Palm Springs Pacific Union Agents Visit The Palm Springs Air Museum

Pacific Union Real Estate in Palm Springs recently announced plans for community awareness and interaction projects including workshops, seminars and tours of area attractions. As part of that series, agents toured The Palm Springs Air Museum last Tuesday afternoon. After a lunch provided by The Freedom Fighters Cafe located in the museum, several docents took smaller groups of agents through the exhibits.

The Palm Springs Air Museum houses one of the nation's largest collection of World War II flying aircraft displayed in modern, well lighted, air-conditioned and clean hangars. The Buddy Rodgers Theater shows daily documentaries about aviation in the military with an emphasis on World War II. In addition to planes and historic artifacts, the museum is host to a library of 6300 volumes primarily related to aviation and American military history.

Complimenting the extensive displays, the museum sponsors Saturday commemorative educational programs for visitors and members which often include exhibition flights. On those days, members and visitors can participate in the sights and sounds that made history.

Many of the Pacific Union agents had not been to the museum before but all attendees were impressed with the volunteer staff, their knowledge and their personal stories and input.

Current Real Estate Market

The current financial sector is obviously creating difficulty for the real estate market. One thing to remember is that all price points are selling, but people have to remember location, location, location continues to play an important part in your decision making process. Talk to your real estate professional and do your homework. There are great properties available right now.

Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate is the desert area's exclusive affiliate of Christie's Great Estates and serves the real estate needs of Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta.

Case Study 22

Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate is the desert area's exclusive affiliate of Christie's Great Estates and serves the real estate needs of Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta.

IPhone information versus other smart phones

Yahoo Finance speaks on the IPhone.
Walt Mossber sizes up the competition.

The iPhone is "the best, most complete smartphone" on the market and clones such as the Samsung Instinct are a poor substitute, says Walt Mossberg, personal technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal and co-executive editor of AllThingsD.com
That said, Mossberg does not think Apple has won the smartphone wars by any stretch, for the following reasons:

First, the iPhone's touch screen is a "non starter" for many people, which means phones with 'QWERTY' keyboards from Research In Motion, Palm and others will remain in demand.

Second, AT&T is the exclusive service provider in the U.S. and their service is spotty, at best, in many parts of the country. In addition, even people who want the iPhone may be reluctant to pay fees to break an existing contract with another carrier.

Third, as impressive as the iPhone's hardware is, software is the key to smartphone success. Mossberg believes Apple has a chance to turn the iPhone into a platform via the App store, as discussed here. But he certainly isn't discounting competitors from RIM to Nokia to Microsoft and Google, which each have deep pockets and deep software expertise.

CLICK HERE to view the full article and information.

Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate is the desert area's exclusive affiliate of Christie's Great Estates and serves the real estate needs of Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta.

Trina Turk Residential Boutique

Now Open in Palm Springs—The Trina Turk Residential Boutique!Imagine the graphic prints of Trina’s clothing collection in pillows to pop the interiors of your home. The Trina Turk Residential Boutique is located next door to the Trina Turk Apparel Boutique.

Phil Smith of The Art Office designed Trina Turk residential, which is located right next door to our original boutique on N. Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs. In addition to the items made with Trina Turk signature prints, you will find a carefully curated selection of beautiful items for the home including Missoni towels, one of a kind handmade vessels from Atwater Pottery, cloisonné lidded jars from Fabienne Jouvin, Trina Turk Candles and more!

Trina Turk Residential
895 N. Palm Canyon Drive

Palm Springs, CA 91802

phone: 760.416.2856

Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate is the desert area's exclusive affiliate of Christie's Great Estates and serves the real estate needs of Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta.

Jott the newest time saver

At its most basic level, webapp Jott is a voice to text transcription service: you call Jott, leave a message, and Jott transcribes it and emails you or your contacts the text. That alone can capture the big idea that pops into your head on the drive to the office, but Jott can do a whole lot more than send you email. With Jott's built-in links and tools that capitalize on its email-sending abilities, it can give nearly any personal organization system a go-anywhere, add-anything boost. Today we've got a quick primer on how to turn your phone into a ubiquitous capture tool that zaps info into all your favorite organization apps by voice.

For more information there's wonderful information through lifehacker.com at THIS LINK.

Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate is the desert area's exclusive affiliate of Christie's Great Estates and serves the real estate needs of Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta.

Julius Shulman Exhibit at The Palm Springs Art Museum

The Palm Springs Art Museum

Julius Shulman Exhibition to Debut
February 15th - May 4th, 2008

The exhibition Julius Shulman / Palm Springs will focus on Shulman’s extensive and historically lengthy (70 year) documentation of the modern architectural movement in the Palm Springs area. The spectacular desert landscape provided inspiration to numerous superb architects, whose vision and output created a unique architectural mode in the Southern California Mid-Century Modern movement; and Shulman made it his passion to document these buildings and homes. The exhibition will consist of over 150 photographs. "Julius photographed the rem aining imporant architectural properties in the Palm Springs area and the excitement around those new works is already creating much anticipation.", said Exhibition Curator Michael Stern. The photos are compiled from the holdings of The Getty Museum and Palm Springs Art Museum, as well as private collections.

