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Suzanne Somers Drops The Price In Palm Springs Again

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping


Real estate in Palm Springs, California continues to be slow moving but it looks like Suzanne Somers and Alan Hamel are tired of waiting. Somers and her husband have chopped another $2 million off their home known as Les Baux de Palm Springs. The pair bought the land back in 1977, gradually enhancing the 65 acres with guest houses, an amphitheater, an updated pool and a renovated and expanded main house. Somers filled the home with a decor as exuberant as she is, French country touches keep company with velvet sofas, giant chandeliers and more than one zebra skin rug. Back in 2008 this property hit the market at $35 million but can now be yours for just $12.9 million.

Ten Biggest Real Estate Price Drops

Filed under: Estates


The most expensive real estate in the country has taken some pretty major price cuts over the past year or two. In the past, mega-mansions with huge pricetags would often sit on the market a year or two without a price cut with owners secure in the knowledge that the right buyers would eventually come along. These are uncertain times and there are some very motivated sellers testing their luck in the real estate waters. Our list of top ten reductions of U.S. properties we've covered in the past starts at a $10 million cut and it only gets higher from there.

10)The Sloane Mansion, was $64 million, now $54 million
Price Cut=$10 million
The Henry T. Sloane mansion on East 68th Street in New York City is located just steps away from Fifth Avenue on the East Side. The building has 18,500 square feet total spread out over five stories and there are 15 bedrooms and 17 bathrooms, seven fireplaces, a ballroom and a rooftop garden. The mansion was designed by architect Charles Pierrepont H. Gilbert for Sloane, the heir to a furniture empire, in 1905. The home is classic Beaux-Arts style and five of the rooms have all their original details intact including wood-paneled ballroom with original oil-painted murals. It has been on the market for over a year but may need to go lower than $54 million in this economy.

Decline In Travel Costs Coachella Valley $30 Million

Filed under: Journeys


Like Las Vegas, the area around Palm Springs, California is another location that has felt the bite of the drop in tourism. The Desert Sun reports that the Coachella Valley has lost nearly $30 million in convention and meetings travel in the last seven months. A survey of f local meeting hotels conducted by the Palm Springs Desert Resort Communities Convention and Visitors Authority revealed that canceled meetings added up to a total loss of 51,000 room nights in hotels in the area.

The event was part of Tuesday's Travel Rally Day, a nationwide event meant to raise attention for the beleaguered travel industry. Like private jets, corporate travel has taken a huge hit partially because of the economy and partially because of the media focus on the excesses of big business.

Two Iconic Homes In Palm Springs, Estates of the Day

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping


There happens to be a lot of traffic moving through Palm Springs this weekend as music fans make their way out to the Coachella music festival in Indio, California. So what better time to look at the real estate in Palm Springs. This resort town has taken a huge hit in the real estate market over the past year but it boasts some of southern California's best architecture. Two iconic estates each once owned by two entertainment legends illustrate this perfectly.

Up first, a home once owned by singer Dinah Shore. The Wall Street Journal reports that Ms. Shore had the home built in 1963, the same year that she stopped hosting "The Dinah Shore Chevy Show." The modernist home was designed by architect Donald Wexler who also designed the Palm Springs International Airport in the 1960s. The 7,000 square foot home has six bedrooms, a fireplace, pool and space. The current owner, who is a television writer bought the home in 2002 for around $3 million and has restored the home and relandscaped the property. It is listed at $5.95 million.

The other home, Las Palomas, belonged to Cary Grant for two decades starting in 1952 and offers a different style of Palm Springs classic. It is one of only a few of the 1920s era Spanish Estates left in Palm Springs. It was built as a copy of an 19th-century Andalusian Spanish Farmhouse and has six bedrooms. It is listed at $4.95 million.


Kaufmann House, Estate of the Day

Filed under: Estates


Earlier this year, the Kaufmann House, in Palm Springs, California, a classic Richard Neutra home was part of Christie's Spring Contemporary Art Auction. It sold for $16.8 million including commission along with an additional plot of land adjacent to the property for $2.1 million. The Real Estalker reveals that the architectural classic is back on the market because the current owners are divorcing. The home is now listed at $12.9 million and is having a hard time finding buyers, not because of the house, which is exquisite, but because Palm Springs real estate is some of the hardest hit in California's real estate doldrums.


Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

Crescent Drive, Palm Springs, Estate of the Day

Filed under: Estates


I've covered the work of Xorin Balbes before this designer does some of the coolest interior design around Southern California rehabbing older homes into showplaces. He collaborated with architect Paul Ashley on this Palm Springs dream home, a four-bedroom contemporary built in 1974. The home has a maser suite with mountain and pool views plus a gorgeous bath complete with steam shower. There are three more suites each with a custom bath. The home is completely walled and gated which gives you privacy in your glass palace. It's modern design heaven with soaring ceilings, high-end finishes of bleached wood, concrete, marble and glass. The outdoor space includes covered patios and a large pool area. The whole place is as flawless as a movie set and the perfect pad for entertaining. This home is listed at $3.75 million.

First Ferrari to be Exhibited at Desert Concours

Filed under: Wheels, Events


On March 1st, less than a month from now, the very first Ferrari ever built will be on display at the Inaugural Desert Classic Concours d'Elegance in Palm Springs. Chassis Number 01C hasn't made a public appearance in 20 years, and this appearance will be made even more special by that fact that the car has a unique history in the area -- it recorded its first ever western U.S. race win in Palm Springs back in 1951.

Many other rare cars will be appearing at the historic O'Donnell Golf club that day, and tickets are just $20 for regular admission or a limited number of VIP tickets will be available for $150.

Contempo Ecomodern Homes

Filed under: Estates


Planned communities are getting creative. The days of the  McMansion seem to be giving way to innovative developments that offer unique design and environmental benefits. The Contempo Homes in Palm Springs, California aren't just modern they are "ecomodern." The developer defines this as being resource-efficient when it comes to design, construction and operation of the homes.  The homes revive the Alexander style popularized by George and Robert Alexander in the 1950s and 1960s. Their homes, which featured high vaulted ceilings and angular lines, were popular with Palms Springs celebs such as Elvis Presley, Dean Martin and Debbie Reynolds back in the days when Palm Springs was the getaway of choice for many Hollywood legends.

Contempo Homes is creating  four communities: Royal Palm Estates, Alexander Country Club Estates, Alexander Vista Estates and Alexander Village. The new homes include insulated SIPS panels which cut down on the need for larger air or heating units, solar panels, and desertscapes instead of water-wasting green lawns. The 1,800 to 2,000 square-foot homes are in the $500,000 to $700,000 range.


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