 and that made it tough for working families in the area to find suitable housing. Without that labor force, the cities would find themselves in trouble trying to service the local residences.

As you probably guessed the Indian Casinos nearby, the 5-Star Resorts, 200 Golf Courses, Restaurants, require a lot of labor, as do all the service companies, everything from auto detailers to pool maintenance people. It is a serious issue. Luckily, this are coming together fine and these critical issues are now being addressed; thanks to CVAG - Coachella Valley Association of Governments, which sponsored a huge get together, which included school administrators, hospitals, Realtors, Indian Tribe leaders, builders, developers and some 85 people in all.

The symposium took on the bigger picture as well with the sub-prime lending regulations Read the rest of this entry »

Palm Springs is famous for many things, such as it championship golf course, resorts, and world class restaurants. After all, many of the restaurants have all or part ownership with famous movie stars, actors and musicians. The Golf Courses, well those too, many top PGA players have designed the golf courses here, folks like Greg Norman, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer to name a few. Of course, the promoters spared no expense in putting their name on them either.

Still, with all the celebrity status around here, it is refreshing to know that the wind above blows away any smog and keeps the sky clear. Meanwhile some green entrepreneurs many decades ago decided to use that wind to generate electricity. Thus, Palm Springs is known as the Wind Generator Capital of North America. The Wind Generators in Palm Springs are not little windmills at all, they are giant towering wind machines that are the most magnificent and majestic technologically advanced turbines you have ever seen.

How Much Energy Do the Palm Springs Wind Generators Make?

Well, I am told by the local energy district that there are several different types, the big ones Read the rest of this entry »

Palm Springs offers tremendous opportunity in residential real estate compared to other California real estate markets. If we look at Los Angeles and Orange County, we see there are not many foreclosures available. This is because those areas were pretty much built-out before 2005 and 2006 when the irrational exuberance took place at the top of the real estate bubble. Still, the prices are off from the 2006 highs by as much as 35% in some areas and it could be 8 or more years until they return to those highs again.

There are many good deals on the foreclosures in places like Riverside, Las Vegas and Phoenix real estate markets, but the worse there is still yet to come say bankers and real estate brokers in those markets. These were some of the fastest growing real estate markets during the top of the bubble and folks who bought into these areas in 2005 and 2006 are most likely $75,000 to $100,000 in negative equity, they are totally upside down.

Buying into these areas now where 10% or more of the homes are in foreclosure or soon to be would be a Read the rest of this entry »

Most buyers of real estate looking to invest in their home or secondary residence in the Coachella Valley do not understand that what they really need is not just a Real Estate Agent, rather they need a consultant who understands the Valley here. And believe me there is a lot to know and it is paramount to keep up on the changes in the local market.

Each city has its own dynamics, growth, way of living and within those cities are micro-communities. You can have whatever you want, its all here, but you need someone who knows the feel of these neighborhoods to attain that dream life you are looking for.

You see there is quite a mix of potential properties from high-end 15,000 square foot and up super mansions to condominium communities. There are up-scale snowbird Motor Coach communities, 55 and over gated communities and on the golf course single-family dwelling luxury homes. Indeed, there are also soccer family middle class homes with cul-de-sacs, nearby parks and some of the best schools in California.

There are big differences between communities such as Palm Desert, La Quinta and Indian Wells compared Read the rest of this entry »

It is just amazing the number of well-known business personalities that live here in Palm Springs and La Quinta.It seems everyone you meet is someone, and with all the celebrity status around here and in Palm Springs just a few miles away, it is neat that everyone just treats everyone else like regular folks. We do not have the paparazzi out trying to get pictures of everyone or anything like that here. When the big PGA golf tournament is in town, there are more famous people out cruising around town than one can count.

Still, it is just another day in Palm Springs - that is just the way things are around here. Folks are so very respectful, polite and the service is great, at all the businesses in town, as they never know who they might be waiting on. More Corporate Executives retire here than almost any other city in California, Read the rest of this entry »

The real estate in Coachella Valley has some pretty well-known zip codes, but the one which is in the most demand is of course Palm Springs 92262. Amazingly, the market after a few hiccups is doing surprisingly well, although in reality, it should be all that surprising considering demand. Many real estate analysts cite Palm Springs as a great value during these turbulent times. The history of the Palm Springs Real Estate Market shows it is generally the last hit and the first to recover, and with the net gain in population out of shear demand for the bragging rights to say that one lives in Palm Springs, that trend is expected to continue. Speaking of bragging many real estate agents have bragged that they cannot keep inventory very long and once a home is listed; you can expect action on it.

Still, with the fluctuations in the over-all real estate market due to the subprime lending fall-out many of the less than top tier real estate agents have departed the scene. Today, the remaining real estate professionals act more as consultants keeping their clients and customers from being burned or paying too much during this buyers market.

