Drew Kondo - 30% referral paid to AR members

After an incredibly busy period amongst South Lake Tahoe foreclosures, these last two weeks have been very quiet in comparison. Four homes on the foreclosure list went into escrow, and there are only two new homes to the list.

There were some significant price reductions amongst foreclosures within the last two weeks. 967 Colusa Street was just reduced $35,000 to $449,000. I’ve mentioned in a previous post that it’s a beautiful home with a lot of potential. I expect it to go into escrow soon. 2604 Knox Avenue saw a price reduction of $25,900. It’s now listed at $329,000. At $149 per square foot, I’d expect someone to make a worthy offer.

If you’re interested in receiving the foreclosure lists by e-mail, please let me know at drew@southtahoehouses.com. As usual, I have more information on properties that will become foreclosures. However, I don’t feel at liberty to publish this information on the internet. If you are interested in those properties or the ones on this list, call me at (530) 545-1831.

We’ve seen some more activity in the South Lake Tahoe foreclosure market. Ten foreclosure properties went into escrow here within the last 13 days! There are 3 new foreclosure listings. The most interesting of these is at 2188 Pinewood Drive. It’s a huge 2,915 square foot home that was built in 2004. With a $435,000 list price, there’s an incredible bidding war going on for that property. Expect it to close well above list price.

It’s a busy Friday, so that’s all for now! I hope all you guys have a great weekend. If you want information on upcoming foreclosures, call me at (530) 545-1831.

There’s been a bit of a buzz in the South Lake Tahoe real estate community. Have we hit the bottom of the market? Possibly. Check out the median sale prices over the last seven months. It looks like we hit bottom in June and have been heading up in the following months. Additionally, the median list price of homes in escrow right now is $437,000. I’d expect that number to drop to about $412,000 because our sale-price-to-list-price ratio on the year is 94.23%. These numbers fall in line with the theory that we have hit the bottom of the market.

What do I think? I’m skeptical. I wish I remembered enough from my college stats class to back this up, but I don’t think enough homes have sold over a long enough period of time to claim that the market’s downward trend has come to a halt. I’ll be happy when we sell off some more of this oversupply of homes.

Speaking of, South Lake Tahoe’s supply of homes did dwindle some at the turn of the month when seventy listings expired. Only thirteen of those listings are back on the market. With less competition amongst listings, now isn’t a bad time to list.

Other notable activity in September occurred in the South Lake Tahoe foreclosure market. Of the 28 single-family residences that sold in September, 7 of them were foreclosures (25%). At the turn of the month, there were 12 foreclosures in escrow and 15 short sales in escrow. We’re seeing a lot of distressed sales. It’s no wonder that banks are folding on a daily basis.

Only 3 condos sold in the last month. However, some buyers were thinking about the upcoming ski season. An unusually high 6 condos went into escrow.

Four lots went into escrow last month and only two sold. It’s been very slow in the dirt market.

I’d love to hear your comments on any of this. I will update a few numbers as some agents haven’t been able to input their September sales in the MLS yet.

* For the sake of statistical integrity, my absorption rates are no longer considering sales for the last year. They are now calculated using sales for the last 90 days. For more information on why I decided on the change, e-mail me at drew@southtahoehouses.com.

As a South Tahoe Realtor, I frequently surf the web for information. Given that you’re currently reading this article, I assume you also want to acquire real estate information via the internet. Thus, I’ve looked through my web browser’s bookmarks and have pulled websites I figured would be most helpful to you. They cover a variety of real estate related topics. In no particular order, the websites I've chosen are:

Zillow.com – They have great aerial maps and a good discussion forum. They also have a good bit of information on all the homes here in the United States. However, most people go here for the Zestimate feature. Type in any home address and the Zestimate algorithm will provide a guess on what the home is worth. Take the Zestimate with a big grain of salt as it can oftentimes be very inaccurate. For more of my thoughts on that, see my post Estimating the Value of Zillow’s Zestimate.

Google Maps – When searching for a property’s location, it doesn’t get any better than Google Maps. I used MapQuest for years simply out of habit. As a Realtor, however, I got tired of its shortcomings. I switched to Google Maps several months ago and haven’t looked back.

SouthTahoeHouses.com – This is my personal homepage. Here you can search MLS listings for the entire south Tahoe region in California. For Nevada listings, see my broker, Deb Howard & Co.'s, Nevada search.

Craigslist – If you want to know of EVERY property for sale in South Lake Tahoe, you shouldn’t overlook those that are for sale by owner. These sellers often post their properties on Craigslist. I don’t use it much, but you should keep an eye on it.

RealtyTrac.com – This is a website that requires a paid subscription. I don’t use it, but I’ve heard good things about their foreclosure updates. I post a thorough foreclosure list but don’t feel at liberty to publish information on upcoming foreclosures. You can contact me for this information or you can use RealtyTrac.

TRPA.org – This is the homepage for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. The TRPA affects every homebuyer and homeowner in the Lake Tahoe basin. Their website provides comprehensive information on their regulations. If you're working with a Realtor, I wouldn't spend too much time here as your Realtor will probably be knowledgeable in TRPA regulations. This is the source, though.

ActiveRain.com - You most likely already know about this one :). This site is for real estate professionals like Realtors, mortgage brokers, home stagers, etc. It's a social networking site and is a great source of information. You can ask questions and get good responses here. Its sister site, Localism.com, is also a good source of information.

If you've found these sites helpful, feel free to let me know by commenting. If you know of additional sites that are really good, feel free to comment as well! --drew

The following was posted as a comment to my original Tranquility estate post. I found it so interesting that I'm creating a separate posting for it. Thanks to Don for the following write up:

I was a helper for the granite company that worked there. I thought I'd add a couple of other cool things that stood out for me.

1. The master bath is made completely out of white carrera marble. Floors, walls, crown molding, window sill, and shower. There is a jetted tub that was carved from two large chunks of marble.

2. Each door hinge cover is made from solid silver.

3. I've seen it mentioned that the property was completed in 2000. That's inaccurate. It was completed in 2001. We were still finishing up in the spring.

4. The brown trout grew so accustomed to Hamburger Helper and Hostess products that when Horowitz would fish the lake, he couldn't catch anything with normal bait. We would eat on the dock and feed the trout.

5. The entire house has hydronic heating. We had to be extra careful of all the hoses when putting the marble floors down.

6. In the picture of the staircase, at the base of the stairs on the floor, there are little squares of blue marble. We were worried we wouldn't have enough to complete the job. There was none left in the world. We used it all.

7. I hated working here. It was SO cold all the time. It was hard, hard work.

South Tahoe Real Estate
The South Tahoe Realty Blog