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INCLINE VILLAGE REAL ESTATE BLOG
Please e-mail Don with your questions or comments. January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 October 2009 November 2009 December 2009 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 Daily Incline Village Real Estate Blog Update - March 31, 2010 After doing a couple of runs on the Slide side, I made my way over to the Rose side before the Northwest chairlift opened. That gave me a chance to be the very first person to ski Sunset Bowl. It was quite a treat looking out at the entire mountainside completely untracked and having no one anywhere near me as I floated down in the thigh deep snow. After exhausting myself a little bit later in the day in The Chutes (I skied Yellow Jacket and Charge for the 1st time ever, yow!), it was time to show property to one of my clients and return to the business of buying and selling properties in Incline Village. The MLS brings us a total of four new listings, two price changes, one property going into escrow and one property closing escrow on Wednesday. Our new listings today run the gamut from a two bedroom, two bath, 1600 plus square foot condo near the mountain golf course priced at $585,000 all the way up to a luxurious home at 1054 Lakeshore offered at $4,895,000. There is also a postage stamp sized piece of land available over in Crystal Bay for $445K down near the water on Somers Loop (but it’s not a lakefront parcel at this price and only has a little tiny bit of view). This .168 slice of raw land is on a slight down slope and not too far from the Robert Stack Estate. Shoppers keeping an eye on the activity in Country Club Villas may wish to take a second look at #48. This property finally got a big price reduction of $150,000 bringing it all the way down to $995,000. The escrow activity was all in the Mill Creek subdivision today. 1069 Mill Creek got an accepted offer and is back in escrow for the second time. The gorgeous home at 1081 Tiller changed hands to a new buyer at the very reasonable price of $1,800,000. Congratulations to Pam in my office who represented the buyer, she’s off to a great start this year! This is a longtime agent who works very hard and has diligently provided excellent customer service for almost 20 years. Good agents make it through the tough times and this one’s a fine example. Daily Incline Village Real Estate Blog Update - March 30, 2010 I’m not sure if there will be much activity of the Incline Village real estate market on Wednesday or Thursday. I anticipate everyone in the Lake Tahoe Basin who owns a pair of skis will be out enjoying what could be some of the last powder days of the season. Daily Incline Village Real Estate Blog Update - March 29, 2010 The new listing of most interest today is #58 Woodstock. This remodeled, three bedroom, three bath, 1243 square foot two story condo is in one of the best locations in the complex. Overlooking the common area and not too far from the parking lot, the asking price of just under $320,000 puts this one on my short list. Getting accepted offers are my favorite free-standing condo that I have been touting at #31 Country Club Villas at the 2003 price of 829K a short sale property in Incline Creek Estates. I am somewhat amazed that this development (which is still under construction) is experiencing its first short sale. Closing escrow at the price of $420,000 is the partially updated two bedroom, two bath condo at #81 McCloud. It looks like prices have settled in the low to mid four hundreds for 2BR condos that have experienced some remodeling and under 400K for properties in original condition in the complex. Incline Village condo prices have backed off from the 2007 peak, and the good values in McCloud are getting snapped up while the overpriced properties continue to sit and gather dust. Skiers in the crowd may wish to come up to the Lake Tahoe ski resorts this weekend to enjoy what could be some of the best late season conditions one could hope for. With heavy snowfall and temperatures predicted to stay relatively cool the remainder of the week, it looks like Easter weekend could be a boon to the Lake Tahoe economy. And Diamond Peak in Incline Village could have a record setting year for both skier visits and revenue. Daily Incline Village Real Estate Blog Update - March 27 - 28, 2010 Getting an accepted offer is the lovely lakview home at 1000 Apollo priced a sliver under $1.3 mil.. Congrats to my fellow listing agents, it's their personal residence and has gorgeous interior finishes. Click Here to See the MLS Info Daily Incline Village Real Estate Blog Update - March 24 - 26, 2010 Touching on the highlights on the Incline Village real estate update for this sunny Friday, Lakeview shoppers will want to check out my new listing at 460 Teresa. This home in Crystal