realtors: Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog: Seminar Pt 1, South Lake Tahoe Home Prices since 1970 - 03/27/11 09:08 AM
Would you believe the avg. South Lake Tahoe, CA house in 1970 cost about $20,000? (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / March 25, 2011 / Richard Bolen)
south Lake Tahoe, CA home prices have climbed much since 1970. Some may think stratospheric. In the last 40 years, the average South Lake Tahoe house, 3-bd, 2 ba, 1,300 – 1,500 sq ft, has gone from about $20,000 to the $283,000 it is today.
The video here is in two parts, one from 1970 to the end of the '90's when our multiple listing service did not have ample digital records, thus the … (0 comments)

realtors: Is it a Good Time to Buy a South Lake Tahoe House now? - 11/02/10 09:01 AM

It is a good time to buy a house in South Lake Tahoe, CA (Pt 4) (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / October 31, 2010 / Richard Bolen)
This is the last piece in our four-part series on whether it is a good time to buy a house in South Lake Tahoe in today’s real estate market climate.
This is a summary really of the three previous parts in this series– where we have looked in detail at mortgage interest rates, monthly mortgage payments and the $300,000 South Lake Tahoe house over the last decade.
Here are the reasons why … (0 comments)

realtors: The South Lake Tahoe $300,000 House… then and now! - 10/30/10 10:54 AM
Is it a good time to buy a house in South Lake Tahoe, CA? (Pt 3) (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / October 28, 2010 / Richard Bolen)
This is the third of our four-part series on whether it is a good time to buy a house in South Lake Tahoe in today’s real estate market climate.
This series is a rather detailed look at some of the key factors in making a buying decision. We’ll be looking at interest rates,  mortgage payments, the differences, if any, in the characteristics of a median priced house from 2003 until now, and we’ll … (0 comments)

realtors: South Lake Tahoe Real Estate Update: Monthly Mortgage Payments… then and now! - 10/29/10 07:13 AM

Is it a good time to buy a house in South Lake Tahoe?(Pt 2) (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / October 27, 2010 / Richard Bolen)
This is the second of our four-part series on whether it is a good time to buy a house in South Lake Tahoe in today’s real estate market climate.
This series is a rather detailed look at some of the key factors in making a buying decision. We’ll be looking at interest rates,  mortgage payments, the differences, if any, in the characteristics of a median priced house from 2003 until now, and we’ll also … (0 comments)

realtors: South Lake Tahoe Real Estate Update: Mortgage Interest Rates…then and now! - 10/28/10 06:20 PM

Is it a good time to buy a house in South Lake Tahoe (Pt 1) (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / October 26, 2010 / Richard Bolen)
This begins a four-part series on whether it is a good time to buy a house in South Lake Tahoe in today’s real estate market climate.
This is a rather detailed look at some of the key factors in making a buying decision. We’ll be looking at interest rates,  mortgage payments, the differences, if any, in the characteristics of a median priced house from 2003 until now, and we’ll also look at another … (1 comments)

realtors: A Different Look at 2010 South Lake Tahoe, CA Home Sales - 06/30/10 12:10 PM
Distressed Property Sales have an Effect on South Lake Tahoe, CA trends. (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / May 10, 2010 / Richard Bolen) We thought you might appreciate seeing some of the study we did last Friday for an article in our local newspaper (See Tahoe Daily Tribune story here).
The writer interviewed us the week before last, but the newspaper editor (shes wonderful) called us again for last minute statistics before they went to print.
It is from the chart below that much of the information came. Further information also came from our article about South Lake Tahoe, CA … (0 comments)

realtors: South Lake Tahoe, CA Real Estate News: Housing Demand and Absorption Rates - 06/30/10 12:07 PM
More Increases in South Lake Tahoe Housing Demand. (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / May 10, 2010 / Richard Bolen)
We’ve updated the Absorption Rates for the South Lake Tahoe, CA real estate market. This the most accurate method possible for tracking South Lake Tahoe housing demand over time.
Throughout the first quarter of 2010 we have seen an increase in housing demand, details below.
Find market-wide absorption rates for South Lake Tahoe, CA  here.
(Note that the statistics chart online is not identical to that below, which is correct. Our new automation code for the oline chart has a few … (0 comments)

