South Lake Tahoe Real Estate Market Update, Mar. 18- Mar. 24
There were 17 NEW (or back on the market) listings over the past week according to the South Tahoe Association of Realtors, 1 more than the previous week’s 16. The lowest priced new listing is $189,000 for 1161 Herbert C, a 3 bedroom, 2 bath condo with 1161 square feet. The highest priced new listing is $4,100,000 for 16 Lighthouse Shores in the Tahoe Keys. The median listing price among this group was $548,000.
There were 10 homes that went into ESCROW this past week, down 6 from the previous week’s 16. The lowest priced new escrow is $163,900 for 1133 Glenwood, a 4 bedroom, 2 bath home with 1854 square feet (this home is bank owned with frozen pipe/ flood damage). The highest priced new escrow is $599,000 for 1301 Gilmore, a 4 bedroom, 2 bath with 2881 square feet (congratulations to Don & Theresa Souers with the Pinnacle Group). The median pending asking price is $309,900 with an average time on the market of 97 days.
Last week showed 4 CLOSED sales, down 4 from the previous week’s 8. The lowest sale price was $197,000 for 953 San Francisco, a 3 bedroom, 1.75 bath with 1300 square feet. The highest sale price was $650,000 for 1355 Glenwood, a 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath with 4193 square feet. The median sale price was $266,000 with an average time on the market of 145 days.
Resort Town Living – Perhaps a State of Mind
When attending social events in Tahoe, one is more likely to hear the question, “What do you like to do?” instead of ”What do you do? It is is common knowledge that most of our local residents chose to move here at one time or another in their lives. And furthermore, most of the transplants did not make their decision based upon financial gains. Far from it.
We may not have an endless variety of dining choices but we do taste fresh air on a daily basis. We may not drive high-end luxury vehicles, but we only sit in traffic for a few minutes at any given time. We may not have renown museums and theaters, but we do have a Mother Nature production every day. And while locals are cautious in planning an event two months away (gotta keep those options open) they are famous for jumping to action when the word spreads about a beach-side picnic or a fresh powder run. They smile more often than not and they just don’t take themselves too seriously.
Case in point, our “gourmet” food club. Are we true gourmets? We’ve been told NOT. Well, we googled the meaning of gourmet and found the following: A gourmet is a person with discriminating taste in food and wine, as is a gourmand. Because gourmand can also mean “one who enjoys food in great quantities” or even “a gluttonous eater.” Discriminating? Hmmm. If it tastes good, we eat and drink it. If it’s bad, we don’t. I suppose that is pretty discriminating. And, I can attest that this group certainly enjoys the food. In fact, we are definitely gluttons! We come up with some incredible meals (pot luck style,) share our “secrets” (where we ripped off the recipe,) can sit at a dining table for hours (not possible in most restaurants) and no tips required (other than ideas for the next event.) Check out the following small video of the most recent event. You’ll get our drift. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIiixo_IpAs
Speaking of tips – here is one to pass along. Whether or not you live in a resort town, try a taste of the “resort life spontaneity.” Pick up the phone, text or email some of your closest friends and family and throw together a quick game of . . (fill in the blank). . ., name the time and place and make it a pot luck with no assignments. If everyone brings a dessert, so be it. Take lots of photos and make your own memory. We guarantee more will follow. That’s just how it is in a resort town.
South Lake Tahoe Real Estate Market Update, Mar. 11- Mar. 17
What a week within the South Lake Tahoe real estate market. There were 16 NEW (or back on the market) Listings over the past week according to the South Tahoe Association of Realtors, 2 more than the previous week’s 14. The lowest priced new listing is $163,900 for 1133 Glenwood, a 4 bedroom, 2 bath with 1854 square feet. As you can see by the price, it could use a bit of TLC but what an investment opportunity. The highest priced new listing is $749,000 for 1917 Cathedral, a 3 bedroom, 2 bath with 2363 square foot home within the Tahoe Keys. The median listing price among this group was $351,950.
The best news was that there were also 16 homes that went into ESCROW last week, 5 more than the previous week’s 11. The lowest priced new escrow is 159,900 for 1353 Meadow Crest, a bank owned fixer with 5 bedrooms, 2 baths and 1860 square feet. The highest priced new escrow is $939,000 for 344 Uplands, a 4 bedroom, 3 bath with 2940 square feet of living space located within desirable Angora Highlands. The median pending asking price is $407,000 (which is higher than the current median home price sold) with an average time on market of 94 days.
