Desert New Homes

Ashbrook Communities has closed 2 of its 3 models and sold all but 3 remaining staniding inventory homes at its Palm Springs community of Luminaire.

Recently the builder slashed pricing and was selling below cost. This situation could not continue, so the builder will either sit on the remaining lots or sell off the remaining lots to another developer.

Ashbrook has also suspended marketing and development at “The Cove” a development north of Palm Springs which was a joint venture with Innovative Communities.

Other Developments recently closed or suspended indefinitely include: Pele Place (Palm Desert), K. Hovananian’s Rancho Cielo (La Quinta) , Lennar’s Avant  Skylar Motif and  Circa @ Escen, Standard Pacific’s Alcala @ Escena.

Port Lawrence in Downtown Palm Springs claims to be moving forward on construction of their innovative Live/Work project in Downtown Palm Springs; however evidence of progress is not visible at this time.

Taylor Woodrow’s new community in Palm Desert called Esperanza has just dropped proces on select homes by $100,000!

The plan 3 they are advertising is a 2023 SF 3 bedoom 2.5 bath patio home with attached 2 car garage. The current price on this home is $397,990.

Get an additional $5,000 credit when you buy through DesertNewHomes.com

One of my personal favorite developments in La Quinta just announced pricing starting below $500,000.

Taylor Woodrow’s Carmela at La Quinta has some of the most beautiful floorplans and homes currently being offered in La Quinta. The models are phenomenal. One unique feature is a large outdoor logia on on some plans with a rooftop view deck!

To find out more, or arrange a tour, call me at (760) 327-4663 or my cell (760) 323-2272 

Why do people tend to follow the herd? Maybe it’s ingrained in our DNA, but when it comes to financial decisions including homebuying, it can spell disaster.

Millions of Americans got caught up in the dot com boom and bust. Buying tech stocks and daytrading was a quick way to get rich, until that bubble burst. Most people then stayed away from stocks and lost trust in Wall Street.

They turned to real estate as their next get-rich quick frontier. People bought homes they could not afford with loans they shouldn’t have been able to qualify for. Nobody wanted to be left behind. Even my pool man ended up owning 3 properties which are now being foreclosed upon one by one as the adjustable payments increase every month.

So now, it seems everyone is sitting on the sidelines waiting for the real estate market to “bottom out”. Even those people who would like to be homeowners are waiting for the herd to decide it’s time to be a buyer again.

This is not a very good strategy. Todays interest rates are still near historic lows. Builders have drastically cut prices and are offering free options and other goodies to entice homebuyers to consume their excess inventories.

Now is the best time in recent years to take advantage of the market shift and snag a deal at or below builder’s cost. In some cases, builders are losing tens of thousands of dollars to liquidate homes that others had bought, but backed out of.

You may be thinking, “if the deals are this good now, they are sure to get better”. You may be right, but you may be wrong. Once the excess inventory has been absorbed by the market, builders will only build at a rate they know they can sell and make a profit on.  By scaling back their rate of production, they will once again be able to sell homes at a higher price.

Another strategy builders employ at times like these is decontenting their homes. This means that while they reduce prices, they also eliminate certain features  previously offered as standard, or make you pay for them as an upgrade.

The window of opportunity is open…now. If you wait for the herd, you may be left behind.

Welcome to the Desert New Homes blog.

The plan here is to discuss what is going on in the new home market in the Palm Springs / Coachella valley area.

This blog will introduce new home communities and will also discuss trends to be aware of in the purchase, sale or refinancing of your desert residential real estate.

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