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This Months Articles: Click Here to See All of My Listings and Virtual Tours Click Here to See the Lastest Incline Village Real Estate Weekly Sales Statistics 96 Third Creek - Great location on the gated side of the complex. End unit, 3BR, 3BA, 1,787 sq. ft., 1 car attached garage. Private setting buffered by trees, fence and open space. $679,000 48 McCloud - Rare 2 story, 2BR, 2BA, 1,328 sq. ft. floor plan. Beautifully remodeled, granite counters, new appliances, marble vanity tops, pride of ownership! $499,000 Multi Unit Properties May Be Making A Comeback From March 2007 through December 2008 there was a veritable flurry of activity with four investment residential properties changing hands. Since that last sale, there has been only one transaction and that was for a duplex that closed escrow in July 2010. Historically, the cash flow numbers have not been great for multiunit buildings in our community. Investors have bought more for appreciation and in some cases they keep one unit as a vacation getaway or personal residence and rent the others for long-term income. With the pullback in real estate prices, the cash flow numbers are starting to look better for these types of properties. In the past it required a down payment of between 50% and 75% just to get breakeven cash flow. With current market prices and reasonable rents, some properties are showing breakeven cash flow with as little as 25% down. This makes investment residential property much more attractive, especially for absentee owners. Sometimes it behooves a first time buyer to consider a multiunit property. A great example would be one of the four plexes that came on the market last week on Tomahawk Drive. Each building has four – 1 bedroom, 1 bath units that bring in between $725 and $750 in rent per unit, per month for a gross income of over $35,000 per year. The asking prices are $425,000 and $485,000 respectively. With a 25% down payment, in today's market you would be looking at a mortgage payment and property taxes of approximately $2200 per month. That means you could live in one unit and the rent from the other three units would just about cover the mortgage and taxes. In time you would build equity and have yourself a nice long term investment with someone else paying the mortgage. Or you could build equity for a few years, then sell and purchase that single-family home you have always dreamed of. Occasionally there are multiunit properties with an architectural design that permits one unit to be kept as a vacation home (and maybe a vacation rental, too) while the other units are rented out to long-term tenants. This kind of flexibility is nice for an absentee owner who wants to get some enjoyment from a property at Lake Tahoe while still trying to generate income when the place is not being used. While most multiunit structures do not lend themselves favorably to this type of arrangement, occasionally there are properties that work well for this purpose; one that comes to mind is a triplex on Harold Drive. A lot of the investment residential properties at Lake Tahoe do not have garages and that can be a major drawback when seeking long-term tenants. Most full-time renters really appreciate the convenience of having a garage especially after a winter like the one we just had. Often you will find carports instead of garages at some of the older properties in town. With a variety of multiunit properties on the market from duplexes up to a six unit building, investors have better choices in 2011 then they have had in a long time. INCLINE VILLAGE REAL ESTATE YEAR TO DATE SALES Houses Condos Free Standing Condos Total 2011 Sales 61 66 20 147 2010 Median Price 815,000 350,000 695,000 2011 Median Price 800,000 347,000 557,000 Lessons From the Ritz-Carlton Bankruptcy Action Now those who love to ski at Northstar (or as the locals call it, “Flatstar”) may take issue with me. But let’s face reality, Northstar is not Jackson Hole or Vail. There is nothing to attract large numbers of people as repeat visitors on a year ‘round basis. First of all the name Northstar at Tahoe is a misnomer, the entire resort is outside the Lake Tahoe Basin and your only view of Tahoe is from a couple of vantage points at the top of the mountain. The low elevation ensures some of the worst snow quality of any resort in the Truckee - Tahoe region and the runs are challenging only to intermediate and novice skiers. So, the ski area itself is not going to attract repeat visitors for week long vacations, most advanced level skiers will ski for a day and then head over to Squaw Valley or Alpine Meadows. In the summertime, mountain bikers can enjoy riding on the slopes and trails. But this demographic is notorious for being thrifty and the Ritz-Carlton hotel should not have been counting on the largesse from these folks to keep their financials in the black. Also, the vast majority of people riding mountain bikes in the Tahoe - Truckee area live here all year, so they are not going to be patronizing the Ritz-Carlton very frequently. Back in the 1980s when Northstar had a quaint little village, the scale of the resort made sense. But a series of developers came to the Truckee / Martis Valley area with starry eyed visions. They believed, to their own detriment that a destination resort could be created in this location. A golf course was added, homes were built, and then the dot com and real estate booms encouraged an even more grandiose expansion for this locale. Several more golf course developments came on the drawing board for the region, which this columnist could not fathom since Truckee is on average one of the coldest places in the lower 48 states. Golf season is legitimately about 4 months a year, anything more is considered a bonus. A combination of overly optimistic projections, a failure to understand the long term weather patterns and unrealistic