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Sheri’s Palm Springs Area Blog

Whether it be real estate updates, restaurant reviews, events, or highlights of unique homes in Palm Springs, follow Sheri as she covers all that Palm Springs and the surrounding area has to offer.

Going The Extra Mile For Our Home Sellers

Our Sheri Dettman & Associates team just completed a sales transaction for one of our Palm Springs area home seller clients, and frankly, it was more challenging that most. Looking back on this sale though the result was what counted.

Personally, I Liked This Home A Lot

I liked this home from day one. The first challenge though was the home had been and investment property with renters living there. When the renters moved out, the furnishings moved out too, and the home looked, well it looked rather empty.

Our sellers did their best in having the home painted and added a few pieces of furnishings and staging items. Our marketing team created their video tour, magazine quality photos, and we launched their marketing campaign. But months later we only had received several lowball offers.

So after a number of months on the market, I suggested bringing in additional furniture and staging props (like towels, plants and table settings). The owners did a great job of restaging of their home. Our marketing team re-created their video and property photos, and we started to get some good offers on the home. Yes!

Offer Accepted!

In time, we presented a reasonable offer to our sellers, and they accepted the offer. We opened an escrow account, and this transaction was moving along just fine. Then, at the 11th hour, the buyers financing fell apart, and we went back to square one. Our sellers at this point were feeling a bit crushed.

Another Offer Accepted

Here’s where being very busy and successful comes into play. We’re working with over 1,000 active buyer clients in various stages of the home buying process. Some are ready as soon as they find a property, others next week, next month or next year. But we stay in touch. I let our team know that this home was back on the market. Everyone reached out to their buyer clients, and with 24 hours one of our team members brought a new offer to our sellers and the property closed in 14-days.

We Get Email

Just this week I received this nice email message from one of the sellers:

“Hi Sheri! I wanted to first thank you for all that you and your staff have done over the past year to sell our house! What an amazing find I came across last year when I decided to Google La Quinta realtors and found Sheri Dettman & Associates.

Each and every step along the way, you and your team were professional, courteous and patient with questions that arose from curious minds. Let me just say that what we experienced explains your amazing success. Congratulations on your dedication and perseverance.

Secondly, we want to thank you for the Williams-Sonoma gift card. This is very thoughtful of you and much appreciated! How perfect to be able to remember your benchmark service often; when we are in the kitchen preparing a favorite dish.

Thank you again for the outstanding service and the opportunity working with you and your team as a buyer.”

Sincerely, Richard K.

From Sheri Dettman
In Selling - Info For Sellers, Sheri's Palm Springs Area Blog

Dining Around The Desert: Sullivan’s Steak House, Palm Desert

Happy Hour Follows El Paseo Shopping

After a bit of El Paseo shopping, my husband Bill and I decided on Sullivan’s Steak House located on the second floor of The Gardens On El Paseo in Palm Desert. While a little early for us at five o’clock, we were there, hungry and thirsty and heck, happy hour was being offered.

Large Lounge Area With Adjacent Patio

Sullivan's Bar / Lounge Area

We choose one of the high-top tables in the open lounge area, which provided a good view of the unfolding happy hour scene. The service was prompt and professional from the hostesses to our server to the manager.

The menu is the usual steakhouse fare from French Onion Soup and Shrimp Cocktail to a wide variety of Steaks and sides such as Three Cheese Mac and Cream Style Spinach. They have a couple of fish offerings including Bacon-Wrapped Sea Scallops and Ahi Tuna Steak.

Moscow Mule In Traditional Copper Mug

I enjoyed a Moscow Mule while Bill quenched his thirst with a Stella on tap. I’ve always liked the tangy ginger beer in the Mule, and I’m glad that it has made a comeback over the past few years. Here at Sullivan’s it’s served in the traditional copper mug.

Bill ordered the Bar Burger, which is pretty much a standard burger with American Cheese, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Red Onions, B&B Pickles on a Brioche Bun with French Fries. Perfectly cooked to medium, the burger was juicy and delicious. Using a Brioche Bun keeps it from being too much bread, and it’s the perfect size. Bill was hoping the included fries would be house made, but the fries were your average frozen variety.

I ordered the Sesame Chive Salmon, which is a piece of Salmon covered in sesame seeds, served on a small bed of Steamed Spinach with a Sherry-Soy Glaze. The fish was perfectly cooked, and the sauce was flavorful.

Say Yes Please To Sullivan's Key Lime Pie

Sullivan's Dining Room

To round it all off, and to ensure an all-around dining review we shared a piece of the Key Lime Pie. Sullivan's offers a generous serving size, and we'll leave it to you to decide whether to share or to enjoy yourself.