realtors: South Lake Tahoe, Real Estate News: Escrow Report - 06/30/10 11:55 AM
110 Homes in Escrow in South Lake Tahoe… 57% are Distressed Sales! (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / May 7, 2010 / Richard Bolen) We have just updated the South Lake Tahoe Real Estate Market Escrow Report. There are 110 homes in escrow at present. (It was 102 a week ago, 106 a month ago, 109 in March, and 93 last December.)
Escrow is 33.5% of the current  328 active homes listed on the market in South Lake Tahoe, CA.
Throughout 2009 the percentage of homes in escrow ranged from 9.5% to 29.9%. The current percentage is higher than at any … (0 comments)

realtors: Yes, it’s changed, the Lake Tahoe Real Estate blog, and it’s been some time coming - 06/30/10 11:42 AM
Only the beginning of the new changes coming. (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / May 7, 2010 / Richard Bolen) We’ve been working on it for some time, but you may notice that the Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog has a new face. There’s more than meets the eye though, and more of it to come.
The real goal behind what we’ve been working on is automated statistics, which will be available to you 24/7, and will automatically update every time each multiple listing service does. Right now we have to manually upload a file to our server to update the … (0 comments)

realtors: More US Job Reports - 06/28/10 07:34 AM

Nothing to Write Home About Yet... but Jobs Are Improving.
(Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / May 6, 2010 / Richard Bolen)
We've been saying it... repeating it actually, because everybody knows that the key to better housing industry health is an improvement in the US jobs market. While the worst may be over, there is still much room to improve.
Writing this we're thinking about folks who are out of a job though, and it's heartbreaking to us. We're betting they are not thinking much about how the worst may be over. They are still in it.
There are … (0 comments)

realtors: South Lake Tahoe, CA Real Estate News: A change in the median sold price? - 06/28/10 07:23 AM

Something Different Has Happened, and It Has Been a While!
(Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / April 30, 2010 / Richard Bolen)
We have just updated all South Lake Tahoe, CA home sales in the last 365 days in the post below. While doing that study we noticed a few, important things that are worthy of further discussion.
As many of you may know, we have been filing regular reports on median sold prices in South Lake Tahoe since we started this blog 3 years and two months ago.
We use the median sold price as a guide. To us … (0 comments)

realtors: South Lake Tahoe, CA Real Estate News: All Sales in the last 365 Days - 06/28/10 07:17 AM
South Lake Tahoe, CA. Real Estate Trends Updated
(Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / April 30, 2010 / Richard Bolen)
We have just updated home sales summaries and Market Performance for South Lake Tahoe, CA.
The median sold price is $314,500. ( It was $305,000 on March 15th, and $303,750 on February 2nd.) This is based on all single family sales in South Lake Tahoe, CA in the last 180 calendar days (Tahoe Keys homes not included).
A contributing factor to South Lake Tahoe decline in home prices is the effect of foreclosed home sales on the real estate market.
Since … (0 comments)

realtors: U.S. Job News: Is there any, and if so, is it hopeful? - 06/28/10 07:03 AM
City jobless picture brightens a little... yea!
(Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / April 28, 2010 / Richard Bolen)
A return to overall real estate market health, for South Lake Tahoe or anywhere else for that matter, is based on job recovery. We've written about that much before. Today's CNNMoney.com article is a glimmer of better news.
The essence of the article is simply this: the number of US cities showing a year-over-year improvement in their unemployment rate nearly doubled in March, so saith the US Labor Department.
In labor department statistics...
Continue reading "U.S. Job News: Is there any, and … (0 comments)

realtors: South Lake Tahoe Real Estate News: Can You Still Get a 5% Mortgage? - 06/28/10 06:51 AM

