South Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog (530-318-5665)

Finally, Snow

Trish Hall — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 02:07:36 +0000

After a long dry Autumn, we have snow. It was a great thing to see it snowing right on the heals of a devastating mid-January wildfire in Reno that two of my sons were fighting.

Although the economy would have been better with snow before now, it was a banner year for ice skating as the photo of Lower Echo Lake testifies (I took the other photo on the trails behind our house today). I did enjoy the lack of snow by hiking and mountain biking as skiing on ribbons of man made snow began to feel a bit confining. Hope you can come up and enjoy Winter in Tahoe at your favorite snow sport area very soon.

Perfect Storm Continues for November Sales Stats

Trish Hall — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:38:31 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

The numbers for November continue to amaze me. With closed sales down from the previous month at 46 and a remaining inventory of 255, that makes the absorption rate 5.54 months for single family homes in the City and County areas. The really amazing factor is the continuing decline in prices. Even with low inventory, low interest rates there is still a lack of consumer confidence. I say again, if you are thinking of investing in Tahoe Real Estate, this is the time to buy.

Heavenly Valley Opening This Week

Trish Hall — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:42:52 +0000

Image by RenoTahoe via Flickr

On mostly man made snow Heavenly Valley Ski Area is scheduled to be open this week, November 18. Their hours and terrain are sure to be limited, but they will be open nonetheless. Sierra-at-Tahoe is waiting for natural snow to open their resort and Kirkwood, which has 35-39 inches, has no opening date scheduled. Here comes another winter, I wonder if it will be unending, bottomless powder skiing like last year. I’ll let you know in the Spring.

Perfect Storm

Trish Hall — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 16:25:15 +0000

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

The listing inventory of single family homes is 291 (City and County areas). That means if escrows keep closing at 60 per month like the last 30 day period, we will be out of listings in less than five months if no new listings come on the market. An absorption rate like that takes me back to the market of 2004. The difference now is that prices are on the way down. If you were ever considering a purchase in Tahoe, it is a great time to buy.

Tahoe Market Info

Trish Hall — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 21:31:41 +0000

Image by Diana Parkhouse via Flickr

PAST THREE MONTHS SALES STATS

360 Active Listings, of those listings 82 are either REO or Short Sale listings comprising 23% of the total. As usual, these calculations are made on sales activity of single family homes in the City – County areas of the South Tahoe Area Realtors MLS data.

135 Sold listings in the past three months with distressed properties making up 46% of those homes closed. 41 – 30% REO Listings 21 – 16% Short Sale Listings

Pending listings are made up of 58% of either REO or Short Sales.

An interesting number is the increase in short sale closed escrows. Short sale lenders have improved the process and, if not easier, at least it is possible to close more short sales.

Thanks Dudley

Trish Hall — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 20:06:43 +0000

My friend Dudley reminded me that I am shamefully remiss in updating my blog. The truth is, I am so busy serving clients that I have been ignoring blogging duty. This is a good problem, I admit. I am reminded also, to thank all my friends and clients who have referred their friends, family and co-workers to me for their real estate needs. You are the reason I am so busy. So I want to officially say , “Thank you Dudley for reminding me to blog, and thanks also to all of you who have allowed me to serve your friends and family.”

History of Mortgage Interest Rates

Trish Hall — Wed, 04 May 2011 23:42:28 +0000

Am I the only one thinking that mortgage interest rates are still crazy low? Just look where we started in 1991 with a yearly average rate of 9.25% falling to 7.33% in 1993. After 1993 the rates bounced around with a low in 1998 of 6.94% then lowered further hovering around 6% until 2009 to a rate of 5.04% then down further to 4.69% in 2010. So far this year we are looking at a first quarter average of 4.85%.

How long rates will remain this low is anybody’s guess. But this history of mortgage interest rates demonstrates just how historically low rates are. Look where rates were in the early nineties – then look what happened!

Hope this information provides food for thought for any of you wondering if now is a good time to get off the fence regarding a real estate investment. With the prices of homes still declining, it is a great time to buy. Seasoned investors, primary and second home buyers are all back in force buying well priced properties.

The property pictured below was sold in less than 30 days to an investor who will see a ROI of approximately 18%.

Home of the Week

Trish Hall — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 21:05:58 +0000

Today was a beautiful day in South Lake Tahoe for the Realtor tour of sixteen homes. There was one home that stood out in the crowd. It was voted best value by the Realtors on tour, and there was stiff competition. That house is 3426 Panorama . You can see why when you look at this photo. There is also link for more pictures and information on this jem. http://www.idxcentral.com/sltbor/idxsearch.cfm?idxid=thall&pg=profile&mls=117254

Snow Cat Ski Trip

Trish Hall — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 19:28:15 +0000

My husband, Steve, and I just went on our second snowcat ski trip.
This one was in British Columbia, Canada and we had so much fun. It was completely isolated; a 7 hour drive from the airport to a parking lot where we
took an hour and a half long snowcat ride to the lodge. The quality
of the skiing was matched by the quality of the food. Organic local
produce and meats that were prepared on site. Each morning began at 6am Mountain time where we ate, packed lunch and would leave to ski fresh powder from dawn to dusk. One ski run in particular was so much fun that I just had to bellow, “WOOO HOOOO!” Steve was the only person
to hear me and I know that he was laughing. The days were so long and
we didn’t have the energy to deivate from the schedule. It seemed
like a boot camp for powder skiing. The motto would have been
something like, “You will have fun, and you will ski powder whether
you like it or not.” The 3 days went by quickly, as all vacations do.
We were happy that our ski guide gave us some of his photos
from our trip. They are so spectacular that I have to remind myself
that it really did happen.

Tahoe Sales Stats and Trends

Trish Hall — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 19:02:01 +0000

It has been a couple of months since I ran the numbers for the market activity in South Lake Tahoe, so I included the past three month’s activity in my calculations.

354 Active Listings, of those listings 66 are either REO or Short Sale listings comprising 19% of the total. As usual, these calculations are made on sales activity of single family homes in the City – County areas of the South Tahoe Area Realtors MLS data.

186 Sold listings in the past three months with distressed properties making up 37% of those homes closed. 55 – 30% REO Listings 14 – 7% Short Sale Listings

Pending listings are made up of 75% of either REO or Short Sales.

The trend in which distressed properties are a minority of the inventory and a majority of those homes that are selling seems to have shifted down a bit. I will venture to say that “real sellers” have realized that their homes will sell if priced competitively and buyers would rather deal with a “real seller” rather than a bank and certainly rather than a short sale, which is anything but “short’. It is all about the well priced property. Let’s see what happens in the next month with the pending listings being comprised of 75% distressed properties. We’ll see how many of the short sale buyers get tired of the wait and snatch up a well priced home that not a distress sale. More Later.