Archive for July, 2011

A Better Jobs Report… amid all this Political Debt Nonsense.

July 28th, 2011 categories: About Us, For Buyers, For Sellers, Lake Tahoe Real Estate, National real estate news

More jobs is key to housing industry growth.

Lots of our politicos talk about jobs, but more, simply, should talk less and do more about it!

Amid all of this political debt falderol, here comes a better U.S. jobs report, the best one we've seen here in South Lake Tahoe since last April.

Who knew? We've been, it seems, inundated with funky economic news for some time now.

With the house vote going on today over the debt ceiling, and all of the juvenile name-calling that will go with it, we doubt this story will get much traction, either in the media or the stock market, but it sure is a move in the right direction. For all of us, and our housing industry.

Associated Press logoTruth is we need a lot more like these, and as we've written about frequently, the one key thing we all need to see is when our economy starts adding 300,000 jobs per month, month after month. That will signal growth, and it will be a joy to behold.

Today's job report is via the Associated Press (we like them, they're less partisan than the others), and here are a few bullet points:

  • Weekly unemployment applications fell 24,000 to a seasonally adjusted 398,000.
  • Thais is the first time applications have fallen below 400,000 in 16 weeks.

(full article here)

Previous Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog posts about jobs:

May 8, 2011:  A Good Jobs Report
Mar 4, 2011: Jobs Report: Good News for all of Us, and South Lake Tahoe too.
Mar 3, 2011: Caution: positive South Lake Tahoe housing news found here
Feb 10, 2011: More Better Economic News for South Lake Tahoe

Tags: , , , , ,

Written by Richard Bolen | Discussion: Please leave a comment.

How Much it Costs, Exactly, to List a South Lake Tahoe, CA House Too High

July 24th, 2011 categories: Continuing Education, For Agents, For Sellers, Lake Tahoe Real Estate, Listing Presentation, Median Sold Price Report, South Lake Tahoe Statistics, South Lake Tahoe, CA

On target with South Lake Tahoe, CA real estate prices and sales trends.Putting Fact into South Lake Tahoe, CA listing agent cliche.

How many times has a real estate agent ever said this to a home seller: "if you list  your house to high it will cost you time and money?"

The answer is, of course, unknown, and the number of times a home owner has heard that is certainly a number too large to imagine (it's like counting the number of stars, or something like that).

In fact, the statement, if you list your house too high it will cost you time and money is pretty much passe, another one of those meaningless cliche's that is pretty much overlooked by home owners… because there is never any evidence to quantify what it means.

An agent says it, the owner looks at him or her incomplete, the agent feels good about themself for being such a grand pontificate, and the whole point is lost in translation. A homeowner likes to be shown, not told, and the problem here is… the proof to back-up the claim is always missing.

Until now!

 Facts in Evidence : (or giving teeth to cliche)
We're going to cite one study here, and another in the following blog post; both reach the same conclusion. The study here is the 1,200 sq ft South Lake Tahoe, CA house. The study in the next blog post is based on the median sold South Lake Tahoe, CA house, which is on average 1,700 sq ft in size.

To understand both selling time and yield, lets look at all sales that sold in 90-days or less, and compare their characteristics to homes that took 180-days or more to sell.

The Bottom Line:
1. Listing a 1,200 sq ft South Lake Tahoe, CA  house too high takes an average of 239 days more to sell.
2. It sells for $18,500 less than homes that were not listed too high.
3. If one wants to sell a home that is between 1,100 and 1,300 sq ft, do not list it at more than $210 per sq ft.
4. Unless, of course, one wishes to lose time and money (we're here to help you not do that).

The visuals: (first the individual charts, then the spreadsheet source of the study)

How long it takes to sell a South Lake Tahoe, CA house between 1,100 - 1,300 sq ft.

The chart above looks at the difference in the time it takes to sell a 1,100 – 1,300 sq ft house that is priced right v a house that is listed too high.

Difference in what a house sells for when priced right v a South Lake Tahoe, CA house priced too high.

The chart above indicates the difference in the sold price of a 1,100 – 1,300 sq ft that is priced right v those that were listed too high. (Yup, in this size range, it costs a seller $18,500 to over price their home on the market.)

The difference in list price of South Lake Tahoe, CA homes that sold in 90 days or less v those that sold in 180 days or more.

The chart above indicates the difference in the average listing price of 1,100 – 1,300 sq ft homes that sold in 90 days or less compared to homes that sold in 180 days or more.

Difference is sq ft size and year built of South Lake Tahoe, CA homes that sold for more quicker than those that didin.t.

