Regardless of whether it’s a buyers’ or sellers’ market when it comes to La Quinta real estate, homes that are staged well will attract more attention from prospective buyers. The more you can increase your property’s appeal, the greater chance you have of a buyer falling in love at first sight and making an offer.
Even the most gorgeous Palm Springs homes for sale can benefit from some additional work and tweaking to maximize their appeal in the marketplace. Most sellers are aware that their home should be thoroughly cleaned up and shown in its best possible light, but there is more to staging than just cleaning house. Potential buyers want to walk in and be able to imagine themselves living in it without having to put a lot of work in.
If your house is already vacant, it may behoove you to hire a professional stager to furnish some of the rooms with a stylish flair. While minimalism is good, when a property is completely vacant it leaves too much to the buyer’s imagination. While an occupied home filled with another family’s belongings can overwhelm viewers, it can likewise be difficult for someone without design experience to walk in and visualize a house furnished and decorated. Even the most gorgeous Palm Springs homes for sale need a little help.
If you are still inhabiting your home, jumpstart the process now by decluttering and depersonalizing so that you can allow your potential buyers to envision their own life in the house. Start removing as many of your personal possessions as possible—and that includes family photos and memorabilia. Other things to alleviate are seasonal items and holiday decorations.
Just remember, your goal is to create a clean, uncluttered space that anyone can walk into and feel good in. Sometimes it helps to freshen up the paint and hardware and remove some of the appliances. Reduce the items in the closets to only those you need, and pare down the bathroom items as well.
If you’re in the market for La Quinta real estate, click here to browse our listings.
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The Desert Willow Golf Resort
This weekend is packed with an assortment of things to do for people of all ages. Locals head to Palm Springs in throngs for the Richard Kelly Memorial Adult/Junior Desert Open, which takes place this Saturday, September 14 from 7 am to 2 pm. If you are entertaining visitors from out of town, whether they’re on vacation or in the market for an international real estate purchase, this is the perfect weekend to give them a taste of everything Palm Springs has to offer.
The incredible event pays homage to the many contributions of Former City Council Member and Mayor of the City of Palm Desert, Richard Kelly. An avid supporter of the local community and junior golf, Mr. Kelly shared the vision of Desert Willow Golf Resort, where the tournament takes place. The current Mayor of the City of Palm Desert, Jan Harnik, will serve as Honorary Chairperson at this year’s event, where both adults and juniors team up to compete. All proceeds from the tournament benefit The First Tee of the Coachella Valley, a youth development program that teaches life skills and leadership through golf.
There are also some unique tours going on this Saturday. From 10 am to 4 pm the 13th annual Idyllwild Home Tour will be happening (more information on that in tomorrow’s blog post). Also on Saturday, but from 10 to 11 am, a trained docent will provide a Guided Public Art Tour of the Palm Desert Public Library’s impressive sculptures of its art collection. The Palm Desert Library is located at 73300 Fred Waring Drive in Palm Desert. For more information, call 760. 346.6552.
On Saturday night, Spanish-language rock musicians Caifanes will perform at the Fantasy Springs Casino. Their unique style is often described as a fusion of Latin percussion, British new wave and progressive rock.
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Tonight is a great example of the desert communities at their finest—many residents, visitors and owners of homes in Palm Springs will be attending The September Concert at the McCallum Theatre this evening. The concert takes place from 7 to 9 pm. Free to all who would like to attend, the event is Coachella Valley’s annual 9-11 Remembrance Concert for those who were affected by the tragedy our country suffered in 2001. It’s an opportunity for those who own Rancho Mirage real estate and homes in the surrounding areas to come together and celebrate the courage and dedication of those who served our country and sacrificed their lives, as well as those who continue to serve.
Please note that while the concert is free, tickets are limited. They will be available on a first come, first served basis starting at 5:30 pm. Visit The McCallum Theatre Box Office for tickets.
On Thursday, September 12 from 6 to 8 pm, a favorite of those who live in the area and own homes in Palm Springs continues— the Classic Comedies Series. The screening at the Annenberg Theater this week is of Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein (1974). This classic monster movie is a send up to the 1930s original, Frankenstein, and features brilliant comedic turns from Gene Wilder, who plays the infamous Dr. Frankenstein, as well as Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, and Peter Boyle, whose monster is equally horrific and hilariously funny. The screenplay was co-written by Brooks and Wilder, and tells the tale of Dr. Frankenstein’s straight-laced grandson, who discovers his inheritance to the family estate in Transylvania, of course. When he travels there to claim his ancestral home, he at first resists any link to his grandfather’s work, until he finds his notes and soon falls under the spell of the experiments and colorful characters who work at the estate.
