Prospective buyers looking for homes in the million-dollar market have about 700 to choose from across the Coachella Valley.

Some 157 homes priced in that range have sold in the past six months, and another 74 are in escrow, said Jim Franklin, president of the Palm Springs Regional Association of Realtors.

In some valley neighborhoods and cities, the high-end market has begun to heat up, Realtors say. In other areas high-end sales are slow, and RealtyTrac noted that foreclosures in the $2 million-plus range have jumped in some cities.

Overall, however, high-end sales began improving across the state last year, according to San Diego-based DataQuick Information Systems.

In 2010, 22,529 homes sold in California for $1 million or more. That was up 21 percent from 2009, DataQuick reported, and compares to a 9 percent drop in sales for all homes statewide.

Benjamin Leaskou, a partner and Realtor with Greater Palm Springs Realty, just closed on a $1.4 million house. He also just put three more homes valued at $1 million or more into escrow.

Some of Leaskou's clients are buying high-end homes and renting them out. It's a strategy that can earn them higher returns compared with low interest rates at banks.

Leaskou said one client who paid $1.4 million in cash for a home in Vista Las Palmas has generated more than $100,000 in revenue.

Well-to-do buyers also are bargain-hunting, Realtors said.

“A lot of our buyers have been able to take advantage of some really incredible buys,” said Louise Hampton, broker associate who heads a team at Prudential California Realty. “I don't see huge discounts now, but I do see properties priced appropriately.”

Notable home enters market

Homeowner Russell Shafer decided the time was right to list his midcentury home in the Movie Colony neighborhood in Palm Springs for $2.25 million.

Shafer bought the Palladian Villa, once an Architectural Digest cover story, 17 years ago. He was taken by renowned architect James McNaughton's use of light, arches, walls of glass and other modernist features.

“Mr. McNaughton truly had an eye for detail, for drama, for so many things,” Shafer said. “Early on in his life, he was a Hollywood set designer.”

McNaughton also designed Palm Springs homes such as 701 Panorama, where George and Rosalie Hearst lived and Patty Hearst recuperated after a 19-month kidnapping ordeal, and Zsa Zsa Gabor's house at 595 Chino Canyon Road.

Shafer said the three-bedroom, midcentury house features a covered terrazzo terrace in front of a huge living room bow window, overhangs and impressive mountain views. It was once owned by Western star Rory Calhoun.

Sense of history

“One might sense what it must have been like back when Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner were just down the street entertaining the Rat Pack,” Shafer said. “And Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh were swimming in the pool next door.”

Shafer said listing the house now was more about simply feeling the time was right to move on to a new place and another project.

Realtors said homes priced between $900,000 and $2 million have been selling the most, and that inventory has dropped.

“Once you start seeing a reduction in inventory, you start to see stabilization in prices,” Hampton said.

Some high-profile houses have sold recently, including a $4.9 million Palm Springs tennis estate designed by architect Donald Wexler that singer Dinah Shore once owned.

Greg Berkemer, executive vice president of the California Desert Association of Realtors, said many buyers of high-end homes have seen their stock portfolios and investments recover along with the slow economic rebound.

“As long as you can build confidence in the marketplace, and jobs are coming back, high-end people have the confidence and assurance to keep going forward — to hire people, to buy homes.”

Foreclosures hit high-end market

High-end shoppers who need to borrow have new opportunities as banks make available more jumbo mortgages, Hampton said.

It's often more difficult to qualify for jumbo loans, however, because banks typically require at least a 20 percent down-payment, and some borrowers don't have the equity to refinance.

In California, about 29 percent of purchases among million-dollar home-buyers were cash purchases last year, the highest since 1994, DataQuick reported.

Sellers of prestige homes have begun to realize that unless they're prepared to hold on for a year or two, they must become “realistic” about prices, Hampton said.

There has been a steady stream of foreclosures and short sales in the high-end market as well. Some high-end homes have fallen into disrepair after their owners walked away.

Landscaping died, appliances were stripped and pools became messes.

Buyers have swooped in and purchased more foreclosures for bargain prices, which could be a silver lining in the days ahead, Hampton said.

“What we're seeing in many of our neighborhoods is buyers have been able to come in and get a really good base price for a property,” Hampton said.

“They're pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into restoration. In the long run, I think this will actually be therapeutic. Properties that really needed attention are getting attention.”