When Gordon Miles sees the mountains rising vertically from the valley, he knows he is in a special place.

“You look at that, and there is a sense of peace,” Miles, president of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services in Palm Springs, told the Desert Magazine. “It’s positive just being there. It’s at a pace and ease that is like nowhere else.”

Miles has a special place in his heart for the Desert. He started his career here and says he learned some of his most important skills here. He has taken them all over the world, including Tahoe, where he owned a brokerage, and Las Vegas, where he helped his current brokerage grow into the largest independently owned Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices franchise in the world.

“Everyone should take any opportunity to visit, live or play in the Coachella Valley,” he said.

Actually, many people from across the United States did just that during the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

“There has been a huge influx of people from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and the Northwest states,” Miles said. “They are going to be full-time residents here.”

Inventory is currently at historic lows, Miles said, whose company has nearly 400 agents in the Desert and 3,700 throughout Nevada, Arizona and California.

“If you want to buy a house here, you need to be ready to go,” he said.

There is a palpable lowering of stress in Palm Springs that buyers immediately recognize when they arrive, he said. The crowds and the rush give way to sunshine and fresh air.

“A lot of people realize there is a different quality of life here,” Miles said. “And they aren’t tied to their offices anymore like they were before the pandemic.”

Many buyers love indoor/outdoor living and look for homes with collapsible walls that break down the traditional boundaries of a home, Miles said.

Although rising, Coachella Valley home values are still affordable when compared to those in the nation’s largest cities, Miles said.

“Compared to Los Angeles or Seattle or Chicago, our prices in Palm Springs aren’t that high,” Miles said. “You can get three times the square footage of what you had where you were before.”

Many homes also have swimming pools, Miles added, speaking on a fall day when the temperature outdoors was 85 degrees.

“It’s like living in a resort here,” he said. “Going out to dinner, walking the streets, hiking, sitting out on the patio, socializing, amazing nightlife. There’s a little bit of something for everyone here.”

It’s the slow pace and the lack of crowding in the Palm Springs area that is most appealing to buyers, he said. 

“That is why people come here – the lifestyle,” he said.