This is just one of the many exciting community events that are always taking place in the desert cities. If this inspires you to consider La Quinta, Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage real estate, click here to view some superb listings.
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Are you ready to buy that Indio real estate property you’ve had your eye on, but your credit score is dismal? Have you declared bankruptcy in the past or foreclosed on a property? Did you have a bad run with credit cards when you were younger or have you missed payments many times? Even when you don’t have the best credit history, it is definitely possible to improve your credit score so that you can qualify for a new mortgage loan and start looking at Palm Springs homes for sale.
Regardless of whether you’ve got your eye on a condo in Mammoth, a beach cottage in Orange County or Palm Springs homes for sale, your credit score can make or break a deal when you’re trying to buy a property. It makes lenders aware of how you manage money and how responsible you are. It affects your purchases in other ways too—for example, a poor credit score translates to a higher interest rate on a home loan, while a good score or an improved one will help you get lower interest rates.
The good news is, you can significantly improve a poor credit score by demonstrating more responsible money management skills. Once you raise your score, you can qualify for home financing and hopefully get a good interest rate so you can buy that Indio real estate property your family is dreaming about.
There are many thing you can do to improve your score. Two of the most basic yet important are: 1) Make your payments on time every month, and 2) Make payments in full whenever possible. If you plan to buy a new home in the next year or so, you should not open any new lines of credit and be able to provide evidence of steady employment for a period of at least one to two years.
In addition, it’s best to use whatever credit cards you do have sparingly and make sure that you do not overextend your credit line. If you do by accident, make a payment immediately to get your balance back under your credit limit. Most experts recommend maintaining a balance of no more than 25 percent of your available credit on any account. The best possible scenario is to pay off all your cards and carry a zero balance.
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When you’re staging or preparing Palm Springs homes for sale, or real estate in any area for that matter, it’s important to make sure your focal points look extra amazing. Staging is an absolute art, and one of the most important rooms to master is the kitchen. It’s where families gather, partygoers tend to socialize and homeowners in general spend a lot of their time.
Whether you’re preparing to show your Palm Desert real estate in the near future or just now considering making a move, you should start planning some sort of makeover for your kitchen. It’s an area that should absolutely sparkle. While it can be very pricy to remodel this oh-so-important room, there are things you can do to revamp it without spending an absolute fortune. After all, you’re not going to be the one who gets to enjoy cooking in it every day.
- Make it sparkle and shine. Hire a cleaning crew to do a deep cleaning of the kitchen so that you can easily maintain their work on a weekly basis. Have the floors and baseboards scrubbed squeaky clean and the corners vacuumed. If you have pets, you may consider making this room off-limits. Have all the cabinets wiped down and make sure both the inside and outside of the refrigerator is perfect.
- Polish the goods. On a weekly basis, polish any chrome fixtures and hardware. If the hardware is worn down or looks a little to retro, replace it. This is typically an easy, inexpensive fix that can make Palm Springs homes for sale look newer and more modern.
- De-personalize. Eliminate refrigerator magnets and any Post-it notes.
- Bring in some life. While you don’t want to clutter up the room, adding a plant or two and a cookbook on the shelf makes the room seem warmer and more inviting.
- Do the dishes. Never leave dishes in the dishwasher. Realtors report that, for some reason, potential buyers always open the dishwasher and look inside during showings and open houses. While you’re trying to sell your property, make it a habit to wash dishes as soon as you use them.
Click here to view some gorgeous listings of Palm Desert real estate.
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If you’re preparing to sell your Palm Springs real estate, you should get started on your listing as soon as possible. Realtors and other real estate professionals recommend that your listing contain a plethora of photos that showcase your property from every angle and in its best light. This will provide buyers with an accurate gauge of what the property truly looks like so they can decide if they want to invest the time to look at it in person.
Photos are especially important when you’re preparing your home for the international real estate market. Since those buyers would have to travel from abroad to see your property, they have to be very serious about their interest. Due to the significant travel that may be involved, they will want to see as much of the house as possible through photos. With that in mind, here are a few more tips for improving your interior photography skills.