Bay has a great floor plan with the master suite and great room on the living level with guest bedrooms down below. Four bedrooms, 2.5 baths, two decks, level entry and a very nice view of Lake Tahoe and the surrounding mountains make this an excellent value at only $670,000 Condo shoppers in Incline Village will want to take a close look at 66 Mccloud now that the asking price has been dropped nearly $60,000 all the way down to $490,000. There are only six units in the complex with his extremely desirable floor plan. Large mud room, oversized south facing deck with a great view of the mountains, remodeled kitchen, hardwood floors, the list goes on and on. One would think that with 12 price changes I could be writing a dissertation, but such is not the case. The only one that merits any ink is 1-8 Forest Pines. This three bedroom, two bath, 1168 square foot condo has a great location and a few nice upgrades. The new asking price of $399,000 makes this quite possibly the best value in a three bedroom condo within two blocks of the beach. And going into escrow is my listing at 177 McCloud (picture and description near the top of this page. On the market less than 3 weeks, got 2 offers, the latest one acceptable to the seller. Daily Incline Village Real Estate Blog Update - March 22 - 23, 2010 The Incline Village real estate market brings us 8 new listings, three price changes and one property going into escrow on Monday and Tuesday. One of the best low elevation values we have seen in a while is the new listing at 269 Tramway. This four bedroom, two bath, 2230 square foot home with a two car attached garage sits at the end of a Cul-du-Sac. Very good location, does not back up to Hwy 28, you’re buffered by other parcels. The asking price of only $750,000 puts this on my Best Buy list and I anticipate it will sell by Easter weekend. We have a couple of rare bank owned properties in the new construction category in Incline Village for you to contemplate. I’m really not sure why someone would build spec homes on this stretch of College Avenue and try to sell them for around $2.6 million. That’s probably why this development of three properties went upside down and the builder’s loss is your gain. Now offered a little bit under $1.6 million, (which is what I told the seller one year ago to price them at), you’ll find 2 luxury homes with great floor plans and high end finishes throughout. If we could just get one of the neighbors to clean up their back yard, these properties would probably sell rather quickly. Arguably, the best potential for a vacation Rental Property I’ve stumbled across so far this year is the lake view home at 695 Cristina. With six or more bedrooms depending on how you configure the place, over 4200 square feet in which to roam and spacious areas for family gatherings, the asking price of $1,295,000 puts this on my radar screen Click Here for the MLS Info on These 4 Listings I have been waiting a long time for the house at 931 Jupiter to come down to a reasonable price. Well that day has finally come. The price was slashed all the way down to $975,000 which is about where it should have been in the first place. This is a far cry from the original asking price of $1,475,000. And a substantial reduction from the most recent offering number of $1,145,000. At the new asking price I expect this lovely Lakeview home to see a lot of activity and get an accepted offer fairly quickly. I guess that my buyer getting such a great deal on 840 Jennifer is starting to have an impact in the neighborhood. Daily Incline Village Real Estate Blog Update - March 21, 2010 The only action on the MLS today are 3 price changes. All are good values, though you may or may not like each property for your own personal reasons. 198 Bitterbrush is now an exceptional value at only $465K, I'll even call it a Best Buy at that price given the nice upgrades, hot tub, view and location in the complex. Daily Incline Village Real Estate Blog Update - March 19 - 20, 2010 I spent Saturday showing property with two different buyers and it looks like I will be out and about again on Sunday afternoon. Even though we have approximately 350 properties for sale in Incline Village and Crystal Bay, there’s not a lot of quality inventory at reasonable prices. I know that sounds really strange. But, when a good value hits the market someone usually jumps on it and much of what remains is less desirable than the property that just sold. A great example of this is the closed escrow for #109 Third Creek. This 2BR condo came on the market priced very reasonably at just under $550,000. In less than 10 days it attracted an offer and went into escrow. The final sale price of $520,000 shows that the seller priced the property fairly and got 95% of the asking price. Other condos in the same complex have been on the market for 6 months, a