Another Desert Gem: The Custom Architecture

With the Palm SpringPalm Desert area so popular with the entertainment crowd over the years, you find some incredible architecture here that you wouldn’t find in other communities this size.

Twin Palms Estate
Twin Palms Estate

One architectural style is represented here perhaps better than anywhere else in the country: Mid Century Modern. In fact, so many noted architects designed homes and other buildings here in that style, that “Palm Springs Modern” has become well known on its own merits.

One of the best examples of this is Frank Sinatra’s Twin Palms Estate, which has been recognized as a Class 1 Historic Site. It was designed by architect E. Stewart Williams and the local legend is that Old Blue Eyes strolled into Williams’ office in the spring of 1947, eating an ice cream cone and announcing that he wanted the home built by Christmas. It was Sinatra’s home during much of his tumultuous time married to Ava Gardner.

There are fascinating tours of noted Coachella Valley architectural gems throughout the year and the current owners of Sinatra’s estate open it for tours once a year in February during Modernism Week.

Twin Palms Estate
Twin Palms Estate

Custom homes today
The tradition of outstanding design continues today and many communities around and near golf courses offer stunningly original designs. If you get a chance to tour Sinatra’s Twin Palms Estate, you’ll see how Williams incorporated the beauty of the natural setting into his design. You’ll see that same quality if you’re shopping for a new home in our area and we have the pleasure to head out and look at some properties.

Melding the desert scenery, such as the Santa Rosa-San Jacinto Mountains, with home design is one of the things that makes living in this area so special. You’ll see that approach to design in many of the custom homes at La Quinta Resort, including the properties of the Enclave Mountain Estates.

Enclave Mountain Estates is an exclusive gated community of custom homes on the grounds of La Quinta Resort and Club. Each home is distinct and ideally designed for its setting. The attention to detail in the homes in this community is extraordinary. You’ll find that properties run from around 3,600 to  7,100 square feet and make great use of outdoor living space as well.

La Quinta Resort
La Quinta Resort

Golf course architecture
When residents here want to venture out, they’re just steps away from the Mountain Course, which was designed by the renowned Pete Dye. Since this article has been highlighting architecture, I suppose I should mention a little about golf course architects as well. With his Mountain Course, Dye has really given us a course that not only challenges golfers but also treats them to some magnificent mountain vistas; he has worked with the environment just as great structural architects do when they design custom homes.

Why don’t you download our free golf resource guide so you can get a good overview of how courses and communities are spread out over the Coachella Valley? If you’re considering La Quinta real estate, Indian Wells real estate or a home anywhere in the general Palm Springs area—and have an interest in golf—our guide is a great place to start. Of course, we’re always ready to answer your questions and help in any way we can.

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What’s in a Rock? A lot of History!

Driving through the Coachella Valley and the desert in general—if you’re paying attention and not too distracted by whatever you’re listening to—can be like driving through history.

People have been living here for thousands of years and they all have left their distinctive marks on the landscape. To really take a hike back in time, explore the Corn Springs Petroglyph Site sometime when you’re in La Quinta. It’s just a bit further down I-10 and on BLM land.

Point Happy Rock
Point Happy Rock

However, here I wanted to open your eyes to an interesting feature you might not give a second look while you’re driving through La Quinta and Indio. It’s called Point Happy Rock. Highway 111 cuts right through it and it’s where the popular Cliffhouse Restaurant is located.

A route that really rocks!
Today, road engineers tend to plot the course of new highways around rock outcroppings like this. But in the 1930s, when this right of way was originally carved—or blasted—out, the engineers apparently had other priorities.

Often when we drive “through”Point Happy Rock, we think about all the people over the years who have traveled this route. When a road funnels through a narrow slit carved through a massive piece of rock, you know that that specific patch of ground will always be a route for commerce.

Back in the days of the Dust Bowl, some travelers from the Midwest must have rolled through there. Today, visitors and residents of La Quinta and other communities in the Palm Springs area pass through Point Happy Rock on their way to golf courses such as La Quinta Country Club, Rancho La Quinta, Indian Wells Golf Resort, El Dorado Country Club, The Vintage, The Reserve, and many others.

Rancho La Quinta
Rancho La Quinta

Homes with views
Of course, golfer-homeowners in locations like Rancho La Quinta seldom have to hop in their vehicles and head out onto Highway 111 to pursue their favorite sport. Rancho La Quinta offers 36 holes of golf. Another special treat here is its elevated lots that deliver stunning views of the Santa Rosa Mountains.

And if there are non-golfers in your family, the tennis courts, pool and fitness center are great ways to stay fit. I said pool, but I should have said “pools.” However, the main pool at the Racquet Club is the perfect size to put in some laps.

When you drop in to get more details on some of these properties and the various golf options you have, be sure you have our free golf resource guide with you. It gives a great “birds-eye view” of the area. Combine that with one of the local books that talk about desert history, and you’ll really be able to maximize your understanding of this special area.

We hope to see you soon!

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President #44 Plays 9 Holes

Thunderbird Country Club in Rancho Mirage is certainly accustomed to taking care of high profile guests, but none get any higher profile than the President of the United States, and that’s what happened recently when Barack Obama was in town.

