Another home sold in the Coachella Valley almost as soon as it hits the market.

“It sold in four days … we had 21 showings in three days that resulted in 11 offers,” says real estate agent Will Cook, of the Will Cook Group with Keller Williams Luxury Homes, adding that it sold nearly $100,000 over asking price.

“No I’m not shocked it’s pretty common,” says Cook about the price, adding that he recently had a home sell for nearly twice over that asking price.

He says something else that’s common are bidding wars, “Asking price is a given, and you need to think of that price as a reserve in an auction, so how much higher are you going to willing to bid over the next highest buyer in order to secure the home.”
Cook says it’s all about supply and demand and the inventory is at an all time low, “Right now have .7 months of inventory available so in hard numbers that translates to 710 homes when we normally have 3000 homes at the market at this time.”

“I’ve never seen a seller’s market like this,” says Rich La Rue the president of the California Desert Association of Realtors.

La Rue says has been in the business for nearly four decades and even for him this market is a first, “Just in the last year the median sales price has gone up 27 percent throughout the Coachella Valley.”

He says the average amount of time it takes to sell a home is one to two days and the average savings percent is now zero.

Cook says the pandemic put the market in hyper drive, “Buyers are thinking well why wouldn’t I want to work pool side in Palm Springs versus my little apartment in L.A. for the same amount of money.”

La Rue says this is not a housing bubble and many things are contributing to these conditions, from low inventory, low interest rates, more people working remotely, to construction workers in high demand and even a lumber shortage, “During my career in real estate I don’t recall a lumber shortage … it’s a perfect storm.

Pandemic Fuels Real Estate Boom in the Coachella Valley