After we’d been there about 15 minutes Sullivan’s lounge area started to fill up, and by the time we left the bar was busy. They have a pretty active happy hour as well as live entertainment starting at six.

Sullivan’s Steak House: 73505 El Paseo, Suite 2600, Palm Desert, on the second floor of El Paseo Gardens, adjacent to Pacifica Seafood Restaurant. Sullivan’s features a lounge area, dining room and outside patio.

Photos: Wiliam Dettman

From Sheri Dettman
In Dining Around The Desert, Sheri's Palm Springs Area Blog

Palm Springs Real Estate & The California Drought

Desertscape & Grass At Griffin Ranch, La Quinta

Conserving Water In Our Desert Can Be A Good Thing!

California is working through a historical drought. The state has mandated water cuts of 25% statewide and asked for cutbacks of 35% here in the Coachella Valley. Personally I believe that could be a good thing. It’s time we realize that this is indeed the desert and that we need to start planting more desert landscape and less of the big, lush green lawns, which can help achieve our needed conservation of water.

State of California officials are focusing on meeting the new water goals by focusing on the replacement of 50 million square feet of green lawns with ‘drought tolerant landscaping.” Some cities and water districts are offering rebates for replacing turf.

A Little Less Grass, More Desertscape

Newly Installed deserts cape by the HOA At PGA West

Homes that combine smaller areas of grass with desertscape are great examples of just one way to save a lot of water. New homes being developed at Griffin Ranch in La Quinta (top photo) offer just that, and also include programmable irrigation systems with built-in rain sensors that automatically shut off sprinklers when it rains.

And yes, it does rain here in the desert! Several HOA's within PGA West are converting total grass areas to smaller areas of grass combined with desertscape.

New home communities have been required by local water agencies to plant more desertscape and fewer grass areas in common areas for over a decade. Many large country club communities including Rancho La Quinta Country Club started replacing large grass areas with desertscape several years ago, and these areas look great.

Desert Golf Courses Conserving Water

Conserving Water On The PGA West Palmer Golf Course

Palm Springs area golf courses have also been taking action with plans to replace turf areas outside of fairways and greens with desertscape. In past years, golf courses had been slow to conserve water because water has been cheap and plentiful here in the desert, but with mandated cuts many are now making the changes.

PGA West in La Quinta, the largest golf community in the desert already cut water usage this year by not over-seeding non-fairway and greens areas. Those areas of grass go dormant and for now require no watering. In addition, some of the HOA’s within PGA West have recently replaced common area grass with more desertscape. Others are in the works.

Inexpensive Desert Water

According to a recent article in the Los Angeles times, water in the LA area is about five times more expensive than here in the desert. And with this cheap water, golf courses and other large water users had little incentive to conserve water over the years. But now with state-mandated cuts, golf courses, and other large users are finally taking action.

The Coachella Valley Water Source

Coachella Valley's All American Canal

Most of the desert regions water supply comes from an underground aquifer. It’s so big “when the U.S. Geological Survey tried to measure its size, their scientists got to 12 trillion gallons, and they stopped counting,” said Coachella Valley Water District Spokesperson Heather Engel.

In recent years though, the valley had been drawing more water from this giant aquifer than it had been replacing. That's now being reversed by importing water via the 120 mile All American Canal from the Colorado River and letting it percolate into the giant aquifer. Long term though it’s up to all of us enjoying the desert lifestyle to plant more desertscape, less grass and not to waste our water resources.

Year-Round Sunshine Still Popular Here

People love the desert because of our almost year-round sunshine and warm temps. We have cheap water compared to the rest of Southern California, but that’s no excuse to not be smarter how we use our water.

From Sheri Dettman
In Buying - Info For Buyers, Buying – Info For Canadian Buyers, Sheri's Palm Springs Area Blog

Vacation Home Sales Up 57% Over Previous Year

Palm Springs Area Second Home Sales Update

Sales of second homes or vacation homes rose 57% in the U.S. last year compared to 2013 according to The National Association of Realtors (NAR). During 2014, 1.3 million vacation homes were sold which is a new record.

And according to this NAR survey, vacation homes accounted for 27% of all real estate transactions last year. The survey also found that 85% of vacation homebuyers think that now is a good time to invest in real estate.

These trends appear to parallel what we are experiencing here in the Palm Springs real estate market. 2014 was a record year for Sheri Dettman & Associates, and so far 2015 is tracking well ahead of last year.

