Mirada Estates luxury homes for sale are unique in our valley – sitting high above the desert, these luxury homes in Rancho Mirage are surrounded by approximately 272,000 acres of pristine wilderness and possess breathtaking views from every perspective.
This small enclave of exquisite custom homes are designed to blend beautifully into their surrounding habitat. Built by owners and developers, you can be sure these homes possess a high design aesthetic and unsurpassed architectural integrity. Mirada Estates is located adjacent to the Ritz Carlton resort which is currently under development. Homeowners will have access to many hotel amenity privileges when the fabulous facility is complete.
Mirada Estates real estate for sale includes already built custom homes ranging in size from 4,000 to over 7,000sf and are positioned on oversized lots. Their architectural styles range from Contemporary to Spanish Colonial.
Come live your dream at Mirada Estates . . . the opportunity exists for YOU to build and create something unique and suitable to your own personal tastes and lifestyle.
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Indio once was home to date groves and citrus orchards – Avenue 49 ran right through them. Now the fruit trees have been replaced by several gated communities. The Orchard is one of them.
The Orchard is off of Avenue 49 between Madison and Jefferson Streets. The Tuscan style entrance gate area sets the theme for this intimate 93 home enclave. These one and two story homes carry through the Tuscan theme, with common areas boasting vine covered arbors and mesquite trees for shade.
The lots at The Orchard are spacious, each is from 1/3 to 1/2 acre, with home sizes ranging from 2,500 to 4,200 square feet. Priced at $800,000 to $1,000,000 five years ago, these beautifully appointed homes are now selling for $350,000 to $450,000.
There is much to love about The Orchard in West Indio. It is close to the Eldorado and Empire Polo Grounds, JFK Hospital, schools, shopping – and with Highway 111 just 2 miles away, the I-10 freeway is 6 miles away. Maybe it’s time for you to consider this outstanding community while looking for your new home !!!
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Smiling through hard times
I don’t have children, but of course, I know people who do. And I know some of those children . . . young adults coming up in a tough economy and unstable times. Remember back when you were young – in your late teens and into your twenties – these are heady times . . . sometimes exhilarating as you step out into the big wide world as an “adult” and all the freedoms allowed . . . and often times scary as you learn about the responsibilities that also come with being “of age.”
But life in today’s world !!! So fast, so complicated, so multi-tasking . . . so much information !!! And jobs are hard to come by, it’s hard for many of these young adults to find their place. There is a survey out there that says nearly half of young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 take jobs just to be able to pay their bills; nearly a quarter work without pay to get work experience and more than a third go back to school because they can’t find a job !!! Many are delaying marriage and having babies, and some move back in with mom and dad. Young adults looking to buy their first home need an experienced realtor.
It just wasn’t like that back when I was fresh and green and just starting out. Opportunities were abounding. This same survey says that optimism is high among young adults anyway . . . hmmm, maybe it’s their youth . . . I guess it beats the alternative. Wishing for better times and recovery for us all.
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Smoother sailing for HAFA short sales
I have had very good luck with the HAFA Short Sale program here in California. It is for Sellers of primary residences only and is a great idea. It’s just a bit of a mess to get it done. BAsically, the governement alllots cash to each Investor for approving a HAFA short sale. The homeowner gets $3,000 relocation fees as well. The problem is that the Investors do this on a Voluntary basis..uh-huh. Guess what? They won’t do it if they aren’t forced to!
Now it appears there will be more incentivising for them. Hopefully, this will encourage the Investors to approve more Short Sales. It’s a great program if you are a Primary homeowner tipping to the point of a Short SAle. Be sure to ask your Short Sale Listing Agent if you may qualify for a HAFA short sale.
HAFA incentives increasing…
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Glorious Gardens!
I was inspired recently when President Bill Clinton was here in our valley promoting the Humana Challenge golf tournament. As I sat at my computer working on a Tuesday morning, I simultaneously streamed his “Health Matters” conference being held at a local resort. There were some big names featured, such as Goldie Hawn, Billie Jean King, Bob Lanier, Deepak Chopra, Jillian Michaels and Dr. Nancy Snyderman of NBC News. I listened to these intelligent and informed people talk about our country and the challenges we face in terms of childhood obesity, for one. President Clinton talked about a call to action – that the people attending the conference or listening to it not just talk the talk about making a difference, but to walk the talk. Do something about it . . . do something about your own health, do something about your children’s health, your family’s health – wherever your contribution is to be made.