year, or even longer. Most of them have gotten offers and while some of the offers were not to the liking of the seller, buyers are looking for a good value. The condo market is still soft, especially in the $500K to $1.5 million price range. It is the sellers who are willing to compromise, and accept a little bit less than they want who will get their properties sold in 2010. Of the four properties that changed hands to new owners, only one was a distressed sale. That would be the reasonably nice single family home at 660 Tumbleweed. The patience of the buyer paid off in this situation as reflected in the final sale price of $625,000 for this three bedroom, three bath, 2880 square foot home that had been tastefully updated. The other properties closing escrow include the aforementioned condo in Third Creek and the cutely remodeled 1100 square foot cabin at #18 Mt Rose Chalets for $310K. The nice 3100 square foot free-standing condo at #25 Red Cedar sold at $925,000. There has been significant activity in this complex during the past year with all of the sales clustered relatively close together. Buyers recognize the intrinsic value of these quality properties, many of which have nice lake views. Of the four properties that changed hands to new owners, only one was a distressed sale. That would be the reasonably nice single family home at 660 Tumbleweed. The patience of the buyer paid off in this situation as reflected in the final sale price of $625,000 for this three bedroom, three bath, 2880 square foot home that had been tastefully updated. The other properties closing escrow include the aforementioned condo in Third Creek and the cutely remodeled 1100 square foot cabin at #18 Mt Rose Chalets for $310K. The nice 3100 square foot free-standing condo at #25 Red Cedar sold at $925,000. There has been significant activity in this complex during the past year with all of the sales clustered relatively close together. Buyers recognize the intrinsic value of these quality properties, many of which have nice lake views. All of the price reductions merit a closer look, so I will let my readers peruse them at their leisure while I prepare for the rest of the day’s activities. Click Here to see the price changes and other activity for each day of the week. Daily Incline Village Real Estate Blog Update - March 18, 2010 If you have been waiting for a high quality home with good views at a pretty reasonable price you may wish to take a look at 568 Valley. This four bedroom, 3.5 bath, 2720 square foot home on a beautiful corner lot features an asking price of just under $1.2 million. Gorgeous landscaping, forest service land next door and a south facing driveway puts this property high on my list to preview. Maybe you only want to spend about half as much. Then, 694 Golfer’s Pass Rd might just be the ticket. With over 1700 square feet of living space, this three bedroom, 3.5 bath, condo with a two car garage is priced under $570,000. Located next to the mountain golf course with easy access to the Mt. Rose highway all year round, this is a little gem that is worth a look. Losing over one million dollars of excess weight and now a veritable bargain at $5,750,000 is the gorgeous piece of newer construction at 951 Divot. No expense has been spared in this nearly 9000 square foot home that has a very nicely view and beautiful surroundings. The original asking price was around nine million dollars, so I guess the seller is throwing in the towel on this one. Daily Incline Village Real Estate Blog Update - March 16 - 17, 2010 Getting accepted offers today are the beautifully remodeled panoramic lake view condo at #22 Bitterbrush and the recently refreshed condo at #6 Incline Villas. I tried explaining to the seller of the latter property on several occasions that all the price reductions in the world would not matter unless they painted the interior. Well, they painted the interior and voila, an offer comes in the door. It’s not rocket science. Daily Incline Village Real Estate Blog Update - March 14 - 15, 2010 Congratulations to Randy in my office for getting an accepted offer for his listing at 840 Southwood. This charming two bedroom, two bath, 1059 SQ foot upper unit overlooks a year-round creek and has one of the prettiest settings along this high density corridor. The asking price of just under $250,000 is most reasonable. With such beautiful spring weather descending over the West Coast, no reason to be sitting in front of a computer if you don't have to. After I get a little more work done, it will be time to enjoy a Tahoe day in the sunshine. Daily Incline Village Real Estate Blog Update - March 12 - 13, 2010 The Incline Village real estate market brings us a total of four new listings, 2 properties going into escrow and 1 property closing escrow. Getting accepted offers are the lovely home at 615 