The chart above indicates the difference in average size and average year built for 1,100 – 1,300 sq ft homes that sold in 90 days or less and those that sold in 180 days or more. What this chart also reveals is there is no meaningful difference in either size or age; this is an apples-to-apples comparison.

Difference in sq ft value of list price for South Lake Tahoe, Ca homes that sell in 90 days or less v those that sell in 180 days or more.

The chart above contains both a listing price guide to assure success (don't list above $210 sq ft) and the differences in both the sq ft listing price and the sq ft sold price of South Lake Tahoe, CA homes that sold in 90 days or less v those that sold in 180-days or more.

The spreadsheet chart below is the source for this study.

Spreadsheet of South Lake Tahoe, CA homes between 1,100 - 1,300 sq ft that sold in 90 days or less v those that sold in 180 days or more

Jul 5, 2011: Characteristics of the South Lake Tahoe, CA median sold house
Apr 2, 2011: Q1 2011 South Lake Tahoe, CA Real Estate Report
Jan 2, 2011: 2010 South Lake Tahoe Housing Demand Report
Nov 16, 2010: What People are Buying: South Lake Tahoe 2010 Home Sales per Month
Nov 15, 2010: South Lake Tahoe 2010 Home Sales: Where We Are Now
Oct 9, 2010: Analysis of 2010 South Lake Tahoe, CA homes for sale
Oct 2, 2010: On Target with South Lake Tahoe, CA Homes for sale

Tags: , , ,

Written by Richard Bolen | Discussion: Please leave a comment.

Another actual Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog email to a hopeful Buyer

July 22nd, 2011 categories: About Us, For Buyers, For Sellers, Lake Tahoe Real Estate, South Lake Tahoe Statistics, South Lake Tahoe, CA, Stateline, NV

Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog email to a prospective home buyer.

Thus starts the process that ends with owning a South Lake Tahoe, CA home

A retired teacher got in touch w us two days ago. The school teacher. being the most noble of all professions in our opinion — they are in charge of our children, we got to her questions immediately.

She found us via an online search engine and had not seen this blog before.

What was most interesting about this teacher was the pervasive real estate knowledge she has; it's spot on with one exception: South Lake Tahoe is a resort, and as such it's home values are generally higher than places that are, well… not a resort.

What's different about the South Lake Tahoe, CA real estate climate today is there are houses on the market this teacher can afford on her retirement income. One could not have made this statement, or found her a house in this resort, a few years back.

The most important issue to the teacher was having a mortgage payment under $1,000 per month, and well under if possible.

She asked how long it might be before the market "wakes up" so that a 1,500 sq ft house with a fireplace will be available for $100,000.

We discussed this back and forth via email, and we thought you might find the first of those of interest. (BTW she has now subscribed to our auto listing notifier so she won't miss a thing.)

Like you, she's one of our regular readers now, and here's our opening response back to her.

Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog email to a reader

 

 

 

Dear (Teacher),

Are you aware of our blog, and the South Lake Tahoe real estate information we provide there?  Am local TV real estate reporter, and local paper often uses our blog data and articles as resources for their quarterly public reports.

Prices continue to decline, rather gradually than precipitously. We’re down a scant less than 10% in the last 6 months. Overall about 40% since South Lake Tahoe real estate market heyday in '04 and '05..

Anyway, know market forces, which I write about almost daily, and have been so doing since 2001. On the blog since Q1 2007.

 Many homes at present are priced realistically. And many more are not, which is primarily due to a seller either trying to get anything out of their house, or just not being realistic about price at all. We see a lot of each, and of those in trouble trying to get anything is heartbreaking.

Understand your situation from what you shared with us. The house you describe, were it on the market today at that $100,000K price, we can not possibly imagine how many offers it would get… within minutes of mkt entry. We would probably have to hire a small, temporary army to field them. (Just a few years ago there were no sales in the $100,000's at all. Now there are a few good choices.)

We just represented a home that sold for $150K that fit the bill quite nicely, though smaller than 1,500 sq ft. One could have gotten it, or anything else in the mid $100K range for under $1K month (more like $750 month).

Thanks much again, and we’re looking for you big time.

BTW, to make sure you don’t miss anything, and us too, please sign up to the auto listing notifier on the blog. In the meantime, we've got our eyes wide open for you, and we hope to meet you in person at your convenient ease.

Some Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog videos you may enjoy:

Jul 5, 2011: Awesome Fireworks Finale: South Lake Tahoe, July 4, 2011
Dec 9, 2010: How to find and use our Bolero Button… and why you should.
Oct 20, 2010: Bijou Neighborhood video
Sep 28, 2010: A South Lake Tahoe Indian Summer
Sep 23, 2010: Emerald Bay Treetops… and a Bald Eagle
Sep 16, 2010: Walking on Water… South Lake Tahoe Style
Sep 11, 2010: Al Tahoe Neighborhood video

Tags: , ,

Written by Richard Bolen | Discussion: Please leave a comment.