And I started thinking about what I could do. What stands out to me is something near and dear to my heart – gardening, vegetable gardening, organic vegetable gardening. The community where I live doesn’t have a community garden . . . and why not??? There are neighborhoods in the inner city of some of our largest cities in the nations that have come together to create community gardens. And here we live in Southern California, in a valley where a large percentage of our nation’s produce is grown. And yet, many of the cities in our valley have no organized community gardens. What better way to teach our children how to connect with nature and how important healthy eating and organic produce is, than to involve them firsthand in the process. And besides the children, there are many people who may not have the room in their yards or have the resources to build a garden of their own. Their is camaraderie in coming together for a common cause. Is there anyone else out there who feels this need for developing this community resource. I’ve never done this before, but it all starts with a word, in conversation, with putting it out there.
I found a webpage that tells about how to get started. The wheel doesn’t have to be reinvented, there are people already out there who are starting up community gardens all over the country. Here’s the link, hope you find it interesting and feel free to respond if you’d like.
For more info, go to: http://www.communitygarden.org
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Did you know that there is much more than meets the eye at Marrakesh Country Club? Marrakesh has a fascinating history that probably few people know about – mostly what catches one’s eye about Marrakesh is its strikingly pink exterior. Once you learn about its beginnings and how this illustrious country club came to be, the pink makes more sense.
Marrakesh was conceived as a way to attract more movie stars from Palm Springs deeper into the desert. Johnny Dawson, a golf legend from Chicago who had several golf titles under his belt such as the Bing Crosby Pro-Am tourney, the Southern California Amateur title, California State Amateur title, played in the Masters seven times,won the U.S. Amateur Championship 3 years in a row – knew everyone there was to know in golf and was involved in many golf club investments. His research into weather patterns here in the Coachella Valley showed that Palm Desert had even more days of sunshine than Palm Springs did. So on a summer day in 1968, Johnny met with the owner of the 155 acres which is now Marrakesh to lease the property. The owner had plans for building a dude ranch there – as the land was well drained and gently sloped, free of wind and had breathtaking views of the surrounding snowcapped mountains and down valley views as well – but Johnny Dawson must have been most persuasive in securing the property to build his dream of a unique golf club community.
Marrakesh was picked as the name for the new club following an inspired suggestion from Cliff Henderson, the founder of the town of Palm Desert. Henderson had served with General Patton during World War 11 in Morocco and remembered the sandstone walls of the real Marrakesh and how they turned amazingly pink as the sun would set behind the snowcapped Atlas Mountains of Morocco.
Dawson handpicked his design team with care to carry out his ideas for his latest golf development. He hired John Elgin Woolf, a prestigious architect of the time. Woolf’s projects were well known and often published in Vogue, Town and Country and Architectural Digest. His list of clients was stellar – having designed homes for the likes of John Wayne, Rita Hayworth, Mae West, Errol Flynn, Greta Garbo, Ira Gershwin, to name a few. Dawson wanted his Marrakesh to be unlike any other of the then 18 developments in the valley.
Woolf designed Marrakesh in the ‘Hollywood Regency’ style of architecture – theatrical with a restrained opulence, carefully scaled and balanced. The interiors for the model home and clubhouse were designed by Velma Dawson, Johnny Dawson’s wife. She was an accomplished designer in her own right and traveled to Morocco to procure artifacts and inspiration for the project. Her color scheme was of soft desert colors – and obviously included the Moroccan pink that Marrakesh Country Club is identified by.
By 1978, all phases of Marrakesh Country Club were completed, including the Ted Robinson designed par 60 executive golf course. The club consisted of 364 spacious duplex homes divided into 14 neighborhoods – which were all self-governing at that time, but are now governed as a single homeowners community.
The luxurious and highly identifiable homes in Marrakesh remain as a continuing example of Hollywood Regency architecture . . . and to think, the property located just across from the prestigious Vintage Country Club could be a Dude Ranch today !!!
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