Wishing you the best of the best for 2006 — may all your dreams turn into fulfilled goals! Thanks again for visiting our site!

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From our house to yours, we hope you have a wonderful Christmas! Thanks for visiting our website.

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I recently attended a meeting at the California Association of Realtors where the median price of California homes was discussed… The Coachella Valley has the 3rd lowest median price in the state. Here are some interesting figures:

Calif. median home price - Oct. 05: $538,770 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. affordability index - Oct. 05: 15 percent (Source: C.A.R.)

Calif. highest median home price by C.A.R. region Oct. 05:
Santa Barbara So. Coast $1,225,000 (Source: C.A.R.)

Calif. lowest median home price by C.A.R. region Oct. 05:
High Desert $315,870 (Source: C.A.R.)

The real estate market in the Coachella Valley is and will continue to be the third best bargain in the state. This explains why the slow down in real estate (as expected from the upward trend of interest rates) will not be as severe in our area as other parts of the state and/or country.

For more info on the valley prices Click Here.

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There is an article in the premiere issue of the new “LQ Magazine” (published quarterly by the Desert Sun newspaper) looking into the question of just where the name “La Quinta” came from and/or what it means. Apparently, no one knows for sure… Although there is no direct translation of “La Quinta”, there are several theories as to the meaning including “country retreat” or “special place” or possibly it is named after a type of Hacienda or rest stop situated every 5 days on a long trail or another theory is that it was the 5th rest stop on a trail from the Thermal/Oasis area to Palm Springs. There is no definitive explanation in any records but a concensus is that it means a comfortable place to be and that it certainly is.

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The latest issue of the National Association of Realtor’s magazine, called “Realtor”, wrote this article about the Cost Vs. Value of remodeling your home. The article is worth checking out, and easy to navigate because it has each section of the home broken out in separate links on the right hand side of the webpage, so you can read about the sections your interested in. Here’s a quick breakdown of their report. Note 2 things: 1) The percentage number below is the cost recouped by the project, so if it’s over 100%, there is profit involved. If it’s under 100%, there is a proportial loss on the project cost. 2) This is based on a NATIONAL average (to see their full criteria, visit the article), and some items won’t pertain to our region, and some items may warrant more of an ROI.

• Bathroom Remodel: 102.2% of cost recouped (job cost: $10,499)
• Minor Kitchen Remodel: 98.5% of cost recouped (job cost: $14,913)
• Siding Replacement: 95.5% of cost recouped (job cost: $7,239)
• Attic Bedroom: 93.5% of cost recouped (job cost: $39,188)
• Deck Addition: 90.3% of cost recouped (job cost: $11,294)
• Basement Remodel: 90.1% of cost recouped (job cost: $51,051)
• Window Replacement: 89.6% of cost recouped (job cost: $9,684)
• Roofing Replacement: 84.7% of cost recouped (job cost: $11,164)
• Family Room Addition: 83.0% of cost recouped (job cost: $54,773)
• Home Office Remodel: 72.8% of cost recouped (job cost: $13,143)

Arguably, this doesn’t look as good as it should, and this is probably because the numbers are based on a national average. It would be interesting to see what kind of ROI one could realize by combining several of these improvements together.

PS — Pay your property taxes if you haven’t already, they’re due tomorrow (the 10th)!
You can pay online here.

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