There was an interesting article in the Desert Sun on tourism in the Coachella Valley. With so much positive news on the residential housing market in Riverside County (and across the nation for that matter), we rarely hear any news that isn’t incredibly positive. This article wasn’t negative, but it did explain that the tourism numbers were not as good as originally forecasted for early 2005. The reason for this was because of the abnormally rainy weather we got all winter, and then the warmer-than-usual temps directly after the rain subsided. The article stated that the tourism numbers are now appearing to be much stronger and are following a positive and expected road to full recovery from 9/11.

This article got me thinking about a couple things: With all the demand for real estate in the Desert in the last couple years, I’ve noticed that commercial businesses, like restaurants, bars and even some stores haven’t seemed to grow at the same rate as construction is changing the desert landscape — or at least it appears this way to my naive eye. There are plenty of successful restaurants and bars, but I’ve also noticed that some restaurants have gone out of business, even if I thought they were doing a pretty good job and fulfilled a certain demand… Clearly a business’ failure is probably caused by a variety of reasons (bad management, bad product, saturated market, higher labor & building costs etc…), but I’ve thought that if 53 people are moving to the Valley each day (as this article states), that opportunity might be easier than normal to harness for many of the new businesses out there. There are obviously so many factors that go into creating a successful business (and more business fail than succeed), but after following the residential housing market for the last 2 years, one feels that success is everywhere, and I don’t get that same exact feeling from some of the small businesses out there. This article suggests that the 2006 season has great potential because tourist activity, of which we are so dependant, is increasing quickly. If this is the case, then I suspect that the valley should see a very positive 2006 season. I hope so!

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It is basically an online journal, where the format, topics and content are set entirely by the author. It’s a freeform way of expressing oneself on the internet. Blogs can be professional, personal or anything in between. They are growing in popularity by the second, and there’s probably one on every topic imaginable. Here’s the definition from Dictionary.com:

Main Entry: blog
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: an online diary; a personal chronological log of thoughts published on a Web page; also called Weblog, Web log
Example: Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.
Etymology: shortened form of Weblog
Usage: blog, blogged, blogging v, blogger n

There is one consistent aspect of all weblogs though, and that is the technology used behind the scenes. All blogs are organized into a format called “RSS” (Really Simple Syndication) which is a uniform way of organizing content and data. RSS is very useful because it provides a uniform approach to the organization of a blog’s content so that blogs can be more easily searchable by search engines and “RSS Readers”. RSS, however, does not refer to how a blog physically looks — only how the content (or data) of the blog is organized behind the scenes.

Here are some interesting examples/articles of what a blog is:

• Marketing Terms’ definition and list of terms
• Another Good Explanation

I will continue to add to this post as I think of new and better explanations. Please add your comments in the below form!

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The Desert Sun published this article yesterday entitled “Valley housing market continues to thrive”. This theme seems to be shared by every news source and every speaker that has spoken at real estate conventions or gatherings in the Coachella Valley lately. There’s no doubt that the market has changed since the end of 2004, when homes would sell in minutes and the entire valley appreciated at a rate of 49%. Appreciation rates are slower now, but are still extremely positive. Economists are expecting the valley to appreciate at a rate of 20% in 2005 AND 2006. The positive news is fueled primarily by demand. 52* people are moving to the Coachella Valley each day (*this number comes from the Desert Sun, and I’ve heard anywhere between 52-55). The baby boomers have identified CV as a place to retire because the warm weather obviously can’t be beat (especially in July and August!) We often hear mutterings of a “bubble” from people primarily outside of our market, but every legitimate source that I’ve heard has said there will be no bursting of a bubble, if anything, more of a “soft landing”. So the real estate outlook looks very positive right now — values are increasing, but just a little slower, and arguably “healthier”, than in the past. The challenge is to just convince the sellers that prices are still going up, but just not as quickly as they have in the past.

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I just attended the Mayor’s lunch at the La Quinta resort. The lunch was a chamber of commerce event focused on commercial development in La Quinta. It was very interesting and exciting to see how quickly business is growing in LQ. Here are the highlights:

• There will definitely be a Costco in La Quinta’s future. The committment is there, but it sounds like some logistical details still need to be worked out.
• There’s a new shopping center at the corner of Fred Waring and Jefferson at The Mill.
• Two new businesses opened at Point Happy: Okura Sushi and an ice cream parlor. Lampost Pizza also has opened near the Staples building on Hwy 111.
• The 99 Cent store and Smart and Final are opening soon on the South side of Hwy 111.
• Trader Joes should open within the next 2-3 weeks.
• There is a new office building being built on Calle Tampico adjacent to Ace Hardware. It is still in its beginning stages.
• Eisenhower Medical center is planning to have an outpatient based in La Quinta.
• Old Town La Quinta’s Phase II should start framing within 2-3 weeks (their utilities are currently in). Phase II will bring 50,000 square feet of retail space and 14 new retail shops with 1 new restaurant to La Quinta. Old Town has focused on feedback and is bringing in retail shops and boutiques from the coastal cities along with a few national brands. Presently Old Town has been focusing on 3 different types of events to help with local traffic:
• The La Quinta Playhouse
• The Arts Under Umbrellas
• Old Town Street Affair (every Wednesday night)
• Silverrock has its liquor license! They are now serving food and beverages at the grill. The city is slowly working on nailing down its growth plan and Mayor Adolph anticipates that it will be fully mature (with hotels, shopping restaurants etc.) in 10-12 years.
• The medical office building being built at the corner of Washington and Lake La Quinta drive is on its way and coming closer to completion — it should be finished within the year. They have had “active” prospecting, but it sounds like they don’t have any confirmed tenants for the building yet. This is the 6th medical office building that this company has built in Southern California.

Couple residential points:

• 317 acres were just approved for development at Coral Mountain in Southern La Quinta. There will be 219 single family homes constructed.
• Low income rental housing is being developed at the SW corner of Dune Palms and Avenue 48.

That’s all I got for now!

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