Sun City Palm Desert and Sun City Shadow Hills Real Estate Market Update

What's the difference between the Active Adult 55+ Communities in the desert?  That's a question we often hear.  People want to know what distinguishes one community from another, and how the real estate market compares in each community.  Here's a comparison of the two Sun City communities in the desert.

Del Webb's Sun City in Palm Desert is the largest active adult 55+ community in the desert, with approximatly 5000 homes Pulte built from 1992-2002. Located north of the 10, just east of Washington, this community includes two championship 18 hole golf courses, an 18 hole putting course-which can be used free of charge, three clubhouses, three restaurants, two fitness centers, one indoor pool, four outdoor pools, tennis courts and bocce ball courts. There are about 80 different "clubs" and a very active social calendar of events.

There are over 20 different floor plans in Sun City Palm Desert that range in size from 1000 sq ft to over 3000 sq ft, priced from about $180,000 to $800,000. The HOA is approximated $250 month, plus a second fee of about $30 for cable. (Buyer to verify.) As of 2/4/2010, there are 167 active listings on the market in this community. Homes are selling in there, as demonstrated by the 33 contingent and pending listings as of today.

85 homes have sold in there in the past six months, the highest sale being an $800,000 home that sold Jan 13, 2010. Of those 85 sales:
• 13 homes sold were priced over $500,000

• 9 homes sold were priced from $400,000-$499,000
• 25 homes sold were priced from $300,000-$399,000
• 30 homes sold were priced from $200,000-$299,000
• the remaining few homes sold were priced under $200,000

I share price break-out because I think it's important for our clients to recognize that the pool of buyers at resale will be highest in the under $400,000 price range. While it's okay to invest over $400,000 in Sun City, we want our clients to know that if they do, based on today's values and sales, there will likely be a smaller pool of buyers at resale.

Sun City Shadow Hills in Indio, also by Pulte homes, is located just north of the 10, east of Jefferson. Pulte homes began construction in 2002, is still building new homes, and will have approximately 3200 homes when built out. So, the homes here are newer than the original Sun City in Palm Desert. We can help you whether you are interested in new construction or a resale. If you want our help negotiating new construction, we have to accompany you on your first visit. Even if you want new construction, it is wise to have a resale that you like as well, because we can then use the resale option as a negotiating tool with the builder.

Sun City Shadow Hills has one 18 hole golf course, one clubhouse with a fitness center, billiard room, and dance studio. There are indoor and outdoor pools, a spa, tennis courts, and bocce ball courts. There are also many clubs and active social calendar. There are many floor plans ranging from 1190 sq ft to just under 3000 sq ft, priced from $159,000 to just under $700,000. The HOA is approximately $214 month. (Buyer to verify.) As of 2/4/2010 there are 84 active listings on the market, and 39 homes contingent or pending.

70 homes have sold in the past six months, the highest sales being two homes that sold for $675,000-one in Aug 09 and the most recent on 1/19/2010. Of those 70 sales:
• 5 homes sold were priced over $500,000
• 5 homes sold were priced from $400,000-$499,000
• 17 homes sold were priced from $300,000-$399,000

• 35 homes sold were priced from $200,000-$299,000

• 8 homes sold were priced under $200,000
As you can see in comparing the two Sun City communities, the Shadow Hills community in Indio has a lower median price than Sun City Palm Desert. Based on the the amount you want to spend on a home, you should always know recent sales so you'll know before you buy, where your home would fall in terms of price within any given community.

Homes Are Selling In La Quinta!

People often ask us in which community are the most homes selling. The chart above shows us that more homes are selling in La Quinta each week, when looking at all price categories combined, than in Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage or Indian Wells.  There are more homes on the market in La Quinta, however, than in those other communities, so logically, more homes should be selling in La Quinta.

Homes are on the market the shortest amount of time (short being a relative term in this market!) in Palm Desert.  However, as the chart below shows, the number of days on the market in these four desert communities has crept upward, painting a picture for sellers that home prices need to be priced competitively and look great!


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La Quinta CA Real Estate Market Trends

"What's the market doing?" That's the number one question we hear everyday! So, we're really excited about this new market research tool from Altos Research we can offer our clients to share what's happening, by city or zipcode, that auto updates with the latest data every 7 days.  Even if you're reading this after it posted, these charts are "live" and update weekly...so the data is very current. 

When you look at the Median Price chart for La Quinta, you'll see four colored graphs...one for each 25% of the market.

