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Hello All,
I know there quite a few threads on here about the Palm Springs area, and I've got some great info from these, but had just a few questions I thought some of you fine folks could answer... (I'm thinking twinkletoes especially...
I've taken a job with my company at a resort in south Palm Springs and my wife and I will be moving out there end of May (hot...I know). We're both 24 and from the midwest, but used to live in LA so I'm not too worried about a move like this as far as culture shock or whatever. Anyway, we're looking for a rental and trying to find the best area. I don't want to be real far from my work because of the nature of my specific job (I may be going back a forth from home and work a few times a day), but I don't care about driving a little. My wife is a nurse and wants to find a job at Desert Regional or Eisenhower.
We are coming from owning a 3bd, 2 story house and while I don't really care about necessarily renting a house, we're not really interested in a straight up apartment. We're used to a little more space. A Duplex (or small house) or something that's in a complex with 10 or less units would be really ideal. I don't really care about country club living/condos or paying to look over a golf course. We could afford to rent a small house, but most of the stuff in our ideal range (900-1300) don't have pools, and I'd kind of like one close with all that intolerable heat and whatnot...so keep this in mind when recommending a neighborhood.
A few questions:
-What's the big bad deal about Cathedral City? High crime? It seems like it doesn't get a lot of love on here. This is kind of an ideal location (equadistance between the two hospitals, since we'll be getting a place before she gets a job). And I DO care about the neghiborhood we live in. I don't care about paying for status area, but I will pay for safety/ comfort. If no to this area any recommendations for semi affordable housing?
-Is there something about electric bills being much less outside of Palm Springs proper? What's the deal with this? Also, locally our power company lets us "streamline" our bill where they take the monthly charges averaged out of a year and round up a little and just charge you the same amount each month and then at the end of the year bill/credit you for any over/under estimation. so you just pay 200 bucks a month all year instead of 500 in the summer and 40 in the winter. yes?
-Any input on those two hospitals? Pay differences? It's really a shot in the dark right now since I've read equal love and hate for each of them on forums around the web.
-and finally...anyone a property manager that wants to help me find a place when we come out in a few weeks?
Anything else I need to know? We've already signed up, so you can just be overly positive if you want. There's not really an option of backing out now...
Thanks!
AJ
My wife is a nurse as well. We live in north La Quinta and she works at JFK but we are originally from Atlanta and have been here since November. We feel safe no matter where we go. What people call "crime" here is laughable at best (even in the notorious Cat city and Indio areas), since we are accustomed to what things are like back in Georgia. For several years Atlanta ranked number 1 on the list of the nation's most dangerous cities according to FBI crime statistics. As far as we are concerned, anywhere in the Coachella valley is safe compared to the crime ridden streets of the "ATL". She works for an agency and JFK is her first assignment since becoming a traveller. They pay our rent, utilities, and have provided us with a fully furnished apartment in a gated apartment community for the past three months, but since we have two teenagers the place is a little small for our needs so we opted to find our own place (we have decided to stay after her assignment ends). We found a great three bedroom house in La Quinta. The agency will continue to pay the majority of our living expenses while she is under contract, which she has been able to extend. If she has yet to do so, your wife should investigate the possibility of becoming a traveller. She probably already knows how well nurses get paid out here in stark contrast to the rest of the country, as well as other perks (better nurse/patient ratio, strong union presence, et cetera). And as a traveller, it really won't matter where she is placed as it will give her an opportunity to "feel" the place out without commiting to any long term contractual arrangements with that hospital. But no matter what she decides to do, it's a win/win situation because the demand for nurses in this state is extraordinary. Welcome to the desert and good luck on all your ventures here.
I may be able to answer your questions to some degree. Here is my take on them:
Cathedral City - The reason that it doesn't get much love is that there isn't much to love about it. There is no real downtown to speak of, and what shopping there is trends to the lower scale of things. High concentration of car dealerships as well. It is one of the Coachella Valley's blue collar towns and has fairly high Hispanic population. Not that there is anything wrong with that. It is just a matter of whether one is comfortable in such an environment or not.
Cathedral City does have a higher crime rate than other cities that surround it. Gang activity, burglary, car break ins, the occasional shooting and murder. If you see a news report on TV about something bad happening, it usually is in Cathedral City. True, none of the cities in the Coachella Valley have as high a crime rate as a major metropolitan area such as Atlanta. But crime is crime, whether it's a daily occurrence or a weekly one.
Electrical bills - Yes, there is a difference, though how great of one nowadays I don't know for sure. Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, and parts of Palm Desert are served by Southern California Edison. Other parts of Palm Desert, La Quinta, Indio and points further east, are served by the Imperial Irrigation District.
