There's never a dull moment living in Palm Springs. Summertime, and the living is not easy. The heat & humidity of the summer is upon us and it seems to be bringing out the worst in everybody.
People flying off the handle, City Hall fining honest business owners for having signs in their storefronts, and Fox News still telling the world the "Sky is Falling". Being bombarded everyday with depressing news will start wearing anyone down. I'm a pretty optimistic person, but there are some days that I just want to stay in bed all day.
Every so often, a random set of positive cliches start playing my head: "It's alway darkest before the dawn" "The glass is half-full, not half-empty", and "Winners never quit, and quitters never win".
As I was preparing the June 2008 Palm Springs Real Estate Market Report, another cliche just popped into my head: "Every cloud has a silver lining".
I am not going to post that this year's real estate numbers are lower than last year. We already know that, and why point out the obvious?
There are currently 1326 acitve listings in the city of Palm Springs. Of these 1326 listings, 104 properties are contingent sales in escrow and 108 properties are pending sales in escrow. Pending sales in escrow are transactions where all the contractual contingencies have been removed, and the sale will go through.
The first "silver lining" I discovered: Of the 108 pending escrows in Palm Springs, 40 of these transactions occurred during the month of June alone. That's huge!!!
The second "silver lining" of the Palm Springs Real Estate Market is the increase in the median home price. The average median home price last month was $403,360, which was a 5% increase over last month. The median home price for May 2008 was $381,665.
There were 102 homes & condos sold in Palm Springs during the month of June.
During this time, the homes were getting over 94% of the listing price. What the information is telling me: Homes that are priced to current market trends are getting the best prices, and are being sold sooner.
The last "silver lining" is how long homes are on the market. The average days on market of homes sold in Palm Springs for the month of June is 131 days. This is 11 days shorter than the YTD total of 144 days, and is 9 days shorter than the May 2008 of 140 days.
What does this all mean to you? If you are selling your home in Palm Springs, make sure you price your home competively, or it will just sit on the market. And to you, the Palm Springs home buyer? I will finish this blog post with my favorite cliche, just for you:
"Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today."
About the Author:
Harold Watts of Lyle Realtors has been a REALTOR in Palm Springs since 1999. Focusing on the 2nd & Vacation home market, Harold has been helping Real Estate Buyers and Sellers achieve their real estate goals. If you want to know what is happening with the Palm Springs Real Estate market, give Harold Watts a call at 760-778-6200 or email him at Harold@LyleRealtors.com
Same article posted at Blog of the Desert
;)
;)