Country Club Drive priced at $1,389,000 and the little condo at 36 Creekside East asking 295K. The house on CC Drive has an interesting history, great location and fabulous floor plan. One of the nicer spots on the street, this 4000+ sq. ft. home is set back from the road overlooking a creek. Selling at 395K is the cute little 1400+ sq. ft. home at 1054 War Bonnet. Could be a starter home or vacation getaway, this is about as inexpensive as you will ever find a single family home in Incline and with a garage, too! I’m not really feeling it with any of the new listings today. Either the prices or locations don’t seem to excite me. With the sun poking through and spring like weather replacing the winter blast from Friday, I say get outside and enjoy the rest of the weekend. Daily Incline Village Real Estate Blog Update - March 10 - 11, 2010 The Incline Village MLS brings us a total of eight new listings (many of which are repeats), two price alterations, three properties going into escrow and one property closing escrow. Congratulations to the listing agent at 807 Snead Ct for wrapping up the sale on this golf course property at the very reasonable price of $775,000. At least we won’t have to worry any longer about stumbling across any unexpected tenants as was my misfortune when I showed the property several months back. Whether they were tenants or squatters I will never really know… Getting accepted offers are three more value priced properties. They include #4 Mt. Shadows which is a nice three bedroom condo priced at 349K, the short sale house at 862 Jeffrey (check back in a decade on that one), and the very cute two bedroom, cabin in the woods at 692 Sutro Ct. Great location on a very quiet little Cul-du-Sac with a nice chunk of forest service land stretching up the mountainside behind you. Taking a look at the price changes, we have a nearly $80,000 adjustment for the delightful three bedroom condo at #18 Incline Villas. This two story, townhouse style property without a garage, has a wonderful location next door to the championship golf course and is next to a creek. The new asking price of $560,000 makes this quality property worth a look for you golfers in the audience. Condo shoppers will want to pay a visit to #59 Third Creek before this one gets away. Priced at only $749,000, this property has a charming cabin style feel with open beamed ceilings, lots of raw wood and a wonderful setting. At 2404 SQ feet, this three bedroom, 2.5 bath inside unit offers spacious rooms throughout and you can’t beat the price per square foot for a condo in this complex. I expect this will be the next condo to sell in Third Creek, so please contact me at (775)-831-7000 if you would like more information or wish to take a look at this special property. Anyone seeking a good value in a lower elevation home will wish to check out 569 Mcdonald Drive. The asking price of $618,000 looks very of reasonable for this three bedroom, 2.5 bath, 1684 SQ foot home on a large 0.434 acre lot. Located in the woods subdivision, you are close to everything yet enjoy a fair amount of privacy. Daily Incline Village Real Estate Blog Update - March 8 - 9, 2010 Our two actual new listings are pretty good looking values. I don’t normally get excited about properties in the Racquet Club, but today I’m willing to make an exception. #32 is an end unit with a decent rental history. This three bedroom, two bath, larger size floor plan of 1649 SQ feet is basically split into two apartments. Good location within a short walk of the REC Center. The asking price of only $299,000 is pretty reasonable and this is not a distressed sale. Moving up the mountain a little ways is the three bedroom condo at 600 Titlist. This three bedroom, two bath, 1500 plus square foot end unit is situated in a beautiful setting near a creek. Offered at $499,000 the property has some tasteful upgrades including granite tile counters and hardwood floors. I am only feeling it with one price change out of the four on the Incline Village real estate scene. 859 Golfer’s Pass Rd got a $51,000 haircut and is now priced at only $939,000. I remember when this property was priced at $1,395,000, so the current asking price shows a serious desire to get an offer on the property. It looks like the action in the condo market is continuing to heat up, especially under $600,000. Getting accepted offers on the Incline Village MLS are the lakeview place at 166 Bitterbrush and 2 short sales along with the rather interesting home at 480 Winding Way. I always felt that place would make a great fraternity house, so who knows what plans the new buyer has… Spending only 11 days on market and selling for all cash at 165K is the cute 2BR at 74 Woodstock. Congrats to the buyer’s agent for swooping in and grabbing this bargain. The lovely 4BR, 4.5 bath, 4130 sq. ft. home at 835 Freels Peak