Our Q2 South Lake Tahoe, CA real estate update in the Tahoe Daily Tribune

July 19th, 2011 categories: About this Blog, Buyers Report, For Buyers, For Sellers, Lake Tahoe Real Estate, South Lake Tahoe Statistics, South Lake Tahoe, CA, Stateline, NV

The Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog and The Tahoe Daily Tribune

Information is King in The Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog

We like it when our local newspaper, The Tahoe Daily Tribune, uses us as a source for their real estate reporting. This is not to say necessarily that we like, or crave, the attention. What we do like is we know the public is nicely informed when we are cited as a resource.

More than anything perhaps, this is the true goal of this blog: an better informed public about South Lake Tahoe real estate conditions is better for us all.

Here's one of the things that was in the paper that we like best. It comes from articles we have done throughout the year about the South Lake Tahoe house then and now.

First, here's what the Tribune reported:

The South Lake Tahoe median sold price is $290,000 ($270,400 not including the sales of homes in the Tahoe Keys), which falls in the price range from $250,000 to $300,000. Here are the differences in the $250,000 to $300,000 South Lake Tahoe house since the market high in 2006..

  • Houses in this price range are 30 percent newer than they were five years ago.
  • They are 99 percent bigger.
  • They are 54 percent less expensive per square foot.
  • Twice as many have sold in the first half of 2011 than five years ago.
  • — laketahoerealestateblog.com

What this addresses is what we've been trumpeting to potential South Lake Tahoe home buyers for some time: the deal you are looking for is found in the house, not necessarily in the price.

The last time we wrote about this subject, here. More related articles in the links below.

(full TDT article here)

Some previous Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog posts of you may find helpful:

Apr 2, 2011: Q1 2011 South Lake Tahoe, CA Real Estate Report
Jan 2, 2011: 2010 South Lake Tahoe Housing Demand Report
Nov 16, 2010: What People are Buying: South Lake Tahoe 2010 Home Sales per Month
Nov 15, 2010: South Lake Tahoe 2010 Home Sales: Where We Are Now
Oct 9, 2010: Analysis of 2010 South Lake Tahoe, CA homes for sale
Oct 2, 2010: On Target with South Lake Tahoe, CA Homes for sale
August 31, 2010: US Home Prices Up… what about South Lake Tahoe?
August 27, 2010: I Woke Up this Morning… to the South Lake Tahoe Blues.
July 1, 2010: South Lake Tahoe Foreclosures: No Change Yet.
May 15, 2010: Where is the New Foreclosures Deluge?
November 15, 2009: Foreclosure Filings Down in October, what does it mean?

Tags: , , , , , ,

Written by Richard Bolen | Discussion: Please leave a comment.

Heaven on Earth: South Lake Tahoe Weather– 1000+ YouTube Views and Counting!

July 14th, 2011 categories: For Buyers, Lake Tahoe Real Estate, South Lake Tahoe Weather, South Lake Tahoe, CA, Stateline, NV, Video Seminar Series

The wonder of South Lake Tahoe Weather attracts near and far!

We launched this on December 10 last year, and since then, "Heaven on Earth: The Lake Tahoe Weather" has attracted more than 1,000 viewers. We kinda like that.

Our goal in producing this video was to give folks a detailed understanding of one of the main reasons why we like living here so much: the stunning weather that drives the South Lake Tahoe lifestyle.

If you have not seen this one, we hope you enjoy.

Some of our other videos you may find fun and informative:

Jul 5, 2011: Awesome Fireworks Finale: South Lake Tahoe, July 4, 2011
Dec 9, 2010: How to find and use our Bolero Button… and why you should.
Oct 20, 2010: Bijou Neighborhood video
Sep 28, 2010: A South Lake Tahoe Indian Summer
Sep 23, 2010: Emerald Bay Treetops… and a Bald Eagle
Sep 16, 2010: Walking on Water… South Lake Tahoe Style
Sep 11, 2010: Al Tahoe Neighborhood video

Tags: , , , , ,

Written by Richard Bolen | Discussion: Please leave a comment.

A Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog heads up on Bank Mortgage Relief

July 12th, 2011 categories: For Sellers, Foreclosures, Interest Rates, Lake Tahoe Real Estate, National real estate news, South Lake Tahoe, CA, Stateline, NV

A Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog Reader helps out w Bank Mortgage Relief

Any Consideration for South Lake Tahoe, CA Homeowners is a terrific thing!