What Does the Future Look Like for Prime Residential Real Estate in the Palm Springs Area?

Read the rest of this entry »

The other day, I was reading the news about the terrible Northern Mid-Western snow storms in Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio and I felt really bad for the people there. Here in Palm Desert, we have perfect weather in the Wintertime and generally it is about 65 - 75 degrees and beautiful. You kind of get spoiled and being in the real-estate business, I have had the pleasure of meeting so many wonderful people from those states where the weather is so horribly cold.

In fact, our valley is filled with Mid-Western transplants, who have chosen to make either Palm Springs, Palm Desert or La Quinta their new home. You are more likely to meet someone who is from the Midwest than you are to meet someone from California here. They bring a more hometown attitude with them and make our city’s ambiance just plain relaxing.

So, while I was cruising to the local Starbucks with my friend in her new golf cart, get this, it looks like a Hummer, only it is smaller and it is pollution free, it’s electric! Yes, we were humming along. And she said to me;

“You Know What I Really Really Like About the Palm Springs, Palm Desert CA Area?”

And just then we looked at each other and smiled and said simultaneously;

“Everything!”

But besides, everything, what I really like about Palm Springs and Palm Desert Area Read the rest of this entry »

Be careful about Delhi Palace! Because every time you go there, the food just might get better. At least that’s the way it looks since the latest wave of new management took over.

When I visit - and I visit somewhat frequently, usually for lunch- the Nan seems to get flakier, yet softer. Real Indian tea appears suddenly on the buffet (It used to be a la carte). Suddenly, there’s this scrumptious but utterly subtle Indian lentil soup, flavored, just slightly, with little tidbits of carrots and soft yellow kernels of corn.

And then, there’s the buffet itself - The vegetable section has Aloo Gobhi with its slightly spicy cauliflower with counterbalancing potatoes; Daal Maharani, lentils thickened to a thick soup and flavored with Indian herbs; Palak Paneer- a fresh spinach with home made cheese, cooked curry-style with aromatic herb seasoning. Nice!� All this is complemented with the soft Basmati rice and the wonderfully delicately fried Pakoras or Vegetable fritters.

The meat items are generally segregated from the vegetables. For vegetarians, the Delhi Palace is a place of power- and perhaps they deserve a portion of the buffet for their own. On the meat side, the buffet has lamb dishes like small flavor-filled kabobs of lamb placed right next to the curried chicken. One of the regular meat dishes, of course, is the Tandoori chicken marinated in yogurt and roasted in the tandoori clay oven to a reddish brown. (Tandoori ovens are a strong component of a Northern Indian kitchen and you can get, particularly at nights, other tandoori specialties- sheesh kabab and lamb tikka.).

Good Indian condiments come with the buffet, mango and tamarind chutneys, North Indian pickles, yogurt dressing- even some fennel to take a pinch of before you go. Read the rest of this entry »

Things are falling into place for the fabulous 2008 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. In fact, the PGA has just announced its entire tour. Golfing venues have been chosen for this year’s rotation, the 2008 Classic Girls have been chosen and George Lopez will be the official host. As usual, there is a sense of excitement and anticipation in the Desert Cities of La Quinta and Palm Desert as the world famous charity event moves to its opening on January 17^th. But, for some, the excitement is not just based on being spectators watching a popular sport, but on participating in an event that launch their careers and change their lives.

The young ladies chosen to act as goodwill ambassadors for an event that has become a tradition in this area are Emily Harrison now called “Hope”, Colie Cullen, newly named “Chrysler” and Kelsey Peterson, whose ambassadorial title is “Classic,” are all young aspiring performers. This event may very well open doors to them that happens when you are in an event that will be seen by many tourists and visitors but also broadcast throughout the world.

They will help support the hosting activities of George Lopez, the famous Mexican comedian. George is now a household word but he was somewhat like Emilie, Colie and Kelsey, an unknown quantity. In fact, his initial career was built on self-depreciating stand-up comedy which was originally embraced by the Latino community. Much of his material was drawn from his own very Traditional Mexican-American background. Lopez’ popularity was not based on projecting himself as rich and famous but as somewhat vulnerable, complex and a little dense at times. This image has served him in his work in the George Lopez Show, the most successful longest running situation comedy featuring a Latino actor. The first was I Love Lucy so it is obviously a formidable achievement. But George, like so many others, started somewhat lower than Top Banana.

What’s great about the Valley is that it provides all kinds of surprise opportunities for local people. Read the rest of this entry »

The new run of statistics from the California Association of Realtors show an interesting upturn in monthly home purchases in Coachella Valley but the overall national and downturn in sales is still significant since last year. But, to be honest, we realtors in Palm Springs Real Estate and the rest of Coachella Valley are not crying. We see vista after vista of opportunity for us and for our clients now and in the near future.