Thunderbird Country Club
Thunderbird Country Club

President Obama’s love of golf is well known—we hear that he’s somewhere around a 16-18 handicap—so it shouldn’t be any surprise that Air Force One is seen occasionally at Palm Springs International. Reports we saw said he played nine holes of golf at Porcupine Creek, Oracle founder Larry Ellison’s place in Rancho Mirage.

The Valley of the Presidents
I wonder if any single valley in the country has had as many presidential visits and homes as our area. President Eisenhower is, of course, one of our most famous aficionados, but he wasn’t the first to discover the area. Herbert Hoover was here in 1936 and FDR was in La Quinta before WWII. And after his years in the White House, Gerald Ford settled in the area.

La Quinta Resort
La Quinta Resort

And that actually brings me to my topic: Publications like Variety have speculated that President Obama was actually checking out property when he was here with the First Lady. I suspect that if the president does decide to buy a home here, one of his main reasons would be similar to what motivates many of our residents: the number of great golf courses in the area. (I’m going to have to see if anyone from the White House has downloaded our golf course resource guide…)

While you might not find yourself in a foursome with a former president, you will certainly be in good company when you golf in the La Quinta, Indian Wells or the greater Palm Springs area. And, whether you’re looking for a retirement home, second home or just a great place to live, this is a the place to be. Of course, living on or near a golf course is nirvana for many of our residents.

La Quinta Resort Tennis
La Quinta Resort

The Royal Treatment
Even if you haven’t been the most powerful man in the free world, you’ll find that you’re treated like a king at all the local facilities. When you start to scout real estate here, some of your most difficult decisions will be choosing between communities in places such as the La Quinta Resort, with its three courses (2 public, 1 private at the Citrus), tennis courts, and other fine facilities.

Boasting three courses and some 10 different communities tucked in, around and near the golf courses, there is a lot of variety available. Everything from large custom homes at The Enclave to the La Quinta Resort Spa Villas condos make ideal locations for golfers and anyone looking for an active lifestyle.

There are many other communities I should mention, but I’ll leave them for a future post. For now, let me just point out our free golf resource guide download. Who knows, maybe the president has a copy on his laptop right now, so when you push the download “button” you could be in very good company.

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More than Hawks Soar the Desert Sky

Compared to most regions of Southern California, the Palm Springs area, Coachella Valley—including communities such as La Quinta, Indio and Palm Desert—doesn’t have a very large population.

Parade of Planes in Palm Springs
Parade of Planes in Palm Springs

However, it’s not the quantity of people that make a place to live special, it’s the diversity of the people, and that’s something that makes this place unique. We have world-class events here unlike any other place on earth this size.

Sometimes we have events that no other place on the planet has, period. And I just read about one I’m looking forward to in the fall: the Parade of Planes.

Each year there’s an aviation summit in Palm Springs and as part of the festivities, private pilots fly into the airport there and then parade down East Alejo Road and North Avenida Caballeros to the convention center.

Please drop us a note or make a comment below if you know about any other annual parade where aircraft are the “floats.”

An aviation legacy
The California desert has long been a favorite place for aviators and as well as the international airport in Palm Springs, our area also boasts the Bermuda Dunes Airport, which is very near La Quinta, Indio and Palm Desert, and the Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport, located just down the highway in Thermal.

Indian Wells Country Club
Indian Wells Country Club

For private aviation buffs, real estate in La Quinta and the neighboring communities can be the ideal location. We haven’t mentioned Indian Wells real estate recently on these pages, but its proximity to the Bermuda Dunes Airport makes it an excellent choice for pilots who also have a penchant for a good round of golf.

The Cove Course at the Indian Wells Country Club was home to the Bob Hope Desert Classic for more than 40 years. A lot of great moments in the game happened on that course. The homes there are just as notable and definitely worth touring when you come to our area.

A Weiskopf course
Also nearby is The Reserve Country Club. The Reserve Country Club course is designed by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish. Weiskopf, with 16 PGA tour wins to his credit, including the 1973 US Open, brings some real cachet to The Reserve.

The Reserve Country Club
The Reserve Country Club

Of course, even if you don’t fly a plane or swing a golf club, there’s still a lot to do when you live in a place like the Indian Wells Country Club or the Reserve Country Club. Pools, spas and fitness gyms are in the mix. And if you visit the Reserve, you’ll see that it backs right up to the Santa Rosa-San Jacinto Mountains. A quick drive up the road will take you to the Randall Henderson Trail if you want to stretch your legs and look for some desert wildlife in its natural habitat.

Okay, have I taken this far enough? I started out talking about an airplane parade and managed to bring it around to trail hiking in the mountains. What more can I include? Oh yeah, I haven’t mentioned our free golf resource guide. Hit that big button and download a copy for yourself.

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September 10 Price Report

Here are the latest sales numbers for all homes sold within the City of La Quinta as well as all Golf Course homes in La Quinta through September 2010.