Keep the focus sharp. To achieve sharp focus, keep the aperture small and use hyperfocal principles to focus into the room. Avoid shooting objects from too close as this will compromise the focus and may result in blurry photos.
Take advantage of a tripod. When you use a tripod, you can work with longer shutter times to maximize the light. This is ideal for interior shots, since nothing is moving.
Declutter. When you’re trying to display your Palm Springs real estate in the best light possible, you’ll want to remove clutter from shots and hide any flaws in the room. Interiors can look intricate in photos; the less clutter, the better.
Capture the details. To make rooms look big while capturing the details, shoot a variety of wide-angle photos as well as some close-ups of any smaller areas that you want to highlight. Don’t limit your photos to any one shot angle—you don’t want to bore those looking at your listing. This is especially important when you’re trying to attract international real estate buyers.
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Jazz lovers who own homes in Palm Springs and tourists with their sights on luxury international real estate properties will be in heaven this weekend because the 20th annual Idyllwild Jazz in the Pines Festival is here! Every year, fans of all ages flock to see a wide range of legendary jazz musicians and newcomers perform at this incredible festival in the mile-high community in the San Jacinto Mountains, which is just two hours from Los Angeles or San Diego.
The festival kicks off its opening night on Friday, August 16 with the Patron’s Dinner gala, and “A Taste of Idyllwild” Cocktail Party hosted by Idyllwild Restaurants complete with a Red Carpet. Hosted by KKJZ radio personality Bubba Jackson, the evening includes gourmet food and wine, music by Idyllwild Arts Students and Alumni and a special appearance by NBC-4 weatherman and comedian Fritz Coleman. It’s an event that residents, owners of homes in Palm Springs and visitors from all over California look forward to every year.
Some of the musicians performing at this year’s Idyllwild Jazz in the Pines Festival include two-time Grammy-Award winner Diane Schuur, the Harvey Mason Chameleon Project, Grammy Award-nominated pianist/vocalist Patrice Rushen, American Idol finalist Casey Abrams, renowned jazz vocalist Janis Mann, Change Required, the Euphoria Brass Band, P.S. Blues Band, Rocky Zharp and The Blues Crackers, among many others musicians. Performances will take place at one of three outdoor venues: the Holmes Amphitheatre aka “Main Stage,” the Stephens Recital Hall aka “The Barn,” and The French Quarter. In addition, attendees can stroll the winding pathways of the “Festival Marketplace,” which are filled with art and crafts booths. Refreshments are available at “Dine in the Pines,” as well as alcoholic beverages for those 21 and older.
Proceeds from this event benefit the Idyllwild Arts Academy. Gates open both days at 10 am, with concerts starting at 10:30 am. All events take place at the Idyllwild Arts Academy, located at 52500 Temecula Road, Idyllwild, CA 92549. Festival tickets are $65.00 per day, or enjoy $100 for both days with the special two-day online special. Children 12 and under are free if accompanied by a paying adult. Free parking is available in designated lots and shuttles will run continuously from the center of town. For tickets and additional information, IdyllwildJazz.com or 951.500.4090. If you’re in town looking at luxury international real estate, this is the perfect way to get a taste of the amazing music festivals that take place in the Coachella Valley each year.
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The Jacklyn Sparrow Band performs at the Palm Canyon Theatre this weekend
Once again, Palm Springs has a ton of fun activities taking place this weekend! Whether you’re a film buff, a music lover or have a taste for cabaret, you’re sure to find something that’s a perfect way to enjoy your weekend. And even if you’re in town looking at Palm Springs homes for sale or properties in Indio, why not take a few hours off to unwind and get a feel for the community?
On Thursday, July 25, from 6 to 8 pm the Summer Film Series at the Palm Springs Art Museum will continues with a screening of The Parade. This unique film tells the story of a group of gay activists in Belgrade who strike a tense alliance with a Serbian crime boss named Limun. His fiancée demands an extravagant wedding that only Mirko, a struggling gay theater director, and his friends can provide—in exchange, macho Limun reluctantly agrees to provide security for the group’s Pride parade. The screening takes place at the Annenberg Theater.
On both Friday, July 26 and Saturday, July 27, the Jacklyn Sparrow Band will perform live at the Palm Canyon Theatre. Featuring lead vocalist Jacklyn Sparrow, this unique and talented group of musicians puts on a show with first class showmanship and dynamic theatrical entertainment. The band’s vast repertoire includes everything from Pop, Rock, Country and Dance to R&B, Motown, Disco, Jazz and classical, so this is sure to be a performance to remember. If you’re in town to look at Palm Springs homes for sale, there is no better way to unwind.