And, why not? There is a certain style of life here in the Desert that is fulfilling way beyond the vacillations of price of a house. It is so many perfect days, punctuated of course by a blazing, hot summer that drives many away. It is spectacular nights, speckled with stars; long hikes up mountains or in deserts teeming with life; the flicker of nostalgia when passing celebrity homes, street signs or stars on a pavement; some of the best traditional and boldly adventurous restaurants you can find anywhere, black tie charity affairs, film festivals and memorable, unique desert homes. It’s casual formal. And formal casual.

Still, we who dabble in Palm Springs Real Estate can thank our lucky stars that our market is unique.  In most markets these days, a monthly home sales jump for 16.4 per cent as unveiled for the entire Coachella Valley the other day, would be greeted with a profound “Hoo-Ha,” a couple of extra dry martinis and a passel of expectations for a truly exciting few months to come.

But here, our spoiled realtors yawn slightly, though smiling- and, say, “I guess the slump is not really over.” They have been still been a tiny bit more busy “selling” during the entire slump, Read the rest of this entry »

-An Oz-like Visitation in the Colorado Desert During the Christmas Holidays-

“Lions and tigers and bears,” said Dorothy. “I won’t find any of these in this silly old desert- or anything else worth bothering about,’ smiling as she drove her hybrid SUV into the wiles of Coachella Valley- and piled out with the Tin Woodsman and Scarecrow into the parking lot of the Living Desert. The Cowardly Lion heard there weren’t any lions and was handling a Munchkin revolt in the North of Oz anyway. Toto held the fort back at the Esmeralda Renaissance Resort at Indian Wells. Dorothy had told him that she didn’t expect to see any lions, but now she regretted it. She had thought the Desert only had a few lizards and scorpions. But when Dorothy saw all the Living Desert animals on display in exhibits that highlighted their natural environment, her eyes were now opened. “Well, I guess I see a Mountain Lion, after all. No tigers but I do see a bobcat running around. Oops, there’s a cheetah. I guess we’re doing OK in the big cats area, but a bear would be so exciting! Well, come to think of it, the Mexican wolf and coyotes kind of make up for it.”

Dorothy wasn’t alone in her surprise. As she began to understand the amazing richness of the desert ecosystem, Dorothy began to fully participate in the stated mission of part of the Living Desert’s agenda. After all the purpose of this part zoo/part conservation program/part botanical garden/part museum/part school for those who value wildlife and ecology was to waken people to the unexpected wealth of desert life. In fact, the Living Desert,set in the Colorado Desert in Coachella Valley, was really a celebration of the flora and fauna of all the amazing deserts of the world.

The Living Desert is an amazing, multi-faced celebration of wildlife set strategically close to the growing sophistication of the affluent Palm Desert shopping centers; art galleries and Read the rest of this entry »

A Great Romance and A Great American Balloon Company

Erick Moore, Founder of the Great American Balloon Company runs a very strict, safe ballooning enterprise with pilots with their FAA Lighter-Than-Air training, having trained with the proper quotient of chaperoned and solo hours in a LTA aircraft. I mentioned that I had called Erick because of the seemingly romantic nature of ballooning and how this was one of the great assets of the Palm Springs area.

In today’s world of violent video games, distasteful films and meaningless Internet distractions, ballooning is one of the truly romantic pastimes that you can have, Erick Moore said, speaking about the mainstay of his company, the Great American Balloon Company. I know better than anyway- because, in a sense, my life began over after taking my first balloon ride. Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes it seems that way, and certainly that’s been the case over the past few years. We’ve had quite a dry spell, a drought even. But surprise surprise! if the beautiful Coachella Valley didn’t get more rain in one day (this past week) than it the past two years combined!

I’ve written before on this blog about how the aquifier underneath our desert floor provides us with much of our water, and how this makes us less dependant on the Colorado River and other sources California’s water comes from. That’s great for pragmatic water uses, yes. But nothing beats that fresh smell after a desert rain.

Many folks believe the smell comes from Desert Sage but it’s mainly the Creosote Bush (which covers much of the Sonoran Desert, where the Coachella Valley sits on the extreme western edge). These plants are more moisture-driven than most desert plants, so they have Read the rest of this entry »

- A Fabulous Film Festival Magnificently Slouches Towards Palm Springs in January-

Glamorous stars, creative directors and Hollywood moguls congregate in luscious Palm Springs sunshine at the Palm Springs International Film festival.

Why is that?

Forget the films, the panels, the chance to meet the stars- while you’re in the middle of all that, stand outside a little apart from the crowd and look up. You will see and feel the natural opulence, the breathtaking presence of a star-studded a Palm Springs evening. The star-studded jewels in the sky and the jewelry-studded Hollywood stars on the Red Carpet are Read the rest of this entry »

Why does the image of a winter wonderland have to include snow? Well it doesn’t really of course, but because we Americans live mostly in four-season climate zones, and many of us come from Northern European ancestry, the memories of Christmas historically include lots of (or hopes of) the white stuff.