 City of La Quinta home sales since January 2008 

The blue lines represent 2008 data, the orange lines represent 2009 data and the magenta lines represent 2010 data.
The chart above shows monthly sales of homes within the city of La Quinta*.

As the end of the hot summer months approaches, We see a continuing softening of the La Quinta home sales for September. Sales were lower in September than August and for the second time since June, 2009, lower than the same month a year earlier. Open escrows in September dropped 5.8% which is not terribly surprising during the hot summer months but is an indicator of the usual lazy sales for this time of year. Consumer confidence, which seemed to have steadied in the previous few months has turned into a wait and see attitude leading up to the November Mid-term elections. Prices seem to be stabilizing in the under $1,000,000 market. The above $1,000,000 market has not seen the improvement of the under $1m market but this is likely due to the unavailability of jumbo loans. The general attitude of the people we talk to at open houses is that the market has hit the bottom and that is backed up by current prices versus historical appreciation.



Golf Course home sales in La Quinta 

The sales-volume numbers in the higher-end market (which contains many of the golf properties in the chart above) have fallen off as expected with the arrival of the summer heat. The average price per square foot dropped 11.5% in August over July’s prices BUT it has come back 2% in September.

Overall, we are still seeing positive signs in the market place. There has been an increase in activity since Labor Day and, hopefully, buyers are getting ready for the upcoming season. The mortgage industry is the best it’s ever been for conventional loans but the “jumbo” loans continue to be a stumbling block in the higher end market.

A correction to be made…
Last month I mistakenly interpreted the inventory data to mean that 1,906 units out of the 5,115 Active listings were pending. The 1,906 units were in addition to the 5,115 unit totalling 7,021 active and pending units for sale in the Coachella Valley. That means that only 27% of the total units were were pending.

On September 30, there were 5,233 active listings, 1,825 units in escrow totalling 7058 unit available for sale which makes 25.9% of the total in Escrow.

If buying property is something on your list (especially golf property), why not take advantage of the incredible prices and seller incentives now, when sellers will work with you, instead of in the future, when the demand starts to catch up with the supply? Especially if you’re buying and planning to hold for 5+ years.

Here are some yearly sales figures (units) for the City of La Quinta from 2002:

Year All LQ Golf Course
2002 1,354 259
2003 1,565 652
2004 1,931 813
2005 1,553 657
2006 1,098 491
2007 935 447
2008 1,063 416
2009 1,155 418
2010 YTD 986 422 (Sept)

 

* When looking at “sold” data, you have to remember that the numbers are generated on the date that the sale is recorded with the county but that the decision to buy was made about 45 – 60 days earlier.

Figures are from the Desert Area MLS

La Quinta History

La Quinta, California has a very interesting and rich history that includes the conquistadors and Spanish traders of long ago but mainly revolves around the world famous La Quinta Resort which began in 1926. In it’s beginning, the resort was a main house sorounded by several Casitas. It later added a golf course that is currently the La Quinta Country Club. That course was later sold to it’s members and is now a prestigious private club located across the street from the Resort.

Here are some links to get more details on La Quinta’s history.

Wikipedia’s History of La Quinta
La Quinta Resort
La Quinta Country Club

La Quinta also has a Museum and a Historical Society.

Some of the upcoming events hosted by the Historical Society are:

January 24, 2009         Annual Event
Fiesta of History Dinner Dance
Historic La Quinta Hotel
5:30pm  Reservations required  $125.00

February 13, 2009        Brown Bag Lunch Series*
Highway 111 – The way it was 1935 – 1960
11:30am – 1:30pm  La Quinta Museum

March 21, 2009                 Bus Tour and Lunch
Palm Springs Museum, 1930 General Store, Air Museum
Guide: Air Museum Docent Don Arends
9:00am – 3:00pm  Reservations required  $45.00

April 21, 2009         Special Member Event
Secrets of The Hacienda Del Gato
9:00am – meet at the museum for orientation then
Carpool to Traditions for our tour.

May 2, 2009         Brown Bag Lunch Series*
Historical Casitas of the Cove
Speaker: Maggie Gordon, Author
10:45am – 12:30pm   La Quinta Museum

*Brown Bag Lunch Series is free and open to the public
Bring your own lunch – drinks are provided
La Quinta Historical Society
For information and reservations please call
Louise Neeley (760) 345-1106

The city of La Quinta ranks among the richest in the nation.

I just read in the La Quinta Sun (mydesert.com December 18) that La Quinta ranks 437 out of 2082 of the richest cities in the United States! As stated by La Quinta’s Assistant City Manager, Bret Plumlee,  “La Quinta is a great place to raise a family or retire.  It is a high-end community which offers many positive amenities…and outstanding service which provides a high quality of life for its residents and businesses.”

I couldn’t have said it better, and now is a sensational time to take advantage of buying real estate in our beautiful resort community of La Quinta. For example, we have two incredible deals in the Citrus right now at $699,000 and $700,000, among others. These are real values for golf course homes in La Quinta — especially within the gates of the private Citrus Club, which boasts 3 golf courses and has HOA dues in the low $300s (way below other comparable clubs). Click here to view all the listings in the Citrus Club.