fetched $1,275,000, a good value for the Lakeview subdivision. Looks like another small, but cold storm dropping in Tues. night. Could make for some better conditions on the slopes on Wed. If you can’t reach me on the phone or by e-mail, I’m probably somewhere on the side of the mountain. Daily Incline Village Real Estate Blog Update - March 6 - 7, 2010 The Incline Village MLS has two new listings, one uninspiring price reduction, and one property going into escrow for your viewing pleasure. Getting an accepted offer is the lowest price house in town at 803 McCourry Blvd. The asking price of only $399,000 is something around lot value for this three bedroom, two bath, 1100 plus square foot home on a large and level lot of over 4/10. Whether the buyer intends to fix up his house built in the 1960s or scrape and start from scratch is their decision and I recommend doing the latter. Taking a quick look at the new listings on the Incline Village MLS, the only real eye catcher is my new property at 177 McCloud. Great location and a wonderful woodsy setting, one of the best spots on the Incline Way side of the complex. Just a 2 minute walk from Village Blvd, turn left and in a couple of minutes you are down at the beach. Two bedrooms, two baths, one car garage, newer carpet and some appliances, the asking price of 429,000 dollars makes this the second lowest priced property in the complex. And it’s offered fully furnished! If you take a look at the weekly Incline Village Real Estate sales statistics you will see that once again we had a 1:1 ratio of properties going into escrow vs. new listings. This trend has been holding up far better than I expected a few months ago, and that’s without buyers in the moderate price ranges participating. Once buyers in the moderate price ranges realize there are some great values at 2002 and 2003 prices, I think we will see more condo sales in the $500,000 to $800,000 range and houses getting sold in the $800,000 to $1.5 million arena. Daily Incline Village Real Estate Blog Update - March 1 - 5, 2010 The Incline Village real estate market brings us a total of four new listings, 11 price changes, five properties going into escrow and five properties closing escrow on the MLS. Once again value shoppers in the lower price ranges dominate the properties going under contract. Make sure your read my latest market analysis just after this blog entry. Looking at the properties that got accepted offers they include a little condo on Southwood priced just under $155,000, #62 Royal Pines at $449,000 and the house at 1069 Mill Creek at 699K with the super size master suite and garage with bus parking (or room for your band practice whichever you prefer). The latter two properties are short sales and it will be interesting to see where they settle, that is if the lenders even approve of the contracts submitted. The five places closing escrow consist of four very good values and one piece of affordable housing near the industrial park on Incline Way. The fixer upper at 243 McCloud sold for the 2002 price of $350,000. Good location, but it could definitely use some TLC. Dominating the news this week are free standing condos for the first time in recent memory. Three nice properties changed hands to new owners and all at very fair prices. #10 Red Cedar closed escrow at $917,000, the semi luxurious property at 859 Lake Country fetched $1,165,000 and #4 The Glen went for the very reasonable sum of $1,025,000. These last two properties were on the market for much higher asking prices, which just goes to show you that you never know how a seller will respond until you put something on paper in front of them. We might have 11 price changes on the Incline Village MLS this week, but only one of them merits even a smidgen of interest. I nearly had a conniption when this property first came on the market at $675,000 in June of 2008, but I knew it was only a matter of time before the offering price would become realistic. Now priced at only $463,000, this partially updated duplex at 910 Harold Dr. is an excellent value. You can live in one unit and rent out the other and you even get covered parking. The property backs up to the championship golf course providing one of the best settings you can find in Incline Village under $500,000. I can’t show you a better value in a multi unit Investment Property up here. Zooming through the new listings, if you have been waiting for a low elevation property in a private setting it’s worthwhile to take a look at 130 Mayhew Cir. Set on a quiet little street just one block from Lakeshore Drive, the asking price is only $739,000 for this three bedroom, two bath, 1500 plus square foot gem in the woods. You even get a two car attached garage to go along with one level living. For you skiers in the crowd, the snow quality was pretty good this week but it’s