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

There is a new may of thinking about foreclosure for the American homeowner,  especially the homeowner who is not in financial distress and is able to pay the mortgage payment.  These homeowners are viewing their homes as bad investments and are choosing to walk away rather than pay for years on a property that may never be worth what they owe.  Take a look at this video from the Today Show where homeowners who are doing just that, and notice the shift from the “guilty feelings” that generally go along with such a decision.  http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/36661157#36661157

I am not advocating a position either way on a “Strategic Foreclosure”, but rather, just wanted to make note of this amazing paradigm shift and what it may mean in this economic crisis.

Radon is an odorless, colorless, radioactive case that arises from the decay of naturally occurring minerals in the soil. The gas is linked to 21,000 lung cancer deaths a year, second only to cigarette smoking, according to the EPA.  A report from the California Geological Survey in June 2009 estimated that 23,400 people in the Lake Tahoe area live in buildings where radon is likely to equal or exceed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended action level of 4 picocuries per liter.  The report was based on geological data, as well as results from a survey of 443 homes in South Lake Tahoe between 2006 and 2007.

According to the survey, about 40 percent of homes in the Lake Tahoe area are at or above the EPA’s recommended action level, while approximately 55 percent of homes in the El Dorado County portion of the basin who participated in the survey are at or above the recommended action level.

Winter is a good time to test a home for radon, Huber said.

“It’s the best time to test because your house is closed up,” she said.

I had a recent conversation with Ginger Huber who is in charge of Environmental Health in El Dorado County, and she wanted me to make sure and let you know that she is almost out of the “free” testing kits, but you can get them from the State of California for a nominal fee.  I found this article in a past issue of the Tahoe Daily Tribune and thought you might find the information on radon gas helpful.

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.