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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.

Hideaway Golf Club La Quinta Sales Update

Hideaway Golf Club Clive Clark Course

Home sales at Hideaway Golf Club in La Quinta so far this year are running slightly ahead of 2010. Year-to-date in 2011 a total of 15 homes have sold versus 14 during the same period last year.

Custom lot sales at Hideaway this year are well ahead of last year with 24 sales so far in 2011 versus 17 lots sold during all of 2010. This seems to reflect buyers taking advantage of bargain prices averaging $286,833, down from an average sale price of $454,372 in ’10.

Sun City Shadow Hills Sales Update

Sun City Shadow Hills Communiity Center Patio Area

Home sales at Sun City Shadow Hills, an active-adult community (55 or better) in Indio continue to show increases this year. During the last six months 93 homes sold in Sun City Shadow Hills. That compares with 77 home sold during the same six-month period of 2010. Buyers seem to be continuing to take advantage of good values.

Sales of homes at Shadow Hills overt these past six months have ranged from $162,000 up to a high of $650,000. The lowest sale price last year during this same six month time period was $159,000 so Shadow Hills entry pricing seems to have moved up a bit in the last year.

As of today there are 83 active listings at Sun City Shadow Hills. This may sound like a lot of inventory until you consider that the Shadow Hills community is master planned for 3,200 homes at completion. This works out to a 5.3 month supply of home inventory at the current sales rates, which is well below the national and the Palm Springs area average. This continues to reflect a strong demand for value priced property in the desert.

PGA West La Quinta Sales Update: Bank Owned Homes

I was looking at available PGA West home and condo inventory today and frankly I was surprised. PGA West is a large resort lifestyle community with about 1,400 homes and condos and there was only four bank owned properties available today!

One of these properties is a fractional ownership property at The Residence Club (sorry we won’t go there!) so really just three bank-owned properties priced from $299,900 to $439,900. Two others are pending sales (in escrow) up to $949,900. This led me to do some further digging.

At PGA West in the last six months there have only been 15 bank-owned sales total. The average REO (Real Estate Owned is the industry term for bank owned property) at PGA West sold for $467,259. The high sale was $845,000 and the low $150,000.

Are Banks Pricing PGA West Properites Correctly?
Bank owned properties at PGA West seem to be priced right as five of the 15 properties sold within 30-days at 100% of the listing price. The other homes sold from between 91.25% and 96.14% of list prices depending on the price range and time on market.

During this same six-month period 92 homes and condo total were sold at PGA West, which translates into only 15% of the total being REO’s. This is well down from 33% about a year ago. If you’re wondering about short sales, only 12 properties sold as short sales sold during this same time period.

Only 17 Bank Owned Homes In Desert Golf Communities

Tradition Golf Club Clubhouse, La Quinta


Many people may think that there is a glut of bank owned properties on the market and in some areas of the country (think La Vegas and Phoenix) that’s true. Because homes and condos in golf course communities are so popular in the desert I decided to take inventory of recent bank owned sales in these golf communities.

Checking our Palm Springs area MLS today I found that there are only 17 bank owned homes priced at $400,000 and above. 17 homes is a miniscule amount of home and condo inventory considering the total size of these golf communities!

Palm Springs Area Golf Community Bank Owned Homes For Sale

  • Avondale Golf Club, Palm Desert: 1 $609,900
  • Andalusia at Coral Mountain, La Quinta: 1 @ $849,900
  • Bighorn Golf Club, Palm Desert: 1 @ $1,495,000
  • Desert Horizons Country Club, Indian Wells: 1 @ $699,900
  • Hideaway Golf Club, La Quinta: 1 @ $1,624,500
  • Ironwood Country Club, Palm Desert: 1 @ $529,900
  • La Quinta Resort Spa Villas: 1 @ $554,900
  • Palm Valley Golf Club, Palm Desert: 1 @ $429,900
  • PGA West, La Quinta: 2 @ $419,900 & $439,900
  • Rancho La Quinta Country Club: 3 @ $807,500, $898,600 & $455,000
  • Tahquitz Creek Golf Resort, Palm Springs: 1 @ $799,999
  • The Reserve, Palm Desert: 1 @ $1,950,000
  • Tradition Golf Club, La Quinta: 1 @ $2,650,000
  • Toscana Country Club, Indian Wells: 1 @ $1,025,000

If you'd like information on any of these bank owned properties please email Sheri today.

Trilogy La Quinta Home Sales Update

Homes At Trilogy La Quinta

Trilogy at La Quinta is an active-adult community with 1,200 homes, public golf and low monthly HOA dues, which include numerous social, fitness and sports activities.

Trilogy at La Quinta home sales, are outpacing last years sales. During the last six months there have been 47 Trilogy homes sold compared to 42 during the same six-month period of 2010. The average Trilogy at La Quinta sale price is $427,025 up slightly from $422,030 last year.