hard to tell if we will be getting any more precipitation over the weekend. It was very windy on Thursday, so if we do not get more fresh snow, be careful on steeper slopes that may have been blown off prior to the weekend. It’s a nice sunny Friday and a wonderful day to make the drive up to Lake Tahoe if you’re planning to enjoy the weekend in the mountains. UPDATED INCLINE VILLAGE REAL ESTATE MARKET ANALYSIS If you were sitting on the sidelines during last year’s stock market rally, you’re going to get a second chance, but it won’t be on Wall Street. The Incline Village real estate market is showing signs of bottoming out and the latest sales statistics show that activity is way ahead of the pace in 2009. So if you missed out on making big returns in the stock market last year, 2010 just might be your best opportunity to scoop up a good value on the north shore of Lake Tahoe. I normally like to wait at least three months before analyzing the sales statistics at the start of any particular year. But this year the numbers are so dramatic when compared with 2009 that I felt it was important for everyone to have this data before the end of the first quarter. Here is a chart showing the year to date sales as of March 3, 2010 comparing this year with 2009. Houses Condos Free Standing Condos 2009 Sales 10 4 1 2010 Sales 14 12 8 In Escrow 19 22 10 In addition to the 34 properties that have closed escrow, there are 51 properties in escrow at the present time. 21 of these properties are short sales and realistically I anticipate that maybe 1/5 of them will actually close escrow by the end of the month. So, if we assume that 80% of the 30 regular sales in escrow close by the end of March (that would be 24 sales) and add to that 4 of the properties that are short sales, we would have another 28 closed escrows by the end of the first quarter. This means we would wind up with somewhere around 62 properties closing escrow as compared to only 28 sales in the entire first quarter of 2009. I don’t expect that sales for the entire year are going to double, my best guess at this point in time is that unit sales will increase somewhere between 35% and 65% when compared with 2009. The reason for this flurry of activity early in the year is that we still have the home buyer tax credit, lots of good properties have come on the market at fabulous prices and interest rates still remain very low. Also, more sellers are being realistic about how to price their properties and negotiate after the carnage last year. Looking closer at the sales of houses and condos we can see that buyers in the moderate price ranges are still playing a waiting game and sitting on the sidelines for the most part. All 22 condos in escrow have asking prices under $550,000. Of the 19 houses in escrow, only one is priced between $800,000 and $1.6 million. Buyers are snapping up properties at the low and high ends of the price spectrum, while moderately priced properties continue to languish. The median price for all homes sold since January 1, 2008 still hovers just under $1.1 million. Sellers in this price range are finally realizing that they have to negotiate fairly with buyers, who for the most part, are making discretionary purchases. However, when we see a seller throw in the towel, buyers need to move quickly on properties that are priced below fair market value. Forget the average days on market in this town. Just a couple of weeks ago a two bedroom condo came on the market in Third Creek priced just under $550,000 and it got an acceptable offer in less than 10 days. It does not matter that the average property in Incline Village is on the market approximately nine months, what counts is the specific location, quality, price and desirability of a particular place. Good quality properties at reasonable prices will move quickly, less desirable properties in poor locations may languish for several years. By constantly monitoring the market and keeping an eye on choice properties as they go through a series of price reductions, I am able to find exceptional values for my buyers. As we get deeper into the year and more inventory comes on the market, buyers will have to move quickly on those properties that are priced below fair market value. Sharp buyers have a 2nd chance to purchase some long term investments at 2002 prices, not on Wall Street, but right here in the Incline Village real estate market. You can always write an offer subject to your viewing and approval of a property. That way you can negotiate the price and terms before you make the trip to Tahoe and you won’t get aced out by another buyer moving at the speed of light. January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 October 2009 November 2009 December 2009 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 |
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