real estate agents: US Home Sales Drop in June… a Different Story in South Lake Tahoe, CA! - 07/19/12 03:39 PM
 
 22.5% more housing demand in South Lake Tahoe, CA compared to the rest    of the country
 (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / July 19, 2012 / Richard Bolen)
Americans bought fewer homes in June than May, according to the Associated Press this morning. We thought we'd look at some of the data in the article and compare that to South Lake Tahoe, CA.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said Thursday that sales of previously occupied homes fell 5.4 percent in June, and that sales results were the fewest since October.
As the chart below shows, however, there was an … (0 comments)

real estate agents: Mortgage Rates Plunge Past Point Where They Began - 07/06/12 10:18 AM
Historic Low Home Loans Now at 3.62% Fixed Rate
(Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / July 5, 2012 / Richard Bolen)
Yep (and Eureka!), fixed mortgage interest rates fell again today to new record lows for a 30-year home loan. We don't know what could be better news for South Lake Tahoe home buyers.
According to the Associated Press article, this record plunge provides more incentive to brave a modestly recovering US housing market.
Today's 3.62% interest rate is the lowest since long-term interest rates began in the 1950's.
Also found in the article: Cheap mortgages have provided a lift to … (2 comments)

real estate agents: South Lake Tahoe, CA neighborhoods: The Tahoe Keys luxury real estate listings, home sales and values - 04/18/12 05:39 AM
South Lake Tahoe luxury home neighborhoods: The Tahoe Keys home values $41,500 lower in the last 365-days. (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / April 16, 2012 / Richard Bolen)
Lets track South Lake Tahoe, CA neighborhood home values by year since 2003. As the chart below indicates, here are the median sold prices for The Tahoe Keys neighborhood for the last decade.
 The Tahoe Keys Housing Values : Median home values in the Tahoe Keys declined by $84,000 from 2010 to 2011. In the last 365-days, the median sold value has declined by $41,500, or almost half of the total decline … (0 comments)

real estate agents: US Housing in Recovery? - 04/18/12 05:34 AM
Various Positive Factors, plus an unseasonably warm first quarter encourages US Home Buyers (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / April 15, 2012 / Richard Bolen)
We found today's Associated Press article interesting, and we certainly like any news that points to a long awaited housing recovery.
The article says reduced prices, historic low mortgage interest rates and an improving jobs market are inspiring many home buyers. It cites that open houses are being heavily attended, and a new wave of foreclosures will lead investors to housing opportunities.
Here's a few more points in the article (full version here):
Many feel that … (0 comments)

real estate agents: A South Lake Tahoe, CA Neighborhood Home Value Study - 04/01/12 08:40 AM
Home Sales, Values and Distressed Frequencies by South Lake Tahoe, CA Neighborhood
(Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / March 30, 2012 / Richard Bolen)
As we approach the end of the first quarter of 2012, we thought it would be helpful to review the South Lake Tahoe, CA real estate market from the point of view of its various neighborhoods.
For this study lets look at the top three South Lake Tahoe, CA neighborhoods in the following categories, and below that is the source materials for the information herein.
  Highest Median Sold Price : The top three South Lake … (0 comments)

real estate agents: US Home Contracts Dipped in February: So what about South Lake Tahoe? - 03/29/12 05:00 AM
 Number South Lake Tahoe, CA Homes in Escrow… not much different now than it was two years ago.
(Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / March 27, 2012 / Richard Bolen)
The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy U.S. homes dipped in February from nearly a two-year high. According to today's Associated Press article, this is a mixed signal ahead of the spring home-buying season. The question is, how does this relate to South Lake Tahoe?
Home signed contracts are another means of describing homes that are in escrow. First a few bullet points from today's article (in full … (0 comments)