One of the most fun things for us as a result of writing this blog is the often cool feedback we get from some of our many readers.

This came from a reader who we've been in healthy discussion, and sometimes debate, over the state of the real estate market for the last three years.

He sent this to us last week, and the truth is we had not heard about it or read the article before. It has to do with potential loan reduction for a homeowner from a few of our nation's top banks.

Because this comes from the New York Times, we've copied the article in full below so that one can have access to it for more than the usual week the NYT allows.

Here's the jist of it:

Some banks are easing mortgage terms for some homeowners… no questions asked!

Full article below, online here.

Big Banks Easing Terms on Loans Deemed as Risks

By DAVID STREITFELD, July 2, 2011

(New York Times) As millions of Americans struggle in foreclosure with little hope of relief, big banks are going to borrowers who are not even in default and cutting their debt or easing the mortgage terms, sometimes with no questions asked.

Two of the nation’s biggest lenders, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, are quietly modifying loans for tens of thousands of borrowers who have not asked for help but whom the banks deem to be at special risk.

Rula Giosmas is one of the beneficiaries. Last year she received a letter from Chase saying it was cutting in half the amount she owed on her condominium.

Ms. Giosmas, who lives in Miami, was not in default on her $300,000 loan. She did not understand why she would receive this gift — although she wasted no time in taking it.

Banks are proactively overhauling loans for borrowers like Ms. Giosmas who have so-called pay option adjustable rate mortgages, which were popular in the wild late stages of the housing boom but which banks now view as potentially troublesome.

Before Chase shaved $150,000 off her mortgage, Ms. Giosmas owed much more on her place than it was worth. It was a fate she shared with a quarter of all homeowners with mortgages across the nation. Being underwater, as it is called, can prevent these owners from moving and taking new jobs, and places the households at greater risk of foreclosure.

“It’s a huge problem,” said the economist Sam Khater. “Reducing negative equity would spark a housing recovery.”

While many homeowners desperately need help to keep their homes and cannot get it, the borrowers getting unsolicited relief from Chase sometimes suspect a trick. Cutting loan balances, even for loans in default, is supposedly so rare that Federal Reserve economists wrote in a paper in March that “we could find no evidence that any lender was actually reducing principal” on mortgages.

“I used to say every day, ‘Why doesn’t anyone get rewarded for doing the right thing and paying their bills on time?’ ” said Ms. Giosmas, who is an acupuncturist and real estate investor. “And I got rewarded.”

Option ARM loans like Ms. Giosmas’s gave borrowers the option of skipping the principal payment and some of the interest payment for an introductory period of several years. The unpaid balances would be added to the body of the loan.

Bank of America and Chase inherited their portfolios of option ARMs when they bought troubled lenders during the housing crash.

Chase, which declined to comment on its program, got $50 billion in option ARM loans when it bought Washington Mutual in 2008. The lender, which said last fall that it had dealt with 22,000 option ARM loans with an unpaid principal balance of $8 billion, still has $33 billion of them in its portfolio.

Bank of America acquired a portfolio of 550,000 option ARMs from its purchase of Countrywide Financial in 2008. The lender said more than 200,000 had been converted to more stable mortgages.

Dan B. Frahm, a spokesman for Bank of America, said it was using every technique short of principal reduction to remake its loans, including waiving prepayment penalties, refinancing, lowering the interest rate, postponing some of the balance and extending the term.

“By proactively contacting pay option ARM customers and discussing other products with better options for long-term, affordable payments, we hope to prevent customers from reaching a point where they struggle to make their payments,” Mr. Frahm said.

Chase, Bank of America and the other big lenders are negotiating with the Obama administration and the nation’s attorneys general over foreclosures. Debt forgiveness and the moral hazard question of who deserves to be helped are among the most contentious issues.

The banks say cutting mortgage balances would be unfair to borrowers who remain current as well as impractical because so many loans are securitized into pools owned by investors. Bank of America’s chief executive, Brian T. Moynihan, told the attorneys general in April that cutting principal for current borrowers would send the wrong message to all those who have struggled to pay their bills. His counterpart at Chase, Jamie Dimon, bluntly said it was “off the table.”

Having an option ARM loan, however, apparently qualifies the borrower for special help. The loans, with their low initial payments and “teaser” interest rates, were immediately popular with buyers who could not afford or did not want to pay the soaring prices on houses. The problem was, eventually the rate would reset or the loan balance would have to be paid in full. “Nightmare Mortgages” they were called in a 2006 BusinessWeek cover piece.

