I was reading a blog with a holiday greeting from a friend, entitled Peace in the World Starts with Me. It’s short but I found it so moving that I wanted to share the words with all of you. The author is Mary Lore and here is the link – Start with Me. I hope it will speak to you as well. Tonight, from our Palm Springs home to yours, where ever you may be, I wish you peace, health, and happiness now and throughout the coming year.
College of the Desert West Valley Campus in Palm Springs
It’s tremendously exciting for our community that Palm Springs and College of the Desert are collaborating on the development of the new College of the Desert West Valley campus here in Palm Springs. Back in 2004, voters approved Measure B, a bond issue of $346 million, which includes a mandate for development of an east and west Valley campus. Then in 2007, Palm Springs was chosen as the location for the West Valley Campus. In 2010, a tract of 119 acres in north Palm Springs, located on the northwest corner of Indian Canyon Drive at Tramview Road, was acquired by Palm Springs from the Bureau of Land Management and transferred to the College of the Desert.
Construction has now begun for Phase 1 which includes the infrastructure for the entire site. Already some classes for this campus’ curriculum are being held here in rented space. The construction of Phase 1 will bring hundreds of new jobs to Palm Springs, as will the campus itself when it opens at the Phase 1 completion in 2014. In addition, new support services will undoubtedly develop around the campus, and more will come as the remaining three phases are developed. Along with new jobs, the new campus will bring a young demographic, injecting new vitality into the greater Palm Springs area.
West Valley Campus of College of the Desert
The West Valley Campus curriculum will focus on four main disciplines – Hospitality and Tourism, Media and the Arts, Allied Health, and Sustainability Technology. Roughly half of the acreage will be devoted to a GreenPark for sustainable energy-generating systems. The campus is being constructed utilizing green technology to the extent that it will be totally self-sustaining from its inception and will even generate energy surpluses to sell back into the grid. Sustainability needs for our desert environment will only become more important as we move into the future. It’s the aim of Palm Springs leadership to develop a green economy and to attract clean technology companies to our city. The collaboration between the City of Palm Springs and the West Valley Campus of College of the Desert will be a powerful catalyst for future development here in Palm Springs.
Measure J Passes and Palm Springs Revitalization Gets a Boost
Measure J passes and Palm Springs Revitalization gets a boost. This is great news for our city! I am writing today as a followup to my recent blog on Measure J and the potential it represents for the long delayed revitalization of Palm Springs, especially for the downtown, to begin. Don’t expect the bulldozers to start tomorrow, but a really important step was taken on November 8 with the passage of Measure J.
In spite of the noise from detractors of Measure J because it is a tax increase, oh my! To them I say, this is government operating at its best. It demonstrates that a local government/private sector partnership has the power to fix a local problem. We can see that some revitalization has already begun with the recent investment in new restaurants, new shops and galleries. Now our Palm Springs politicos have found a way to energize and empower us to go forward with the revitalization process of Palm Springs in a big way. This process has been delayed for years, due to lack of funding. Congratulations to all who have worked to make this important first step a success. For all of us citizens of Palm Springs, we thank you for your efforts!
Now let’s get to work and make our dreams of a Palm Springs revitalization come true!
Palm Springs’ Most Trendy Neighborhood
Canadians Buying a Palm Springs Home Receive Good News
Palm Springs Home Prices May Rise
A recent article in our local Desert Sun newspaper entitled Fewer Coachella Valley Homes for Sale reported that Palm Springs home prices may rise in the not too distant future. To support this, the article stated that the Palm Springs area inventory went down by more than a 1000 homes in the last four months. Further, our desert area MLS has reported that the unsold active inventory is down about 22% from 5681 properties for sale in September a year ago, to 4418 properties this September.
The reduction in our valley inventory is probably due to a combination of factors – lots of cash investors attracted by low prices, those sellers unwilling to sell at current prices and thus not listing, and sellers pulling their properties off the market. Also, there’s a general suspicion that banks are slowing the introduction of newly foreclosed homes into the inventory. In fact, the article went on to state that the number of bank owned properties for sale today has dropped 39% since one year ago.
Home Prices in Palm Springs May Rise
Where inventories are low, I think it possible that, in selected areas, our home prices in Palm Springs may rise with these shifting conditions. There are two things that drive this – low inventory and desirable location. Thus, the more desirable the location, the more likely this will happen. It’s striking that what’s happening in Palm Springs mirrors what is happening throughout “California and throughout the nation.” Although I am not a fan of gross national averages, the article did state that nationally, the number of listings is presently down to the lowest point since 2007. So we can see that statistics do indicate that something new is going on throughout the nation’s real estate market. It usually follows that inventory drives prices, that is to say:
The more scarce the inventory, the higher the prices.
Knowing that all these factors create a situation in which home prices in Palm Springs may rise, it’s going to be very interesting to track our market conditions in the next few months, as our busy selling season is just beginning. I’ve been saying the same thing for many months, and the Desert Sun article just adds emphasis to my position that, while mortgage loans are at historically low interest rates, and prices are still way down, this remains a great time to be buying a home in Palm Springs! For the entire article, read Fewer Valley Homes for Sale.
Dick Sakowicz is a REALTOR with ReMax Real Estate Consultants who lives in Palm Springs and serves the greater Palm Springs area.
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