Mortgage Interest Rates Are Not Going to Stay This Low Forever (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / April 27, 2010 / Richard Bolen)
There is still time to get a 5% mortgage, but yesterday's CNNMoney.com article says the window is closing.
The reasoning behind the article cites the government will stop buying mortgage-related debt on April 1st, which will propel mortgage interest rates to start slowly rising.
Since November 2008 the Federal Reserve has snapped up $1.25 trillion worth of mortgage-backed securities — essentially, people's mortgages bundled together and sold to investors.
The program has kept interest rates artificially low … (0 comments)

realtors: South Lake Tahoe, CA Real Estate News: 2010 Home Sales Details - 06/28/10 06:43 AM
Distressed Property Sales have an Effect on South Lake Tahoe, CA trends. (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / April 26, 2010 / Richard Bolen)
This may become a regular feature, at least until the incidence of distressed properties on the South Lake Tahoe, CA real estate market ceases in significance.
We're thinking this detailed look at homes sold throughout South Lake Tahoe, CA will be as interesting to you as it is to us.
The chart below is an easy side-by-side comparison of what we're seeing in South Lake Tahoe, CA sales trends at present.
 The Bottom Line : Here's some … (1 comments)

realtors: South Lake Tahoe, CA Real Estate News: 2010 Listings Sold - 06/28/10 06:37 AM
132 South Lake Tahoe, CA 2010 Single Family Home Sales. 55.3% of them are distressed properties. (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / April 25, 2010 / Richard Bolen)
We have just updated all 2010 South Lake Tahoe, CA single family home sales. There are 132 homes sold in South Lake Tahoe, CA this year as of today.
Note the category below that addresses the number of bank owned properties (REOs) and short sales v. those that are not. This can also be viewed on our spreadsheets and stat charts as well.
Of the 132 homes sold in 2010, 73 of them … (0 comments)

realtors: South Lake Tahoe, CA Real Estate News: Listings in Escrow - 06/28/10 06:32 AM
102 Homes in Escrow in South Lake Tahoe… 63% are Distressed Sales! (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / April 24, 2010 / Richard Bolen)
We have just updated the South Lake Tahoe Real Estate Market Escrow Report. There are 102 homes in escrow at present. (This same number was 106 three weeks ago, 109 in March, and 93 last December.)
Escrow is 32.1% of the current  318 active homes listed on the market in South Lake Tahoe, CA.
Throughout 2009 the percentage of homes in escrow ranged from 9.5% to 29.9%. The current percentage is higher than at any time … (0 comments)

realtors: New Home Sales News: How about Rockets in Flight? - 06/28/10 06:24 AM
New Home Sales Rise Fastest in 47 Years! (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / April 23, 2010 / Richard Bolen)
We love speed metaphors when it comes to news about home sales. Anything suggesting quick will do, and that's not because we favor either buyers or sellers, you must understand… because we don't.
Quick means to us a healthier market, and a better real estate market is better for every one of us. (It affects virtually all sectors of the US economy.)
Before we get started, our last report on South Lake Tahoe, CA new home sales here.
Here's some bullet … (0 comments)

realtors: News in a better direction: Home Sales Up, Job Losses Down… but what about South Lake Tahoe? - 06/28/10 06:16 AM

Today's News is A Picture of a Modestly Improving Economy (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / April 22, 2010 / Richard Bolen)
Needless to say we think this is news in a better direction. And the truth is we're seeing increases in the number of South Lake Tahoe, CA home sales too.
Here are some bullet points in today's Associated Press news article about housing sales: (article here)
US Home sales rose sharply last month. Claims for jobless benefits fell last week. Sales of previously occupied homes increased more than expected in March after three straight months of declines. The … (0 comments)

realtors: South Lake Tahoe Foreclosure News: One Point about REO Sales - 06/26/10 02:58 PM

Instead of "highest price", there may be another agenda. (Lake Tahoe Real Estate Blog / April 20, 2010 / Richard Bolen)
This one is interesting, and the point to appreciate is often "speed" is more important than "price" in the sale of a bank owned home. There's a reason for it too, and it might not be what one thinks.
The bottom line to the story below is simply this: if selling faster, rather than selling higher, is the driving force of a home sale, the selling price will not give one an adequate representation of true market value.
Real … (0 comments)