The average price paid per square foot for a Trilogy home has increased to $206 per square foot versus $200 per square foot during the same time period last year. Of these 42 sales only six were bank-owned homes while seven sales were completed as short sales.

Current Trilogy La Quinta Listings
There are currently 72 homes listed for sale at Trilogy of which two are bank owned properties and seven are short sale listings. This equates to a roughly 6.13 month supply of Trilogy inventory, below the national average of 9.5 months supply of homes.

Jump over to our Trilogy at La Quinta page here for more information.

Bighorn Golf Club, Palm Desert Sales Update

Common Area Landscape At Bighorn Golf Club

Last month I posted a blog entry about Super Luxury Properties Sales (those selling at $2 million and greater) in the desert. The gist of the article was that the average sales price of super-luxury properties had increased slightly from $3.0 to $3.1 million over the last year. Today, I compared sales at Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert for the most recent six months compared to the same six month period last year.

Bighorn Golf Club Property Sales Last Six Months

  • 2011: 7 Homes sold / Highest Sale $3.4 million
  • 2010: 4 Homes sold / Highest Sale $5.5 million
  • 2011 Average sale price per square foot was $650 versus $576 in 2010

Seeing a sales increase over last year and a higher average sale price per square foot are both good indicators for property sales at Bighorn Golf Club. The average home sold at Bighorn during the recent six months was 4,681 square feet.

Bighorn Golf Club is a prestigious golf and country club community located in the foothills above of Palm Desert. Please don’t hesitate to contact me to arrange a private tour of Bighorn or to view available Bighorn properties.

Source: Desert Area MLS® as of 9/14/2011

Palmilla, La Quinta Short Sale Opportunity

Palmilla, La Quinta Pool Home

50485 Via Amante, La Quinta: 3BD / 3 BA / 3,278 square feet. Listed at $549,000!

Buying a short sale property can be a hassle. That said, I've worked with the agents representing the this Palmilla short sale property quite often and they have a good track record of success. With short sales homes that's about 75% of the formula. Knowing which short sale agents have a proven track record of getting sales approved by the lender(s).

Having lived in the contemporary water-themed community of Palmilla in the past, I went to a dinner party in this home and it is a "10." Anything in La Quinta priced at or under $200 per square foot is a great opportunity. And in Palmilla, $167.48 per square foot is something to consider and consider quickly!

The Winter of 2011: Great Marketing For Sunny Palm Springs!

The Winter of 2011: Great Marketing For Sunny Palm Springs!

Mountain View Country Club, La Quinta

Fortune Magazine reported last April that “people selling second homes in sunny locations couldn’t have asked for a better marketing pitch than the winter of 2011.” To date our personal sales numbers reflect that as we sold 49 properties in the first half of 2011 compared to 49 for the entire year of 2010.

As the stock and financial markets experience another bumpy ride is there anything we can count on? My thinking is we can always count on 350 days of sunshine here in the Palm Springs area over the next 12 months. Winter will be here sooner than later in much of North America and people tell me everyday day that they just want to have a warm place next winter – preferably on the golf course or by the pool.

Photo credit: Sheri Dettman & Associates ©

Buying A Palm Springs Area Home: The Missing Rolls Royce

Buying A Palm Springs Area Home: The Missing Rolls Royce

I recently sold a luxury property at a La Quinta golf club. About 90-days later Zillow™ displays the property sale on their real estate website as being sold for $675,000.

Actual Screen Shot From Zillow

What Zillow doesn't mention is that in addition to their stated $674,000 selling price, the buyer also traded personal property in addition to cash, which in this case was a late model Rolls Royce (new value: $375,000). Bottom line here is the reported selling price was understated by a large amount.

La Quinta Home Sale Price Off By $115,000
Another luxury golf course property I sold shows sold at $1.1 million on Home-Gain™. This sale price actually also included a golf course membership valued at $115,000. In this case the property was over-valued by $115,000 as the buyer got a free golf membership. Deduct the country club membership and the home sale price was actually $985,000.

I’ve seen $300,000 condo sales where trulia’s sale amount was off by $50,000 and I’ve seen $9 million homes where Zillow is off by $2 million because they simply don’t have all the information.

Public Records, Not The Live MLS Agents Use
Most people don’t know that Zillow, trulia™, Home-Gain and other shopping sites get their information from available public records and not the local MLS. Most of these sale records don’t show up for 90-days or more after the sale. But the worst part is these sites do not have access to the whole story. Only local agents with access to the agent side of the MLS have ability to do some detective work, which includes speaking to the selling agent.

For home buyers, these sites use dated listings instead of live MLS feeds. I receive calls everyday from buyers looking at homes online that actually sold 60-days ago. Home sellers too can be misled on the value of their properties.

A local licensed real estate agent has access to all the information and resources needed to give buyers and sellers accurate and timely information. A local agent site (including ours) will also usually feature live MLS listings.

Could it be that Zillow’s tag line of “Your Edge In Real Estate” needs a little sharpening?

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