Canyons, Palms, and Water

Last week some of our family from the East Coast came for their annual summer visit. They find our desert home with closeup mountain views and our pool, spa, palms, and other flora all rather exotic. Sunny days, along with our mister cooling system, invite them out to swim and read all day. They’re amazed [...]

From Trickle to Torrent

Lender owned properties are dominating our market
A year ago, on July 9, 2008, I blogged about investors entering the Palm Springs real estate market. Spurred on by an increasing number of foreclosures, that market trend presented low prices and thus a good opportunity for investors. With our economy in turmoil and foreclosures on the rise, [...]

Discoveries

When you buy a house, they can’t tell you everything. Some things you just discover over time. In our case, that extra something was the endless entertainment in watching our hummingbirds. They keep very busy feeding right up until dark. Our dominant bird often stations himself near his preferred food source, a bed of red [...]

Use Tax Credit as Your Mortgage Down Payment

In a blog on February 5, 2009, I expressed some hope that we would soon see new congressional proposals that would offer incentives to everyone interested in buying property and thus provide a means by which sales would increase and excess inventory would be sold off.
As it turned out, the final congressional bill, although missing [...]

Coachella Valley will Have a Second Area Code

Palm Springs and the rest of the Coachella Valley will soon be required to use ten digits to make all local calls, even if it’s to your next door neighbor. This change comes as the result of the California Public Utilities Commission having determined that we will be running out of new phone numbers for [...]

Palm Springs is a Destination for Laid-Back Cool

On Sunday, April 12, the NYT Travel Section lauded Palm Springs as a destination for laid-back cool and as a place finding balance between the past and the present. Called 36 Hours in Palm Springs, the full page article by Erica Cerulo goes on to propose some of our restaurants such as Johannes, our hotels [...]

The Palm Springs Dark Tradition Continues in 2009

Among other activities, our Palm Springs lifestyle includes the opportunity to see many great films during our annual festivals. One of these – the Film Noir Festival, returns to the Camelot Theatres May 28-31 under a new name – The Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival. An eclectic mix of Classic Film Noir “B” movies are [...]

Another Facet of the Palm Springs Lifestyle

We were just driving away from the office en route to preview a property, when we came upon a happy group of joggers all dressed in lingerie, beach wear and exaggerated makeup – men and women alike. They were such a colorful and happy group, we just had to honk and wave to them. Who [...]

Avoiding Foreclosure

The Obama administration recently outlined a mortgage plan, for responsible homeowners, aimed at helping families in distress to avoid foreclosure. Here is an excerpt from a statement released by the U.S. Department of the Treasury on March 4, 2009, outlining the intent of the plan.

“Only two weeks after the President unveiled his plan to help [...]

Palm Springs Natives Offer Festival of Native Film and Culture

This week the Aqua Caliente band of the Cahuilla tribe is offering one of their special events, the annual Festival of Native Film and Culture. Now in its eighth season, the 2009 Festival has already begun and will continue through March 8, 2009 at the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs. The Festival features films, documentaries, [...]