Where is a good place to live in and around Palm Desert? (San Diego: apartments, rental homes)

[Buckeyes]

My husband is getting transferred to Palm Desert area within the next 2 months. We have been looking in the Indio, La Quinta, Coachella area for rental homes and apartments. I was just wondering what area or areas anyone would recommend staying AWAY from..

Thanks
Buckeye

[GoodbyeCalifornia]

Hello Buckeyes:

Personally, I would scratch Coachella off my list. It is a fairly poor, high crime area. Indio is marginally better, but definitely has it's sketchy parts. I would stick with either La Quinta or Palm Desert, or if you don't mind a little drive, look in Palm Springs.

[kturbe]

La Quinta is great but more expensive then the other areas. Indio is starting to grow and has lot's of new homes that resonable along with new amentities.
Best of luck!

[lexi]

Originally Posted by Buckeyes

My husband is getting transferred to Palm Desert area within the next 2 months. We have been looking in the Indio, La Quinta, Coachella area for rental homes and apartments. I was just wondering what area or areas anyone would recommend staying AWAY from..

Thanks
Buckeye

I vote La quinta. Palm Desert is nice but their utilities are almost
double that of La quinta. Palm Desert would be my number two choice and
I would not move to Coachella... Maybe Indio in the new part of shadow
hills if you didn't find anything in La quinta. You should check out craigslist
or ... the desert area mls. It's just desertareamls.com

[Buckeyes]

Thanks guys for the help.

What about Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage Or Desert Hot springs? Does anyone know anything about these 3 places?

[lexi]

Originally Posted by Buckeyes

Thanks guys for the help.

What about Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage Or Desert Hot springs? Does anyone know anything about these 3 places?

All three will be on higher utility rates. Rancho Mirage is the nicest
of the three, then Catherdral City and I would avoid Desert Hot
springs. They have a high crime rate.

[inlandlady]

I moved into the enclave apts 3 months a go. I feel safe there. All the apts come with your own parking garage (without the extra fees most other places charge). Before I moved in, I started reading the police posting (on their web site) to see what areas had the most problems. I decided to move into the enclave after checking out several other places. If you decided to move in, contact me and I'll split the $600. finders fee with you.

[Twinkle Toes]

You DON'T want Indio, Desert Hot Sprimgs, Coachella, or Cathedral City!!!

Stick with Indian Wells, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, or La Quinta. The poster who said La Quinta is more expensive than Palm Desert is not entirely correct. likewise, whoever said Rancho Mirage is the nicest of the cities is also not entirely correct. These are matters of opinion. Personally, I prefer Palm Desert over La Quinta - I lived in Palm Desert, am now in La Quinta, and when the economy goes back up and I don't have to sell my house at a loss, we are moving back to Palm Desert, or possibly Indian Wells. We have found La Quinta to be cheaper than Palm Desert, but we like the Palm Desert vibe so much better than the La Quinta vibe.

But under NO circumstances would I move to any of the cities I listed in my opening line! If you value your life and you like to live - skip those cities, i.e; CC, DHS, Indio, Coachella.

[zills]

We are also looking to move to the area. We are a young family, in our mid 30's with a 1 1/2 year old. We are from San Diego orginially but currently live on the east coast. We have only been to Palm Springs to vacation and have never considered the area as a permanent residence. We want to live where we are close to shopping and good restaurants (non-chains preferably). Is Rancho Mirage higher end in terms of shopping/housing? Where is the best school district?

[Twinkle Toes]

Originally Posted by zills

We are also looking to move to the area. We are a young family, in our mid 30's with a 1 1/2 year old. We are from San Diego orginially but currently live on the east coast. We have only been to Palm Springs to vacation and have never considered the area as a permanent residence. We want to live where we are close to shopping and good restaurants (non-chains preferably). Is Rancho Mirage higher end in terms of shopping/housing? Where is the best school district?

Rancho Mirage has NO shopping, save for the cigar shops, wine, chocolate shops, etc. at The River. Palm Desert has all the shopping. Palm Desert also has great restaurants - both non-chain and chain. RM also has some nice restaurants, but Palm Desert is a better place if you want all the "stuff". RM is primarily residential.

As for high-end homes, they can be found in Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells, and La Quinta. All four cities have very nice, very expensive, very exclusive, high-end homes.

Rancho Mirage is in the Palm Springs Unified School District, so your kids would be going to Cat City or Palm Springs schools. DON'T DO IT!!! You want to be in the Desert Sands district - La Quinta, Indian Wells, Palm Desert. Both Palm Desert and La Quinta schools made the Newsweek list of top schools in the nation. My kids attended (one currently still attends) Palm Desert schools and we have NO complaints about their education, or their schools.