Picture this then. Our beautiful resort towns lit up in holiday splendor from Halloween through New Year’s Day, adorned boulevards , glittering shops and restaurants, crowds of people everywhere. That’s the true image the Coachella Valley presents to the world during the season. And because of our wonderful location at the base of the massive San Jacinto Peaks we’ve almost got snow! Most years we certainly can look up and see it anyway.

Without embellishing, there might be a moment when you’re here, perhaps strolling down Palm Canyon Blvd. after a show or dinner some night, when you’ll suddenly realize you could be in a ski-town! Resort towns, after all, are laid out in similar fashions, and the village atmosphere of Downtown Palm Springs, with its cafes and coffee shops spilling out onto twinkling sidewalks, is not all that different from an evening scene in Santa Fe or even Whistler (minus the clumping boots of course).

But the accompanying cold? Just enough at night to add the ambiance of a warm fire to your holiday, and a hot buttered rum perhaps. Daytime you’ll still be playing golf or tennis in picture-perfect weather. December usually hovers arounds the mid-70s.

Yes, in Palm Springs you can have your fruitcake and eat it too…

Happy Holidays from your Palm Springs Real Estate Agent!

A true legend, and a memorable part of American history, puppeteer and puppet maker, Velma Wayne Dawson of Palm Desert, passed away on September 26, 2007. She was known for her love of puppets, that she was fascinated by at an early age after viewing the much praised team of Walton and O’Rourke. At this point, Velma was completely seduced by the magical quality of the puppets, and felt overwhelmed by a need to purchase some puppets, but found very few anywhere. Upon asking, she found that puppets were not common, and she made the decision to attempt to make puppets on her own, following the advice of the only book she was able to find, by Tony Sarg, about making puppets.

As a result of her love for puppets, she attended art school and learned to sculpt and paint. Her first creation was based off of the Tony Sarg book, and Velma always claimed it was a “pathetic” puppet. Some people feel her true schooling came following the viewing of a puppet show in downtown Los Angeles. She asked the Barlow’s, the husband and wife puppeteer team, if they sold their puppets, and received a resounding, “No, but we’ll teach you.”

This moment lead fairly quickly to the later stages in Velma’s life, as her skill for making puppets grew, and her reputation as an excellent puppeteer became widely known in the Hollywood movie circles. Following a crisis and losing their feature star, NBC contacted Velma, requesting a rush job on a puppet. Read the rest of this entry »

Click on the link below to search Spillbean.com Search Directory

Blog Directory

With the rate of population growing daily, not many small or decent sized towns, cities, or states are actually quite ready for the anticipated growth explosion in the rapidly arriving New Year. Coachella Valley is one of those towns that is taking it one step at a time, and planning on being prepared for population growth in the Coachella Valley, and how it will impact the current residents. This impact on these residents is what some of the city managers are using as a basis for their planning. Experts say the valley’s population is expected to double in the next 25 years to about 800,000. By 2066, it should surpass 1.1 million. The Coachella Valley’s population grows by 53 people daily. We Have Grown 59 % in the past 15 years, to our current 410,974. That growth rate tops those for Riverside County, California and the Nation.

Along with population growth, comes numerous other growth areas that if not controlled properly could have your city or town in a dire strait, Read the rest of this entry »

What qualifies as a fun and rowdy time? A trip to Coachella , Ca which is 40 minutes from Palm Springs, CA, will take you to the Empire Polo Fields near Indio where you will find thousands of fans waiting for the glorified line up of Country Musicians. Take the ride and follow the tracks of those that went before you and fall into the country ambiance of the stars of country music. This trip away gives you a chance to fully enjoy the country music you love, and see your favorite starts up close and personal.

Are you a country music fan? Do you sing the country blues in your heart, and is the blood that pumps through your veins pure country? Read the rest of this entry »

Are you looking for the perfect place to unwind, slow your hectic life down, and rest easy?

Come on over to Palm Springs, California where the beauty of living is restored, and the pace slows down to a more normal rate. Good health, beauty, and enjoyment are the key words here, and you will find this out for yourself when you contact an agent in Palm Springs Real Estate.

Palm Springs has more to offer than most of the larger cities, which are nice in their own rights, but isn’t it time to settle down in a healthy way? Spas and health resorts abound here in the Coachella Valley and offer relaxation and a healthy start on the rest of your life. Where else in the world can you experience the gorgeous balmy days with cool nights? Not only are you experiencing a regenerative life again, but also rubbing shoulders with some of the most famous people in America.

Looking for a way to fill those relaxed and carefree days? Try visiting some famous stars’ homes Read the rest of this entry »