Option ARMs were never quite as bad as predicted, partly because the crisis pushed down interest rates so far that the resets were relatively mild. Many owners did default on them, but others, like Ms. Giosmas, were quite happy to pay less for years than they would have under a conventional loan. She used option ARMs on her investment properties too.

“They saved me,” she said. “Why would I want to pay a lot more every month? I’d rather have it in my pocket.”

The concern the banks are showing for those who might get in trouble contrasts sharply with their efforts toward those already foreclosed. Bank of America and Chase were penalized last month by regulators for doing a poor job modifying mortgages in default.

Adam J. Levitin, a Georgetown University law professor, said these little-publicized programs were more evidence that the banks were behaving in contradictory and often maddening ways.

“Loan modifications that should be happening aren’t, while loan modifications that shouldn’t be happening are,” he said. “Homeowners of any sort, whether current or in default, would rightly be confused and angry by this.”

The homeowners getting new loans, however, are quite pleased. In effect, the banks are paying the debt these owners accrued as the housing market plunged.

Ms. Giosmas bought her two-bedroom, two-bath apartment north of downtown Miami for $359,000 in early 2006, according to real estate records. She made a large down payment, but because each month she paid less than was necessary to pay off the loan, her debt swelled to about $300,000.

Meanwhile, the value of the apartment nosedived. By the time Ms. Giosmas got the letter from Chase, the condominium was worth less than half what she paid. “I would not have defaulted,” she said. “But they don’t know that.”

The letter, which Ms. Giosmas remembers as brief and “totally vague,” said Chase was cutting her principal by $150,000 while raising her interest rate to about 5 percent. Her payments would stay roughly the same.

A few months ago, Ms. Giosmas sold the place for $170,000, making a small profit. Having a loan that her lender considered toxic, she said, “turned out to be a blessing in disguise.”

A version of this article appeared in print on July 3, 2011, on page A1 of the New York edition

Some previous Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog posts:

May 5, 2011: Interesting Interest Rates
Jun 11, 2010: Talking Low Interest Rates
April 10, 2010, An Interest in Interest Rates
April 27, 2010, You Still Get a 5% Can Mortgage?

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Written by Richard Bolen | Discussion: Please leave a comment.

South Lake Tahoe, CA Real Estate Update: Q1 and Q2 Housing Results

July 6th, 2011 categories: Buyers Report, For Buyers, For Sellers, Foreclosures, Lake Tahoe Real Estate, Major Market Reports, Market Performance Updates, Median Sold Price Report, Sales Reports, South Lake Tahoe Statistics, South Lake Tahoe, CA

South Lake Tahoe, CA real estate update: Q1 and Q2 housing resultsSouth Lake Tahoe, CA Housing: Down in demand only slightly, down in value almost 10%.

Well, it continues to be good news for South Lake Tahoe, CA home buyers. Home values are a $29,000 better deal in general for home buyers than they were six months ago.

Half of all South Lake Tahoe, CA home buyers are purchasing a distressed property, and a little more than half of all buyers are making their purchase under $300,000. Rather than being influenced by demand, these two factors more than anything else evident are responsible for South Lake Tahoe home value decline.

Housing demand continues at essentially the same pace as that of 2010, where South Lake Tahoe saw more homes sold than in any year since 2005. As of June 30, the end of Q2, there are four fewer single family home sales this year than there were last year at the same time.

The details and source charts follow.

 Housing Demand :
South Lake Tahoe housing demand is only a scant less than it was a year ago (10 sales less to be exact).

Q1 2011 total single family homes sold: 116
Q1 homes sold last year: 104

Q2 2011 total single family homes sold: 122
Q2 homes sold last year: 138

2010 total number single family homes sold: 507
Total number homes sold in last 365-days: 497

 Housing Values :
South Lake Tahoe housing values are best tracked via the median sold price. Because one singularly unique high-end South Lake Tahoe neighborhood has a significant effect on the overall median sold price, we will look at sales results that do and do not include The Tahoe Keys.

In summary, there is continued price decline in South Lake Tahoe home values.

Q1 2011 median sold price (Tahoe Keys not included): $281,250.
Q1 median sold price last year (Tahoe Keys not included): $314,833

Q1 2011 median sold price (Tahoe Keys included): $290,500.
Q1 median sold price last year (Tahoe Keys included): $327,583

Q2 2011 median sold price (Tahoe Keys not included): $266,500.
Q2 median sold price last year (Tahoe Keys not included): $297,500

Q2 2011 median sold price (Tahoe Keys included): $294,833.
Q2 median sold price last year (Tahoe Keys included): $330,333.

2011 median sold price to date:
with Tahoe Keys: $290,000.
without Tahoe Keys: $270,400.