Several Reasons Second Home Sales Are Strong

Palmilla Luxury Homes in La Quinta

Baby boomers remain a driving force behind second home sales. Many boomers have enjoyed a six-year market rally, and some of these boomers are now taking some of those gains out of the market and investing in second homes.

Desert Buyers Taking Advantage Of Today's Low Interest Rates

In past years, we saw a mix of about 50/50 cash versus loan purchases. This year however we’re seeing more buyers taking advantage of today's low-interest rates and conserving cash. That said, many mortgage experts expect interest rates to start rising sooner rather than later.

Canadian Buyers Coming Back Into The Palm Springs Market

As the Canadian Dollar retreated against the U.S. dollar last year, we experienced a pullback in second home purchases by Canadians. U.S. homebuyers, especially from within the State of California stepped up in large numbers to keep our market growing.

Now however we’re starting to see a lot of Canadian buyers jumping back into the Palm Springs area market, and in all price segments from affordable to luxury. We have also seen quite a few Canadians with existing Palm Springs area homes trading up this year.

From Sheri Dettman
In Buying - Info For Buyers, Buying – Info For Canadian Buyers, Real Estate Market Updates, Sheri's Palm Springs Area Blog

3 New Model Homes At Andalusia La Quinta

This week our Sheri Dettman & Associates marketing team was on site at Andalusia in La Quinta shooting new video footage featuring Andalusia’s three new model homes. These luxury golf homes are pretty amazing. But I’m getting ahead of myself in how these new homes came to be designed.

Seeking Input For Andalusia's Next Phase of New Homes

The Great Room of The Santa Rosa Floor Plan

Over the past two years the executive team at Andalusia at Coral Mountain in La Quinta has been seeking input from past Andalusia homebuyers and from some of the top Realtors here in the desert, myself included. Andalusia wanted to know what features, designs and styles today’s buyers were looking for as they planned the next phases of new homes.

Fast forward two years later and three of Andalusia’s six new model homes were nearing completion. Not one to wait around for completion though, I’d already been bringing our interested clients to walk these homes during the latest phases of construction.

During a number of these dusty shoe walkthroughs our clients and our team started to get excited about the newly updated designs. It became very apparent that Andalusia had listened and were indeed adding many of the most requested design features and a few surprises.

The Andalusia Brokers Open

Just this week our Sheri Dettman & Associates team was invited to Andalusia’s broker open as these new models were introduced to the La Quinta area Realtor community. I felt right at home because I’d already been spending considerable time in these homes with clients during the past few weeks as the finishing touches were put in place.

The three newest models represent the largest and most luxurious new homes at Andalusia. These updated homes include the Greystone, Santa Rosa and Coralstone floor plans described below.

The Greystone: 4 Bedrooms & 4.5 Baths in 4,184 Square Feet. From $1,560,000
The Santa Rosa: 4 Bedrooms & 4.5 Baths in 5,131 Square Feet. From $1,860,000
The Coralstone: 4 Bedrooms & 4.5 Baths in 4,331 Square Feet. From $1,545,000

New Andalusia Homes Now Selling

Santa Rosa Model Kitchen

Days prior to the opening I had started negotiations on one of these new homes for one of our buyer clients. Long story shorter, they’re looking forward to the completion of their new Andalusia luxury home located on a prime view lot.

Three additional model homes with updated floor plans are under construction. These four bedroom homes will range from 3,280 to 3,634 square feet and will start from $1.25M. We’ll have further updates on a regular basis.

Find Your Place In The Sun At Andalusia

Please don’t hesitate to contact me to arrange viewing of these new homes, or to arrange a private tour of the Andalusia community. Our Sheri Dettman & Associates team can bring added value to your new home experience, and at no cost to you as the buyer.

Don’t miss our exclusive video tour of the new Andalusia model homes.

From Sheri Dettman
In Golf Communities, Sheri's Palm Springs Area Blog

Recently Sold: Villas Of Mirada Rancho Mirage

Adjacent To The Ritz-Carlton Resort, With Full Resort Privileges

Sheri Dettman & Associates recently represented the buyers of this Villas of Mirada new construction home in Rancho Mirage. Villas of Mirada homeowners have full resort privileges at the adjacent Ritz-Carlton Resort. This home features great hillside views, including a custom infinity pool looking towards the Palm Springs area. Villas of Mirada is also adjacent to the Mirada Estates custom home community.