expectations of visitor numbers led to this debacle. Our local ski area in Incline Village at Diamond Peak turned in record numbers this year. While Diamond Peak does not make a big profit every season, the IVGID Trustees are at least sensible enough to realize the limitations of the ski area and have not tried to turn it into something that it can never be. This now raises the question as to whether the recently approved Boulder Bay Development in Crystal Bay will suffer the same fate. I have a great deal of admiration and respect for Roger Wittenberg, the developer behind this new project. It is my hope that Boulder Bay will not go the way of the Ritz-Carlton at Northstar. But it does beg the question, does Crystal Bay truly have the features to make it a destination resort? Only time will tell. 818 Jennifer St. - Lakeview home with 3BR, 2BA, 2 Car Attached Garage, 1,424 sq. ft. $649,000 460 Teresa - Lovely lakeview home in Crystal Bay. 4BR, 2.5 BA, 1,992 sq. ft., level entry to kitchen, living, dining, master suite, powder room and 2 decks. All 3 guest bedrooms downstairs for maximum privacy. $499,000 - Reduced 100K - Super Deal Alert!! Fixer Upper or Tear Down - It's in The Eye of the Beholder While Incline Village is a master planned community, that does not mean all of the single-family residences were constructed during the same era. Looking at the older construction, we have a lot of properties in our community from the 1960s through 1980s and some could best be described as vintage. There are places that exhibit nice architecture, have a good floor plan and could just use some updating. Other homes cry out for a bulldozer and a new set of plans. Before I am deluged by comments from readers, there are a lot of charming older homes and cabins on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe. Many of these blend in beautifully with the environment and actually fit better than some of the oversized properties built during the dot com and real estate booms. When well maintained or nicely restored, they exude that Tahoe charm which owners and visitors alike are very fond of. Some older neighborhoods such as the Millcreek and Woods subdivisions have predominantly large level lots. When looking at original homes in these neighborhoods, especially those built before 1979 when there were major changes to the building code, many buyers debate, “is this place a fixer-upper or a tear down”? With such large lots and potentially substantial amounts of impervious coverage, the concept of tearing down and building a new home that is energy efficient and structurally more sound does have a great deal of merit. In most parts of the country tearing down an older home and building a new one is a pretty straightforward process. However, with the complicated and sometimes convoluted land coverage regulations in the Tahoe basin, building a new structure from the ground up can often be a daunting task. An entire industry of TRPA consultants has grown up around the need for property owners and builders to be able to understand and comply with the complex regulations. Homes built in the 1960s and early 1970s that are still in original condition will likely have single pane windows, minimal insulation and were built with different standards versus today. Whether it is worthwhile to do a major remodeling project on a home consturcted during that time will depend on a number of factors. Having a good contractor who can walk through the property and evaluate the pluses and minuses will go a long way towards making a sound decision. Some older homes have great bones and lend themselves to a remodeling project, which would cost far less than a tear down and rebuild. You may hear a property referred to as a “livable fixer upper.” This refers to a place that while dated and in need of some repairs, is perfectly fine to live in while you work on your remodeling ideas. It is always best to live in a property for at least a few months whenever possible before you do major remodeling work. Very often your original ideas will change after living in a place and getting a feel for the traffic flow, sunlight and other intangibles that are difficult to visualize when you are out shopping for properties. Don Kanare is a Realtor at RE/MAX Premier Properties 617 Tumbleweed Circle - Beautifully remodeled 5BR, 5.5BA,home next to US Forest Service land. Spectacular canyon and mountain views along with views of Lake Tahoe. Spacious rooms, great floor plan for everyday living and for entertaining. Formal dining room, family room, game room, office, den. $1,599,000 - Reduced 51K 916 Harold Drive - #48 Cedar Crest - Beautifully remodeled 3BR, 2BA cabin with 2 car garage. 1,536 sq. ft.. - $429,000 - Reduced $30,000 680 Wilson Way - #1 - Nicely Remodeled 3BR, 2.5BA, End Unit Condo in 4 Unit Complex. Hardwood Floors, Slab Granite, New Appliances, New Roof, New Driveway! $419,000 - Reduced $60,000 86 McCloud - 2BR, 2BA, 1111 sq. ft. - Tastefully Furnished Upper Unit 1 Block from Beach - $429,000 Click Here to See All of My Listings and Virtual Tours 2011 Newsletters January February April May June July 2010 Newsletters April June September October November 2009 Newsletters February April May July October December 2008 Newsletters May June July August September October December Copyright 2008 - 2011 - Don Kanare - All rights reserved. Inside Incline is entirely written and published each month by Don Kanare of RE/MAX Premier Properties for property owners and others who have an interest in Incline Village and Crystal Bay. If you have any questions or comments, please contact me at 775-828-3380 or send an e-mail to: Don@InsideIncline.com |
| For Incline Village Real Estate Information or a Free Comparative Market Analysis of Your Property Contact Don Kanare Your Incline Village Real Estate Agent RE/MAX Premier Properties - 5250 Neil Road, Suite 100 - Reno, NV 89502 - (775) 828-3380 |