• The black graph represents the most expensive 25% of properties listed
• The orange graph represents upper middle 25% of properties listed
• The green graph represents the lower middle 25% of properties listed
• The blue graph represents the least expensive 25% of homes listed on the market

Median price means that half the homes in that quartile of the market are listed for more than that price, and half are listed for less. The average list price is less helpful, because a few homes with very high or very low list prices easily skew the picture. It's important to understand what's happening in each section of the market, because what matters to you is what's happening in the market segment where you want to buy or sell.


As you would probably expect, in La Quinta, the highest priced homes take longer to sell than those in the lowest priced categories.  Take a look at the chart to see number of days on the market by price.



Here's the median price per sq ft, for each price quartile of the market.  If you're comparing homes in a neighborhood though, you have to keep in mind that larger homes will often have a lower price per square foot than smaller homes, because the most expensive part of every home is the kitchen, and spreading that cost over a larger home naturally reduces the cost per sq ft.


Finally, the Median Market Action Index gives you an at-a-glance answer to the question, "How's the market?" The higher the Index goes, the hotter the market. Like a thermometer, the measurable scale goes from zero to over 100. Altos Research sets a threshold at an index value at 30 above which demand is high enough to call a "Seller's Market" and below which is a "Buyer's Market." In the following chart, we measure the Market Action Index in the La Quinta market's four quartiles.



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There Are Some Great Buys In Mountain View CC

There are many nice clubs in the desert, and especially in La Quinta, but there is a quaintness and charm here at Mountain View. It's not a "stuffy" club. While the golf membership is not inexpensive, it is one of the best club values in La Quinta.

All Mountain View homeowners pays the monthly HOA of $338 which includes the guard gate, common area maintenance, front yard maintenance and seasonal flowers planted in your front yard, internet phone, high speed internet access and cable TV.

There is no initiation fee for social membership, as all homeowners are automatic social members of the club and pay monthly social dues of $313, which includes a variety of social activities every month. Residents who want to add golf pay the $80,000 initiation fee and dues of $885 which includes the social membership fee of $313. (All of these rates can change anytime...buyer to verify.)

To bring you up to speed on available properties in Mountain View Country Club, here are some helpful live links (they update every morning at 9:00AM PST):

Homes for sale in Mountain View CC

     Condos For Sale in Mountain View CC

While there aren't many...there a few bank owned homes for sale in Mountain View CC

We have a really pretty 24,000 square foot Spanish Colonial-style Clubhouse.

There are multiple dining areas inside and on the back patio, comfortable lounges, a golf shop, men's and women's locker rooms and meeting facilities. Chef Brent Pollack treats us to great food, reasonably priced.

A 7,000 square foot Spa and Fitness Center includes exercise equipment, an aerobics room, fitness classes and access to a personal trainer. (Wish I could say I use the fitness center regularly!) There are also four tennis courts, a heated lap pool, men's and women's steam rooms and a snack bar.

A day spa offers a variety of facials, massages and manicures. I hosted a very fun "spa party" for some of my friends.

Mountain View Country Club at La Quinta is located on Jefferson just south of Avenue 50.

If you'd like to learn more about Mountain View Country Club, or the homes for sale in this wonderful community, please give us a call. We're here to answer your questions!

You can also learn about all of the La Quinta country clubs, and the homes for sale in each one at our website, VinePropertyGroup.com.

Patrick and Julie Essig: 760.771.8440 OR Toll Free: 888.771.VINE(8463)

julie@vinepropertygroup.com    patrick@vinepropertygroup.com

Fast track to getting the gifts for the Celebrate Christ Cards...25 Ways in 25 Days

I've been shopping for my gifts for the Celebrate Christ...25 Ways in 25 Days and thought I'd post what I've found where, so if you like the ideas, it will save you time. When you buy from Oriental Trading Online, you'll see that many of the gifts are really reasonably priced, and come in sets of 6 or 12, which is great because you can get together with a few friends and you'll all have what you need very inexpensively...or just save them for future years if you have extras.