18 Mount San Jacinto, Rancho Mirage, CA. Priced at $1,575,000

From Sheri Dettman
In Recent Sales, Sheri's Palm Springs Area Blog

Recently Sold At Stonefield Estates, Southwest Indio

Sheri Dettman & Associates recently represented the buyers of this semi-custom luxury home at Stonefield Estates in Southwest Indio. With almost 5,000 square feet of living space this home boasts an estate-sized lot with southern exposure.

Stonefield Estates At Santa Rosa is a small-gated community that at completion will have just 41 luxury homes developed on lots averaging one-half acre. Stonefield Estates newest model home of 4,868 square feet, debuts this weekend.

80857 Rockspur Court, Southwest Indio, CA. Priced at $1,180,000

Great Room of Model Home

From Sheri Dettman
In Recent Sales, Sheri's Palm Springs Area Blog

Newly Offered Home At Rancho La Quinta Country Club

Elevated Golf Course Location With Awesome Views

We just completed our photography and video shoots for our newly featured golf course home at 78776 Via Carmel in La Quinta. Rancho La Quinta is a private golf and country club located in the heart of La Quinta.

Here at Rancho La Quinta Country Club, your monthly HOA (homeowners association) dues include social, fitness and tennis membership privileges. There’s plenty to enjoy with family and friends, and golf membership is optional.

Enjoying The Unique Rancho La Quinta Location And Views

When I walked out onto the patio and pool areas of this home, I took a few minutes to enjoy the unique views this location offers. This home is located on an elevated lot above the golf course fairways offering a lot of open space between the home and golf course for added privacy.

Next to the pool and overlooking the golf course and mountains, you’ll discover a raised deck area with two chaise lounges. It seems to be a perfect spot to enjoy a good book, a libation or just enjoing watching the golfers pass by below you.

Professionally Decorated And It Shows

Back inside, I was impressed by the extensive amount of built-in cabinetry from room to room and the attention to detail by the professional decorators. I also like the unique Dutch door at the front entry. What a great idea if you have a small pet or little ones visiting.

If you’re considering investing in a La Quinta area golf course home, then you’ll want to take a look at this property.

Other Featured Ranch La Quinta Properties

From Sheri Dettman
In Featured Properties, Sheri's Palm Springs Area Blog

Dining Around The Desert: Morgan’s At La Quinta Resort

Returning To Morgan's, An Old Favorite

Time can certainly fly and since it’s been a few years since we reviewed Morgan’s In The Desert, my husband Bill and I recently revisited this old favorite located at The La Quinta Resort & Club.

Morgan’s is the La Quinta Resort’s fine dining restaurant. Morgan's is helmed by Chef Jimmy Schmidt of Detroit’s famed Rattlesnake Restaurant. Morgan’s features a selection of small plates, seafood, and meats along with excellent cocktails and an extensive wine list.

Dining At Morgan’s Bar

Morgan's Bar & Lounge Area

We chose to dine at the bar and Brian the bartender took great care of us. I started with a Tangerine-Ginger Margarita made of Sauza Agave, Pomegranate juice, fresh Tangerine, Ginger, and Lime. Bill sampled a glass of the 2012 Neyers Chardonnay.

The soup of the day, which we shared, was Cauliflower with Sweet Onions. It was creamy and packed with flavor but featured no cream or dairy. It was one of the best soups that Bill's enjoyed in recent years.

The Scallops Or Salmon?

Usually for my entrée I would order Maine Diver Sea Scallops. Brian suggested the Pan Roasted Nova Salmon on a bed of Roast Pumpkin & Quinoa Risotto, with Ginger Froth & Crispy Ginger Salad, and Brian did not steer me wrong.

Bill ordered the suggested Apple Cider Cured All Natural Pork Chop with a Smoked Salt Apple & Cauliflower Gratin and an Apple & Pinot Noir Essence. While the Pork Chop could have used 30 seconds less on the grill, the depth of flavors on this plate were wonderful. A glass of the ‘12 Seghesio Zinfandel was the perfect complement.

Our Dessert Goes Quickly

For dessert, we were treated to Twisted S’mores of Chocolate with Fire Kissed Marshmallow Ice Cream on an Almond Graham Cracker. It lasted about a minute between the two of us!

Morgan’s is open for dinner from 5:30 to 10 PM daily. The bar hours are from 5-10 and until midnight on Friday and Saturday. There is live music Wednesday thru Sunday from 7-11 PM. Reservations are highly recommended, and if you enjoy dining in the bar, please say hello to Brian. Complimentary valet parking is available at the resort entrance. Morgan's Of The Desert: 49-499 Eisenhower Drive, La Quinta (760) 564-7600