On Saturday, July 27, from 8 to 10 pm, popular country singer Sarah Evans will perform at the The Show at Agua Caliente Casino. Her number one singles include “No Place That Far”, “Born to Fly”, “Suds in the Bucket,” “A Little Bit Stronger and “A Real Fine Place to Start.”
On Sunday, July 28 from 2 to 4 pm, the Sundays in Summer Cabaret Series 2013 continues with Keisha D… At Last. Keisha is a regular performer at clubs, benefits and events throughout Coachella Valley and has a huge following of fans. The performance takes place at the Arthur Newman Theatre.
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Palm Canyon Trail to the Stone Pools
One of the many reasons so many people choose to move to Palm Springs and retire here are the plethora of recreational activities available to residents and visitors alike. Many seek Palm Springs homes for sale solely for its access to the natural desert beauty of the area.
Few areas can truly compete with some of the hiking trails and opportunities in the Palm Springs region. Whether you find that dream property in Palm Desert or an equestrian home in Thermal, you know you’ll have access to more than 140 hiking trails that offer scenic views of the gorgeous nearby Santa Rosa and San Jacinto mountain ranges, as well as the most diverse topography and flora in the entire country. Whether you prefer the high country or to visit national state parks such as Joshua Tree or Mount San Jacinto State Park, you’ll find what you’re looking for among your extensive choice of hiking areas.
Below are a few favorites recommended by hikers who own property in Palm Desert and know what they’re talking about.
1. Whitewater Canyon / Pacific Crest Trail Ridge Loop. Also known as the Whitewater Preserve, this four mile long hike is considered easy, and therefore should be one the whole family can enjoy. You’ll gain between 300 and 400 feet as you trek along the canyon that is home to the renowned Whitewater River, and you’ll also access the famous Pacific Crest Trail, aka PCT. The amazing views of the Coachella Valley, as well as all of the distant and nearby mountain ranges, make this relaxing hike very worth your while.
2. Palm Canyon Trail to the Stone Pools. This six mile hike is considered of moderate difficulty. At the peak of this hike, you will have gained approximately 880 feet. Picturesque views of Palm Springs, the desert, plunging cliffs and waterfalls make this a gorgeous and memorable hike.
3. Lost Palms Oasis Trail at Cottonwood Spring. Located inside the magnificent Joshua Tree National Park, this eight mile trail is considered to be of moderate difficulty. You’ll gain 400 feet as you traverse everything from lush washes and plateaus to see a special group of palm trees called the Lost Palms Oasis.
If you’re an outdoor lover and ready to make a move to this spectacular area, click here to view listings of Palm Springs homes for sale.
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Lonestar performs at the Morongo Casino on July 19
Once again, there is a rich slate of events scheduled for the upcoming weekend. If you’re considering buying Palm Springs real estate for retirement or are searching luxury international real estate for a vacation home, you can be certain that there’s always something to do, from attending indie film screenings and relaxing by the pool to hiking or seeing your favorite band perform under the stars.
On Thursday, July 18 the Summer Film Series at the Palm Springs Art Museum features a screening of Modest Reception from 6 to 8 pm at the Annenberg Theater. The unique comedy-drama tells the story of Leila and Kaveh, a cagey couple from Tehran, who travel the mountainous country by car to place large bags of cash in the hands of a variety of locals.
On Friday, July 19 from 9 to 11 pm, the Morongo Casino will host a concert by American country music group Lonestar, and at 10:30, another country performance by Doublewide. Saturday, July 20, Intocable, a Tejano/Norteño musical group from Zapata, Texas, will perform at the Spotlight 29 Casino from 8 to 10 pm. If you’re in town looking at luxury international real estate properties, it’s the perfect weekend to take a break and get your music fix!
On Sunday, July 21, the Sundays in Summer Cabaret Series 2013 continues with Mark Reis in Diapers, Dishes, and Dreams at the Arthur Newman Theatre. Broadway performer and new dad, Mark Reis, shares the struggles of juggling a career and a baby while writing a children’s book in this innovative and entertaining show. Musical Direction by Scott Harlan and choreography by Hector Guerrero. The performance takes place from 2 to 4 pm.
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