The Palm Springs Art Museum is located downtown in an architecturally-significant E. Stewart Williams designed building.

For more information, call 760.332.4800 or CLICK HERE.

Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate is the desert area's exclusive affiliate of Christie's Great Estates and serves the real estate needs of Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta.

"One Night Only"

“One Night Only” will be held on Thursday, May 1, 2008 at the McCallum Theatre. The new beneficiary this coming year is Jewish Family Service of the Desert (JFS).

Michael Childers and a host of other incredibly generous people are working to bring back "One Night Only". It has developed a reputation for delivering a powerful evening of entertainment. This past April, five time Emmy award winner Doris Roberts hosted the best of Broadway and Hollywood, including Stephanie Powers, Andrea Marcovicci, Bruce Vilanch, Sally Kellerman, and numerous other show stopping performers.

I'm working to help them make this the most successful event to date and hope to see you there. Please RSVP to Ken Katz, Event Director, at kkatz@dc.rr.com.

For more information on Jewish Family Service of the Desert, CLICK HERE.

Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate is the desert area's exclusive affiliate of Christie's Great Estates and serves the real estate needs of Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta.

Modernism Week in Palm Springs

Modernism Week is an annual collaboration between the Modernism Show, Palm Springs Preservation Foundation, Palm Springs Historical Society, Palm Springs Modern Committee, Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce and the Palm Springs Art Museum focusing on design and architecture events and programs in Palm Springs California.

Thursday, February 15 - Saturday, February 24 2008.

An assortment of scheduled events are detailed on the link provided.

To learn more CLICK HERE.

Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate is the desert area's exclusive affiliate of Christie's Great Estates and serves the real estate needs of Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta.

Discover your carbon footprint

What is a carbon footprint? Basically it is an estimate of how much carbon dioxide we emit through the burning of fossil fuels for activities such as household energy consumption and transport use (e.g. car and plane).

GE has done a great job of creating a site to learn your consumption use.

To learn more CLICK HERE.

Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate is the desert area's exclusive affiliate of Christie's Great Estates and serves the real estate needs of Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta.

Palm Springs Art Museum Launches New Website

The Palm Springs Art Museum has launched a new website that is much easier to navigate, is vibrant and interactive, and allows for access to an instant calendar of all current events.

DID YOU KNOW: The Museum's permanent collection of more than 55,000 objects features art of the Americas and 20th-century California art. The collection includes modernist and contemporary painting and sculpture, Western American art, Native American and Mesoamerican art and artifacts, contemporary studio glass art, photography, modern architecture and design, and graphics/works on paper.

Take some time to not only peruse their new site, but tour the museum as well. You won't be disappointed.

Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate is the desert area's exclusive affiliate of Christie's Great Estates and serves the real estate needs of Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta.

Write In Post - Recycling

This information was submitted in the comments to a recent posting on recycling within our blog and we thought you'd like checking it out...

Palm Springs City Council has passed two resolutions in November to make single stream recycling a reality in 2008. A contribution of $2,000,000 was made to PSDS for containers and trucks to pick up the new containers. Hopefully by July 2008, we will no longer have to separate our recycled items. Now we also need to work on a plan to use solar power on our homes...the Resource Conservation Committee is looking for ways to use renewable resources and cut our power bills especially in our summer months when we use our air-conditioners. Wouldn't it be great to use the sun to cool our house? Talk about thinking outside the box!

Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate is the desert area's exclusive affiliate of Christie's Great Estates and serves the real estate needs of Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta.

Green Tip Of The Week - Global Green

Global Green USA is a national environmental organization addressing three of the greatest challenges facing humanity:

- Stemming global climate change by creating green buildings and cities.
- Eliminating weapons of mass destruction that threaten lives and the environment.
- Providing clean, safe drinking water for the 2.4 billion people who lack access to clean water.

To learn more or show your support CLICK HERE.

Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate is the desert area's exclusive affiliate of Christie's Great Estates and serves the real estate needs of Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta.

Tech Trends

By Renwick Congdon

A large part of the Web 2.0 landscape is made up of blogs, wikis and programs that integrate both mediums, along with other technologies.

Blogs are essentially personal journals or commentaries created by individuals, perhaps within teams or organizations, for broad consumption and published on the Internet. Communities on the Web use blogging sites to air their opinions or add to an existing body of material on a given subject area.

The purpose of blogs may vary from site to site; for example, some bloggers use the medium as a diary, while others provide supporting or antithetical views on a topic. The postings-the term used for the publishing of a blog entry-are usually self-moderated.
A wiki is a Web site that enables users to add new content or amend existing content. As soon as you post on a wiki, all users are able to contribute, by adding or amending the original document. They do not have to ask permission-from the author or an administrator-because everyone is empowered to contribute. The wiki community manages change and ensures accuracy and relevance. A great example is Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.com/).

The shared-document collaboration element is the main difference between blogs and wikis. The originating author relinquishes ownership of the content on a wiki publication.