2010 median sold price:
with Tahoe Keys: $319,000.
without Tahoe Keys: $299,000.

The Tahoe Keys Difference:
Normally The Tahoe Keys skews the South Lake Tahoe median sold price upward from 2% to slightly more than 4%. In 2010 that skew was 6.3%. As of the end of Q2 this year it is 6.8%. In other words there is not much difference than last year, other than the upward contribution the Tahoe Keys has to the overall South Lake Tahoe median sold price is higher than in past years.

The Bottom Line: (last 180-days without Tahoe Keys)
The current South Lake Tahoe median sold price is $270,400.
It was $299,000 for all of last year.
This is a decline of $28,600, or 9.5% over the last 6 months.

This is excellent news for prospective South Lake Tahoe, CA home buyers.

 Distressed Sales :
The sales of distressed properties continues to affect the South Lake Tahoe, CA median sold price. The decline the market is experiencing includes the sales of bank owned homes and short sales, the incidence of which is increasing in South Lake Tahoe, CA. As stated above, at present half of all South Lake Tahoe, CA home buyers are purchasing a distressed property.

Q1 2011 distressed sales: 47.4%
Q1 distressed sales last year: 58.3%

Q2 2011 distressed sales: 58.6%
Q2 distressed sales last year: 45.3%

Total 2011 distressed sales: 51.2%
Total distressed sales last year: 46.4%

The Bottom Line:
To date, there is a 4.8% increase in distressed property sales in South Lake Tahoe, CA this year over last year.

 What most people are buying :
Preferences home buyers have for a price range also effects home values, which makes sense. If more buyers are buying in a particular price range than anywhere else, that certainly favors the median sold price to said price range. Let's examine:

As cited above, the current South Lake Tahoe, CA median sold price is $270,400.

Q1 2011 single family home sales under $300,000: 53.5%
Q1 sales under $300,000 last year: 42.9%

Q2 2011 single family home sales under $300,000: 54.2%
Q2 sales under $300,000 last year: 44.1%

Total 2011 South Lake Tahoe, CA sales under $300,000: 53.5%
Total sales under $300,000 last year: 39.8%

The Bottom Line:
There is a 13.7% increase in the number of homes sold under $300,000 this year compared to last year.

 Characteristics of the median sold house : (from now back to then)
As cited above, the South Lake Tahoe median sold price is $270,400, which falls in the price range from $250,000 to $300,000. The key characteristics of this price range are different today than they were last year, and much different then they were years ago. The article before this one looks at these characteristics in detail, but in summary here are the differences in the $250,000 to $300,000 South Lake Tahoe house since the market high in 2006..

  • Houses in this price range are 30% newer than they were 5 years ago.
  • They are 99% bigger.
  • They are 54% cheaper in price per square foot.
  • Twice as many of them have sold in Q1 and Q2 this year than 5 years ago.

Sources for this report:

The chart below indicates Q1 – Q2 2011 South Lake Tahoe, CA real estate sales activity (full size chart here).

South Lake Tahoe, CA Q1 - 2011 home sales activity

The chart below indicates all 2010 South Lake Tahoe, CA home sales activity. (full size chart here)

South Lake Tahoe, CA 2010 home sales activity.

Previous Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog posts of interest:

Apr 2, 2011: Q1 2011 South Lake Tahoe, CA Real Estate Report
Jan 2, 2011: 2010 South Lake Tahoe Housing Demand Report
Nov 16, 2010: What People are Buying: South Lake Tahoe 2010 Home Sales per Month
Nov 15, 2010: South Lake Tahoe 2010 Home Sales: Where We Are Now
Oct 9, 2010: Analysis of 2010 South Lake Tahoe, CA homes for sale
Oct 2, 2010: On Target with South Lake Tahoe, CA Homes for sale
August 31, 2010: US Home Prices Up… what about South Lake Tahoe?
August 27, 2010: I Woke Up this Morning… to the South Lake Tahoe Blues.
July 1, 2010: South Lake Tahoe Foreclosures: No Change Yet.
May 15, 2010: Where is the New Foreclosures Deluge?
November 15, 2009: Foreclosure Filings Down in October, what does it mean?

Tags: , , , , ,

Written by Richard Bolen | Discussion: Please leave a comment.

Awesome Fireworks Finale: South Lake Tahoe July 4, 2011

July 5th, 2011 categories: Lake Tahoe Beauty, Lake Tahoe Real Estate, Lake Tahoe Television, South Lake Tahoe, CA, Stateline, NV, Video Seminar Series

"Lights on the Lake" is big-time cacophonous South Lake Tahoe Summer Fun!