Last week showed 8 CLOSED sales. The lowest sale price was $210,000 for 3600 Paradise, a 2 bedroom, 1 bath with 960 square feet and a bonus lot (congratulations to Jaime Souers with the Pinnacle Real Estate Group). The highest sale price was $912,500 for 366 Ala Wai #271, a lakefront condo within the Tahoe Keys that included 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and 1558 square feet. The median sale price was $517,500 with an average time on the market of 95 days. Again, this median home price was above the overall median for the past four months.
Heavenly Open House – 3775 Overlook Ct.
We hope you will take a moment to stop by our OPEN HOUSE this Saturday between 1 – 4 at 3775 Overlook Court within the Heavenly Valley neighborhood of South Lake Tahoe. Just head on up to Heavenly Mountain and follow the Souers Open House Signs. Turn left on Wildwood and then left on Overlook Court.
Located literally at the foot of Heavenly Mountain Ski Resort, this classic Tahoe cabin features what everyone second home buyer is looking for – lake and mountain views, setting, easy access to year-round outdoor and indoor recreation and all at a great value. Under $400,000. You simply will not find all of these features at this price anywhere else around the lake. This is, simply put, a great investment opportunity. Many of the surrounding homes are worth over a million dollars.
This cabin has three bedrooms, 3 baths, a large wrap-around viewing deck, vaulted pine ceilings and tons of potential for equity growth. If you don’t have time to stop by, you may want to click through to this musical video. If you have any questions or would like to schedule a personal tour, just give us a call toll free at 877.768.3775. We would love to hear from you.
Today’s Tahoe Buyer
Boy, things have sure changed when it comes to buying and selling homes in Lake Tahoe. “Back in the day,” we wrote offers on 3 layers of carbon copies, stuck them in the mail, waited three days for the seller to receive them and wait 5 more days for them to be returned (mail was always slower coming back to Tahoe.) And, that was if no counter offer were involved. Otherwise, we would start the process again.
This weekend, while sitting an an Open House, a buyer (seen in attached photo taken with IPhone) we had been showing homes to, arrived and announced that he wanted to put in an offer on a home he had seen with Don earlier in the day. For a slight moment I faced the dilemma of whether to close down the advertised Open House (which was not fair to my seller) or ask the buyer to meet me later at the office where I had printers, etc. all ready to go. Then I realized that this option would not work well either as I had an appointment with another buyer already scheduled. The DUH factor can ride with me frequently these days but eventually the lightbulb does go off. (Side note example – I was lost looking for a home last week and called a friend on my IPhone to see if he knew where the house was located. His comment was that it was too bad I didn’t have an IPhone with the built in GPS. Duh, I hung up and found the house.) Okay – so back to the Open House story. As I mentioned, the light bulb did go on. DocuSign!
The client just so happened to have his Think Pad with him (but of course) and went to the car to retrieve it. In the meanwhile, I went online to retrieve the new CAR contract via ZipForms and began to insert the basics. When he returned, we entered into a discussion of what to offer. ”Well, let’s take a look” he said and immediately began typing away, pulling up Zillow and Realtor.com, pulled up all recent sales within the particular neighborhood, narrowed the field down to similar size and age and came up with a range. We discussed the pros and cons of the various comparable sales as well as the most recent market trends – also available online. I was able to provide information regarding the recent sales that would not be available within data searches and within about ten minutes, he came up with his price and I finished the contract. I then pulled up Docusign, browsed for the contract I had just drafted on Zipform, inserted the instructions as to where to initial and sign and sent the contract to the buyers’ email. As we sat there side by side, he pulled up the contract on his computer, signed it and sent it right back to me. Within a couple of minutes, I “had mail” in my computer and in turn, sent the offer to the listing agent. No paper, clean transmission and within 24 hours, the offer was accepted.
The entire experience was a treat however, what I enjoyed most was having the buyer demonstrate how his thought process worked from the time he decided to invest in a Lake Tahoe home. He demonstrated how he researched properties prior to coming to the lake and what online elements made a difference in his research. ”To the point – user friendly” sites, mapping and good photographs were vital. ”If a tree is covering the house, I think you are trying to hide something” he explained. Next was the ability to look at recent sales, statistics and market trends. Following this meeting, you can count on my taking an even closer look at our lake tahoe real estate website. While we were already focusing on these points, consistent improvement will be underway. I will also continue to listen more intently to the buyers. ”The Old Grey Mare -She Ain’t What She Used to Be” and neither are today’s buyers. We’re both more wise and thorough – let’s just say we’re EDUCATED!