For more information on this CLICK HERE.

Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate is the desert area's exclusive affiliate of Christie's Great Estates and serves the real estate needs of Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta.

Christie's Art Auctions

How to sell:
Many factors have made Christie's the auction house of choice for consignors: exceptional client service, unrivaled experience in the international art market, and a global network of salerooms and offices.

A unique and tailor-made strategy to obtain optimal returns for our auctions draws on Christie's wealth of resources, including a lineup of accomplished auctioneers; an international group of experienced specialists in more than 80 categories; an extensive database of potential buyers around the world; and a team of skilled marketing and public relations professionals.
CLICK HERE for more information.


How to buy:
Buying at auction is an exciting experience but it is also serious business. Research and inspect the property you are interested in and learn about the bidding process before registering to bid.
CLICK HERE for more information.

Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate is the desert area's exclusive affiliate of Christie's Great Estates and serves the real estate needs of Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta.

Architectural Research Locations

There's an extensive array of Architectural information available. If you have extensive knowledge or if being in Palm Springs has tweaked your Architectural interests take some time to research the styles and details you enjoy.

Here's a few websites we've found quite informative and useful in our continued quest for knowledge:

Palm Springs Preservation Foundation

National Trust of Historic Preservation

Society of Architectural Historians

Architectural International Database


We have several additional websites of interest if you'd like more information. Please feel free to contact us, or leave a comment below if you'd like any additional links we have that you might enjoy. Your local library is another wonderful resource.

Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate is the desert area's exclusive affiliate of Christie's Great Estates and serves the real estate needs of Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta.

Green Tip of the Week: Online Sustainable Materials Library

Ecolect: A Sustainable Materials Community

Ecolect is a combination of 'ecology' and 'intellect'. This is an extrodinary online group that is focused on being the largest, freely accesible sustainable materials library in the world.

Now it’s up to you, users and fellow designers, to take the site and run with it. That’s how Ecolect can remain a growing, as a relevant resource.

CLICK HERE to link to their site.

Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate is the desert area's exclusive affiliate of Christie's Great Estates and serves the real estate needs of Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta.

Christie's Great Estates Message from the President

Pacific Union is the exclusive luxury affiliate of Christie's Great Estates. Christie's Great Estates, a wholly owned subsidiary of Christie's, the world's oldest fine art auction house, was established in 1995 and is the largest network of real estate brokers dedicated to the marketing and sale of important properties. The network comprises more than 850 real estate offices and nearly 35,000 sales associates in more than 45 countries. The combined annual sales volume of all affiliate real estate companies is approximately $125 billion.

The Christie's name is synonymous with quality, integrity, and customer satisfaction, and the marketing efforts of Christie's and Christie's Great Estates provide far-reaching exposure to a qualified audience of homeowners and homebuyers. Christie's Great Estates is your best source for international luxury real estate and the most influential luxury real estate group in the world. Each office around the world has close affiliation and has spent time working with one another on numerous occasions.

Kay Coughlin, President & CEO of Christie's Great Estates, provides a brief overview of the company's proven services to successfully market and sell luxury real estate worldwide.

Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate is the desert area's exclusive affiliate of Christie's Great Estates and serves the real estate needs of Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta.

Blogging

Well you're certainly reading one, but do you have one?

People in all age ranges are enjoying their time on the web that much more by creating blogs. It's their opportunity to have a location where they say everything on their mind or focused on an activity they enjoy or their career.

Blogger.com is an excellent example of a place you can go to create a free online blog. Use it with friends, family, clients, work...whatever you like. They give the user several templates in creating the look and feel, but everything is very simple. You can insert images or video and it's incredibly easy with help around every corner if needed.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions on creating blogs.

Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate is the desert area's exclusive affiliate of Christie's Great Estates and serves the real estate needs of Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta.

Canyon Country Club History

The Canyon Country Club is a gorgeous location in South Palm Springs. The club itself is currently going through a significant remodeling and branding effort. The new name you'll be seeing about town for the club is "Palm Springs National". Below is some incredibly informative details found on the Canyon Country Club website.

Prior to the club’s opening in 1961, developers had long coveted a 550-acre tract of Indian-owned land in southern Palm Springs. In 1960, after years of complicated negotiations with the Aqua Caliente Indian tribe, Harold Simon, a Palm Springs attorney, wrote the largest Indian land lease in American history. When the lease was signed, the plan for Canyon Country Club was crafted. Incidentally, the first name for the new club was to be “Wind Free.” But, several neighboring Coachella Valley communities objected to the name because of the comparison it made to “windy” development efforts.

Canyon Country Club consists of a stunning, modern clubhouse, designed by renowned architect Don Wexler, a leading contributor to the “Palm Springs Modern” genre, the club was destined from the start to be a magnet for the elite.

The starter shack had a red phone directly to the White House because President Johnson followed by Spiro Agnew spent two seasons at Canyon Country Club.

For more information CLICK HERE.



Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate is the desert area's exclusive affiliate of Christie's Great Estates and serves the real estate needs of Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells and La Quinta.