With inventory slim and the wait time for building a home stretching into the year-and-a-half range, the real estate market in the Greater Coachella Valley and Palm Springs area remains on fire. However, with the pandemic buying frenzy having dipped slightly, industry experts suggest that this five-alarm frenzy may be nearing its end. 

Gordon Miles, real estate associate and office manager with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, explained that there was a pricing and demand surge as a result of the COVID crisis that put the market under strain. 

"Inventory is still tight, but the pricing is stabilizing, so we're not getting those huge leaps and bounds we were doing in that initial period," Miles said. "I think we're going to see more of a return to a healthy, standard marketplace."

Houses in the Greater Coachella Valley and Palm Springs area could have anywhere from 10-15 offers on the table. | Berkshire Hathaway

A crucial ingredient in that progress is the maintenance of mortgage rates where they are and, while Miles didn't have a timeline to share of when the market will be considered entirely settled down, he affirmed that the pace will be "steady."

"Just steady, none of the over-the-top climbs. I think 2022 is going to be good, a healthy marketplace into 2023," he said. "Everyone I've spoken to has all had the same feeling."

The biggest challenge that buyers continue to face is buying a property in their price range, especially knowing that much of the area's population are not full-time residents. If the buyers are working with agents who don't understand the market's nuances and intricacies, according to Miles, they are likely to be on the losing side of a battle over a property with 10 to 15 offers on the table. 

"It's not like the regular times where you'd just write an offer, throw it in, go back and forth once and be done," he said. 

As a result, brokerages that service the area need to look closely at what they have to offer. Miles says the right agency will be consumer-focused rather than stock-focused.

"What the clients are looking for is the tools to help them get their house sold," he explained. "[...] There's a lot of different things that separates agents, it's the services they're offering out to the clients to help them through the process."

Berkshire Hathaway, for example, has an apex concierge service to assist homeowners with all of those steps. That process could include anything from renovations, updates, consideration of AirBnB value or brand-new building, which is a beast all its own.

"We have several clients that have bought dirt for spec homes because that's in their price point," Miles said. "So we have a bunch of spec homes going up."

But clients looking to hang up their hats in a new home within a couple of months probably shouldn't go that route. Building wait times average a year and a half. 

"There's that age-old tale about building a house together, they say don't do it if you want to keep your marriage," Miles said. "That is serious, you have no idea how much we see that. [Building] is a lot to take on right now, especially with so many people not being full-time residents.

"It's difficult to manage a project like that from afar."