Happy Neww Year Folks!

My wife, son and I are trying to escape the Bay Area shelter in place restrictions and move to the Palm Springs area. We identified Desert Hot Springs, CA (DHS) as a potential location due to the bang for your buck and strategic proximity (PS, Joshua tree..) Though it has high crime rates it seems that in the Missions Lakes country club bubble you are fairly secure and away from everything while still close to the nicer towns 15min or so. It looks like you can get a house with a pool around $300K and potentially rent it out short term on Airbnb due to limited STR restrictions after we have to move back for work 7-12 months.

Does anybody have experience with this area any advice is this safe for a young family?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hi Nate,

Consider going up north 30 minutes to Yucca Valley where there are established STR companies and high demand, especially for places with a pool. I own a place in Joshua Tree and live in Southern California, and no one I know goes to DHS to stay in a short term rental. Feel free to message me for more info. That being said, the Mission Lakes country club might be a nice bubble, and theres one nice hotel in the area, but thats it for amenities...otherwise you are driving 30-45 minutes away for anything.

Thanks Taryn, Mission Lakes doesn't allow STR so its off the table and we are moving our search to La Quinta. Thanks, I will check out the Yucca Valley!

@Nate Baum

Hi Nate,

I'm out in La Quinta. There is currently a moratorium on any new STR permits until 2/2021. La Quinta has typically been STR friendlier than most other cities in the CV but they are looking to tighten regulation as demand has increased dramatically in the area. With many cities in the desert (PD, Rancho Mirage, Cat city etc) moving away from STR's, a lot of investor and 2nd home owners are looking to LQ to invest which we are now seeing multiple offers over asking on homes. We have about 1300 or so STR's in our city currently. We will get an idea on regulations sooner rather than later.

I wouldn't buy an STR in La Quinta until we get some more clarity on the changes.