real estate agents: The Effect of Listing Too High: one of the Top Five Things a South Lake Tahoe Home Seller Needs to Know - 02/26/12 01:21 AM
Helping the South Lake Tahoe, CA Home Seller sell their house (pt 5)
(Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / February 24, 2012 / Richard Bolen)
One of the things we do is provide as much information as we possibly can to help a South Lake Tahoe, CA home seller sell their house. To be successful at that there is much a seller needs to know, comprehend and ultimately accept. This is the last in a five-part series to help all home sellers.
In general, and this is the bottom line, a seller needs to price their house properly to sell … (1 comments)

real estate agents: The Odds of Selling: one of the Top Five Things a South Lake Tahoe Home Seller Needs to Know - 02/25/12 03:01 AM
Helping the South Lake Tahoe, CA Home Seller sell their house (pt 4) (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / February 21, 2012 / Richard Bolen)
One of the things we do is provide as much information as we possibly can to help a South Lake Tahoe, CA home seller sell their house. To be successful at that there is much a seller needs to know, comprehend and ultimately accept. This is part four in a five-part series to help all home sellers.
In general, and this is the bottom line, a seller needs to price their house properly to sell it … (2 comments)

real estate agents: Characteristics by Size: one of the Top Five Things a South Lake Tahoe Home Seller Needs to Know - 02/25/12 02:56 AM
Helping the South Lake Tahoe, CA Home Seller sell their house (pt 3) (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / February 20, 2012 / Richard Bolen)
One of the things we do is provide as much information as we possibly can to help a South Lake Tahoe, CA home seller sell their house. To be successful at that there is much a seller needs to know, comprehend and ultimately accept. This is part three in a five-part series to help all home sellers.
In general, and this is the bottom line, a seller needs to price their house properly to sell it … (0 comments)

real estate agents: The Top Five Things a South Lake Tahoe, CA Home Seller Needs to Know - 02/19/12 02:37 AM
 Helping the South Lake Tahoe, CA Home Seller sell their house (intro)
(Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / February 14, 2012 / Richard Bolen)
One of the things we do is provide as much information as possible to help a South Lake Tahoe, CA home seller sell their house. To be successful at that there is much a seller needs to know, comprehend and ultimately accept.
This is our introduction to a new five-part series that will help all home sellers. The next five posts will focus on each of the top five things a seller needs to take into … (0 comments)

real estate agents: South Lake Tahoe, CA Home Values… Then and Now. - 02/13/12 06:36 AM
Tracking the South Lake Tahoe, CA Median Sold Price… since 2007.
(Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / February 11, 2012 / Richard Bolen)
We track South Lake Tahoe, CA home values by the median sold price. We've been doing this since 2001, in print via our newsletters from 2001 to 2006, and online since we started this blog in February 2007.
Since then we've been tracking the South Lake Tahoe, CA median sold price in the chart found below. Our first entry unto it was April, 2007. We thought it worthwhile to review it… on this 5th anniversary of The … (0 comments)

real estate agents: 2011 South Lake Tahoe, NV Year-End Real Estate Report - 01/16/12 06:34 AM
More Distressed Sales and a few more High End sales above $5M characterize Stateline, NV 2011 real estate market.
(Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / January 12, 2012 / Richard Bolen)
This is the 2011 bottom line for the Nevada side of our South Lake Tahoe real estate market: demand was down slightly; median home values were about the same as last year; the percentage of distressed properties was higher, and luxury home sales over $1M were about the same in number, but notably higher above $5M.
The chart below is the source material for this report. Now for the … (0 comments)

real estate agents: 2011 South Lake Tahoe, CA Year-End Real Estate Report - 01/09/12 04:47 AM
Demand Up, Prices Down, Distressed Property Sales about the Same.
(Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / January 4, 2012 / Richard Bolen)
This is the 2011 bottom line for our South Lake Tahoe, CA housing market: demand was up by 6.7%; home values were down by 19.7%; the percentage of distressed properties sold was about the same, and the percentage of properties sold under $300,000 increased by 17.7%.
The charts below are the source materials for this report. Now for the details:
  Number Homes Sold : More homes sold in South Lake Tahoe in 2011 than in 2010.
Total … (1 comments)