• From Oriental Trading you can find:
• Day 1 and 25... nativity gift ideas.
• For Day 3... frog craft ideas.
• For Day 5... gingerbread house ideas.
• For Day 8... Crayola modeling clay. (I saw a 5 stack of fun dough for $1 in Target's dollar bins)
• For Day 10... icicle ornament (a book about weather would be great too)
• For Day 19... fish candy game.
• For Day 20... angel photo ornament.
• For Day 21... Slinky like toy.
• From ChristianBook.com you can find:
• For Days 4 and 16... 2 book set. Use the book with Noah & the Ark on the cover for Day 4, and Stories of Jesus for Day 16.
• For Day 11... Pencil Fun Book-Jesus Feeds 5000.
• Day 13... Jesus is the light of the world ornament.
• Day 15... shield of faith pendant.
• Day 18... flashlight pen.
• Day 22... finger ring light.
• Day 23... memory match game.
• From Target I found:
• 3 ft lighted Christmas tree (optional)
• For Day 17...box of 20 sticks of sidewalk chalk (for those of you in colder climates--crayons/markers and drawing paper works too)
• From Walgreens:
• For Day 2 and Day 25...giant candy cane (a children's bible is great for Day 25 too)
• For Day 7... Ring Pop candy
• For Day 9... jumbo Hershey's kiss
• From Barnes & Noble:
• For Day 6... I Spy book  OR Look & Look Again Search & Find Book OR just include a small object that you can hide and let your child find.
• From any grocery store:
• For Day 12... popcorn
• For Day 14 and 24... juice box with Gusher's snack, Fruit Roll Ups or Fruit by the Foot

Hope this helps make it easier for you!

Celebrate Christ...25 Ways in 25 Days

Welcome to In the Vine, a blog by the Vine Property Group team.  We’ll keep you connected to desert real estate, share what’s happening, what’s new and what’s fun in the valley, and sometimes, we’ll share what’s on our heart too.

Today, in my first post, I’m sharing my heart. It seems crazy to talk about Christmas already, on the first of November, but this is a really fun tradition you can start with your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews or any child in your life this Christmas. Telling you about it now gives you plenty of time to put it together if you want to.

Celebrate Christ Cards...25 Ways in 25 Days© started as a gift my daughter Jennifer and I put together for her two younger cousins four years ago. We’ve since shared it with lots of people who’ve told us they love sharing this tradition with their own kids or grandkids.  Maybe you’ll want to share it with a child in your life…it’s not as time consuming as you might think, and the results are priceless!

Here’s how it works.

• First, take a look at the slide show of the 25 Celebrate Christ Cards…25 Ways in 25 Days© and the inexpensive gift ideas to share with your child each day in December.
• If you want to share this with a child in your life, you can print the cards on regular 8.5” X 11” paper. First follow the instructions at the bottom of this post to download the print ready file, then follow these instructions to print them:
• Click File on your browser menu
• Click Print
• On the print menu, click Preferences
• On the Preferences menu, choose borderless printing if you have that option. If not choose, "fit to page."
• Print the pages.
• Fold the printed sheets in half and there you have the cards! Enjoy.
• Using the list of gift ideas, or your own creativity, choose a gift for each day’s card.
• Wrap each gift, or put it in a gift bag, include that day’s card and number the gift or bag, Day 1 for Dec 1, Day 2 for Dec 2, Day 3 for Dec 3, etc…
• If you’d like, buy a small 3” lighted tree and put all the gifts under the tree, or hang the smaller gift bags on the tree as ornaments. It’s also fun to hide the gifts and let them have fun finding it each day.
• Choose a time each day you will spend time with your child reading the card, teaching them that day’s bible truth and letting them open the gift, which is designed to help them remember that’s day’s message.
  

Kids love the anticipation of the package, and the time spent together each day as a family. Parents love that it helps the whole family focus on Christ at Christmas, while building a biblical foundation.

If you like to shop online, you’ll find almost everything you need at Christianbook.com, Orientaltrading.com, and Amazon.com. If you prefer stores, you’ll find everything stores like Target, Walmart, The Dollar Store etc.

If you decide to give this a try in your family, let me know what you think!  I’d also love to know gift ideas for each day that you think of, that we haven’t included.

(CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW LARGER)

> Click here to download your own set of cards

• Print on 8.5" X 11" paper
• If you set your printer page set up to "borderless printing," it will completely fill the page with a 2 sided card that you fold in half.  Use a dot of glue to glue the two sides together, or a piece of double stick tape, and you'll have an 8.5" X 5.5" two sided card.
• If you don't have borderless printing, just print, fold in half and trim with scissors.
• You may want to help your child learn the names for Jesus taken from the bible, that you'll see on the back of the cards.
• Enjoy!