Amgen Tour of California in Palm Springs

May 14, 2013 by Dick Sakowicz Leave a Comment

Palm Springs experienced the thrill of hosting the Amgen Tour of California – one of the world’s top cycling races yesterday. In what has become the largest cycling race in America, riders raced right through downtown Palm Springs, ultimately finishing the second stage of the race by climbing 2500 feet up to the base station of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. In all, the Tour covers a total of almost 750 miles along some of California’s most scenic roadways.

Palm Springs is one of 13 cities hosting the eight-day cycling race, which features elite professional teams and athletes from around the world. Amgen sponsors the event, in connection with the Breakaway from Cancer initiative, in addition to sponsoring its own team of cyclists. The Amgen Tour of California is one of only two American races listed as a UCI 2.HC event on the international professional cycling calendar. As such, it awards important world-ranking points to the top finishers.

With lots of police leading the way to ensure the racers path was clear, 116 professional bikers raced up Palm Canyon Drive, with 120 chase vehicles behind, all heading for the finish line at the Tram station. It’s a really fast but exciting event to see. Hopefully this will become an annual event for Palm Springs. And hopefully next year it will be a little cooler! For the eighth consecutive year, the Amgen Tour of California is bringing the drama and excitement of professional cycling to California.

To see a video, go to Amgen Race in Palm Springs.

Palm Springs Real Estate Market Trends – Through January, 2013

March 7, 2013 by Dick Sakowicz Leave a Comment

In my last analysis of Palm Springs real estate market trends on October 18, 2012, we showed inventories of Palm Springs homes for sale at a low not seen since at least 2000. Since we were just entering our snowbird season, I predicted a rise in active listings.

Historically over the last ten years, an increase in active property listings in Palm Springs has taken place preceding and during our snowbird season from October through March. The number usually reaches a peak in January/February and this year has been no different. The graph to the left, updated with activity through January 2013, shows this rather clearly. So as expected, the available inventory of residential properties (of all types) for sale in Palm Springs did increase substantially in all price ranges from a low of 387 homes in August 2012 to a high of 584 in January 2013. This is a rather significant 50+ % increase from August 2012 and includes a pretty healthy monthly increase of 12.5% from December to January.

This increase in available sales inventory leaves us with the total number of homes still way below the peak in July of 2007 when Palm Springs had 1697 active listings for sale. In fact, presently and in spite of this increase, the number of Palm Springs homes for sale is down over 18% from just 15 months ago.

So the take away message for you on the Palm Springs real estate market trends is that our inventory is still very low by historical standards and still holding as a Seller’s Market. Well priced single family homes and condos in good areas are quickly attracting multiple bids.

My next blog to follow will review the pricing trends associated with these inventory trends. Please remember to call me with all of your real estate needs. I’ll be happy to help!

Palm Springs will host Canada Fest

September 26, 2012 by Dick Sakowicz Leave a Comment

Palm Springs will host Canada Fest 2012, the first event of its kind in Palm Springs, to celebrate our special relationship with our Canadian neighbors. The other desert cities will join with us in welcoming Canadians and Californians at Canada Fest 2012, to be held on December 8-9, 2012 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. Canada Fest will be both a celebration of our area’s close relationship with Canada and a big expression of our profound appreciation for their part in helping Palm Springs grow into the world class winter vacation destination it is today. After all, with so many Canadians choosing to buy Palm Springs real estate for their winter homes and many more visiting here from October through March, the valley’s population more than doubles in winter. This Canadian presence brings much vitality and energy to our desert cities.

Canada Fest is going to be a big deal! Canadian Ambassador to the United States Gary Doer and the mayors of Vancouver and Montreal will attend. There will be a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, hosted by one of our own mounted police officers, and we’ll have our own Politicos present including California Senator Barbara Boxer, and our local House Representative Mary Bono Mack. The event will offer a wide array of vendors, with more than 200 booths (including ours!), filling the Palm Springs Convention Center, and even spilling out into the courtyard and beyond. There will be food, music and entertainers, lots of prizes, fashion shows and furs, face painting for the children and much more. If you like pretty girls, you’ll enjoy being greeted at the door by Miss Universe Canada who represents all of the Provinces of Canada and Miss Greater Palm Springs who will represent our cities in the valley. Attendance is expected to be around 20,000 over the two day period, drawing attendees from throughout Southern California.

Yes, one of the booths at the Palm Springs Canada Fest will be our own Dick Sakowicz -RE/MAX Real Estate booth with lots of information on Palm Springs properties for sale. Frances and I will be there to greet you! So mark your calendar for the weekend of December 8 and 9, 2012, bring your friends and we’ll see you there! For more info, go to Canada Fest 2012.

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