This video is the 4th of July fireworks finale in South Lake Tahoe, CA. An important date, celebrating our Independence, but also commemorating the date of passing of it's "Voice", John Adams, and it's "Pen", Thomas Jefferson.

It's called "Lights on the Lake", and this year the 4th of July South Lake Tahoe fireworks show is 24 minutes long, two more than last year.

This fireworks show, the finale is shown here, consisted of some 5,000 professional pyrotechnic shells, most of which were large 10-inch mortar fired.

Fireworks over Lake Tahoe's mirrored surface, well shows like this are hard to beat. More than 100,000 people watched from their favorite vantage points all over the Lake.

The show was designed by Pyro Spectaculars, Inc. and fired by Pyrodigitial Consultants. It is one of the Top 5 fireworks displays in the nation as cited by The American Pyrotechnics Association.

Our fireworks show has been mentioned from NBC's Today Show, USA Today, Travel & Leisure and Forbes Traveler.com as one of the nation's top Fourth of July weekend festivities, according to the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority.

– The Tahoe Daily Tribune and the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza are sources for some of the information here.

Other Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog videos you may enjoy:

Dec 11, 2010: Heaven on Earth: The Lake Tahoe Weather
Dec 9, 2010: How to find and use our Bolero Button… and why you should.
Oct 20, 2010: Bijou Neighborhood video
Sep 28, 2010: A South Lake Tahoe Indian Summer
Sep 23, 2010: Emerald Bay Treetops… and a Bald Eagle
Sep 16, 2010: Walking on Water… South Lake Tahoe Style
Sep 11, 2010: Al Tahoe Neighborhood video

Tags: , , , , , ,

Written by Richard Bolen | Discussion: Please leave a comment.

The Characteristics of the South Lake Tahoe, CA Median Sold House… now and then.

July 5th, 2011 categories: Buyers Report, For Buyers, For Sellers, Lake Tahoe Real Estate, Major Market Reports, Market Performance Updates, Median Sold Price Report, Sales Reports, South Lake Tahoe Statistics, South Lake Tahoe, CA

Examining the South Lake Tahoe, CA median sold houseThe $250,000 – $300,000 South Lake Tahoe, CA house is different today than it was.

The South Lake Tahoe median sold price is $270,400, which falls in the price range from $250,000 to $300,000.

The key characteristics of this price range are different today than they were last year, and much different then they were years ago.

Lets look at these characteristics in detail, but first here's…

 The Bottom Line :

  • Houses in this price range are 30% newer than they were 5 years ago.
  • They are 99% bigger.
  • They are 54% cheaper in price per square foot.
  • Twice as many of them have sold in Q1 and Q2 this year than 5 years ago.

Now for the details:

Age:
The chart below shows that the $250,000 – $300,000 South Lake Tahoe, CA house of today is 1 year older this year than it was last year.
It is 4 years newer than it was in 2009, and 17 years, or 30% newer than the market high for this price range in 2006.

Characteristics of the South Lake Tahoe, CA median sold house: age

Size:
The chart below indicates the $250,000 – $300,000 house today is 108 square feet larger than it was last year (1,517 sq ft compared to 1,409).
It is more than twice as big as it was in 2006 (1,517 sq ft compared to 762).

Characteristics of the South Lake Tahoe median sold house: size

Price Sq Ft:
The chart below indicates the $250,000 – $300,000 house today is $15 per square foot less than it was last year ($190 sq ft compared to $205).
It is $223 per square foot less than it was in 2006 ($190 sq ft compared to $413).

Characteristics of the median sold South Lake Tahoe house: price square foot

Number Sold:
The chart below indicates the following. There have been 32 homes sold in the $250,000 – $300,000 price range in South Lake Tahoe, CA this year.
This is less than half of the 77 homes sold in this price range in 2010.
From 2005 to 2007 65 homes sold in this price range combined.
The most homes sold in this price range in the last 9 years was 119 in 2003.

Characteristics of the median sold South Lake Tahoe, CA house: number homes sold

Some previous Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog posts of you may find helpful:

Apr 2, 2011: Q1 2011 South Lake Tahoe, CA Real Estate Report
Jan 2, 2011: 2010 South Lake Tahoe Housing Demand Report
Nov 16, 2010: What People are Buying: South Lake Tahoe 2010 Home Sales per Month
Nov 15, 2010: South Lake Tahoe 2010 Home Sales: Where We Are Now
Oct 9, 2010: Analysis of 2010 South Lake Tahoe, CA homes for sale
Oct 2, 2010: On Target with South Lake Tahoe, CA Homes for sale
August 31, 2010: US Home Prices Up… what about South Lake Tahoe?
August 27, 2010: I Woke Up this Morning… to the South Lake Tahoe Blues.
July 1, 2010: South Lake Tahoe Foreclosures: No Change Yet.
May 15, 2010: Where is the New Foreclosures Deluge?
November 15, 2009: Foreclosure Filings Down in October, what does it mean?

