House search leads to $500 prize at Windermere Open House Gala

An open house sign with the picture of a familiar real estate agent led to a $500 prize for Fran Nadolski and Dianne Sluzas during Windermere’s Open House Gala, a three-day event that took place over Memorial Day weekend.

“We happened to stop at the open house because we saw Joyce Nola’s name,” Nadolski said. “We went to an open house she hosted before and she was so knowledgeable and willing to spend time with us even though we told her we weren’t quite ready to buy.”

Nadolski and Sluzas were impressed with Windermere agent Joyce Nola earlier this year when she took the time to give them information about a house and its surrounding area despite the fact they had informed Nola that they were not ready to purchase a house.

The two women recently relocated to the Coachella Valley from New Jersey and are taking time to familiarize themselves with the desert.

“We’ve become open house junkies,” said Nadolski.

Nadolski and Sluzas were sharing their time between New Jersey and Palm Springs since 2000 until they settled into a Palm Springs townhouse in the summer of 2007. Now, since they are retired, they want to use this time to explore California.

“This is just perfect timing because we really want to see the West Coast,” Sluzas said. “We’re going to use this money for a nice road trip.”

A trip to Lake Arrowhead, financed with the prize money, is in the planning stages for Nadolski and Sluzas.

The women were just two of hundreds of attendees of the Open House Gala, which showcased more than 50 desert properties over three days. The gala was open to the public and attendees were able to enter their names into the drawing at any of the open houses.

Windermere holds an Open House Gala four times each year to open available properties to the public. The next Open House Gala is scheduled for Labor Day weekend.

About Windermere: Windermere Real Estate is the leading residential real estate network in the West with more than 375 offices and 8,500 associates serving neighborhoods in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming, Washington and British Columbia. Windermere has been consistently ranked as the largest regional real estate brand in the western United States by REAL Trends, a primary source of industry data. Windermere has a proud heritage of serving communities by way of the Windermere Foundation, which provides funding to social service agencies that offer housing and services to low-income and homeless children and families.  Windermere's Web site, Windermere.com, receives over 2 million unique visits per month, and is regarded as one of the leading real estate sites in the country in terms of customer usability.  In 2006, Windermere was selected as an Official Honoree of the 10th Annual Webby Awards based on excellence in Web site content, design, functionality and overall experience.

Windermere maintains offices across the valley in Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, and La Quinta as well as On-Site offices at The Springs Country Club and The Club at Morningside.