September 2026 Industry Roundup: Who Controls Your Listing?
The Fight Over Your Listing Reached My Own MLS The biggest industry story this month landed in my own backyard. On September 8, Compass sent a demand letter to CRMLS, the large Southern California MLS that covers the Coachella Valley. Compass wants CRMLS to stop fining agents who publicly advertise
Fee Land or Leased Land? How to Tell Before You Make an Offer in the Coachella Valley
You found a place in the valley you actually like. The price looks reasonable for what you are getting. Then you read the listing again and see two words that were not in any of the other listings: land lease. If you are buying in La Quinta or Palm Desert, I can save you some worry right now. Then I
California's Zone 0 Rule Is About to Take Effect. Does It Apply to Your La Quinta or Palm Desert Home?
If someone has told you that you need to tear out everything within five feet of your house, they are partly right. They may also be completely wrong about your house specifically. That second part is the one nobody is saying out loud, so I want to start there. What Zone 0 actually is Zone 0 is the
Condo Loan Rules Changed on August 3: What It Means in Palm Desert and La Quinta (2026)
You found the condo. Two bedrooms, single level, walkable to El Paseo, HOA covers the roof and the landscaping. You are pre-approved. You write the offer. Then your lender tells you the loan depends on paperwork the HOA has not produced yet. That conversation got a lot more common on August 3. What
California Prop 37 Explained for Coachella Valley Buyers: 3% Down, But Only on a New Home (2026)
If you have been sitting out because the down payment is the wall, there is a measure on your November ballot built specifically for you. There is also a condition in it that most of the coverage skips, and it changes who this actually helps in the Coachella Valley. Here is what Proposition 37 does,
What Happens to Palm Desert Short-Term Rentals on December 31, 2026?
If you own a home in Palm Desert’s Hillside Planned Residential zone and you rent it out short term without living there, your permit stops working on December 31, 2026. Not paused. Not grandfathered. Terminated. Palm Desert Municipal Code Chapter 5.10 says existing off-site short-term rental perm
Will the Capital Gains Exclusion Double? What the More Homes on the Market Act Means for Coastal Sellers Moving to the Desert
If you bought a house in Orange County or San Diego in 1998 and you are thinking about selling it to move to La Quinta or Palm Desert, there is a good chance a tax rule written before the iPhone existed is the biggest single line item in your move. Here is the rule. When you sell a primary residence
Short-Term Rental Rules in the Coachella Valley: A City-by-City Guide
I get some version of this question almost every week, usually from a coastal owner who inherited a desert property, or a buyer eyeing a place near El Paseo and wondering if it can pay for itself on Airbnb. The honest answer is that it depends entirely on the address. Nine cities share this valley,
Are Listing Photos Real? California's 2026 AI Photo Disclosure Law and What Coachella Valley Buyers Should Ask
A buyer in Newport Beach writes an offer on a Palm Desert home she has never walked through. She is working from 34 photos. Three of them have been altered. As of January 1, 2026, California requires that to be disclosed. I have spent 21 years selling in the Coachella Valley, licensed under DRE #014