Tags: , , , ,

Written by Richard Bolen | Discussion: Please leave a comment.

Considering our Declaration… and the genius who wrote it!

July 4th, 2011 categories: About Us, Lake Tahoe Real Estate

The Declaration of Independence

Thoughts about the writing of our Declaration of Independence.

(We did this a year before the piece below on John Adams. Where are these great men when we need them again?)

He wrote it in 17 days. No electricity, no internet for research, no software, no cut, copy or paste. Only pen and ink, and candlelight to write at night.

He was only 33 years old. And he did it alone, in two rented rooms of an otherwise occupied house… in the un-airconditioned weather of mid summertime. And yes, it was on a deadline. There was a sense of urgency at that time, as we all remember, a rather dire one.

How does one prepare to write The Declaration of Independence? I've often thought about what it must have been like for Thomas Jefferson to do that. What pressure did he feel? What was his writing plan? There must have been an outline. What books and research documents, if any, were in that room with him? Did he have a copy of The Virginia Bill of Rights to review? Was Henry Lee's resolution written before him? Were any of John Locke's writings there? Was "Common Sense" on the bedside table?

Thomas Jeffers from portrait by Thomas Sully.Like most writers, did he think about his voice? Did he wait in ponder for days for his muse to come? How long did it take to get the opening sentence? Did he pace as he thought about it and worked out the document in his mind?

Did he awake from deep sleep, startled in the middle of the night by a thought that he hurriedly scrambled to put on paper… before he might forget? Was Franklin and Adams, the Voice of our Revolution, in his thoughts as he wrote?

Did he know, as an extraordinarily young man for such a task, that in this room, at this desk, at this time, through his mind and by his hand that he was going to change the world?

It's been said that our Declaration of Independence came from an open channel between Jefferson and the divine. Maybe so. The idea of the ideal of individual liberty was certainly not new. But what really went on in that room in Jefferson's innermost thoughts, and those of his maker, we will never know.

Our freedom paper emerged out of it, a perfect synthesis of political philosophy and the evolution of human rights at that time. There was magic in the air.

It was in it's way a selling document. A really profound one. It sold us as an independent nation, justified it persuasively, got bought by the Continental Congress, after much debate before it, but with little amendment after it, and was distributed first here in America and then throughout the civilized world. The separation deed was done. It was bought and paid for dearly. There was no turning back now.

Jefferson and our founding fathers certainly did long lasting, important and blessed things that had never been done before. They thought new thoughts, they tread new ground. There has never been such an array of extraordinary men of such extraordinary talent that came together at the same time in our country before, though those that lead us through World War II might have come close.

On this 4th of July day, 2010, we're thinking about all of them, thanking them, and doing both well.

A few things about the writing of the document: It was written between June 11 and June 28, 1776. Jefferson was one of a committee of five (Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston) that was asked to write the declaration. It was understood that it needed to list the causes for severance. An author at heart, Jefferson was the logical choice to write it. Adams made that choice.

Jefferson chose to be away from the distractions of the city to write the declaration. He rented two furnished rooms on the second floor in the home of Jacob Graff on the outskirts of Philadelphia, one was a sitting room, the other a bedchamber, with a bed shorter than Jefferson was tall (ouch!).

The Graff house was surrounded by farm fields. There was a stable across the street. Horseflies from the stable pestered Jefferson constantly while writing it (could you imagine what that fly swatter would be worth on Pawn Stars today?). Jefferson had an account at the City Tavern while writing the Declaration. That obviously didn't distract him.

The original Graff house was torn down in 1883. It has since been recreated and is an exhibit.

The Weather on July 4, 1776:
The weather the day that our Declaration of Independence was ratified was not has hot as one might think. Jefferson was a meticulous keeper of a weather journal. He had a thermometer with him. The temperature that day was 68oF at 6 a.m., 72oF at 9 a.m., and 76oF at 1 p.m. It was 11o below normal. Winds that day shifted from the north to the southwest with decreasing air pressure. The sky become overcast and cloudy by late afternoon.

As a day goes, normal it was by usual means, maybe a little cooler than most for July, but what happened on that day was not normal by any means. It shook, and still shakes this world! Do have a great 4th of July.

Tags: , , , , ,

Written by Richard Bolen | Discussion: Please leave a comment.

  • Page 1 of 2
  • 1
  • 2
  • >
Real Esate Tomato Chiclet