Government shutdown affecting Palm Springs real estate market
The local real estate market in the western Coachella Valley is feeling the crunch of the government shutdown as deals can’t be closed on certain properties.
A two bedroom, two bath bungalow is on the market in south Palm Springs, an ideal location for a small family. If sold however, it will be awhile before anyone can move in because of the government shutdown.
“The seller isn’t getting their money, because the buyer is unable to close, so buyer’s can’t move into their new home,” Guy Prehn, a realtor with Bennion Deville Homes, said.
Prehn has this bungalow as a listing on tribal leased land. Any sale on leased land requires the approval of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a federal agency which is closed due to the shut down. No approvals means no deal can be closed which holds up any potential sales.
“Pest inspectors are not being paid, home warranty companies are not being paid, realtors are not being paid. Everyone is in a holding pattern,” Prehn said. {“url”:”https://twitter.com/JeremyChenKESQ/status/1085663552424370176″,”author_name”:”Jeremy Chen”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/JeremyChenKESQ”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;This is a two bed, two bath bungalow in &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/PalmSprings?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;#PalmSprings&#lt;/a&#gt; ready to be sold, but the current government shutdown could complicate things as it’s on tribal leased land. I have the reason why coming up tonight at 5 on &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/KESQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;@KESQ&#lt;/a&#gt;. &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/B6aJe7mKAe”&#gt;pic.twitter.com/B6aJe7mKAe&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;— Jeremy Chen (@JeremyChenKESQ) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/JeremyChenKESQ/status/1085663552424370176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;January 16, 2019&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″} Local realtors say about 50 percent of the Palm Springs market sits on tribal leased land. There are 115 current listings on leased land with 79 pending in escrow, leaving a lot of concerned clients.
“We’re just trying to communicate with our clients who are currently in escrow or currently listed, what’s happening and how it’s affecting us in Palm Springs,” Dwayne Carrier, a realtor with Tarbell Realtors, said.
Realtors say a prolonged shutdown can create negative effects for the housing market.
“So listings can expire, loan rate locks can expire, deals can cancel. We’ll have to negotiate cancellations between parties, if the seller is unable to perform,” Carrier said.
With all the uncertainty, Prehn says he says still encourages potential buyers to keep an open mind on leased land listings, especially as an investment property and don’t require an immediate move-in.
“This is an unusual situation. And we really feel that, or I personally feel that this too shall pass, and we’ll be able to move on,” he said.
Local realtors in Palm Springs say to anticipate delays once the government does reopen as the Bureau of Indian Affairs will have to process a backlog of applications. They estimate that can take 6-8 weeks.
