gary bolen: South Lake Tahoe Business Spotlight: Beach Hut Deli - 04/11/11 10:44 AM
Savor Sandwiches Served at Surfboard Tables in South Lake Tahoe
(Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / April 8, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
What? Beach Hut? Surfboards? Well, yeah!  Hey, we've got beaches at South Lake Tahoe, and we've got the beach culture, and the Beach Hut Deli!  Beach attire acceptable (well, OK, it's a restaurant, you gotta have shoes – flipflops will do!)
For a completely different sandwich experience, the Beach Hut Deli is the place to go. As they say, they "don't just make the best sandwiches", they "build them".  And build them they do!
Every ingredient is top quality … (0 comments)

gary bolen: Q1 2011 Tahoe Keys Homes for Sale Results - 04/09/11 06:03 AM

Tahoe Keys Luxury Home Neighborhood, South Lake Tahoe, CA: First Quarter 2011 homes for sale activity. (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / April 7, 2011 / Richard Bolen)

We have just updated all Tahoe Keys neighborhood real estate activity in South Lake Tahoe for all first quarter 2011 luxury home sales. Current escrow and all active listings are presented as well. Please note “Tahoe Keys  (CA)” found in our left sidebar.
2011 Tahoe Keys home sales, here.
Final 2010 Tahoe Keys single family home luxury sales, here. 2009 Tahoe Keys single family home luxury sales, here. Current Tahoe … (0 comments)

gary bolen: Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog: Seminar Pt 1, If You are Considering Selling Now - 04/07/11 08:36 AM
The reasoning behind the South Lake Tahoe home seller. (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / April 5, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
There are a few reasons that motivate today's South Lake Tahoe home seller. One has to do with their family plan.
Throughout our seminar we frequently discuss what it takes to sell in today's market. Accurate pricing is the key to success, and we take great care in helping a seller get to that point. Sometimes it does take a while.
The seminar was in three parts. This is the fourteenth segment of Part I. You can also find Part … (0 comments)

gary bolen: South Lake Tahoe Business Spotlight: HeliTahoe - 04/07/11 08:32 AM

Get A Bird's Eye View of Lake Tahoe – from a Helicopter !

(Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / April 5, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
OK, so we've seen Lake Tahoe a number of different ways.  We've driven around it.  We've bicycled.  We've hiked it. We've even rented a boat (kayak or canoe, power or sail). So now for something completely different – seeing Lake Tahoe from the sky!
That's right, let's join the birds and see the whole lake from that heavenly perspective, the wild blue yonder!
But wait! We don't have wings, and don't own a plane…….so … (0 comments)

gary bolen: South Lake Tahoe, CA Real Estate Update: Q1 Housing Results - 04/04/11 05:33 AM

South Lake Tahoe, CA Housing: Up in demand, 5% down in value. (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / April 2, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
Well, it continues to be good news for South Lake Tahoe, CA home buyers. Home values are a $15,000 better deal for home buyers than they were six months ago.
Housing demand continues at the same pace as that of 2010, where South Lake Tahoe saw more homes sold than in any year since 2005.
The details follow, and source charts are below.
 South Lake Tahoe, CA Home Values : Changes in South Lake Tahoe, CA … (1 comments)

gary bolen: Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog: Seminar Pt 1, The $300,000 South Lake Tahoe House Then and Now - 04/02/11 12:53 PM
The South Lake Tahoe Housing Deal… can you recognize it when you see it? (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / March 31, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
Sometimes it's difficult to recognize the housing deal one is looking for… when it is starting you right in the face. Don't worry, this happens to all of us in South Lake Tahoe from time to time.
Most folks think that a deal is a reduction off the list price, and you know, often that is absolutely true. Sometimes though, the deal is found in how much more house one gets for the money.
The … (0 comments)

gary bolen: Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog: Seminar Pt 1, The Folly of Real Estate Reporting - 04/01/11 06:34 AM
Real Estate is always reported from the top… what if baseball were reported like that? (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / March 30, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
It doesn't make sense, how real estate is reported. That goes for the nation and South Lake Tahoe too. But the truth is we're programmed for some reason to always consider a declining real estate market from the point of view of the highest it has ever been.
This is something to consider: the South Lake Tahoe median sold price is 7% lower than it was a year ago. How often have you heard, … (1 comments)

gary bolen: South Lake Tahoe Business Spotlight: Lake Tahoe Boat Rentals - 03/31/11 07:52 AM

Fun and Fantastic Scenery coexist happily at Lake Tahoe with Tahoe Boat Rentals
(Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / March 29, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
You know it's true……..just ask Scott at Lake Tahoe Boat Rentals……."going to Tahoe and not renting a boat is like going to Disneyland and not getting a ticket!"
We can't think of a better way to enjoy Lake Tahoe than actually being ON Lake Tahoe! To be out on the lake,  with blue skies above (and maybe some puffy white clouds), and that emerald green changing to deep blue water below….ahhh.
But what if … (0 comments)

gary bolen: Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog: Seminar Pt 1, How Much Have South Lake Tahoe Home Values Declined? - 03/30/11 08:24 AM
In other words, how much of a better deal for a home buyer is a South Lake Tahoe, CA home now than before? (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / March 28, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
All South Lake Tahoe, CA home buyers are shopping for a deal. We discuss that in this video from our recent South Lake Tahoe real estate seminar.
The seminar was in three parts. This is the eleventh segment of Part I. You can also find Part I in it's entirety in our Vimeo account here. It is about 56 minutes in length.
The table of contents … (0 comments)

gary bolen: Jobs Report continues in right direction for us all… and South Lake Tahoe too - 03/26/11 06:55 AM