Traditionally, Imperial Irrigation District rates have been much lower than those of Edison. Part of that is because Edison's summer baseline rate is still set probably 20 years in the past. What I mean by this is 20 years ago, a fraction of the population lived in the desert full time. Therefore, electricity usage was extremely low. This historical data is what the baseline was derived from. Even though the population of full time residents has ballooned, especially in the last say 7 years, the baseline has never been adjusted to reflect that. The end result, Edison customers pay through the nose for much needed electricity in the summer months when air conditioning is a must.
Southern California Gas Company offers a program like you described for their natural gas customers, so it is possible that Edison might offer such a program as well, though I cannot say so for certain. There are ways to save on your electrical bills. Setting your thermostat to say 80 degrees or whatever temperature you can comfortably stand, installing ceiling fans and an evaporative cooler, keeping your curtains drawn. Using most of those methods, I was able to keep the summer electric bills for my 1600 square foot condo, at around $100 a month or a bit less.
Desert Regional vs. Eisenhower - Can't say a lot on this subject. Eisenhower has always had the better reputation of the two and has always drawn more big time money donations. Bob Hope contributed quite a bit of money to Eisenhower over the years. Eisenhower supposedly has the better cardiac care unit, while, if memory serves, Desert Regional is the only trauma center in the valley. As for pay, I have no way of knowing whether one is better than the other.
Neighborhoods - I would say that if you are going to work in Palm Springs, then look for something in either Central Palm Springs or South Palm Springs. If it turns out your wife gets a job at Eisenhower, the drive to there from Palm Springs is fairly easy.
If I had to recommend a specific area, then I would say look for something in South Palm Springs in what they call Smoketree. There are many nice condo complexes throughout there, most not on golf courses, and you have the added benefit of having a major grocery store/shopping center right there as well. Offhand, I don't know of any complexes that have 10 units or less, and I think you will have a hard, but not impossible time, finding a house for rent that also has a pool. Can't help you with the property manager because the only good one I knew moved away from the area.
So there you have it. Hope it is of some use to you.
This is some great info guys. Thanks so much. It sounds like central/south palm springs would be an ideal place for us to live. I've found a few places online in that smoketree area that were reasonable. I also saw a few places in the Ruth Hardy park area that weren't too bad (and that's real ideal if my wife gets a job at Desert Regional). It sounds like we'd have to live too far away from work the get in on the lower electric rates.
Qballnv, thanks for the info on the hospitals. It's been hard to find something that detailed, even on nursing boards on the web. Do you mind if I ask you what agency your wife is contracted with? You can PM me if you want (does she get a bonus for recommendations?). My wife has looked at travel nursing jobs and they could be ideal, especially for the first few months we're out there to get a feel of the hospitals before making a commitment. I think her only fear was knowing what a good agency was since she's never done it before. It seems like every travel nursing website I've see just talks in generalities and tells you how great stuff is, the "maximum" hourly rate, etc. No real hard details. Do you mind giving me an idea of what your wife got for a contract $$-wise and those kinds of details? (again, you can PM me if you want) Also, did they give you any option of what hospital she could go to? If they placed her at JFK it might be a little far from where we'll probably live.
Our only though on why a permanent position right away might be better is they may give her some moving expenses (although I'm guessing that requires a 1yr+ commitment and the higher wages for traveling nurses might majorly out weigh it, even with a 13 wk contract...)
I'm also curious though about the nurse/patient ratio. We're coming from a smaller midwest metro (250,000+) and it looked like most of the positions out there were 5:1 (!). She's currently taking 3:1 on days for a progressive floor and 5:1 when teamed with a CNA. That 5:1 think kind of freaked her out. ?
It's also good to know that Eisenhower is known for their cardiac unit, as she's currently a cardiac/progressive nurse and really likes that field.
Sounds like Cathedral city's no big deal..but I think we'll probably try and stay closer to Palm springs.
Thanks again for all the great info, and please feel free to share any other insite anybody has. We'll probably be in town in 3 weeks looking for a place.
I know you requested info from Twinkle, but I think the other posters pretty much covered it and did a bang up job of doing so! The only thing I can really add to this is please, please, please - stay away from Desert Hot Springs at all costs!!!
Yup agree with Twinkle - stay away from DHS. Lived in the Smoke Tree area - highly recommend it. I always loved the summer because there was no snow birds around and they had the street fair on Palm Canyon. Ok gotta ask this question on the electric bill - how did you manage to keep it under a $100? I had Edison and when I had my 3 bdrm house I barely kept it under $200 with the tempt set at 96 in the house back in the early nineties.
Oh wait I forgot -- the tempt been cooler since I moved. It's just so unfair that they been having great weather -- any of you remember when it reached 130 in July of 95?
Twinkle Toes, I realize you and I do not agree on the topic of DHS, and further debate won't change either if our positions. I'm just thinking that it may prove beneficial to the original poster to offer your personal insight and any links to sources as to why DHS would be a city they shouldn't consider. I find in the OC forum many posters making vague statements like "Don't move to Santa Ana" (or Anaheim, Garden Grove, etc, etc...) and the original poster comes back with "well why not". We are, after all, here to offer our knowledge and experience to persons relocating to our respective areas.
