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

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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. 

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.

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. 

Sales in South Lake Tahoe have increased over the past couple of months.  We were consistently closing 30 escrows a month but have recently jumped up to 129 sales (single family homes only) in the past month. 

444 Active Listings  of those listings 65 are either REO or Short Sale listings comprising 14.6% 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.

129 Sold listings in the past month with distressed properties making up 44% of those homes closed.

33 – 25% REO Listings         25 – 19% Short Sale Listings

90 Pending listings at present with over 55% of those properties are either REO or Short Sale.

The trend continues for distressed properties to be a minority of the inventory and a majority of those homes that are selling.   That continues to tell me that well priced properties will sell in this climate of low consumer confidence and low interest rates.

This afternoon I was on the steps of the El Dorado County Courthouse for a foreclosure sale of real estate.  I am always so amazed when I do this to see the little slice of Americana in motion.  The property I was interested in bidding on was postponed but it was still a successful visit.  While we were waiting for the auctioneer to arrive I sat next to the courtroom sketch artist who was touching up her rendering of the courtroom proceedings, I am sure I will see those same images on the news later tonight.  There was an elderly woman (I have to be careful here as that could be a reference made to myself) who was asking tons of questions since this was her first visit to an auction.  She asked me, “Do they really have the auction on the courthouse steps?”.  She was amazed to know that they certainly do.  It is a wonderful atmosphere of excitement and anticipation, almost carnival like.  I say it was a success, even though I didn’t get to bid on the property that I have been watching,   I was entertained by all the goings on and as I was leaving I went to the finest hardware store anywhere, Placerville Hardware, what a treat.

Cabin on Echo Summit

Did you ever ask yourself this question as you were driving up to Tahoe along the Highway 50 corridor?  There are an amazing number  little cabins beginning at about Whitehall.  Well . . . the answer is they are mostly recreation residences, or Forest Service Cabins.  There are almost 600 of them on on the El Dorado National Forest and that includes those in the Lake Tahoe Basin.  You can buy these cabins, not the land, just the cabins when the present owners wish to sell them.  It is sort of like buying a car or a boat because they are considered personal property in the form of improvements on land that is owned by the public, you and me.  You get to use the land with a 20 year special use permit (not a 99 year lease) issued by the Forest Service.  There is a yearly fee for the land use and, get this, you also pay real property taxes at about 1.1% of the purchase price to the county where the cabin is located.  They tell me taxes are charged because you receive county services for your cabin which is good, especially if you need a fire truck or a paramedic.  These are cash transactions and there may not be winter access or winter water, so are you wondering, “Why in the world would I want to pay cash for a cabin on land that I don’t own that does not have winter water or winter access and I can’t rent it our more than 14 days per year?”  Good question.  The answer to that one seems to be the lifystyle that comes with these wonderful places.  In my many years of representing sellers and buyers of these cabins I have been witness to the amazing transformation that comes over families who rest at ease as they see the new families who are buying the place where their family  memories  were born as they realize that more wonderful memories will continue to be created for the new owners.  Each cabin tells it’s own story and I can say that I’ve never  heard the same story twice.