real estate agents: A Glance at the South Lake Tahoe, CA real estate home values right now. - 12/14/11 05:11 AM
A 17.3% decline in the South Lake Tahoe, CA median sold price over the last 365-days.
(Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / December 12, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
At present the South Lake Tahoe, CA median sold price is $231,500. This is based on all sales in the last 180-days, with the Tahoe Keys not included. If the Tahoe Keys were included, the median sold price over the same time frame is $250,000. In other words the Tahoe Keys skews the South Lake Tahoe median sold price upward by $18,500, or 7.4%.
Over the last 90-days, the South Lake Tahoe, CA … (0 comments)

real estate agents: South Lake Tahoe Home Affordability: Interest Rates Have Never Been this Low Before. - 10/11/11 12:08 PM
 Interest Rates below 4%? It screams South Lake Tahoe home buyer advantage.
(Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / October 9, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
There is really no other way to say it: mortgage interest rates on a South Lake Tahoe home loan are as low now as they were in the 1905's. The truth is many of you have not seen such good home buying news in your lifetime. (I have, but it was when I was only four-years old, and back then I was much more interested in sand boxes than houses.)
For a moment last week the mortgage … (1 comments)

real estate agents: Searching for a Home in a Haystack - 09/05/11 07:11 AM

 Digging Deeper is sometimes what it takes!
 (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / September 2, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
The phone rang while we were thinking about what we might write for a blog post about South Lake Tahoe yesterday. At that moment, I was sorting out whether we wanted to talk about our Nevada luxury home market since we're showing homes around $1.5M this weekend (he's coming in a Ferrari, but that's a different story).
 I didn't know it immediately, but the phone call was the story, and it took some 4 hours over yesterday and today for … (0 comments)

real estate agents: US Escrow Falls in July: What about South Lake Tahoe? - 08/31/11 05:11 AM

Housing is often different in South Lake Tahoe than in the rest of the country. (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / August 29, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
All real estate is local, and what this means is real estate conditions are almost always different in one place from another. Sometimes this difference is miniscule, but often it is palpable. This is one of those.
This comes via the Associated Press from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and it cites that US home sales agreements fell in July. Sales agreements are known as "escrow", and we thought we'd compare current … (0 comments)

real estate agents: The Effect of Listing a 1,500 sq ft South Lake Tahoe, CA House Too High. - 08/29/11 06:34 AM
Listing a South Lake Tahoe house too high costs a Seller time and money. The Question is how much?
(Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / August 24, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
we're looking at the median sold South Lake Tahoe house from the POV of a seller, that of a buyer and at the effect of listing that house at too high a price.
This is the last in a 3-part series. The source chart is below, and for this particular study lets look at the effect of listing a 1,500 sq ft South Lake Tahoe house too high.
What this … (0 comments)

real estate agents: Characteristics of a 1,500 Sq Ft South Lake Tahoe House: Buyer POV - 08/20/11 05:17 AM
A Study of the South Lake Tahoe, CA House between $250,000 – $299,999 (the 1,500 sq ft house)
(Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / August 18, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
This study is in three posts, and in it we're looking at the median sold South Lake Tahoe house from the POV of a seller, that of a buyer and at the effect of listing that house at too high a price.
This is part 2 in this 3-part series. The source chart is below, and for this particular study from a buyer's POV, we looked at home sales between $250,000 … (1 comments)

real estate agents: Characteristics of a 1,500 Sq Ft South Lake Tahoe House: Seller POV - 08/17/11 05:03 AM
A Study of the South Lake Tahoe, CA median sold house (1,500 sq ft).
(Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / August 15, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
Think average, but with greater detail and certainty, that's what the median sold price is, and for this study, which will come in three posts, we're going to look at the median sold South Lake Tahoe house from the POV of a seller, that of a buyer and we'll look at the effect of listing a that house at too high a price.
So this is part 1 in a 3-part series. The source chart … (0 comments)