PS- I noticed your a Dancing with the Stars fan, and I'm sure your watching it right now too, don't you love this season?!
Hey there move-able,
I got my wife's approval on this so, no need to PM you. The agency my wife works for is called Talemed. You can look them up on the web, or for a more detailed analysis of their business practices and benefits, you can go to a site called Highway Hypodermics, and look at their "21 Syringe Salute" page. Talemed is ranked number 1 on their top ten list, and they rank hundreds of angencies every year. And yes, my wife does get a referral bonus, provided the new hire completes their contract. She doesn't want to disclose her pay except to say that it is considerably more than what she was making in Georgia as a staff nurse with over ten years experience, and not just to offset the higher cost of housing and other expenses intrinsic to this area. However, as I have already stated, the demand for nurses in this state is extraordinary. Sign-on bonuses at any hospital in out here can be as high as 10,000 dollars, which, as I'm certain your wife is aware could be a red flag if this were anywhere other than So Cal. And the base pay is typically 35-40 an hour for an experienced nurse (one with 5-10 years in the profession) with a 13% night shift differential. Now to dispel a myth. The nurse/patient ratio is 4:1 on telemetry floors and 5:1 on med-surg floors with CNA's taking 10 to 15 patients (CNA's also take vital's and ADL's), and this is California state law. Desert Regional is the highest paying facility out here, and Eisenhower doesn't hire LVN's, which is a plus. As far as where an agency might place her, that's predicated upon whether or not the agency has an open contract with the hospital she chooses, but my wife said most of them do. My wife's suggestion is that your spouse call the nurse recruiter at all three facilities to get an idea of what staff nurses make, sign-on bonus amounts, contract lengths, et cetera. If she decides to go with a travel agency, most of them will offer a relocation expense (amounts vary) payable at the beginning of the contract, and you get paid weekly also. Good luck!! My e-mail is qballnv@gmail.com if you need any further information.
The way I kept the bill down was using pretty much all the methods that I described in my post. It does have a lot to do too though with when your house was built. When I first lived in Palm Springs, I bought a house that was built in 1958, so pretty much zero insulation. The electrical bills usually ran around $170 to $185 during the summer. Having a swamp cooler really helped keep the bills in that range, as well as not runnning the pool equipment for 12 hours a day like some people do.
The condo that I lived in later, which I referenced in my post, was built in the late 1970's, so much better insulation, though probably still not to the degree of structures built today. The condo would naturally hold a temperature of about 80-85 degrees without air conditioning until about 3 PM, which is the hottest part of the day in the desert. I kept the place closed up pretty much like a cave, used fans, and a portable swamp cooler. About the only appliances that ran for any length of time were the TV, computer, and the refrigerator. Didn't really use much lighting in the evening. Would run the A/C after the sun went down to cool the house off, then open up my sliders to let the outside air in, especially if there was a breeze. Seemed to do the trick. The plus was electrical bills that even surprised me.
I moved to Palm Springs in 1999 so I didn't enjoy the heat of July 1995. But I do remember being there over Labor Day weekend, in either 1981 or 1982. For three days straight it hit 122. That's the hottest temperature I have ever experienced and ever wish to experience again. Not to mention the sunburn I got....LOL.
Twinkle Toes, I realize you and I do not agree on the topic of DHS, and further debate won't change either if our positions. I'm just thinking that it may prove beneficial to the original poster to offer your personal insight and any links to sources as to why DHS would be a city they shouldn't consider. I find in the OC forum many posters making vague statements like "Don't move to Santa Ana" (or Anaheim, Garden Grove, etc, etc...) and the original poster comes back with "well why not". We are, after all, here to offer our knowledge and experience to persons relocating to our respective areas.
PS- I noticed your a Dancing with the Stars fan, and I'm sure your watching it right now too, don't you love this season?!
My personal insight into conditions in DHS are The Desert Sun, cases I work involving incidents in DHS (I am an attorney), personal experiences I've had/witnessed in DHS. I live here in the valley. I notice you live in the OC. I am probably a little more familiar with what goes on in our valley, since I live here.
Yes, I am a DWTS fan. I am a competitive ballroom dancer and I personally know most of the professional dancers on the show. In fact, I will be hanging with most of them at Emerald Ball the first week of May.
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(hopefully) Helpful info
. I always loved the summer because there was no snow birds around and they had the street fair on Palm Canyon. Ok gotta ask this question on the electric bill - how did you manage to keep it under a $100? I had Edison and when I had my 3 bdrm house I barely kept it under $200 with the tempt set at 96 in the house back in the early nineties.
. It's just so unfair that they been having great weather -- any of you remember when it reached 130 in July of 95?
