Palm Springs Real Estate by Susan Eidler

What qualifys as a bedroom?

A sleeping room, aka bedroom, requires the following basics:
A minimum of 70 sq. ft. of floor area.
A minimum measurement in any horizontal direction of 7'.
A minimum ceiling height of 7'- 6".
A source of permanent heat.
A window providing natural light sized a minimum of 10% of the floor area.
The window shall be openable a minimum of 5% of the floor area.
The emergency egress/escape window shall provide a clear minimum height of 24".*
The sill serving the egress/escape window shall not be more than 44" above finished floor.
A smoke detector.
Does it require a closet? No!

New Federal Housing Bill signed into Law!

This bill can help you if you live in your home as a primary residence. Or if you are a first time home buyer First-time home buyer tax credit, which allows first-time home buyers to receive a tax refund worth up to 10 percent of a home’s purchase price, up to a maximum of $7,500. The refund serves as an interest-free loan and the homeowner is required to repay it in equal installments over 15 years.

Desert Area sells more homes in April

Did you know that in April in the desert there were 25% more homes sold than there were in March? Driven by bank sales and foreclosures many more units sold. It was up like that surprised everyone as everybody expected units to be down. Golf course communities are least affected. Most of the homes are at lower pricepoints in communites that do not have a golf course The Median price in the Desert is about $300,000. In PGA WEST for instance the Median price is $916,000 So why don't you use blogs to write positive headlines rather than negative headlines.

Sellers Expectations have to change!

The sky is falling , the sky is falling. So says the gloomy headlines that the national news is reporting. There is no reason for the Palm Springs area to panic. People buy homes when a buyer and a seller can come to grips with the price of the home. For that to happen sellers have to have more realistic expectations. Buyers have alot of inventory to chose from. And agents have a lot of homes to sort thru when working with a buyer. However there are numerous positives already here, such as the high number of discretionary or second vacation homes, which indicates owners' ability to weather financial pressures. That is not to say that there aren't short sales or foreclosures where buyers and investors got in over their heads. Buyers who are on the sidelines waiting for prices to go lower may just miss the bottom. Like the stock market it is said you can not time it! Also you lose the enjoyment of owning that home for the next year!

Intimate golf community in La Quinta

The Palms has only 101 homes in this golfers community. A course designed by Fred Couples and Brian Curley with homes surrounding it. built on 150 acres of a 200 acre ranch, the course is a core golf course, which features traditional design with dramatic bunkering, ample driving areas, and smallish greens. More than 2,000 mature date palm trees give it an awesome look. Homes are located both off the golf course starting in the low $800.000's and on the course beginning at $1,150 ,000 for 2883 sq ft. There are homes up to about 4,000 sq ft. HOA dues are $310 monthly Play where the pros live. Golf membership is $36,000 deposit and dues are about $625 monthly. See a magnicicant home in the Palms at http://www.deserthomes4you.com/MyHomeDtl.asp?lstPages=1&HomeId=614780

Prices up in the Desert 5% in July?

The Desert has shown slowed down sales in July, however we have less inventory on the market. Inventory peaked in April . The increase is the median price was affected by the mix of sold inventory. Million dollar homes plus have become almost 14% of the sales in the Desert. And homes under $200,000 have about disappeared. New homes are hurting , the prices dropped 8.9% over last July as they give incentive over incentive to get their homes moving. Cities that did well include La Quinta and parts of Palm Desert. Less condos sold and more single family homes drove those median prices up. Actually resale homes showed an increase in median price and condos showed a decrease

Golf courses every where!

Did you know that there are at least 8 public golf courses in La Quinta? That means if you are only in the area a little bit but love to golf, you can find a course to play without a membership.There are a few courses at PGA WEST, Duna La Quinta, Santa Rosa Cove, Trilogy and the City of La Quinta's municipal course at SilverRock. If you are interested in membership however there is PGa West with 6 courses one membership, Mountain View CC with one course designed by Arnold Palmer, Rancho La quinta Cc with 2 private courses, The Hideaway with 2 private courses, The Palms CC, as well as the higher end Tradition and the Quarry.

National News Homes sale prices drop 3.2%

It was widely reported yesterday that the National Assoc of Realtors announced for July the steepest drop in home prices in 20 years! It was also reported that the un sold inventory has shot up once again. Well the news here in the Palm Springs area is that it is true that Real Estate is local. While inventory is at a solid high, prices here are not dropping. July 2007 showed prices increasing 5.8% So don't let the national news get you down. Come enjoy the beautiful desert , where prices are generally lower then the rest of the resort areas.

Affordable Housing Summit

Only 10 percent of valley residents are able to afford the $400,000 median-priced home and the nation's eighth-worst house-price-to-household-income ratio. There was a summit on May 31 2007 brought about with the help of the the Agua Caliente tribe, one of the valley's largest employers with some 2,400 workers and another 300 to be hired. Without affordable housing the workers in the area will be forced to have long drives like currently goes on in Orange county Most people would like to live in a single family detached home. However with land dwindling in both Riverside and and San Bernadino counties, developers must plan other options. In essence reinventing neighborhoods.