The key to growth in South Lake Tahoe real estate prices is national employment. (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / March 24, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
Fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week, adding to evidence that layoffs are slowing and employers may be stepping up hiring. As we have consistently reported for some time, we think employment health is the key to better housing industry health, both here in South Lake Tahoe and the nation as a whole.
Here's some bullet points from today's Associated Press article:
This the fourth decline in five weeks lowered the four-week average. … (0 comments)

gary bolen: Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog: Seminar Pt 1, A South Lake Tahoe Market Reality - 03/24/11 07:12 AM
There are a few things one can count on about South Lake Tahoe's housing market . (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / March 21, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
Every South Lake Tahoe home seller faces a few certain market realities. In this segment of our real estate seminar, we refer to this as "truth", and we even use the Chinese symbol for truth to underscore these certain basic facts. We refer to these as "the facts, jack."
One of these basic realities is a responably priced home always sells in South Lake Tahoe. Here we also introduce into our seminar that … (0 comments)

gary bolen: Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog: Seminar Pt 1, Putting You in Front of the Market - 03/22/11 10:29 AM
Being in Front of the South Lake Tahoe market is much better than the market being in front of you. (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / March 20, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
A home seller must understand the advantages on being in front of the market, rather than the opposite. Perhaps one of the key things that is in the best interests of every South Lake Tahoe seller is to avoid chasing the market down at all costs. That's because, of course, chasing the market down always costs more than right pricing from the get-go.
Right pricing is, of course, starting … (0 comments)

gary bolen: Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog: Seminar Pt 1, A Hardheaded Seller named Tom - 03/22/11 10:25 AM
Unlike Tom, the successful South Lake Tahoe home seller must face the market of today. (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / March 20, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
Tom is a hardheaded seller, but not much different than all of us; he just wants as much as he can get. The discussion in this segment addresses that part of "Tom" that causes him to lose money though. That is the difference between accepting and being stubborn about South Lake Tahoe market trends and conditions.
Here, Tom personifies one of the basic themes of our seminar; the challenge of coping with and becoming … (0 comments)

gary bolen: Building Permits at all time low… what about South Lake Tahoe? - 03/19/11 01:40 PM

Don't let national news with little bearing on South Lake Tahoe cause you to miss these historic low interest rates. (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / March 17, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
This CNNMoney.com article starts off with "the housing market just can't seem to catch a break." The basis for the phrase is February housing permits for future construction is at an all-time low.
The author, Annalyn Chensky, a CNN staff reporter, presumably finds that the housing market is based on construction permits. Catching a break starts and stops there, apparently. Historic low interest rates, a wide array of … (0 comments)

gary bolen: Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog: Seminar Pt 1, Introduction - 03/19/11 01:40 PM

What our South Lake Tahoe real estate seminar looks like the day after a major snow storm. (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / March 17, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
Well, we didn;t get snowed out, but we did lose about two-thirds of our audience because of the big storm that blew in the day before show time.
What's great is we shot the seminar w 5 HD video cameras, and added a little top notch audio into the mix. This gives us a complete record of the information in our seminars, which we'll provide to you in segments. Hopefully this … (0 comments)

gary bolen: South Lake Tahoe in Top Ten of U.S. Second Home Markets - 03/18/11 10:31 AM

South Lake Tahoe is Top Ten in Location and Lifestyle, not in high end home prices. (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / March 15, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
The good news is a few days ago Barrons found Lake Tahoe as one of the top ten second-home locations in the country. That's not a surprise, however, as we are always that.
The news that's not as good is Barrons took a look at Lake Tahoe real estate from the luxury home point of view only. There is much more to our resort than that.
Though such a view may make … (0 comments)

gary bolen: A Quick Look at South Lake Tahoe, CA 2011 Housing Demand - 03/13/11 07:13 AM

More South Lake Tahoe, CA home sales now than in the last 5 years. (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / March 11, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
With two months of the new year behind us, we thought we'd check where South Lake Tahoe, CA housing demand is compared to the last few years. So far we like what we see.
There were 41 single family homes sold in South Lake Tahoe this January. This is the most sales in January since 2005, and this is consistent with one of our recent real estate seminar slides indicating that the number of … (0 comments)

gary bolen: Another market change indicator: Are the wealthy buying more South Lake Tahoe luxury homes yet? - 03/09/11 05:19 AM

South Lake Tahoe Luxury Home Buyers: Now is the time! (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / March 7, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
One of the things we often saw back in the boom years was wealthy folks taking profits out of the stock market and putting it into real estate. Back then there were certainly more luxury home sales than there are now.
Today's CNNMoney.com article, "Who's buying homes? The Rich" caught our attention. As of this moment, the DOW is 12,068, this includes a decline of 101.83 points today, due primarily from fears about Libya and the price of … (0 comments)

gary bolen: Caution: positive South Lake Tahoe, CA housing news found here! - 03/05/11 05:26 AM
Some very real South Lake Tahoe real estate market indicators. (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / March 3, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
While researching the South Lake Tahoe, CA market data for our real estate seminar last Saturday, a few interesting market indicators emerged.
These coupled with the national employment news of today adds up to more positive indicators for the US housing market in general, and certainly South Lake Tahoe in particular.
Lets be sure we understand that we are still moving at a snails pace as it relates to the overall US housing industry, but we did see a … (0 comments)

gary bolen: Our Seminar, and the South Lake Tahoe Weather - 03/04/11 05:40 AM

Instead of South Lake Tahoe real estate… we ought'a be in the weather predicting business! (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / March 2, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
It's happened to us before, having a South Lake Tahoe snow storm affect one of our February real estate seminars, and this time it was no different.
Abundant snow is a quality problem; it comes with a welcomed boost to the overall South Lake Tahoe economy, and the truth is last weeks two major storms were embraced by us all. We needed that 15 feet of new powder up on our mountains.
A … (0 comments)